Peking duck has a reputation for being impossible at home. That is overstated, but it does ask you to understand what the dish is actually about.
The dish is about the skin, not the meat
In Beijing, Peking duck is served in several courses, and the first consists only of skin. It is carved off in flakes and eaten on its own, dipped in sugar and sweet wheat sauce. Only in the second course does the meat arrive, which you roll into pancakes together with cucumber and spring onion. The whole preparation is aimed at this one thing: drying the skin until it turns as crisp as glass.
The other thing often lost along the way is the sauce. The tradition in Beijing is tianmianjiang, a sweet sauce made from wheat and soy. Hoisin has become the standard in Western and Cantonese versions, and it works well, but it is darker, more strongly spiced and more dominant. Buy a bottle labelled peking duck sauce and you are closer to the original.
Ingredients for four
- 1 whole duck of about 2 kg, or 1 pack of ready-roasted boned duck
- 2 tbsp maltose or honey
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tsp Chinese five-spice
- 20 thin pancakes
- 1 cucumber and 4 spring onions
- 4 tbsp tianmianjiang or hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar for the skin
Method
- Dry the duck completely, inside and out. Separate the skin from the fat by easing a drinking straw in at the neck opening and blowing air between the layers.
- Pour boiling water over the duck two or three times, until the skin tightens and turns glossy.
- Brush with maltose stirred into the vinegar, soy sauce and five-spice. Hang the duck somewhere cold and airy for at least 12 hours, preferably 24. This step cannot be shortened.
- Roast at 200°C for 60 to 75 minutes, until the skin is dark and crisp.
- Steam the pancakes for five minutes. Cut the cucumber and spring onion into thin batons.
- Carve off the skin first and serve it on its own with a little sugar. Then carve the meat, and let your guests roll their own pancakes with sauce, cucumber and spring onion.
Frequently asked questions
What is served with Peking duck?
Thin wheat pancakes, cucumber batons, spring onion and sweet sauce. Sugar for the skin in the first course. The bones are often used for a soup to close the meal.
Why is it still called Peking duck?
The dish is named after the city as it was spelled before the pinyin reform. Beijing and Peking are the same place, but the dish has kept the old spelling on menus around the world.
What is the difference between Peking duck and crispy duck?
Crispy duck, the one you find in many Chinese restaurants in Europe, is seasoned, steamed and then deep-fried, and the meat is pulled apart. Peking duck is dried and roasted whole, and carved into flakes.
Can I use ready-roasted duck?
Yes. Warm it in the oven until the skin tightens again, and serve it the same way. You lose some of the crispness, but you get the rest of the dish.
Where to find the ingredients
Pancakes and duck are in frozen Asian. The sauces sit under Asian sauces, among them ones from Lee Kum Kee and Koon Chun. If you are steaming something else at the same time, see bao buns, and if you are unsure which soy sauce to use, we have a guide to soy sauce.
