from Richard, via the Food Network

I normally don't rust the Food Network for recipes, bu this one is very good.  I'm pretty much attaching their recipe verbatim.  My one "real" change is that I prefer to use my "industrial" steamer.  You can buy these in Chinese markets.  They're worth their weight in gold.  I primarily use this for steaming ducks as well as the Thai Seafood custard.

The recipe scales easily.  You can use larger ducks or more ducks.

Ingredients: list them here

1 whole (4 to 5 pound) duck

1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

5 big slices fresh ginger

4 garlic cloves

1/2 bunch green onions

1 tangerine peel cut in big strips

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

Directions

Duck is notoriously a fatty bird, to diminish the fat and produce a crispy skin, begin by trimming the excess fat from the neck and body. Rinse the duck, inside and out, and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels. Combine the Chinese five-spice, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the duck, inside and out. Salt and five-spice powder makes a fragrant dry marinade, which draws some of the moisture from the duck so that the spices penetrate. Stuff the duck cavity with the aromatics: the ginger, garlic, green onions, and tangerine peel. Fold the wing tips back under the duck and tie the legs together with kitchen string. Poke the duck breast a few times, piercing the skin.

Place a roasting pan on the stovetop over 2 burners and fill with 2-inches of water, turn the heat to medium. Set a V-rack insert inside the pan and lay the duck on the rack, breast-side up. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Steam the duck for 45 minutes, checking the water level periodically. Steaming the duck first melts away some of the fat and shrinks the skin.

In a small saucepan combine the vinegar, honey, and soy sauce over low heat. Cook and stir for 5 minutes until thick. The duck will be lacquered with the sweet glaze, which caramelizes during roasting, making the skin crisp and brown.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Take the foil off the duck, remove the rack with the duck, and pour out the water and all the fat that has rendered out (this is great to use in other dishes like fried rice.) Put the rack with the duck back inside the roasting pan. Baste the duck with the vinegar mixture, until all the skin is completely coated in the glaze. Stick the whole thing in the oven. Roast the duck for 1 hour, basting periodically with any remaining glaze to set in a deep mahogany color. Tent the breast with some foil if it gets too dark. The legs will wiggle easily when it's done. Carve and serve.

Finishing the duck:  I normally serve this with pancakes, scallion brushes, and a hoisen lime sauce.  (A scallion brush is the while part of a scallion with the end sliced into some fine tufts.  Guests use the scallion brush to transfer hoisen sauce to the pancake.  They can drop on some duck pieces and the scallion brush and then wrap the entire thing up in the pancake).  I think that the hoisen lime sauce is an enormous improvement over traditional hoisen sauce, which is way too sweet.

Directions for Hoisen-Lime sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon mince ginger

2 cups hoisen sauce

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat oil

Add garlic and ginger and stir till fragrent.

Add hoisen sauce and stir till warmed.

Add lime juice

Finish with salt and pepper