Pay a visit to Chinatown and you will see rows of glistening lacquered ducks hanging in shop windows, the perfect dish to serve on a day when you don't feel like cooking.

Main-course options include grilled salmon with Beaujolais butter and glazed shallots; lacquered duck with bitter orange, and old-fashioned pot roast with stock-pot vegetables.

Betsey's Chinese lacquered duck tasted very Chinese, my Indian spiced lamb tasted very Indian; both tasted utterly delicious.

A striking example of Mr. Valentine's flamboyant style is the lacquered duck.

The lacquered duck in the recipe below is served with a sauce made with black muscat wine, star anise and tamarind.

The lacquered duck is from "American Game Cooking" by John Ash and Sid Goldstein (Aris Books, 1991) and is inspired by Mr. Hom.

And sometimes the dishes are not as refined as they should be, such as the Chinese lacquered duck in a Peking pancake.

For Buddakan's lacquered ducks, whole defeathered birds have their skins ballooned out (to separate the fat from the meat) with an industrial-strength air compressor.

His signature dish is lacquered duck.

It is possible, however, to make excellent lacquered duck - and even pigeon - at home without going through this nightmarish process.