Peking duck

Description:

Peking Duck, or Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era, and is now considered one of China's national foods. It is listed at number 5 on World's 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011.

The dish is prized for the thin, crisp skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred specially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is eaten with pancakes, spring onions, and hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce. The two most notable restaurants in Beijing which serve this delicacy are Quanjude and Bianyifang, two centuries-old establishments which have become household names.

Country of Origin:

China

How to make "Peking duck" (Recipe):

Ingredients

1 lemon

3 tbs honey

3 tbs dark soy sauce

150ml Shaohsing rice wine*

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

2-2.5kg duck

Mandarin pancakes (see related recipe, alternatively they are available frozen from Asian supermarkets)

2 Lebanese cucumbers, cut into strips

Small bunch spring onions, cut into strips

Hoisin sauce, to drizzle

Method

To make the marinade, cut the lemon into 1/4cm slices and place in a medium saucepan with 1.2 litres of water, the honey, soy sauce, rice wine and spices. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes until flavours are infused. Set aside.

Wash duck inside and out, then pat dry with paper towel. Use kitchen string to tie the duck's legs firmly together. Place in a large pan and pour over a kettle of boiling water. Leave for 1 minute. Transfer duck to a wire rack over a roasting tray, pat dry, then baste with marinade until the skin is completely coated.

Set the uncovered duck aside to dry out for 4-5 hours (you can face a fan onto the duck to speed up the process - the duck skin should feel like taut parchment when ready).

Preheat the oven to 240°C.

Pour 50ml cold water into the pan (to stop the fat from splattering). Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180°C and roast for a further 1 1/4 hours. Set duck aside for 10 minutes to rest before carving.

Prepare the pancakes (see related recipe). Carve the duck into thin slices. To serve, place a pancake on each plate, then a slice of duck in the middle of the pancake. Add some cucumber and spring onion strips, drizzle with hoisin sauce, wrap and enjoy.