Quintessential Memories.
Food memories last. A long time, for me. Back in 1983, an old diner in Albany, NY, was repurposed to become a trendy eatery called Quintessence. It catered to the young, which I was. The signature dish of chef Donnie Graham was his Chicken Teriyaki: chicken breast wrapped around a carrot and scallion then grilled and served with a green salad and a spinach pasta with a sauce akin to Italian dressing. It was really good and, for $3.95, it was affordable for this young bass player who was pulling in $3,500/year. (No — I’m not missing any zeroes; musicians were/are poor!)
Forty-some years later, I decided to take the dish a step further. I use locally-sourced duck from Top Knot Farms, and served it with fresh and spicy mustard greens (thanks, Nessa!), and soba noodles with shiitake mushrooms from Desert Pearl Mushrooms. The overall result is just fantastic and a fitting homage to the original.
The teriyaki sauce is simple to make, though it took me several tries to get the balance of flavors right. The difficulty is making the zig-zag cut of the duck breast to form one long piece to wrap around the veggie spears. The wrapping itself takes a little practice, too; patience and a toothpick or two help. No duck? Make it with chicken. It will be awesome. Have fun with this one!
I paired the Duck Teriyaki with a 2023 Tavel from Château de Ségriès. You can read more about the pairing on the Provence WineZine.
~ David
Duck Teriyaki
To print this recipe, please click the small printer icon below.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sake
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup xiaoxing wine
- 3 tablespoons tamari
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 inch piece ginger, finely grated
- 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 duck breasts, about 7 ounces each
- 1 10-inch long carrot
- 2 10-inch long scallions
Instructions
- Mix the sake, mirin, xiaoxing wine, tamari, sugar, and grated ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a brisk simmer and cook for about 10 minutes to reduce the liquid. Whisk together the cornstarch and water, then whisk the slurry into the saucepan. Cook for one minute until thick. Let cool.
- Peel the carrot and cut it into quarters lengthwise.
- Remove the skin from each duck breast (reserve for rendering or another use). Cut each duck breast in a zigzag fashion (as shown above) to create one long strip.
- You will use the long carrot sticks and scallions as your skewers. Take two pieces of the carrot, and reverse one so that each thick end is matched with a thin end. Pair these two pieces of carrot with a scallion. Repeat with the other carrot, sticks and scallion, to make a second small bundle.
- Begin wrapping one long piece of duck around the carrot and scallion bundle. You may use toothpicks to secure the duck. Wrap tightly around the carrots and scallion until you run out of duck. The vegetables usually stick out a little at each end of the wrap. Secure the end of the duck with a toothpick and set aside. Repeat with the remaining carrot sticks, scallion, and duck.
- Carefully put the duck skewers in a sealable plastic bag (don’t let the toothpicks pierce the bag) and spoon in 2/3 of the teriyaki sauce, reserving the remaining sauce for glazing. Marinate the duck for an hour in the refrigerator.
- Heat a grill to high. Oil the grill. Reduce the heat to medium low and place the duck skewers over the heat. They will cook quickly, one to two minutes per side. Continue glazing the duck with remaining teriyaki sauce each time you turn the skewers.
- Plate the duck teriyaki skewers (remove any toothpicks) and add a salad and shiitake noodles (see note). Brush on a little extra teriyaki sauce on the duck just before serving.
- Serves 2 for a light meal.
- Note: I used fresh mustard greens for the salad with just a touch of tamari and rice wine vinegar, and I made the soba noodles with shiitake mushrooms in a light tamari sauce with a touch of sesame oil and the teriyaki marinade.
© 2025 Copyright Cocoa & Lavender
Mimi Rippee
February 1, 2025 at 7:14 amAnother masterpiece!!! You should frame that feature photo!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 1, 2025 at 8:33 amThanks, Mimi! That is so sweet!
Provençal Pairings: Wine with Food A Well-Traveled Tavel - Provence WineZine
February 1, 2025 at 7:37 am[…] pairing was a bit tricky. At first glance, my Duck Teriyaki recipe looks like an easy shot. Many rosés pair perfectly with Asian cuisine and that is what I […]
Mad Dog
February 1, 2025 at 7:47 amThat looks amazing and far more exciting than chicken!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 1, 2025 at 8:34 amDefinitely so, Mad Dog! I am a huge fan of duck — such great flavor and texture. And it is great that we have a local source here. You are lucky you have such amazing markets there.
Gerlinde de Broekert
February 1, 2025 at 8:45 amI love duck and this recipe looks incredible. You are such a creative cook David.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 1, 2025 at 8:58 amAw, thanks, Gerlinde — I must credit the idea to the original chef. But it was a lot of fun to redesign the original! And I love duck, too.
Barb
February 1, 2025 at 9:08 amThis is quite an intriguing dish! I really like to create recipes based on old memories of food from long ago. I think Chef Donnie would approve of your version!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 1, 2025 at 9:55 amThanks, Barb — I hope he likes the idea. I should have noted that my teriyaki glaze is much stronger than his, but I liked how it lacquered the duck. And the soba noodles on the side? That was a big surprise for me — loved them.
Eha Carr
February 1, 2025 at 1:50 pmJust looked at the photo and did a happy dance before breakfast! And if I can find that wretched genie of mine I would love to fly over and say ‘pretty please’ ! A lovely mix of Japanese and Chinese with my favourite soba noodles I have always used all the time and just that plain salad which is all it needs! WOW!!! I just might try soy and a tad less sugar and the duck looks SO inviting . . . hmm, i better go get some black coffee which is there . . .
Cocoa & Lavender
February 2, 2025 at 8:00 amThanks, Eha — I went through about five iterations of the sauce, and the soy versions were too strong. (I do not use “lite” soy sauce.) Also, as for the sugar, it makes a wonderful glaze and, in the end, very little gets consumed,
angiesrecipes
February 1, 2025 at 9:10 pmTeriyaki is like magic sauce making everything taste so good. This is definitely a winner, David.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 2, 2025 at 8:00 amThanks, Angie!
FEL!X
February 2, 2025 at 2:00 amOho!!! What a terrific way to prepare a Teriyaki!
I like Teriyaki in different ways – but never made some wrapped on veggies!
This wicked version I’ll give a try very soon!
Thank you David for this inspiration and thanks to Donnie Graham too,
Felix
Cocoa & Lavender
February 2, 2025 at 8:01 amThanks, Felix! It was really fun re-creating (in every sense) Graham’s recipe. I hope you enjoy making it. I especially love the vegetable “skewers” and plan to they it with other preparations.
Susan Debronsky
February 2, 2025 at 5:22 amThat looks wonderful! I did love those green fettucini noodles, though…
Cocoa & Lavender
February 2, 2025 at 8:02 amI loved them, too, Suzo — but I doubt I could eat them now. We actually decided to make this soba noodle dish for dinner by itself — it was so good!
Ronit Penso
February 2, 2025 at 4:04 pmBeautiful dish. This is such a unique way of preparing duck! Definitely my kind of flavors. 🙂
Ben | Havocinthekitchen
February 2, 2025 at 4:52 pmOh, I’ve never had duck teriyaki – and it looks phenomenal and so perfectly cooked. And what a cool idea to use veggies as skewers!
Frank | Memorie di Angelina
February 5, 2025 at 2:16 pmThis looks like such a fun—not to mention delicious—dish! I’m pretty sure I’d screw up the skewers as small motor skills aren’t my forte. But I’m willing to give it a try!
2pots2cook
February 6, 2025 at 1:34 amOh boy! It ticks all the boxes at our home! Must do! Thank you so much David !
Sherry
February 7, 2025 at 7:06 amOh yum David. I love duck too and the sauce sounds delicious. So many great flavours.
Sherry
The-FoodTrotter
February 7, 2025 at 3:50 pmThe meat looks so juicy and flavorful! I don’t cook duck often but it is one of my favorite meat 🙂
Pauline
February 8, 2025 at 12:30 amDavid what a wonderful memory for food you have. This dish just looks superb, we love duck. However, even with the knife sharpened, I would probably still need 3 or 4 duck breasts at my disposal so that I could really perfect the technique. Finding duck is a bit hit and miss here. The teryiaki sauce looks delicious, those are my kind of flavours. Yes it can be a tough gig financially being a musician, but you are doing what you love. Great recipe, I would love to make this one for a special dinner.
Raymund
February 13, 2025 at 2:44 amThat’s such a cool full-circle food moment! Love how you took a nostalgic dish and elevated it with duck, local ingredients, and a refined teriyaki sauce. That zig-zag cut sounds tricky, but the end result must be well worth it. Also, Tavel with teriyaki? Intriguing!
Inger
February 13, 2025 at 2:53 pmThe original sounds like pretty resourceful sourcing for a young musician! Of course using duck now has to put it over the top!