Hup Seng Lor Ark n Loh Kai Yik Reprised

I sampled yam rice prepared by a lady at the supermarket and bought a bottle two weeks ago to try at home but for various reasons beyond my control, I never got around to the yams and the sauce till today. For a first time try, I was very pleased with the way the yam rice turned out. A Teochew fare, yam rice is usually served with lor ark (duck stewed in soy sauce)and I wanted to serve my rice with Hup Seng's duck with the salty tangy soy sauce and vinegar chili which is served by the Teochews to cut the oil in the duck and rice. The owner comes from an extended family of stewed duck hawkers. His uncle runs an equally popular duck and goose stall at the Tekka Food Centre. I especially love the salty dark soy sauce that come with the duck. I would love to prepare this stewed duck but the secret to a good stewed duck is the sauce.
It never gets changed, the huge pot of herbal soy stew is used and reused from the day your begin it. It gets replenished every day with water and herbs with each duck that is cooked in the sauce, the flavour gets more intense over time. At Hup Seng the owner seals and locks up the pot every evening before he closes his stall. He has been replenishing the same pot of soy stew for the last twenty five years. I finally got the color and taste right for my loh kai yik. I am very happy with myself for getting it to the way my mom use to prepare it by memory and taste. It was wicked.

Another day I will prepare it in the traditional way with chicken wings, liver, fatty pork, pig's intestines, stomach and pig's skin and stewed to googy perfection served with kang kong and cuttle fish.