Peking Duck

As a famous dish in Beijing, Peking duck is honored as “the best delicacy” and wins the fame both at home and abroad for its characteristic of charming red color, tender meat quality, mellow flavor, and being fat but not greasy.

According to the legend, the delicacy of roasted duck stemmed from the kind of Peking duck of rare precious breed which is the most high-quality meat duck in today’s world. It’s said that the breeding of the special kind of pure white duck started about a thousand year ago. The generations of the emperors of Liao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty went on hunting trips and caught the purely white wild duck by chance. Later, they raised the wild duck for hunting. And through the ages, the fine breed was cultivated to become the precious meat duck. The white duck is raised by force-feeding, and so it’s called “crammed duck.” Moreover, the Peking duck has been spread to the Europe and America, and amazed people through reproduction. So, the Peking duck, a rare precious breed, has become the source of the precious duck in the world long ago.

In regard to the formation of roast duck, in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) as early as over 400 years ago, the word “grilled duck” has appeared in Shizhenlu (records of precious foods). Till the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), the “grilled duck” has ranked among the famous dishes of the “city food” of Lin’an (Hangzhou). At the moment, the roast duck has become not only the folk delicacy, but also the rare savory dish of the official-scholars’ homes. However, according to the records in History of the Yuan Dynasty, after the Yuan captured Lin’an, the General Bo Yan once transplanted the skills of all works in the Lin’an city to Dadu (Beijing). And the skill of the roast duck has been spread to Beijing, and the roast duck has become one of the rare treasures in the imperial kitchen during the Yuan Dynasty. Later, with the constant fluctuation of the dynasties, the roast duck has also become the delicacy in the royal families during the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, it was the necessary dish during the Lantern Festival. It’s said that both the Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Cixi were fond of the roast duck. Since then, the roast duck was officially named as “Peking duck.” And later, with the development of the society, Peking duck has gradually been spread from the imperial palace to the people.

After the establishment of new China, the fame of Peking duck had increased with each passing day to become more distinguished all over the world. It’s said that Premier Zhou fully appreciated and paid high attention to the dish during his lifetime. He once went to the roast duck restaurant “QuanJu De” to inspect the work there for an amazing 29 times to entertain the foreign guests and taste the roasted duck. To adapt itself to the development of the society, “QuanJu De” has improved itself so that the processing have become more modernized and the flavor more attractive.

The roasting methods of the Peking duck can be divided into the two kinds, one is roasting the duck using fire (i.e. hang-grilled duck), while the other is roasting the duck in an oven. The feature of QuanJu De is that they make use of the method of roasting the duck on fire, which was adapted from the method of roasting the suckling pigs in the imperial kitchen during the Qing Dynasty. The roasted duck prepared through this process has a golden, glossy color and luster on the surface; it’s crispy outside but the meat inside is tender, so it has a unique freshness and flavor. And the way of eating the roast duck is by slicing it with a sharp knife, and then topping some sweet soybean paste on the lotus leaf shaped pancake, later, putting some chives, mashed garlic and the sliced duck together, and lastly, folding it together. It’s extremely appetizing and delightful.

Attention in eating Peking duck:

Peking duck has already become the delicious dish popular with the world. And the generations of the gourmets summed up many attentions when they enjoyed the dish. It seems that only by eating the duck in a certain way, can people enjoy its authentic flavor. And those certain methods can be concluded into the following four parts:

First, pay attention to the season

People should eat the roast duck during the right season in that the improper season would have negative impact on the taste. The taste panelists hold the opinion that the roast duck should be eaten in the winter, spring and autumn. The reason is that the Peking duck during the winter and spring has fat but soft meat texture. During autumn the sky is high and the weather fine, so the temperature and humidity is suitable for making the roast duck; the duck is also fat and strong. But in summer, the weather is very hot and the air humidity is relatively high. The duck, with little meat, is of low quality during the period and is likely to become soft (that is not crunchy any more), so the taste is undesirable.

Secondly, pay attention to the method of slicing

Because roasted duck which is sliced well has an attractive form also a delicious taste. As soon as the duck is roasted, people should slice the meat and put them on the dish for eating in time before the duck gets old. The fresh duck meat at this time will taste crisp and fragrant. There are some notices in the process of slicing the duck, the first is that people should slice the duck skin when it’s hot, and the duck skin is of great crispness; the second is that each slice should contain both skin and meat, with the skin thin but not broken. A 2-kilo duck can be sliced into more than 100 slices of duck meat, and the size is as uniform as clover leaf while the taste is tender and crunchy.

Third, pay attention to the condiment

The condiments for eating the roast duck can be divided into three types which are different in taste and suitable for various customers’ preferences. The first type is composed of sweet soybean paste, chopped chives, cucumbers or green turnips, which can cut the grease and help people feel refreshed. The second one is composed of chopped garlic and soy sauce, and of course, cucumbers or green turnips can be also added. As the chopped garlic tastes fresh but a little spicy, it can also cut the grease, which was popular among the customers in the past. The last one is the method of sweet accompanied with white sugar, which is not so preferred by the customers who are fond of chives and garlic, but is favored especially by the young ladies. The first type is used most commonly. In addition, the sweet soybean paste used therein should come from Liu Bi Ju; otherwise, the taste won’t be authentic or pure.

Fourth, pay attention to the side dish

There are two kinds of side dishes frequently used when eating roast duck.

One of the side dishes is lotus leaf shaped pancakes which can be divided into two pieces at once. Topping some sweet soybean paste on each piece and then adding some chopped chives, cucumbers (or green turnips), and sliced roasted duck. Or topping some chopped garlic, soybean sauce and cucumbers (or green turnips), and sandwiching the sliced roast ducks, then rolling it together to eat. In the early years, QuanJu De has prepared the millet gruel composed of pearl barley and small red beans, which has an attractive appearance and tasty flavor. Eating this specially-made millet gruel after the roast duck will complete the meal.

The other side dish is the sesame ball which can make the taste of the roast duck more delicious.

The cooking process of Peking duck

1. Preparation of raw material: select the healthy duck of 2.5-3 kilos and adopt the way of cutting the three tubes (i.e. vessel, trachea, and esophagus) to bleed the duck. Then scald the duck in the water with the temperature of55-60℃ for about 3 minutes. The action of scalding and removing the hair should be slight but fast so that the hair can be removed completely without destroying the skin. After that, cut a small incision under the duck wing and take out the internal organs; the action of excavation should also be very fast to ensure that the internals are complete. Then, cut off the duck feet and wings, next, rinse and clear the chamber, neck, and the mouth. Then, take out the intestines and the soft tissue in the chamber. Notice that the duck skin should be clear and not be stained by blood.

2. Scalding and coloring: pour some boiling water with maltose on the duck body from top to bottom for a total of 3 to 4 times. Then, pour the water on the whole duck. And the ratio of the maltose and water is 1:6-7.

3. Cooling: put the duck that has been scalded and colored in the shaded and well ventilated place to dry the duck skin. The drying time may be 24 hours during spring and winter, and 4 to 6 hours during summer.

4. Roasting: first, plug the anus of the duck with a stopper, and pour the boiled water from the edgy place in the neck, that is pouring. And then, color the duck again and put it into the oven. The common jujube is the best choice of wood in roasting the Peking duck; peach, apricot, and pear wood second. After the woods are ignited and the furnace temperature is over 200℃, the duck can be roasted. The temperature is key and the furnace temperature should be controlled between 250℃ to 300℃. During the roasting process, adjust the placement of the duck according to the change in the color. Usually, it takes about 30 minutes to roast the duck. In addition, you can judge the maturity of the duck according to the color of the duck chamber when taking it out. If the duck juices appear pink, it means that the duck is medium well; and if the there is a light white color it means that the duck is well done. A milky white color means that the duck is overcooked.

5. Taking the duck out and brushing it: brush a layer of sesame oil on the duck as soon as it’s taken out to increase the brightness of the duck skin.