Maritime Southeast Asia · Volume 43, The Sweet Court, the Salt Island and the Mould Between Them
Bebek songkem
Sampang, Madura
Illustration
- Time
- 3 hours
- Researched
- Researched from 221 sources in the brief
Sampang, Madura. A whole duck, steamed rather than fried or grilled, sealed in banana leaf until the meat falls from the bone; the dish's own name describes the shape it is folded into.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. Marinate 30 minutes, steam around 3 hours.
Ingredients
- 1 duck, cleaned and jointed
- 1 lime; a little lime juice and a little salt, for the marinade
- 10 curly red chillies
- 10 shallots
- 5 bird's eye chillies
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp stock powder
- 3 to 4 large sheets banana leaf, to wrap
Method
- Marinate the jointed duck in lime juice and a little salt for 30 minutes.
- Grind the curly red chillies, shallots, bird's eye chillies, garlic, salt, sugar and stock powder to a smooth paste, and coat the duck fully in it.
- Wrap the duck tightly in banana leaf, folding the meat into a shape said to resemble a person performing sungkem, the traditional gesture of bowing to kiss an elder's hand in respect, which gives the dish its name.
- Steam for approximately 3 hours, until the duck is very tender.
Notes
Bebek songkem is recognised by Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture as an item of intangible cultural heritage, and is one of the clearest, most directly quantified recipes this chapter's research reached for any dish on Madura.
What a modern chef changes
The banana leaf parcel is already the ancestor of a sous vide bag; this elevation makes that lineage explicit rather than treating it as a new idea
Rung 2
Method
- Vacuum seal the marinated, spice coated duck in a sous vide bag rather than banana leaf, and cook at a low, controlled temperature for the same long duration, the literal modern equivalent of the sealed parcel rather than a departure from it.
- Finish the duck skin briefly over the Big Green Egg, direct and very hot, after the sous vide bath, for a colour and texture the sealed steam alone cannot give, a genuine addition rather than a substitution.
- Serve one portion still wrapped in a small banana leaf parcel alongside the finished plate, so the diner sees the dish's own name and shape before it is unwrapped, the same theatrical logic this atlas has used elsewhere for a dish whose presentation carries real meaning.