Step-by-step Peking Duck Recipe and Tips - All Asia Recipes (2024)
I’ve fallen in love with Peking duck since last year when I had a short trip to Beijing. A roasted duck with the beautiful lacquer honey hoskin and the five-spice glaze makes me so impressed. The slices with crispy golden skin separated from the meat with no fat made me understand why this is one of the essences of Asian cuisine.
Peking Duck (Beijing Roast Duck) – special food of Beijing cuisine, is a must-try dish of China. Its history comes back to Yuan Dynasty when Peking duck was firstly mentioned in an Imperial cookbook. And then in the Ming Dynasty, this dish was one of the main courses in the Imperial menu.
Since it was served in royalty only, the traditional method is laborious and complicated, requiring three days of preparation. Today, the simple recipe for a home version is much easier but the taste still comes close to the original.
Steps
1
Done
Inject the whole duck body with a small knife or fork and slowly pour hot water over it to rinse. Be careful at this step! Put the duck on a rack in a roasting pan and make it dry by using a paper towel to pat. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly throughout the duck, then, leave it in the roasting pan until you are ready to cook.
2
Done
Mix the ingredients together, including honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, five-spice powder with 6 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Use a sauce brush to brush the whole duck, from inside out. Leave it dry in around 10 minutes and brush again. Repeat until the sauce is almost gone, leaving about 4-5 tablespoons for the graze, we will use it for the next step. Ideally, the graze should be marinated on the duck overnight and put it in the refrigerator.
3
Done
Put the duck in the oven which is heated at 350oF and cook for 45 minutes. Turn the duck over, water evenly with the leftover graze in step 2 and bake until the skin is crispy and golden brown, waiting for another 45 minutes. Make sure that you regularly check that the color skin is not getting too dark. If it is, just turn down the temperature and lower the rack of the oven. Remove the duck from the oven after it is cooked. Leave a roasted duck on a large plate while you do the sauce.
4
Done
Mix cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of cold water. Next, heat the pan, then add the ingredients in turn: hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and soy sauce. When the sauce is boiling slightly, gradually add the cornstarch and stir until it becomes clammy. Set aside and leave it cool.
5
Done
On a big plate, place a teaspoon of sauce in the middle of each Chinese pancake, carve some slices of duck, garnish with cucumbers and scallions to make the dish tastier. And then, let’s enjoy the juicy duck prepared by your talented hands.
6
Done
For Garnish:
Slice 3 scallions into long thin strips Slice 1 cored cucumber into long thin strips 1 package of Chinese-style pancakes to serve with Peking duck About Chinese-style pancakes: Also called as Mandarin or Moo Shu pancakes. There are several methods on the Internet guiding you to make this pancake at home. But if you don’t have time, no worry, it is available at most big grocery stores.
7
Done
The Right Way To Enjoy Peking Duck
The way of serving Peking duck in a Chinese restaurant is very unique. The whole duck will be presented before slicing or it might be carved directly at your table in some restaurants. A whole duck can be sliced into about 120 thin slices with both flesh and skin. In the traditional way, Peking duck is always served with some components and ingredients such as pancakes, fresh cucumbers, plum sauce, shallots or scallions, and sometimes with garlic and sugar. The best way to enjoy this special food is by using your hands. Put a pancake on one hand, pick up a slice of duck and use it to drop the sauce on a pancake, add some more duck slices, cucumber, and scallions. Finally, nicely roll up the pancake and taste it. Yummy! How delicious it is! Peking duck is not recommended to eat in summer. In the summer, the weather is humid and crazily hot and surely that you don't like to enjoy greasy food in this hot season. As Chinese culinary theory, the best time to eat Peking duck is in spring, autumn and winter. Why? In winter and spring, the duck meat is very soft. And the ideal temperature, humidity of autumn is perfect to roast a juicy duck.
8
Done
Final Thoughts
You can easily search a lot of recipes of Peking duck, which is adapted and remixed to suit the individual’s preferences. We have tried some and found that this recipe brings flavors that closely resemble the traditional taste. The crispy golden skin with mouthwatering duck meat will impress your taste buds. Instead of taking a flight to Beijing, you can make and enjoy the Peking duck in your home with family and friends. Thanks for reading!
Beijing's Peking Duck is an unmarinated celebration of the duck's natural flavors, requiring a chef's precision to roast and carve at the table. Hong Kong's version, however, embraces marination and serves the duck pre-carved, often with bones, emphasizing convenience and a different flavor profile.
Second, the duck is cooked by hanging vertically in a hot oven. As the fat renders, it drips out and away from the bottom cavity of the duck, leaving the skin crisp and relatively fat-free.
If you have ever tasted Peking Duck, you understand why it is regarded as a culinary delicacy. The rich flavor of the tender duck meat and crispy duck skin pairs well with the salty, seasoned notes of the hoisin sauce.
Peking duck is not stuffed as it is appreciated for its original juices and flavor without the need for extra ingredients. Cantonese ducks are stuffed with star anise, ginger, spring onion, and more than a dozen other Chinese herbs to have their flavors infused for tastier duck meat and bones.
Beijing duck takes a relatively long time to prepare, compared with other Chinese dishes, so it will often be the most expensive item on a Western Chinese restaurant's menu. You might find this price different is exacerbated by your local prices for duck.
A Pekin duck is a white-feathered breed of duck originating in China. This breed, preferred in the U.S. market, has a mild and moist flavor profile and is not gamey like other breeds including Muscovy, Moulard and Mallard ducks. A Peking duck is a famous Chinese cooking method, tracing its roots to the Imperial Era.
One effective technique for achieving crispy skin on roast duck is to air-dry the duck in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight before roasting. This helps to remove excess moisture from the skin. Additionally, scoring the skin and seasoning it with salt can help to create a crispy texture.
Duck skin is best enjoyed hot and crisp to the bite. The meat is then served with steamed pancakes (simplified Chinese: 春饼; traditional Chinese: 春餅; pinyin: chūn bǐng) and an assortment of vegetable dishes, typically julienned cucumber and spring onion.
Mouth-watering duck was made to pair with fruits, like blueberries, cherries, cranberries, apricots, currants, dates, figs, citrus fruits, mangoes, peaches, pears, pomegranates, prunes, and grapes. Seared Duck Breast with Pear Chutney not only has pears, but raisins and orange juice.
This Peking-inspired tender fried duck with crispy skin and soy and honey glaze is an excellent midweek meal recipe and can be from the chopping board to the plate within 25 minutes. Serve with rice and add cucumber and spring onion for a refreshing crunch.
The different steps in duck processing such as assembling, pre-slaughter handling, slaughtering, bleeding, scalding, feather release, inspection and evisceration, chilling and pinfeather removal, cutting and product packaging, and storage management are described in this chapter.
Whole duck is usually roasted in one of two ways; Chinese-style where the skin is dried and lacquered as it cooks, or in the same way as a roast chicken in a hot oven. Roast duck however, unlike chicken, needs considerable help in de-fatting or it will taste greasy.
For instance, Peking duck is traditionally roasted in a closed oven but these days, both open and closed ovens may be used. Open ovens are often found in specialised roast duck shops as a brick fireplace on one side of a wall, with a pole of ducks hanging across it.
Ducks are farmed in overcrowded indoor sheds with little or no access to open water for swimming, bathing, preening, dabbling, and head-bobbing. Usually, thousands of ducks are confined together without natural light.
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