>Twas me who wrote:

"Tippi" > wrote:

I had my whole duck over the weekend. I had a choice of four
"restaurants" all with hanging poultry (Ave U in Brooklyn NY if anyone
comes from the area) so I picked the one with the most activity and a
couple of Westerners in the line. The cashier spoke some English and
certainly understood "duck" and "whole" although she felt that she had
to write down the price ($13) and show it to me. Some other comments
follow:

>>- Is there a sauce that goes with it?
>They usually ladle over a sauce made from the drippings. Some would
>also give you small containers of plum sauce.

No sauce ladled over anything but the bird was quite moist. I asked if
there was a sauce and the cashier pointed to the tiny containers of
soy sauce already placed in the take-out aluminum foil boxes. She said
"Soy sauce"; not my inference!

I served it with Lee Kum Kee's Plum sauce.

>>- I'll probably be feeding 4 people (light eaters) with this and other
>> Chinese food. Should I buy a whole duck?
>Depends on what else you are serving but whole would be better. There's
>not a whole lot of meat.

Plenty enough for 4 on the whole duck especially as we had a coconut
shrimp starter.

>>- Should I have it cut up? I.e., let cleaver-boy have his fun.
>They automatically chop it up. You can request larger pieces perhaps,
>if they understand you (the cashier probably would).

She asked if I wanted it cut up. Something like "Cut up?". I nodded
assent and cleaver-boy went to town.

>>- Is there something like: "No one in their right mind would ever
>> order the duck without requiring detachment of the head and neck"
>Here in Toronto they put the head and neck in the take out containers;
>you can discard them yourself.

The head and neck disappeared sometime between cleaver-boy taking it
out of the window and him packing it into the aluminum foil
containers.

>>Are there different types of duck?
>Yes, but I don't know what's available in your area. There's the basic
>roast duck "siu aap" (roasted on a spit); hanging-roasted duck "gwa-low
>aap" (skin more crispy); Flattened duck "pay-pa app" (the duck is slit
>down the side, flattened then roasted - more crispy, meat is drier),
>and there may even be roast goose as well.

The duck had a very glossy brownish-red skin, not particularly crispy.
I did see one (but only one to the dozens of normals) that looked like
it had been butterflied.

One further question: I noticed a bird hanging there, smaller than the
duck, whitish in color, looks like it was wrapped in parchment paper
with some green leaves (like parsley) on the inside. The parchment
paper looked oily and the bird seemed to be dripping. Any idea what
this might be?

Since we're on a roll what does the goose look like?