Beijing's imperial roasted duck — air-dried whole bird with shatter-crisp lacquered skin, hand-carved and rolled into thin pancakes with scallion and hoisin.
Peking duck is the most theatrical dish in Chinese cuisine — a whole duck inflated with air to separate skin from flesh, scalded with boiling water and maltose syrup, air-dried for 24 hours, then roasted at high heat in a wood-fired hung oven until the skin becomes shatter-crisp and an even mahogany lacquer. At the great Beijing roast-duck restaurants — Quanjude, established 1864, and Da Dong — the duck is wheeled to your table on a cart and carved by a master in 120 slices in under 5 minutes, each slice carrying its own little patch of skin and meat. You assemble each bite yourself on a paper-thin steamed wheat pancake: a swipe of hoisin or sweet flour sauce (tianmianjiang), a sliver of scallion, a sliver of cucumber, two slivers of duck, then roll. The skin alone is sometimes served first dipped in granulated sugar, a high-end ritual. At home, without a Beijing wood oven, you can still achieve restaurant-quality results — the keys are buying a Pekin duck (not a wild duck), pricking the skin obsessively, scalding with the maltose mixture, and the long mandatory air-dry in the refrigerator before roasting. This is a two-day project but the result is unforgettable.
Serves 6
Pat the duck dry inside and out. With a clean bicycle pump or a meat injector, inflate air gently under the skin from the neck cavity opening — work slowly and the skin will separate from the breast meat. This is what creates the famous gap that lets skin crisp independently.
If you can't inflate, score the skin obsessively with a needle or trussing pin — 200+ pricks across the breast.
Bring the water to a hard boil in a wide pot. Stir in the maltose, vinegar, Shaoxing wine, dark soy and 1 tsp salt — the maltose dissolves into a syrup. Lower the duck into the bath for 10 seconds. Lift, let drip, then lower again for 10 more seconds. The skin should tighten and look glossy and tan.
Hang the duck by the neck or by butcher's hook over a tray in the refrigerator for 24 hours (uncovered). The skin must dry to a parchment-like texture — this is the absolute non-negotiable step for crisp skin. If you can't hang, set it breast-up on a rack on a tray.
On roasting day, rub the inside cavity with the remaining salt and five-spice. Tuck in the ginger slices, smashed scallions and star anise. Truss the cavity opening shut with butcher's twine or skewers to trap the aromatic steam inside.
Place the duck breast-up on a rack over a tray. Pour 200 ml of water into the bottom tray (prevents drippings from burning). Roast in a preheated 160°C / 320°F oven for 45 minutes.
Flip the duck breast-down for 15 minutes — the back fat renders and bastes itself. Flip back breast-up for another 15 minutes.
Crank the oven to 220°C / 425°F for the final 20 minutes. The skin should turn deep mahogany and shatter-crisp. If a thermometer in the thigh reads 80°C / 175°F, it's done. If skin isn't dark enough, hit it under the broiler for 90 seconds. Watch closely.
Stack Mandarin pancakes in a bamboo steamer and steam over simmering water 4 minutes until pliable. Keep covered to stay warm. If using store-bought pancakes from a Chinese grocery, they're usually pre-made and just need re-steaming.
If making pancakes from scratch, knead 200g flour with 130ml boiling water, rest 30 min, roll into 12 cm circles, pan-fry in dry pan for 30 sec per side.
Rest the duck 10 minutes after roasting. Carve into thin slices, taking skin and meat together — 4–5 cm pieces. Arrange on a warmed plate with the skin pieces in their own pile (some traditions serve the skin separately first with sugar).
Each diner takes a warm pancake, swipes a thin line of tianmianjiang or hoisin down the center, places a couple of scallion slivers and cucumber slivers, then 2–3 slices of duck. Roll up like a small burrito. Eat with hands.
Don't over-fill — the joy is the contrast of crisp skin, soft pancake, sharp scallion and sweet sauce.
Pekin duck — the white-feathered Long Island duck — is what you want. Wild duck or Muscovy has too little fat and the wrong skin-to-meat ratio. Order from a Chinese grocery or D'Artagnan online.
The 24-hour air-dry is essential. Without it, the skin steams from its own moisture during roasting and stays leathery. If your fridge is small, point a fan at the duck on a rack for 4 hours as a partial substitute.
Maltose is the authentic lacquering syrup — it caramelizes more deeply than honey and gives the dark mahogany color. Available at Chinese groceries; honey is the closest home substitute.
Carve quickly — the skin loses its shatter-crisp texture as the duck rests. Have your pancakes steamed and condiments ready before you carve.
Cantonese roast duck — different bird, marinated in a five-spice and rose wine paste inside the cavity, hung in a special oven. Skin is glossy red, sweeter and softer than Peking style.
Two-course tradition — at Quanjude, the duck carcass is taken back to the kitchen after carving and the bones return as a milky soup with cabbage and tofu in the second course.
Half-duck home version — use a duck breast and leg (D'Artagnan magret) for a smaller meal; the air-dry step still applies but takes only 12 hours.
Chicken-pancake substitute — for those without duck access, the wraps work surprisingly well with crisp-skinned roast chicken thigh.
Best eaten on the day of roasting. Leftover meat refrigerates 3 days but the skin loses its crispness. Use leftover duck in fried rice or stir-fried with cabbage. The duck carcass makes excellent stock.
Peking duck dates to the Yuan Dynasty (13th-14th century) when Mongol cooks at the imperial court roasted ducks in hot ovens. The dish was refined in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) when the imperial kitchen moved to Beijing, and the famous restaurant Quanjude was founded in 1864 — establishing the modern hung-oven roasting technique still used today.
Yes — a home oven works with the right technique. The keys are air-drying for 24 hours, scalding with maltose syrup, and roasting at 160°C then finishing at 220°C. The skin won't be quite as crackling as Quanjude's wood-fired version, but it'll be excellent.
Tianmianjiang is the authentic Beijing sweet wheat-flour sauce — fermented, slightly thinner, more delicate than hoisin. Hoisin sauce (a Cantonese sauce of soy and red bean) is the common Western substitute and works well. Look for Lee Kum Kee tianmianjiang at Chinese groceries.
It's not really Peking duck — it's a roast duck breast with pancakes. The whole-duck technique is what gives Peking duck its signature shatter-crisp skin. That said, scored crispy duck breasts with pancakes still make a delicious meal.
Use the same weight of honey instead. The color will be slightly less mahogany and slightly more amber, but the lacquering effect is similar. Don't use molasses (too bitter) or corn syrup (no caramelization).
Per serving (320g / 11.3 oz) · 6 servings total
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