Important bird: cooking Peking duck at home. Peking duck: the best recipes for cooking at home Peking duck is the most delicious recipe

Peking duck is a classic of Chinese cuisine. According to an Eastern proverb, you haven't been to Beijing unless you've seen the Great Wall of China and tasted Peking duck. It is difficult to prepare an unusual dish, following all the traditions, but there are adapted recipes that are quite doable at home.

When choosing a duck, it is important to remember that the meat of any bird is evaluated not only according to individual criteria, but also in accordance with general rules. A fresh bird always has a uniformly colored skin, and the remains of feathers should not be present on it. If there is even the slightest suspicion that the duck is not fresh, then it is better to spend time looking for a quality product.

What duck can you buy:

• the skin must be free of any damage, including bruising, bruising, dents or tears;
• the color of the skin and meat of the duck should be uniform (there should be no sharp contrasts in any case);
• duck meat, regardless of whether the bird is sold as a whole or cut, should always be slightly moist and sufficiently elastic;
• the elasticity of the duck is determined by simply pressing a finger (fresh meat should not be deformed);
• muscle tissue has a slightly reddish tint (this is a sign of the freshness of the duck);
• if the duck is bought whole, then special attention should be paid to the beak (it must be shiny and clean);
• the webs on the paws of a whole duck must not be damaged or look dried;
• the skin should not be sticky;
• the carcass should be moderately well-fed;
• a young duck has yellow legs and transparent fat;
• the toes of the duck should be easily moved apart (the membranes should not be damaged);
• if the beak is flexible, and when pressed, its slight softness is felt, then such a bird is young (its meat will be the most tender and juicy).

Peking duck at home

Classic Peking duck recipe

It will take:

• duck carcass weighing 2–2.5 kg;
• 4 tbsp. l. honey;
• salt to taste;
• 1 st. l. sesame oil;
• 2 tbsp. l. soy sauce.

1. Take a duck carcass, gut it, and wash and dry it. For this dish, you should choose a young duck, it will turn out juicier and tastier.
2. Rub the bird with salt and leave overnight. During this time, it should be well salted. Direct preparation of the dish should be started only the next day.
3. Prepare a "hot bath" for the duck. Pour boiling water into a large pot or bucket and dip the bird in it several times. You can just pour it well from the kettle. The skin of the bird should turn white. Discuss the duck.
4. Take a syringe with a thick needle and, piercing the skin of a duck, drive air under it, separating the skin from the meat. In this case, the skin does not need to be removed! The syringe in this case acts as a kind of compressor. Rub the bird generously with honey and leave for one hour.
5. Prepare the duck marinating sauce. To do this, mix 1 tbsp. l. honey and sesame oil. Instead of the latter, you can use vegetable oil. Add soy sauce and mix everything. Coat the bird carcass with the resulting mixture, not only from the outside, but also from the inside. This must be done every half hour for four hours. Therefore, you will have to coat the duck eight to nine times.
6. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Build a structure in it: pour water into a baking sheet (about 2 cm), place a grate on top, on which the duck should be laid. The grate should be pre-lubricated with oil so that the bird does not burn.
7. Roast the dish for 40 minutes, then lower the temperature to 160 degrees and leave the bird in the oven for another hour. After that, the duck must be turned over and baked for at least 30 minutes more. The bird should acquire a delicious golden crisp.
8. The presentation of the food deserves special attention. Chinese cooks cut 108 small thin pieces from one duck. This dish is served in different ways. So, meat can be wrapped in the thinnest pancakes, which can be replaced by thin pita bread. First, it must be coated with hoisin sauce.
9. Then place two or three pieces of duck, leek and slices of thinly sliced ​​cucumber. This whole structure must be carefully wrapped in a tube. Peking duck can also be eaten with rice pancakes.

Peking duck with hoisin sauce

Compound:

• duck - 2–2.5 kg;
• honey - 80 ml;
• soy sauce - 100 ml;
• sesame oil - 40 ml;
• garlic powder - 5 g;
• wine vinegar (6 percent) - 5 ml;
• ground chili pepper - 5 g;
• seasoning of 5 Chinese spices (dill, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, Ural licorice) - 5 g.

Cooking method:

1. Wash the carcass of the bird, dry it, rub it with salt and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
2. In the morning, pour boiling water over the duck.
3. Pat dry with a kitchen towel.
4. With an ordinary syringe (medical) pierce the duck skin in several places and press air under it.
5. Melt 3 tablespoons of honey and coat the duck on all sides with it.
6. Put in the refrigerator for several hours. It should lie like this for at least an hour, and preferably 2-3 hours.
7. Mix a tablespoon of melted honey with the same amount of sesame oil and two tablespoons of dark soy sauce.
8. Coat the duck with this mixture and return to the refrigerator. Do not pour out the remaining marinade: they need to coat the carcass every half hour until it runs out.
9. Preheat oven to 240 degrees. Place a tray filled with water in it. Place an oiled grate on top. Put a duck on it.
10. After 40 minutes, lower the temperature to 160 degrees.
11. After half an hour, turn the carcass over and continue cooking for another hour.
12. Combine a mixture of Chinese spices with garlic powder, hot pepper, mix.
13. Mix spices with a tablespoon of sesame oil and three tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir thoroughly so that the hoisin sauce acquires a uniform consistency.

Serve Peking duck with homemade hoisin sauce. To complement the dish, following the tradition, it would be nice to have pancakes with green onions and fresh cucumbers, cut into strips.

Peking duck in the oven: a recipe with oranges

Adapted from a simple recipe for cooking at home - Peking Duck with Orange, the ingredients of a simple recipe include orange juice, orange zest, honey, duck itself, ginger and cognac.

Ingredients

• whole duck carcass - 1.5–2 kg;
• honey - 2-3 tablespoons;
• soy sauce - 3 tablespoons;
• zest of one orange;
• cognac - 2 tablespoons;
• orange juice - 1 tbsp;
• ground ginger - 0.5 tsp;
• ground black pepper - 1 tsp;
• salt.

Step by step cooking recipe

1. We thoroughly wash the prepared duck, get rid of the water with paper towels, cut off the extreme phalanges of the wings.
2. Thoroughly coat with salt outside and inside, before that, watering abundantly and rubbing with cognac.
3. We move our duck to a suitable container, and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Then we take it out, coat it with a mixture of honey and orange zest and again put it in a cool place for 3-4 hours.
5. We pack the duck in foil (2 layers), put on a baking sheet.
6. Cooking in an oven preheated to 200 C, about 1.30 - 1.50. (Excess fat during frying is drained into a separate container).
7. We combine orange juice, ginger, pepper, soy sauce in a cup and add a little melted duck fat (2–3 tablespoons). Mix everything or beat in a blender.
8. We take out the duck, remove the foil (we cover only the edges of the legs and wings with it so that they do not burn), pour the whole duck, including the abdomen, with the prepared marinade, and again in the oven for 40 minutes at a temperature of 220–240 ° C, until it is reddened.
9. We check the readiness as follows: we stick a sharp knife into the meaty place (for example, into the thigh), if the juice has flowed out transparent without blood, then the bird is ready.
10. We cut the finished Peking duck into slices and serve on a dish with unsweetened pancakes made from rice or wheat flour, thin Armenian lavash.

Separately, to the finished Peking duck, cut into pieces, we serve a bowl with sweet sauce (for example, a mixture of soy and honey), fresh cucumbers, cut into strips, onions.

Before eating Peking duck, pieces of duck meat with skin, cucumbers and onions are placed in thin pancakes or thin pita bread, smeared with sauce, and then rolled up.

Peking duck recipe in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

• duck - 1 pc.

For the marinade:

• filtered water - 2 l;
• ginger root - 1 slice;
• soy sauce - 60 ml;
• rice vinegar - 60 ml;
• seasoning "5 spices" - 1 tbsp. spoon;
• honey - 3 tbsp. spoons;
• star anise - 2 pcs.;
• coarse salt - a pinch.

How to cook duck

So, we take a fresh gutted duck, thoroughly rinse, dry, cut off excess fat. We spread the carcass on a grill with a pallet, go to the marinade. Pour water into the pan, throw in sliced ​​ginger, seasoning, star anise, put honey, pour in rice vinegar, soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, boil for a few minutes. Scald the duck on all sides with hot marinade. We put a bottle filled with water in a large saucepan, put a bird on it. We remove this design in the refrigerator, leave for a day. After that, put it breast-side up in a slow cooker, bake until cooked, selecting the “Baking” program. Cut the finished duck into slices, serve with sweet and sour Chinese sauce and tortillas.

Peking Duck Rice Pancakes

Ingredients

• 500 g rice flour
• 2 eggs,
• 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil,
• 500 ml of water
• 1 tsp Sahara,
• 1 tsp salt

Cooking

Mix rice flour with eggs and warm water (20-30 ° C), salt, add sugar. Mix. Add oil, mix until smooth. Fry pancakes in a dry frying pan for 1 minute on each side. Do not fry until golden brown - pancakes should be white.

How to eat Peking Duck

Nobody forbids you to eat duck just like that - without sauces, pancakes, vegetables and seasonings. But, according to the Chinese, it is possible to fully appreciate the merits of the dish, provided that the pancake is wrapped and eaten in accordance with all the rules.

First you need to take one pancake, put it on a plate. Then - a few pieces of duck, which are dipped in sauce and placed in the center of the pancake. Moreover, without a crust, which is previously removed and placed along the edges of the plate. A few strips of onion and cucumber are placed on top of the meat, seasonings are optional. And cover with a crust. It must not get wet in the sauce, otherwise it will not crunch!

The Chinese wrap pancakes with chopsticks, foreigners are allowed to do it with their hands. The pancake is folded like an envelope or parcel, after which it is “sealed” - pressed down on top. And they eat! A special chic is to prepare the filling for a pancake, wrap it up and hold it to your mouth with chopsticks. But here, of course, training is needed. Delicious - nothing to say!

Drinks that are usually washed down with Peking duck are white duck broth, tea, beer, Chinese vodka or red rice wine. Intoxicating drinks can accompany toasts.

History of the dish

The history of this dish dates back many centuries, and the very first cookbooks tell how to cook Peking duck. As early as the Yuan Dynasty in 1330 AD, Hu Sihui, a famous dietician and personal physician of the emperor, first published the Peking Duck recipe in his famous work The Essential Principles of Nutrition, which can be considered the first book on healthy food, the foundation of modern dietology. . This dish became a dish that was traditionally served on the table for the highest aristocracy of China, and the cooks of each subsequent dynasty of Chinese emperors complicated the Peking duck recipe, and the dish acquired legends and improved to reach our time in a complex and original form.

On the table of the Chinese emperors there were many interesting, delicious dishes that could still surprise even the most demanding gourmets with their luxury and exoticism, but it was Peking duck that became a favorite dish at the imperial court. It was this dish that, over several centuries of its existence, became the cause of wars and became overgrown with legends, healing, even magical properties were attributed to it. And the Chinese Empress Ji-Xi believed that Peking duck had a rejuvenating property and regularly made masks from this dish in order to preserve her youth and beauty.

Cooking Peking duck according to a classic Chinese recipe at home is quite difficult. This will require not only knowledge of special secrets, but also a lot of specific ingredients and kitchen appliances. For example, such as a compressor for separating the skin from meat, a special press that squeezes the juice for the broth from the duck carcass, or a wood-burning stove in which the bird is fried.

There are several ways to cook real Peking duck. In the first case, it is hung over a fire, to maintain which branches of fruit trees are used. In this case, the bird is obtained with a beautiful shiny reddish crust, tender meat and a pleasant fruity aroma. In the second case, it is fried in a closed oven. At first under heavy fire, then it is gradually reduced. So the skin turns out to be especially tasty and crispy, and the meat is appetizing. There was another cooking method, which is practically not used now - the duck carcass was pierced with a large fork and fried, holding over the fire.

There is no special need to cook Peking duck according to restaurant technology, because. and baked at home, flavored with spices, honey and sauce, it turns out very, very tasty. It is served with pancakes, various sauces, including Hoisin, fresh cucumber, green onion feathers.

Peking duck - the best recipes

Recipe 1: Peking duck with pancakes

If it is difficult to cook duck according to the classic recipe, then at least you want to serve it according to all the rules. Therefore, in addition to meat, we will bake pancakes and cut a cucumber. The process of cooking Peking duck is not fast, but the result compensates for everything.

Ingredients. duck - 2-2.5 kg, 4 tbsp. lies. honey (liquid), 100 ml of dry red wine, 5 tablespoons. soy sauce, 1 tablespoon. vegetable oil, ground ginger and black pepper, salt. Dough for pancakes: 2 eggs, an incomplete glass of water and milk, 1.5 stacks. flour, a bunch of green onions, 2 tablespoons. vegetable oil. To decorate the dish: 2 fresh cucumbers, soy sauce.

Duck preparation. The gutted carcass must be doused with boiling water from all sides. Ideally, the bird is hung on a hook and poured with boiling water, but at home, a hook in the kitchen is difficult to find, so you can put the carcass in the sink. Pat dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Then the duck is planted on a jar or glass and sent to the refrigerator for twelve hours. Juice will drain from it, so a wide dish or plate should be placed under the glass.

Cooking. Wrap the duck in foil and place on a wire rack. Place a baking sheet under the grate, on which pour a glass of water. Transfer the entire structure to the oven and bake for one hour (190-200C).

For the sauce, mix oil, ginger, pepper and 4 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce.

Remove the duck from the oven, remove the foil, and grease with the prepared sauce. Close the paws and legs of the bird with foil and send to the oven for another half hour, raising the temperature to 250C.

Prepare another sauce. Mix honey and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. After removing the duck from the oven, coat the whole carcass with it. The bird is ready.

Bake pancakes. They can be prepared in advance while the duck is tanning in the oven. Mix all the ingredients for the dough, including vegetable oil, add chopped green onions and bake thin pancakes.

Everything is ready, it remains only to arrange the serving of the dish. Peel cucumbers, cut into long sticks and put on a plate. Pour soy sauce into a bowl. Next to put a plate with pancakes. Cut small pieces of meat from the duck, be sure to capture part of the skin. Chinese chefs cut more than a hundred pieces from one duck. It is not necessary to strive for this, the main thing is to get beautiful thin slices.

The dish is eaten like this: a pancake is smeared with sauce, meat, cucumber are placed on it and the filling is wrapped.

Recipe 2: Peking duck in orange sauce

The meat of a real Peking duck should have a sweetish taste, so it is not rubbed with garlic and hot pepper. When serving, meat slices are wrapped in a pancake, but in the modern version, you can use pita bread.

Ingredients. duck carcass in 2 kg, 3 tables of lodges. soy sauce and honey, 2 tablespoons cognac, a glass of orange juice, 1 orange peel, salt, pepper - 1 teaspoon. 0.5 tsp. ginger.

Grate the carcass with salt, inside too, and sprinkle with cognac. Put the duck in a saucepan and refrigerate overnight. Lubricate the rested bird with a mixture of honey and grated zest, let it lie down for another three or four hours.

Then the duck is wrapped in foil, placed on a baking sheet and baked for about an hour and a half (200C). In the process of frying, turn the carcass over. If there is a lot of fat, it is collected in a glass or jar.

Prepare sauce: mix juice, ginger, soy sauce, pepper and two tablespoons of duck fat. Release the duck from the foil, coat with sauce. Wrap the wings and legs back in foil, and bake for another forty minutes at 220-240C until browned. Cut the warm carcass into slices.

Decorate and serve a dish with pancakes (lavash), soy sauce, cucumber, green onions.

Recipe 3: Peking Duck

Cooked in this way, the duck is obtained with a rich taste, close to the taste of a real Peking duck. This is facilitated by long-term pickling of the bird in a special sauce. Contains dark soy sauce and sesame oil.

Ingredients. duck carcass - 2-2.5 kg, 3 table. lies. honey, salt. Marinating sauce: 1 table each. lies. sesame (vegetable) oil and honey, 2 table. lies. dark soy sauce. Hoisin sauce: 1 table. lies. sesame (vegetable) oil, 3 table. lies. soy dark sauce, 1 tsp. lies. wine vinegar, garlic powder and hot chili pepper, salt, seasoning to taste 5 spices (Chinese seasonings).

Rub the carcass with salt and leave to soak overnight.

The next day it is cooked, and this process begins with a hot duck bath. It must be dipped several times in a bucket of boiling water or poured well from the kettle. Dry. Take a syringe with a thick needle, and piercing the skin, drive air under it, separating the skin from the meat. The syringe in this case acts as a compressor. Then spread with honey and leave for an hour.

Prepare marinating sauce. Mix soy sauce, oil, honey and coat the bird with this mixture every half an hour for four hours, i.e. it happens eight or nine times. And lubricate the inside too. If there is not enough sauce, make more.

Preheat the oven (250C). Build a structure in it: pour water into a baking sheet, a couple of centimeters deep, install a grate on top, lubricating it with oil, put a duck on the grate. Fry for about forty minutes, then lower the temperature to 160C, and leave for another hour. Then turn the bird over and bake for another half an hour.

If you could not buy real Hoisin sauce, you can make it at home by mixing the necessary ingredients. Cut the bird and serve with hoisin, pancakes, cucumber, green onion.

Content:

Peking duck is one of the most delicious and popular Chinese dishes. No wonder that this gastronomic masterpiece delights gourmets around the world! Although the traditional cooking recipe is considered quite complicated, modern housewives can successfully master this culinary delight without leaving home.

Recipe history and cooking methods

Peking duck is famous for its marinade, so you need to stock up on time, since the whole cooking process will take about 2 days.

Beijing caoya is the local language for “Peking duck”, which has been cooked according to unchanged traditions since 1330, when the Yuan dynasty ruled. It was at that time that nutritionist and medical expert Hu Sihui compiled and published the recipe in his work The Essential Principles of Food and Drink. In addition, this person was responsible for the food of the emperor himself! From that moment on, the best chefs served the fattest and most tender ducks to the ruler's table.

The old version of Peking duck has undergone minor changes, but it still exists to this day. There are three types of the dish, and all of them differ only in the way they are roasted.

1. The duck is hung and roasted over a hearth made of firewood from fruit trees (peach, date, pear). The finished bird develops a shiny red crust that is crispy, and the meat becomes tender and has an amazing aroma.
2. The duck is baked in a special oven with a special temperature regime: a very high degree is gradually lowered. Thanks to this, a crispy fried crust is obtained, and the meat becomes juicy.
3. The bird is pierced with a skewer or a large fork, and then roasted over a lit fire. This method is called “chashao”, which means “jerky meat”.

The first and third options can afford only traditional expensive Chinese restaurants, but the second is suitable for modern food establishments and for cooking at home.

Preliminary preparation

Choosing the Perfect Duck

Of course, for the Chinese, the search for the perfect bird is a real ceremony! There is even a specially bred breed of duck, designed exclusively for the preparation of this dish. If you do not go to such extremes, then you need to follow only a few important recommendations. It is best to take a young, but rather large and fleshy bird weighing more than 2 kg. It is desirable that it be fresh and homemade. But if you buy a frozen duck, then be sure to defrost it in advance under gentle mode. First in the refrigerator for a day or two, and then at room temperature for about 10 hours. And in no case do not use a microwave for this purpose. Since such a method will necessarily negatively affect the taste of the finished product.

Starting the preparatory steps, you need to make sure that there are no extra hairs on the carcass, and all the extra ones can be removed with a sharp knife, walking along the skin, or simply plucked. Then you need to thoroughly rinse the duck under a stream of non-hot water. Then excess fat is removed and the smallest phalanges of the wings are cut off. After that, the carcass is suspended and thoroughly doused with boiling water. For hanging, use a hook or hand scales (they have both a hook and a handle). After all the manipulations, the duck is thoroughly wiped and left to dry for a short time.

Ingredients and pickling

The list of ingredients for the marinade, as usual, should not be changed or replaced with alternative ones, only the following ingredients guarantee the correct taste of the dish:

• young fat meaty duck - a carcass weighing 2-3 kg;
• wine "Sherry" - 2 tablespoons;
• liquid honey - 4 tablespoons;
• sesame oil - 1 tablespoon;
• classic soy sauce without additives - 5 tablespoons;
• dry ground ginger or fresh grated root - 1 tablespoon;
• freshly ground black pepper - 1 tablespoon;
• salt.

Pickling Peking duck will last more than a day, so it is best to do this process in the morning. Consistency and patience are important here. It is this procedure that will make the meat soft, juicy, with a unique aroma. First of all, the dried carcass is doused with sherry: outside and inside. Let it brew for 10-15 minutes, then carefully rub with sea or ordinary rock salt. To do this, the carcass is placed on a glass, jar or bottle and placed vertically on a tray. In this position, it is kept for 12 hours. The liquid that will drain from the bird is periodically drained.

After 12 hours, the duck is coated with half a serving of honey (these are 2 tablespoons), placed in a cool place and left there for another 12 hours.

Roasting in the oven: tender meat and crispy crust

After the specified time (most likely the next morning), the duck will be marinated and prepared for direct frying. To do this, the oven warms up to 190 0 C, and the bird itself is laid out on the following structure: water is poured into a baking sheet, a grate is placed on top, on which a duck is placed breast-up, which is covered with foil. And with foil you need to close not only the duck, but the entire grill. The baking time is 70 minutes.

When the Peking duck is fried, the second stage of its preparation begins - the creation of a crisp. For this, glaze is prepared: in a sufficiently deep container, half (2.5 tablespoons) of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and black pepper are mixed. You can use a blender.

The duck is taken out of the oven, removed from the foil and the lower baking sheet. Using a brush, it is smeared with the resulting mixture and placed back in the oven at the highest possible temperature - 250-260 0 C. The crust is formed within 25 minutes. However, it is necessary to monitor the process and prevent the dish from burning. If necessary, you can reduce the temperature by increasing the frying time.

Final stage

At this time, seasoning for meat is prepared from the rest of the soy sauce and honey. These components are mixed and spread in a thick layer on all sides on a browned duck (when 25 minutes are up, it must be removed). In the oven, you need to turn on the "grill" mode and make the final baking of the crust until a thick golden color. This takes 10 minutes. After the end of cooking, the duck is not taken out immediately, but after 10-15 minutes. Then cut into portions and serve.

In Chinese restaurants, the choice of appetizers offered for the main course will be quite extensive. Usually these are flatbreads, Chinese cabbage soup, young onion stalks and various sauces. Peking Duck is served laid out on a large tray, which is decorated with herbs and flowers carved from various vegetables (carrots, daikon, beets). Rice cakes, sliced ​​cucumbers and green onions are laid out on the second plate.

To maintain the tradition, it is enough to cook egg pancakes or serve ordinary pita bread with pieces of meat. But it is not necessary to turn your house into an elite restaurant with numerous changes of dishes. Peking duck itself will take a royal place on any table and rightfully become one of the favorite delicacies.

Peking duck is a culinary "calling card" of China. The recipe for its preparation was invented in the 14th century by the court physician and nutritionist of the Chinese emperor. The essence of the recipe is the preparatory processing of duck meat, rubbing it with honey, baking in a special oven on firewood from fruit trees. Traditionally, the duck was baked in limbo. It is not easy to prepare this dish, and the process takes a long time, but the marinated bird has such an amazing taste that it is worth the effort. Peking duck can be used as a main dish on the festive table instead of roasted turkey or chicken.

Ingredients:

• duck - 1 pc.;
• ginger root - 1 pc.;
• lemon - 1 pc.;
• honey - 3 tbsp. l.;
• dark soy sauce - 3 tbsp. l.;
• rice wine or dry sherry - 150 ml;
• cucumbers - 2-3 pcs.;
• green onions - 1 bunch;
• Chinese mixture of 5 spices (fennel, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, star anise) - 2 tbsp. l.;
• a pump for inflating a duck (you can use a bicycle one).

For pancakes:

• flour - 2 tbsp.;
• sesame oil - 2-3 tbsp. l.

For sauce:

• Hoi-sin sauce - 6 tbsp. l.;
• soy sauce - 1 tbsp. l.;
• rice wine (or rice vinegar) - 1 tbsp. l.;
• chopped ginger root - 1 tsp

duck preparation

Processing the carcass with marinade

baking

Cooking pancakes

sauce preparation

Preparation of a side dish

1. 4. Rinse green onions, cut feathers.

This step-by-step Peking duck recipe is about 80% closer to the traditional cooking method. In ancient times, the duck was pickled for several days, and baked in a closed or open oven over the hearth. The meat of the bird was saturated with the aromas of firewood from dates, peaches, pears and other fruit trees. A properly cooked duck should have tender meat, a thick layer of fat and a crispy crust.

The meat of birds fed with grain for 20 days was used as the main ingredient. Each cook had his own original sauce recipe for this dish. One of the main secrets of the amazing taste is the marinade, in which the bird carcass must be kept for at least a day. At home, it is difficult to achieve such delicacy, but this classic oven recipe also allows you to get juicy and tasty meat.

Modern Chinese restaurants retain traditional cooking methods. To achieve a truly delicious crust, cooks dry the carcass in the refrigerator for 2 days.

The best Peking duck recipes are presented below.

Duck with oranges and giblets

Ingredients:

• duck - 1 pc.;
• onions - 1 pc.;
• carrots - 1 pc.;
• shallots - 1 pc.;
• orange - 4 pcs.;
• chicken broth - 3-4 tbsp.;
• sprigs of cumin and parsley - 2 pcs.;
• bay leaf - 0.5 pcs.;
• sugar - 3-4 tbsp. l.;
• red wine vinegar - 50 ml;
• cornstarch - 3 tbsp. l.;
• butter - 2 tbsp. l.;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
• salt, black ground pepper - to taste.

Preparatory work:

1. 1. Rinse the duck, gut it, wash the insides and chop them finely.
2. 2. Pour vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
3. 3. Finely chop the onions and carrots, put them together with the insides in a saucepan.
4. 4. Fry the ingredients for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. 5. Chop the parsley and thyme.
6. 6. Pour chicken broth into the pan, put chopped herbs and bay leaf.
7. 7. Boil for 2 hours, removing fat from above.
8. 8. Strain the broth.
9. 9. Wash oranges, peel them.
10. 10. Cut the zest into long pieces. Divide oranges into slices.
11. 11. Pour 2 liters of water into a separate saucepan, bring to a boil.
12. 12. Put the peel of oranges in boiling water, cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
13. 13. Strain the water, dry the zest. Do not pour out the water, it is needed to prepare the sauce.

Roasting meat:

1. 1. Turn on the oven, heat up to 220 degrees.
2. 2. Dry the duck, pierce the skin in several places so that the fat flows out.
3. 3. Rub the carcass with salt and pepper.
4. 4. Cut the shallot into pieces.
5. 5. Put the shallots, a third of the orange peel, the fried giblets and half the thyme inside the duck.
6. 6. Place the bird carcass on the oven grill skewer, sew up the holes. If you don't have a grill, place it breast side up on a baking sheet and put it in the oven.
7. 7. After 15 minutes. turn off the gas and bake the meat at 180 degrees. After half an hour, turn the duck over on a baking sheet, after another 20 minutes. - in reverse position. Duck baked with oranges is ready.
8. 8. After that, let the meat cool slightly and cut it into pieces. Serve with sauce and peeled orange slices.

Sauce preparation:

1. 1. Pour wine vinegar into a small saucepan, add sugar there, stir.
2. 2. Heat it, stirring, until a dark color is obtained.
3. 3. Add water in which the peel of oranges, zest, starch, butter were cooked.
4. 4. Boil for 3 minutes. until thickened, add pepper and salt to taste.

This original method allows you to quickly and tasty prepare a festive dish. The use of the grill at home helps to approach the conditions of baking according to Chinese traditions, as the carcass slowly rotates in a stream of hot air. The cooking time is 2 hours.

Duck with port or cognac

Ingredients:

• duck - 1 pc.;
• ground ginger - 0.5 tsp;
• orange juice - 1 pc.;
• orange peel - 1 pc.;
• honey - 3 tbsp. l.;
• soy sauce - 3 tbsp. l.;
• cognac - 1 tbsp.;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking:

1. 1. Wash the duck, dry it, rub it with salt inside and outside the carcass.
2. 2. Pour cognac over the sink.
3. 3. Put the meat in the refrigerator overnight.
4. 4. In the morning, grate the peel of 1 orange and mix it with honey.
5. 5. Coat the duck with the resulting mixture. Place in refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
6. 6. Turn on the oven, heat up to a temperature of 160 degrees.
7. 7. Put the duck on a baking sheet, cover with foil and bake for 1.5 hours, if necessary, periodically drain the melted fat from the pan.
8. 8. Mix orange juice, ginger, pepper, soy sauce and 2 tbsp. l. duck fat from the tray in the oven.
9. 9. Get the duck, pour it over with the prepared composition from all sides.
10. 10. Put the meat in the oven to bake for 40 minutes. Check readiness - pierce the carcass with a fork, if clear juice is released, then the duck is ready.

This recipe is essentially similar to the classic one, but duck is cooked faster. The taste of meat acquires a delicate orange aroma. Instead of orange juice and zest, you can use tangerine. Duck with citrus fruits turns out with a delicious golden crust.

Baking with apples in the sleeve

Ingredients:

• duck - 1 pc.;
• apples - 5 pcs.;
• lemon - 0.5 pcs.;
• a mixture of peppers - 0.5 tsp;
• sleeve or baking bag - 1 pc.;
• salt, ground coriander, nutmeg, dried ginger, a mixture of herbs - to taste.

Preparatory work:

1. 1. Defrost the duck, as in the classic step-by-step recipe, rinse, dry, cut off the fat.
2. 2. Rub the bird's carcass with salt.
3. 3. Mix the spices, let them stand for a while.
4. 4. Rub the spices into the skin of the duck and marinate it for 2-3 hours, for better soaking, you can rub the spices again.
5. 5. Peel 4 apples from the skin, cut into large pieces.
6. 6. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and drizzle over the apples.
7. 7. Stuff the inside of the bird with the cooked apple pieces.
8. 8. Prick the edges of the neck and tail with skewers or sew them together so that the juice and aroma of apples are preserved inside the duck.
9. 9. Cut off the roasting sleeve to the required length according to the size of the bird carcass, tie at one end.
10. 10. Cut the last apple and put in the bag. It will serve as a cushion, which will absorb most of the fat and protect the lower part of the carcass from burning.
11. 11. Put a bird in the sleeve, tie on the second side. Poke small holes in the top for steam to escape.

Roasting:

1. 1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees, put the duck in the sleeve on a baking sheet. It is necessary to do this so that the sleeve does not come into contact with the walls of the oven, otherwise it may burst.
2. 2. Bake until done. Half an hour before turning off the oven, you can cut the sleeve in order to get a crisp on top.
3. 3. Pull out the pan with the duck, cut open the bag, put the meat on a large dish and garnish with herbs, fresh apples or baked potatoes.

This simple recipe uses a dry marinade. The duck in the sleeve does not burn, and the crust turns out to be low-fat and ruddy. The meat tastes juicy and cooks well. Apples are recommended to use sweet and sour varieties, since after heat treatment they acquire a crumbly structure, and their taste goes well with duck meat. The baking time is selected at the rate of 1 hour per 1 kg of bird weight (at least 2 hours).

Recipes for sauces and marinades

There are a large number of marinade recipes for Peking duck. They are made from the following ingredients:

• orange, tangerine or lemon juice;
• olive and sesame oil;
• apple, wine, rice vinegar;
• pomegranate juice;
• soy sauce (traditional cooking method);
• fortified wine.

When serving duck on the table, other types of sauces are also used: plum, oyster, burdock.

As spices are used such as:

• ground pepper;
• cardamom;
• ginger;
• nutmeg;
• oregano;
• rosemary and others.

To prepare a delicious duck, all of the listed products are not needed, as they have a strong smell. Many sauces and spices can be prepared at home. Sauces made according to various recipes should have a thick consistency so as not to flow out of pancakes.

Mix of 5 spices

Ingredients:

• allspice black pepper - 1 tsp;
• anise - 4 umbrellas with seeds;
• ground cloves - ¼ tsp;
• ground cinnamon - 1.5 tsp;
• ground dill seeds - 1.5 tsp.

Cooking:

1. 1. Fry allspice in a pan without adding oil.
2. 2. Put it together with anise umbrellas in a blender and grind.
3. 3. Pour cloves, cinnamon and dill into the blender bowl, mix again.

Sauce Hoisin

Ingredients:

• soy sauce - 100 ml;
• sesame oil - 20 ml;
• liquid flower honey - 10 g.

Cooking:

1. 1. Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. 2. Put it on a low fire.
3. 3. While stirring, evaporate some of the liquid until the sauce thickens.

Honey Soy Marinade with Garlic and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• liquid flower honey - 1 tbsp.;
• garlic - 8 cloves;
• soy sauce - 200 ml;
• ginger root - 5 g;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
• tomato sauce - 2 tbsp. l.

Cooking:

1. 1. Peel the garlic, chop it.
2. 2. Pour honey into a cup, put garlic there.
3. 3. Grate the ginger root on a fine grater.
4. 4. Add ginger and soy sauce to a cup, mix them.
5. 5. Put tomato sauce, pour vegetable oil, mix well.
6. 6. Let the sauce stand for a few minutes.

Simplified version of soy sauce

Ingredients:

• soybeans - 100 g;
• broth - 2 tbsp. l.;
• flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
• butter - 2 tbsp. l.;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking:

1. 1. Soak soybeans for 10-12 hours.
2. 2. Drain the water, pour fresh water and put the pan on the fire.
3. 3. Cook over medium heat for 1.5-2 hours.
4. 4. Mash the beans.
5. 5. Add butter and broth, salt.
6. 6. While stirring the sauce, add flour and bring to a boil over low heat.

Real soy sauce is a fermentation product (fermentation) of soybeans under the influence of aspergillus fungi. It has the ability to emphasize the taste of dishes due to the presence of glutamic acid in its composition, which appears naturally.

How is the dish served and eaten?

The classic way to serve duck in Chinese cuisine is to change 3 dishes:

1. 1. Tangerine pancakes topped with gravy, sliced ​​cucumbers, onions, and roasted bird skin.
2. 2. Duck meat with vegetables.
3. 3. Soup with Chinese cabbage or seaweed, made from leftover bones and pieces of meat not used when cutting.

Duck is served in two ways:

1. All components in a separate bowl. A dish with thinly sliced ​​meat is set in the middle of the table, sauces - in small bowls, on separate plates - strips of chopped cucumbers and green onion feathers. Pancakes are laid on a flat dish, preheated. Each guest chooses slices of meat and dips them in the sauce.

2. Like "fast food", when slices of meat are already put in a pancake or flatbread with vegetables.

Mandarin pancake is eaten as follows:

• pick up a cake (chopsticks are not used in this case);
• spread sauce on it;
• put cucumber straws and onions, then a piece of meat;
• wrap the pancake in an "envelope" or tube.

At the end of the meal, tangerines, caramelized fruits and other desserts are served.

cooking secrets

Peking Duck Secrets:

• If hairs or feathers remain on the bird's carcass, then before cooking they are removed with tweezers or singed over a burning burner.
• The tail is recommended to be removed not only because it is too oily, but also because the odorous coccygeal glands are concentrated in it, which can affect the taste of the dish.
• In order for the duck to soak in the marinade, it must be dried. In China, meat is dried in special refrigerators for at least 2 days.
• Immediately before serving, you can additionally coat the meat with sugar syrup or honey.
• The readiness of the duck can be determined by its appearance - the skin becomes caramel in color.
• In addition to forcing air, the duck is pre-rubbed with massage movements to make the meat more juicy and tender.

If a liquid marinade is used to prepare Peking duck, then salt is added directly to it and stirred well to achieve complete dissolution. In dry pickling, salt is either mixed with other spices or rubbed into the carcass separately. According to a traditional Chinese recipe, meat is cooked with a sweet marinade, the taste of which softens the taste of Hoisin sauce when consumed.

Cooking time: 3 hours

Cost of 10 servings: 856 rubles

Cost of 1 portion: 86 rubles

Ingredients:

Duck large 1pc (2300 kg) - 600 rubles

Fresh cilantro 30g - 24 rubles

Dry ground ginger 10g - 13 rubles

Dry ground garlic 10g - 13 rubles

Liquid honey 50ml - 18 rubles

Wine vinegar 50ml - 14 rubles

Soy sauce 50ml - 9 rubles

Ground black pepper 10g

Star anise 2pcs - 6 rubles

Garnish:

Large cucumber 2pcs (400 g) - 20 rubles

Celery stalks 3pcs (300 g) - 37 rubles

Green onion 30g - 12 rubles

Plum Sauce:

Plums 500g - 40 rubles

Wine vinegar 10ml - 3 rubles

Liquid honey 10ml - 4 rubles

Lavash Armenian (thin) 1pc - 15 rubles

Narsharab sauce 50g – 28 rubles

Cooking:

Chef's tip:

The duck must be selected with the remaining skin from the neck. This is important because this hole will need to be tightened. Due to this, during baking, the melted fat inside will not leak out.

• Cut off the wings.
• Put cilantro inside the carcass.
• With a skewer, pierce the skin of the duck on the neck, as if “sewing up” the hole. Leave the skewer in the skin.
• Make a marinade. Mix dried ginger and garlic, pour in honey, vinegar and soy sauce.
• Season with black ground pepper and star anise. Mix.
• Pour most of the marinade inside.
• “Sew up” the duck on the other side, starting to pierce the skin from the tail.

• Brush the rest of the marinade over the outside of the carcass.
• Place in refrigerator for 12 hours.

Chef's tip:

You don’t need to cover the duck with anything, the skin should dry out during this time and tighten a little. Thanks to this, when cooking, the liquid is better preserved inside, and the duck will turn out to be more juicy.

• Put the pickled duck on parchment paper and on the oven rack. Send to the oven for 2 hours at a temperature of 150 degrees.

Chef's tip:

Place a baking sheet below the level of the grate so that the fat flows down there and does not stain the stove.

Garnish:

• Peel the skin off the cucumbers. Cut the cucumbers into long slices with the help of a housekeeper, and then chop into small strips.
• Peel the celery from the top layer: by picking up with a knife or with the help of a housekeeper, remove the fibers.
• Cut the stalks of celery and onion into the same strips as a cucumber.

Plum Sauce:

• Remove pits from plums.
• Punch plums with a blender, adding wine vinegar and honey.
• Cut out circles from pita bread using a plate or any other suitable dish with a diameter of about 10 cm.

Chef's tip:

Lavash dries out very quickly, so you need to put it in a bag or cover with a lid.

• To make another sauce, pour the rest of the duck marinade into a saucepan and put on fire. Add narsharab sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce to a medium consistency.
• Cut the finished duck along the breast bone, cut the fillet. Cut the breast into thin slices. Cut off the legs. It is important to cut the meat along with the skin without separating it. Remove the meat from the bones and put on a plate in pieces.
• Warm up the prepared cakes.

Life hack from the chef:

You can heat the cakes in the following way: boil water in a saucepan. Put a colander on top, put pita bread in it and cover with a lid.

Serving:

Place duck pieces and vegetables on warm flatbread. Drizzle with sauces.

Bon appetit!