Combine water, cooking wine, sliced lemon and ginger, five spice powder and brown sugar in a pot or wok large enough to fit the duck lying down. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook for about 15 minutes to infuse the flavours. In the meantime, prepare the duck.

Wash the duck under cold running water and pat dry all over with paper towel. Cut out any excess fat around its bottom cavity. To separate the skin - this will make it beautifully crisp and fatless, gently lift the skin with one hand and poke and slide your other hand in-between the breast meat and skin until you reach the neck, ensuring you don't tear the skin through but it has detached from the flesh.

Turn off the heat under the marinade. Place the the duck into the liquid for 3 minutes and spoon it over any parts that are not submerged. Turn the duck over and repeat the process for a further 3 minutes. Reserve the marinade for roasting.

The other important step to getting a perfectly crispy skin is making sure it's dried out before roasting. Pat dry the marinated duck with paper towels. Tie a long piece of string around the bottom of the duck's neck and hang it up over a roasting tray in a well ventilated place to drip dry for about 1 hour. I did this over the stove attaching the string to a cupboard door. Pat dry with paper towel again. Transfer duck to a roasting rack positioned over a roasting tin and place uncovered in the fridge for at least 3 hours. This will help dry the skin further.

Preheat oven to 170C fan forced (190C, 375F, gas mark 5). Place ginger, lemon and star anise inside the belly cavity, cover with excess skin and cross the legs, securing them up with kitchen string. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of five spice onto the duck and rub it into the skin. Place duck on a roasting rack inside a roasting tin. Add 2 cups of the marinade to the bottom of the tin to stop the fat from splattering.

Cook on the lower middle rack for 1.5 hours at 170C fan forced (190C, 375F, gas mark 5). I turned the tray around halfway through roasting for an even "tan". Then turn the heat up to 190C and roast for a further 10 minutes to crisp up the skin. In the meantime make the pancakes.

Using a spoon mix flour with boiling water in a bowl until it starts to form a dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and work for a couple of minutes until there are no lumps. Cover with a plastic freezer bag and refrigerate for 5 minutes. When ready, knead the dough for a couple more minutes and form a log. Cut into 12 even pieces. Flatten each dough ball with your hands, dust with flour and roll out to about 2mm thin between 2 sheets of grease-proof paper. Peel the paper away, grease one side of the pancake with some sesame oil and set aside. Continue with the rest of the dough, stacking the pancakes on top of one another for frying.

To fry, heat a small frypan on mendium heat and cook each pancake for about 20 seconds on each side or until they start to rise gently and get golden spots. You don't want the spots to go to dark though.

Cut the duck in half down the middle. Gently lift off the skin, place on a clean roasting tray, sprinkle with sea salt and grill for a couple of minutes to keep it from going soggy from the steam of the meat. Slice duck breast and leg meat and arrange on a warmed platter alongside finely sliced cucumber sticks, shallots, pancakes, crispy skin and hoi sin sauce.

Smear each pancake with a teaspoon of hoi sin sauce, top with cucumber, duck meat, shallots and duck skin crackling. Wrap up and enjoy.