Nanjing Roast Duck

This recipe is a tour de force, or, as Zoe calls it, her white whale. A recipe that intimidated even her, a cook who has tackled many other famous restaurant dishes (see below). But don't let that deter you, because Zoe ran the multiple recipe tests required and tamed this whale from Jiangsu province, making it far less intimidating for you and me to pull off. 

In her recipe, Zoe breaks down what makes Nanjing roast duck (南京烤鸭 Nanjing kaoya) special:

"Roasted over wood and served bathed in a sauce made from its own sweet cooking jus, Nanjing roast duck is perhaps the pinnacle dish of a duck-obsessed city. Unlike Peking duck, whose gastronomic pleasure comes from creating symphonic little bites out of duck skin, sugar, frilly green onions, cucumbers, sweet bean paste and pancakes, Nanjing roast duck is simple: just duck and sauce, subtly seasoned to draw out the natural sweetness of the meat itself....

"The secret sauce, literally, is the inner marinade that gets sewn up into the duck at the very beginning of the cooking process. This soy-based marinade is flavored with celery leaves and apple, to impart herbaceous and fruity aromas, and it stays inside the duck’s cavity during drying and roasting. After the duck is cooked, the now-ducky liquid is carefully drained out and reserved. This belly jus, along with a stock made from the offcuts—the head, neck, feet and wingtips—make up the soul of the soaking sauce."

Zoe's recipe walks us through all the steps for making this speciality, from making the inner marinade and drying the duck overnight to roasting it (no wood required) and making the jus. It's a two-day, multi-step process, but the result is absolutely worth the little bit of extra effort!

Featured ingredients: soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, spices
 

Cantonese Ginger Scallion Lobster

Another of Zoe's showstoppers, this one is inspired not by the Nanjing era of her childhood but her Boston years. 

"If you’ve never heard of ginger scallion lobster (cōng jiāng chǎo lóngxiā, 葱姜炒龙虾), maybe you’ve heard of Cantonese-style lobster—they are the same thing. Yes, some version of this dish probably originated in the banquet halls of Guangdong or Hong Kong (the techniques involved are classically Cantonese), but I’d argue that the version most of us know and love was probably invented in Boston, Massachusetts....

"Yes, to make this dish, you will have to butcher live lobsters. If it’s your first time, I can promise an empowering learning experience. Your reward is the best damn seafood dish in the world. After the easy spoils of claws and tail, you’ll want to suck the knuckles and lick the crevasses. You’ll even want to drain the juice from the frilly gills, treating the carcass as if it were a messy marine mango pit." 

Zoe's recipe includes precise instructions for buying, butchering and cooking the lobster to make this classic Chinese-American banquet dish. 

Featured ingredients: Shaoxing wine, white pepper

Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter Crab

Zoe tackled this dish for us last Lunar New Year:

"Typhoon shelter crab (bìfēngtáng chǎo xiè, 避風塘炒蟹 ), a Hong Kong classic, is  a consummate party centerpiece, perfect for Chinese New Year. The dish is made up of a crab that has been butchered into shaggy pieces, tossed in starch, deep fried and, finally, stir-fried with a deluge of fried garlic....

"Many of the best dishes anywhere in the world come from workers cooking for other workers, and so it is with typhoon shelter cooking, which is its own genre within Cantonese cuisine. Some boats served as restaurants to this poor population, which had access to seafood but perhaps not a lot of fresh terrestrial ingredients. Indeed, there are elements to this dish—dried chilies, fermented black beans, ample spice—that hint at a reliance on preservation. It’s a marked contrast from the delicate, savory notes typical to Cantonese dishes."

Once again, Zoe provides detailed instructions and photos for buying, butchering and cooking Dungeness crab.  

Featured ingredients: douchi, zidan tou chilies, Sichuan pepper

Sichuan Wok-Fried Fish in Chili Bean Sauce

You'll often find a whole fish on the Chinese New Year table. Fish signifies wealth and abundance (yu, the word for fish, sounds like the word for surplus), and serving it complete from head to tail is a wish that your abundance extends from the beginning to the end of the year. A whole fish, then, seems particularly necessary for 2026. 

A whole fish steamed the Cantonese way is the norm in the U.S., but if you want to bring a little spice to the table, my Sichuan version is a treat. While frying a whole fish in a wok sounds difficult, it's actually quite quick and easy if your wok is large and well-seasoned. You can serve the traditional one fish, or make two smaller fish as I did here for 囍 (double happiness). Either way, the spicy Sichuan sauce is key, featuring aged Pixian doubanjiang with ginger-and-garlic and sweet-and-sour notes. 

Featured ingredients: 3-year Pixian doubanjiang, red-oil doubanjiang, caiziyou, black vinegar