• Place szechuan peppercorn in a pan and roast them lightly until really fragrant. Remove from the heat and place into a spice grinder and ground into a powder. Mix this with Chinese 5-spice powder and salt

MARINADE & DRY:

• Place the whole duck in a cutting board and cut off the head including the neck, feet, wings, and tail. Save these to make stocks. If you like to eat crispy skin, pluck off any visible hair from the skin. Rub the outside of the duck with half of the marinade mixture. Use your hands to really massaging the marinade into the skin. Marinade the inside of the duck using the rest of the marinade mixture.
  
• Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet and place the duck on top of the rack and loosely cover with a parchment paper and place inside the refrigerator for 24 hours to let it dry out
  
• After 24 hours, rub the duck inside out with shaoxing wine and place the ginger and green onion pieces inside the duck

COOK THE DUCK:

• If using Instant Pot pressure cooker: Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot. Place a trivet with handles (the one that comes with Instant Pot, or any other trivet with handles you have) for easier removal later. Place the whole duck on top of the trivet. My 6 Qt Instant Pot can fit the 4.5 lbs duck snugly
  
• Cover the lid and turn the pressure release valve to "sealing". Set the timer to 45 minutes and make sure it's on "high pressure". When it's done cooking, do a natural release, which takes about 10-15 minutes
• Carefully unlock the cover and by grabbing on the handles of the trivet, remove the duck from the Instant Pot, still sitting on a trivet and put on top of an empty baking pan or a large plate. Let it cool down and dry for at least 3 hours.
  
• If cooking with a steamer: Bring the water in the steamer to a rolling boil and then place a bowl inside the steamer that is large enough to put the duck in. Place the duck, breast-side up, in the bowl and let it steam for 2 hours. Remember to check the water level in the steamer during the steaming process and refill as needed. After 2 hours, the duck will somewhat shrink a little bit and there will be plenty of juice in the bowl. I save this juice as stock for other uses.
• Place the duck on a cooling rack place on top of a baking sheet to catch any drippings and let it air dry for at least 3 hours

SAVE THE JUICES AND FAT FROM COOKING:

• Save all the juices from cooking the duck. I transfer it to a large container, let it cool down and chill it. The fat separates from the broth. I scoop out the fat and save it for cooking (it's so flavorful for stir-fry, roasting potatoes, etc). The broth is great for cooking as well.
  

DEEP FRY or AIR FRY

• Put the duck on a cutting board, breast side up, and use a cleaver to cut the duck into half. I cut out the backbone and save it with the rest of the trimmings to make stock in the future. It's easier to deep fry half of a duck instead of the whole duck. If you use an air fryer, you can leave the duck in whole (if it fits your air fryer)
  
• Prepare the starch solution by mixing everything in a bowl. Rub this all over the duck inside out.
  
• Let it dry again for 10 minutes
  

If you deep fry:

• Heat up 3-4 inches of oil in a deep-fryer, wok, or deep skillet. Very carefully lower half of the duck into the oil, skin side up. Use a metal spoon to ladle the oil all over the top of the duck to evenly fry the top part too. Fry for about 5 minutes and then carefully turn the duck over and fry for another 5 minutes. Remove the duck into several layers of absorbent paper towel. Fry the other half of the duck

If you air fry:

• My air fryer has a 7-quart capacity. It is large enough to cook both 1/2 of the duck or the whole duck (but I cut it in half anyway). Preheat the air fryer for 5 minutes on 375 F.
• Place an aluminum foil on the basket. Place the duck on top of the foil, skin side up. Air fry for about 20 minutes or until it's deep golden brown and crispy
  

SERVING:

• Let the duck rest for abot 5 minutes and then place it on a cutting board and cut into smaller pieces with bone intact and serve immediately