There is an actual saying that no visit to Beijing is complete if you miss seeing the Great Wall or dining on Roast Duck. The Beijing (or formerly Peking) Roast duck has been around since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and initially was one of the main dishes served for the imperial courts.
But, enough about history! Let's talk about the Roast Duck dish itself. This is one of my favorite dishes! (I feel like I say this all the time, haha, I just have a lot of favorites - I love food!)
It's known for its crispy skin and juicy meat on the inside! This is because it's roasted in a special oven, usually hanging upside down.
The roast duck's pieces is usually served with thin soft crepes, and you can eat the duck wrapped in the crepes with green onions (or leek), cucumbers, and some sort of sweet sauce (such as plum or Hoisin sauce). Sometimes instead of soft crepes it's more like a steamed bao.
Notice the black sauce at the side? That is Hoisin sauce (which directly translate to seafood sauce 海鮮醬). On the dish there is also green onions and cucumbers along with the roast duck which has been chopped in to pieces).
So what you do is you take the crepe/ bao they give you and wrap all the ingredients and sauce as if you're eating a Chinese fajita. You are going to LOVE the crisp the roasted duck gives you!
It's common to order it "3 ways" as in the one duck is served in 3 various methods.
1 - the way I just described with the crepes/buns
2 - some of the meat is taken and stir fried with veggies
3 - the rest if made in to a soup!
Here's the soup we enjoyed along with our Roast Duck:
If you'd like to try making this at home, check out these recipes:
Peking Duck, An Easy Home Version (北京烤鸭) - Red House Spice
Homemade Peking Duck - China Sichuan Food
Peking Duck - Maple Leaf
And if you want to cook it up with some soup....
Leftover Chinese Roast Duck Noodle Soup - ET Food Voyage
Peking Duck Noodle Soup - Cooking Channel TV
Peking Duck Broth With Nappa Cabbage - LA Times
Have you ever had Peking Duck , and if not what are you waiting for??
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Got questions or comments? Drop them below!