A Quanjude chef slicing roasted Peking Duck

Peking Duck, or more accurately, Peking Roast Duck (Simplified Chinese: 北京烤鸭; Traditional Chinese: 北京烤鴨; pinyin: Běijīng kǎo yā), is a famous duck dish from northeastern China. The name comes from the traditional, pre-Hanyu Pinyin anglicization of the name of Beijing. It is also known as Beijing Duck or Beijing Roast Duck. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (800x1000, 356 KB) A Quanjude chef is slicing roasted Peking duck into pieces. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (800x1000, 356 KB) A Quanjude chef is slicing roasted Peking duck into pieces. ... Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (全聚德) is a famous Chinese restaurant in Beijing known for its Peking Duck. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... See also duck (disambiguation) Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Anglicisation is a process of making something English. ... Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...

The dish is mostly prized for the thin, crispy skin with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat. Most Chinese restaurants will make two dishes out of one duck -- one with thin slices of skin with a small layer of fat, or none at all, underneath, and another one with the duck meat. The latter is often a stir-fry dish. The leftover duck, consisting of bones, is often then given to patrons so that it can be later boiled into soup. However, many modern restaurants will also make them into a broth for the customers. Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ... Stir frying is a common Chinese cooking technique used because of its fast cooking speed. ...

The history of the Peking Duck can be traced as far back as the Yuan Dynasty (1206 - 1368). By the time of the early 15th century it had become one of the favorite dishes of the imperial Ming family. The Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: Yuáncháo; Mongolian: Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus), lasting officially from 1271 to 1368, followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty in the historiography of China. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... The Ming Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. ...

The two most famous restaurants in Beijing which serve this specialty are Quanjude and Bianyifang (便宜坊). Both establishments have a history of well over a hundred years and have an extensive network of chain stores. Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (全聚德) is a famous Chinese restaurant in Beijing known for its Peking Duck. ...

Preparation

Peking Duck requires a duck with its head still attached. First, it is inflated with a pump or other object, separating the skin from the body (this was done by blowing through a straw by someone with a strong lung in ancient times). Then the skin is scalded with boiling water to make it drier and tauter and brushed with molasses so that it acquires a dark, rich color with the slight aroma of caramel during the subsequent cooking process. After drying for half a day, the duck is hung by its neck in a hot oven where it is roasted for an hour or more, during which time the copious fat of the duck melts off and the skin becomes crispy. Because a large oven is required, as well as other complicated preparation techniques, Peking Duck is not usually prepared at home; it is customarily eaten in a restaurant or bought already prepared at shops or restaurants and taken home to eat. Domesticated ducks The domesticated ducks are kept for meat, eggs and down. ... An electrically driven pump (electropump) for waterworks near the Hengsteysee, Germany. ... Molasses or treacle is a thick syrup by-product from the processing of the sugarcane or sugar beet into sugar. ... A piece of caramel confectionery. ... Oven depicted in a painting by Millet An oven is an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. ... Roasting is cooking with dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. ...

In China, a special breed of duck is reared in the North exclusively for this dish. The ducks are kept in individual cages and force‑fed so that they grow plump and without muscle. Peking duck is thus also called Peking stuffed duck (Simplified Chinese: 北京填鸭; Traditional Chinese: 北京填鴨; pinyin: běijīng tián yā) because of that. Force-feeding is the practice of feeding someone against his or her will. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme...

In the United States, some health-conscious Americans find the excessive fat under the duck skin unpalatable. The chefs there find creative ways to either remove the fat during the skin separation step or cut strategically placed holes near the bottom of the duck to let the grease drip away during cooking. Usually regular ducks are used for their lesser fat content. Thus, arguably, the Peking Duck served in the US is often not authentic due to Western consumer preferences.

Serving

Peking Duck, served in a Western style with more meat than skin.

A traditional way of serving Peking Duck is a three course meal: first course is served with the crispy skin and steamed mu-shi flour pancakes, slivered spring onions (U.S.:scallions) and Tian Mian Jiang sauce. (other restaurants will use mantou, a type of Chinese fluffy steamed bun.) One places pieces of chopped duck skin on a pancake, adds a bit of hoisin sauce, plum sauce, and spring onion. The mixture is rolled up and eaten. Peking Duck (Beijing Duck). ... Peking Duck (Beijing Duck). ... Pancakes are a type of flatbread prepared from a batter that is baked on a hot griddle or frying pan. ... The common name scallion is associated with various members of the genus Allium that lack a fully-developed bulb. ... Sweet noodle sauce (Chinese: 甜麵醬, also known as sweet bean sauce) is composed of grounded fermented yellow soybeans (that is, what is left of the soybeans after the fermentation of soybeans into soy sauce), flour, sugar, and salt. ... Mantou or man tou (Simplified Chinese: 馒头; Traditional Chinese: 饅頭; pinyin: ), sometimes known as Chinese steamed bun, is a kind of steamed buns typically served in Northern Chinese cuisine. ...

The remaining duck meat is usually chopped up, stir-fried, and eaten wrapped in fresh lettuce, while the bones are used for broth. Binomial name Lactuca sativa L. Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... Broth is a liquid in which meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered and strained out. ...

Crispy aromatic duck

Crispy aromatic duck is a variant of Peking duck that originated in the Chinese community in the United Kingdom. In this version, the duck is rubbed with aromatic spices such as five-spice powder and then deep fried instead of roasted. This enables the meat to be flaked off the bone and shredded easily, a process which is usually performed in front of the patrons of the restaurant. This deep-fried shredded meat is then served with pancakes and the usual condiments. Five-spice powder (五香粉, wǔxiāngfěn in hanyu pinyin) is a convenient seasoning for Chinese cuisine, particularly Cantonese cuisine. ...

Peking duck-style education

In China and other Asian nations, students often memorize books for public examinations without understanding the contents. Due to its similarity in stuffing a duck for Peking Duck, it is called "Peking duck-style education".

Varients

A form of 'Nanjing duck' (南京烤鴨) was made around Ming dynasty, where water is stuffed inside the duck during roasting.[1]   (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: NánjÄ«ng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling)) is the capital of Chinas Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. ... The Ming Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. ...

See also

• Chinese cuisine
• Mandarin cuisine

Chinese cuisine is widely seen as representing one of the richest and most diverse culinary cuisines and heritages in the world. ... Mandarin cuisine or Beijing cuisine (Chinese: 京菜; pinyin: ) is a cooking style in Beijing, China. ...

External links

• An example Peking Duck recipe
• Recipe for Crispy Aromatic Duck