Peking Duck
Peking duck is one of the more famous of Chinese dishes. The duck is rubbed with honey and baked in a special oven, usually served with steamed pancakes (or ‘mandarin’ pancakes), spring onions, cucumber sticks and sweet bean sauce (Tianmianjiang which can be replaced by Hoisin sauce). There are many recipes for Peking duck, some are easy and some are not, which can make it intimidating to prepare. To make a classic Peking duck, some items in the common kitchen are difficult to duplicate but I wanted to try and prepare this anyways by making some modifications. This way it’s easier but with excellent results. The duck stays juicy and tender with the classic crispy skin, not too thin and not too greasy.
To use a fan when you are drying the duck is not necessary, you can just hang the duck in a cool place or leave in the fridge overnight, but it is an important step for the Peking duck.
Btw, I make this dish twice a year, and always have a great juicy duck with crispy skin!
Peking Duck Recipe
By Published: January 2, 2017
- Yield: 4 Servings
- Prep: 15 mins
Peking duck is one of the more famous of Chinese dishes. The duck is rubbed with honey and baked in a special oven, usually served …
Ingredients
- ~2.5 kg duck
- 1.5 l water for marinade
- 4 tbsp honey for marinade
- 80 ml sherry for marinade
- 8 tbsp soy sauce for marinade
- 1 tbsp ginger powder for marinade
- 2 cm ginger crushed, for marinade
- 3-5 anise star for marinade
- 6 whole cloves for marinade
- 15 white peppercorns for marinade
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, for marinade
- 1 cinnamon stick for marinade
- 1 tbsp sesame oil for marinade
- 3 tbsp corn starch for marinade
- 80 ml water for marinade
- 1/4 cup sugar for syrup
- 1/4 cup soy sauce for syrup
- 1 cup flour for pancakes
- 2/3 cup water for pancakes
- 2/3 cup milk for pancakes
- 1 egg for pancakes
- 2 tbsp canola oil for pancakes
- small bunch of scallions for pancakes
- 2 tbsp hoysin sauce For sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil For sauce
- 1 tbsp water For sauce
Instructions
- Pour one and a half a liter of water in a wok and boil. Instead of a wok, you can use a deep pan. Cut the duck wings, rinse thoroughly and dry with a paper towel.
- Pour the sherry and soy sauce into the wok then add honey, ginger powder, sesame oil and stir. Dissolve the starch in 80 ml of water and pour into the wok and bring to a boil. Carefully put the duck into the wok and cook for about 5 -10 minutes, pouring with a tablespoon of sauce on top all the while. The longer the duck is in the sauce, the sweeter and softer it will be.
- Making the syrup: mix together 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Boil on a low fire until it gets thicker, stirring constantly. Make sure it doesn't overcook, because really cooked sugar can give a bitterness to the syrup. Coat the entire duck with a brush using the completed syrup.
- Place the duck uncovered on a rack. Put it to dry near a fan for 6-8 hours, it will help to remove the moisture.
- Preheat the oven to 180'C (350F), pour a little water in the pan to keep the meat moist while it bakes, put the rack with the duck, breast side up on top, cook for 30 minutes, then carefully flip the duck and cook for another 45 minutes, then turn the duck again and cook another 30 minutes.
- To make the 'mandarin' pancakes: mix the flour with the egg and water. Gradually add the milk and oil, then the finely chopped green onion and beat with a fork again. Bake thin pancakes on a dry frying pan, very similar to a crepe.
- Prepare the sauce for the duck by mixing the hoisin sauce with sesame oil and water.
- Serve the duck with pancakes, sauce, scallion and sliced cucumber.
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