The thanksgiving that turned me into the center of attention... God forbid a woman loves flavorful food!
Alice Sun (@alicecsun) shares a unique view into her life through the ways she uses food to nurture wellness, cross cultural divides, and bring people together, all through the medium of storytelling.
Alice Sun•
December 1, 2025
They always say that when you marry your partner, you’re also marrying their family. But no one tell you that sometimes, the right family will actually make you feel like the main character, especially during the holidays. And let me be the one to tell you, it’s possible because I was that girl, who was raised to feel more comfortable hiding in the kitchen, not accepting compliments for helping put things together, and not taking the attention people wanted to give me.
But it’s never too late to change that, especially this year, hosting our first Thanksgiving away from home, which meant my house, my rules 🔪🫢🔥
Of course that meant there would be NO turkey in sight. Instead, I went with a bird that my culture celebrates…famous for its crispy skin, rich broth, and deeper flavor than it’s chicken cousin: the duck 🦆
Because if I’m hosting at least let me have some fun and introduce my guests to new flavors they’ve never had before, since that’s what I’M GOOD AT!! So, this is how this whole duck feast came together just a few hours before guests arrived…no brining, no overnight prep, just me in a kitchen with a ton of veggies, duck bones, an instant pot, and some spices.
On the menu for the night I was planning for:
So without further ado, let’s get into it! Here’s the full video of how I put everything together.
Using an instant pot here was crucial for getting the broth done in time with zero mess, but if you don’t have one, I have alt instructions below.
Wash the duck bones (2 ½ lb) well then set to the side to drain and dry.
Meanwhile, prep the veggies that will flavor the stock, cutting the white onion (½) into quarter pieces, halving the shallots (2 small), and removing their peels.
Add everything to an oven safe pan (except for Chinese herbal ingredients, if you’re using), spray very lightly with avocado oil, and disperse the duck bones, among the veggies and aromatics — the duck is very fatty so most of that will end up helping to cook everything.
Place in a 450 °Foven for 20-30 mins until duck pieces and veg are golden brown.
Remove everything from the pan, taking care to not take too much of the excess oil, then toss it all into your instant pot, along with Chinese herbal ingredients if you’re using.
Fill the pot with as much water as is allowed, then set to cook on high pressure for 1 hour, letting it naturally release for 20 mins, then fully releasing pressure using the top valve.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, add to a large stock pot with 7 quarts of water.
Bring to a light boil, then decrease to a simmer, making sure to remove any scum that comes to the top.
Simmer for 4-5 hours and you should have a rich dark broth at the end.
Take the duck breasts (3) out of their packages — wash and pat dry.
Sprinkle 1 tsp of salt on each of the skins, along with 1 tsp each of mala spice mix and five spice powder.
Feel free to be generous with the salt! If you go above a tsp should be fine. Also make sure that all sides of the duck has a bit of the mala spices and five spice powder, not just the skin.
Place the duck breasts into the fridge on an open pan, skin side up, while you prep the rest of the dinner so they have some time to marinate but they can manage with just 30 mins of marination if you’re short on time!
For the peking duck wrappers, take dumpling wrappers (1 package), brush them with oil on both sides, then stack together.
Once you have ~5 wraps on top of each other, take a rolling pin and roll out the wrappers to be double the original size.
Place them in a steam paper lined steamer and steam for 7 mins.
Leave them in a moist area until they’re ready to serve, then just peel each piece of wrapper away from each other to get chewy, perfectly cooked through peking duck wraps.
To cook the duck breasts, score the skin first lightly in a cross hatch pattern.
Place them on a cold a cast iron or stainless steel pan — wouldn’t recommend non-stick since it’s not as effective at rendering out the fat of the duck skin.
Let the pan get warm on medium heat and you’ll start to see the fat rendering from the skin and coating the pan.
Once the skin is starting the brown, glaze with the honey, vinegar, water mixture, then flip, cover, and lower the heat to low to help the duck cook through.
Do this a few times to make sure the glaze gets nice and golden.
Let the internal temperature reach 140 °F and take it off the heat to rest for 10 mins before slicing into thin pieces for the wraps.
Serve the wraps with hoisin sauce, the duck pieces on top, some cucumbers, and scallions, but highly recommend serving with cucumber kimchi to balance out the rich flavors of the duck!!!
All you need to do at this point is add the filtered duck stock to your hot pot, but if you want spicy, recommend adding a block of this brand to your stock.
Lay out the veggies listed above how you’d like along with all the hot pot meat slices.
Enjoy with your preferred hot pot sauce of choice — we love a combo of: Sichuan spicy noodle base, Soy sauce, Garlic, Scallions, Sesame oil, Laoganma Chili Oil.
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