Peking Duck

Name: Peking Duck
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 whole duck, 2–2.5 kg, air-dried class if available (the plumper, the better — the fat layer under the skin is the roast's engine); 1 kettle of boiling water (about 1.5 litres); An air pump or a straw, for the skin's inflation (the traditional method; a hand pump or even careful mouth-inflation through a small neck incision works at home); 3 tbsp (45 ml / 60 g) maltose or honey, warmed with 3 tbsp (45 ml / 45 g) hot water and 1 tbsp (15 ml) rice vinegar to a thin glaze; 1 tsp (5 g) salt, rubbed inside the cavity only; A roasting pan with a wire rack and a water bath beneath (the fat's splash protection); A bottle for the vertical roast (optional, the traditional upright method) or the rack's horizontal honesty; 20 Mandarin pancakes (shop-bought, steamed to warm — or the flour-and-water wrappers, rolled thin and stacked); 4 scallions, cut to matchsticks (about 100 g); 1 cucumber (about 150 g), cut to batons; The duck itself, 2–2.5 kg of it, carrying perhaps 800 g of fat beneath the skin and 700 g of meat above the bone; 4 tbsp (60 g) hoisin sauce, warmed (plus an extra 20 g at the table's discretion); The carcass, for the stock pot — the meal's third course by tradition; Day one, the preparation (about 1 hour of work): the duck rinsed and patted thoroughly dry; the skin separated from the flesh by sliding a finger or the handle of a wooden spoon between skin and meat over the breast and thighs (gently, without tearing — the pocket this creates is where the inflation and the rendering live); the neck's skin slit or a small incision made at the neck for the air; the whole duck inflated — pumped or blown — until the skin balloons visibly away from the meat over the whole bird; and immediately scalded: the kettle's boiling water poured slowly and evenly over every inch of the skin's surface, the skin tightening and turning faintly translucent as it shrinks.; The salt rubbed inside the cavity only — the skin's exterior stays unsalted (salt draws moisture to the surface, the crisp's enemy).; The lacquer brushed over the whole scalded skin in one thin coat, and the duck hung or propped in the coldest, driest place the house offers — a refrigerator shelf with the duck on a rack, uncovered, air circulating — for 24 hours minimum, 48 if the house can spare it.

Chinese · Hard · Serves 4

The cuisine's state dish and the roast canon's summit: a duck whose skin has been separated from its fat, inflated, scalded, dried for a full day, lacquered, and roasted until the skin shatters like glass and the meat beneath stays juice-soft — carved at the table into thin, skin-forward pieces and wrapped in pancakes with scallion, cucumber, and hoisin. Peking duck is Beijing's four-hundred-year dish (the imperial kitchen's rotation, the restaurant Quanjude's 1864 codification), and it is the most technique-dense roast in any canon this library carries: every step exists to remove water from the skin while keeping it in the meat, and the whole method is that separation. This record teaches the home version honestly: a two-day project of which perhaps ninety minutes are work, run on an ordinary oven, that produces a duck whose skin genuinely shatters — not the restaurant's hundred-slice bird, but the real dish at the working tolerance the wok-doctrine essay calls the home method.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The duck

the fat layer under the skin is the roast's engine)

The scald and the separation

The lacquer

The roast

To serve — the pancakes and the assembly

or the flour-and-water wrappers, rolled thin and stacked)
the meal's third course by tradition
the pocket this creates is where the inflation and the rendering live); the neck's skin slit or a small incision made at the neck for the air; the whole duck inflated — pumped or blown — until the skin balloons visibly away from the meat over the whole bird; and immediately scalded: the kettle's boiling water poured slowly and evenly over every inch of the skin's surface, the skin tightening and turning faintly translucent as it shrinks.
the skin's exterior stays unsalted (salt draws moisture to the surface, the crisp's enemy).
a refrigerator shelf with the duck on a rack, uncovered, air circulating — for 24 hours minimum, 48 if the house can spare it.

Step 1. The roast — 1 hour 30 minutes at 190 °C, in two stages. The oven preheated fully with the roasting pan's water bath inside it (a centimetre of water in the pan's base — the dripping fat's splash protection, and the oven's humidity regulator). The dried duck on the rack, breast-side up (or on the bottle, upright, the traditional way), and the roast's first stage: 60 minutes at 190 °C (fan 170 °C), the skin browning slowly and the fat beginning to render in visible drops. Checkpoint — at 60 minutes the skin is an even, deep amber-gold over the whole bird, taut and beginning to show the first fine blistering at the breast — and the pan's water bath has caught a visible layer of rendered fat beneath. No basting, no turning: the skin's surface stays dry, the dryness stays the law.

Step 2. The final blast — 20–30 minutes at 220 °C, the oven raised for the skin's last crisping, watched through the door: the skin deepens from amber to a rich mahogany-gold and the blistering spreads — the fat beneath the skin's last reserve rendering in the higher heat. Checkpoint — the finished duck: the skin a deep, glossy, blistered mahogany over the whole bird, drum-tight at the tap of a fingernail (the tap should feel and sound like tapping glass — the shatter's promise), and the meat beneath, at the thigh's deepest pierce, running clear juices. The total internal temperature at the thigh's thickest point: 80 °C–85 °C — the duck's meat is fully cooked through (the skin is the dish, not the pink of the Western roast), and the breast remains soft under its glass. Chef’s Note — the two-stage roast's temperatures are the rendering's arithmetic: the first hour at 190 °C holds the fat layer at a slow, steady melt — the fat rendering out from between skin and meat gradually enough that the skin, lifted and taut, dries and sets rather than soaking in its own liquidity — and the final blast at 220 °C finishes what the drying began: the skin's last internal moisture driven off in the fierce heat, its proteins and remaining fat setting to the glass-shatter the table waits for. A single hot roast burns the skin's exterior before the fat has melted (the rubber-skin failure, with the fat trapped); a single low roast leaves the skin amber but chewy. Two stages, two duties — the render and the shatter — and neither substitutes for the other.

Step 3. The rest and the carve — 15 minutes, then the ceremony. The duck rested 15 minutes (the meat's juices settling — the skin, during the rest, holding its shatter), and the carving done properly: the skin first, lifted in thin, whole sheets from the breast and thighs with a sharp knife (the traditional first course — the skin alone, dipped in a little sugar, the imperial way), and then the meat sliced from the carcass in thin pieces, some with their skin's remainder attached. Checkpoint — the carving's proof: the skin lifted in sheets that crack audibly at the knife's edge (not tear, not bend — crack), and the meat beneath moist and yielding at the slice. The first piece of skin, eaten from the carving board, is the cook's fee and the two days' answer.

Step 4. The pancakes and the assembly. The pancakes steamed to warm (the stack wrapped in a cloth in the steamer for 3–4 minutes, or the microwave's 30 seconds with a damp towel), the scallion and cucumber in their dishes, the hoisin warmed, and each diner's pancake built: a spread of hoisin, two or three pieces of duck, the scallion and cucumber at the centre, the pancake rolled and eaten by hand. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first bite gives the skin's glass-shatter, the meat's soft savour, the hoisin's sweet-salt, and the scallion's bite in one wrap — the four-hundred-year dish's whole argument, and the home version's honest answer to it. Chef’s Note — the pancake's build has an order the table learns in one wrap: the hoisin first (it anchors the duck's fat to the pancake's surface), the duck next, the scallion and cucumber last — on top of the duck, not beneath it — so that the wrap's first bite meets the pancake's chew, then the meat and sauce, then the fresh vegetables' crunch as the bite closes. A wrap built upside-down (vegetables first) delivers its freshness before its richness and eats as salad in a blanket; the order is the wrap's architecture, the same sequencing logic that runs every dish in this canon.

Doneness & Quality Checkpoints

The preparation: the skin separated, inflated, scalded taut, and dried 24–48 hours to parchment dryness.
The roast: 60 minutes at 190 °C (the render), then 20–30 at 220 °C (the shatter) — amber to mahogany, drum-tight at the tap.
The carve: the skin in sheets that crack, the meat juicy at the slice.
The wrap: hoisin, duck, vegetables, rolled — the order the architecture.

Finish & Plate

The duck carved at the table, the pancakes steamed and stacked, the sauces and vegetables in their dishes — the family assembling its own wraps, and the carcass (never discarded at the table's end) carried to the stock pot for the meal's third course, the duck-bone congee the tradition asks by right.

Peking Duck

Prep: 1 hour active, plus 24 hours drying · Cook: 1 hour 30 minutes · Total: 2 days (mostly unattended drying) · Serves 4

Ingredients

The duck

1 whole duck, 2–2.5 kg, air-dried class if available (the plumper, the better — the fat layer under the skin is the roast's engine)

The scald and the separation

1 kettle of boiling water (about 1.5 litres)
An air pump or a straw, for the skin's inflation (the traditional method; a hand pump or even careful mouth-inflation through a small neck incision works at home)

The lacquer

3 tbsp (45 ml / 60 g) maltose or honey, warmed with 3 tbsp (45 ml / 45 g) hot water and 1 tbsp (15 ml) rice vinegar to a thin glaze
1 tsp (5 g) salt, rubbed inside the cavity only

The roast

A roasting pan with a wire rack and a water bath beneath (the fat's splash protection)
A bottle for the vertical roast (optional, the traditional upright method) or the rack's horizontal honesty

To serve — the pancakes and the assembly

20 Mandarin pancakes (shop-bought, steamed to warm — or the flour-and-water wrappers, rolled thin and stacked)
4 scallions, cut to matchsticks (about 100 g)
1 cucumber (about 150 g), cut to batons
The duck itself, 2–2.5 kg of it, carrying perhaps 800 g of fat beneath the skin and 700 g of meat above the bone
4 tbsp (60 g) hoisin sauce, warmed (plus an extra 20 g at the table's discretion)
The carcass, for the stock pot — the meal's third course by tradition
Day one, the preparation (about 1 hour of work): the duck rinsed and patted thoroughly dry; the skin separated from the flesh by sliding a finger or the handle of a wooden spoon between skin and meat over the breast and thighs (gently, without tearing — the pocket this creates is where the inflation and the rendering live); the neck's skin slit or a small incision made at the neck for the air; the whole duck inflated — pumped or blown — until the skin balloons visibly away from the meat over the whole bird; and immediately scalded: the kettle's boiling water poured slowly and evenly over every inch of the skin's surface, the skin tightening and turning faintly translucent as it shrinks.
The salt rubbed inside the cavity only — the skin's exterior stays unsalted (salt draws moisture to the surface, the crisp's enemy).
The lacquer brushed over the whole scalded skin in one thin coat, and the duck hung or propped in the coldest, driest place the house offers — a refrigerator shelf with the duck on a rack, uncovered, air circulating — for 24 hours minimum, 48 if the house can spare it.

Instructions

The roast — 1 hour 30 minutes at 190 °C, in two stages. The oven preheated fully with the roasting pan's water bath inside it (a centimetre of water in the pan's base — the dripping fat's splash protection, and the oven's humidity regulator). The dried duck on the rack, breast-side up (or on the bottle, upright, the traditional way), and the roast's first stage: 60 minutes at 190 °C (fan 170 °C), the skin browning slowly and the fat beginning to render in visible drops. Checkpoint — at 60 minutes the skin is an even, deep amber-gold over the whole bird, taut and beginning to show the first fine blistering at the breast — and the pan's water bath has caught a visible layer of rendered fat beneath. No basting, no turning: the skin's surface stays dry, the dryness stays the law.
The final blast — 20–30 minutes at 220 °C, the oven raised for the skin's last crisping, watched through the door: the skin deepens from amber to a rich mahogany-gold and the blistering spreads — the fat beneath the skin's last reserve rendering in the higher heat. Checkpoint — the finished duck: the skin a deep, glossy, blistered mahogany over the whole bird, drum-tight at the tap of a fingernail (the tap should feel and sound like tapping glass — the shatter's promise), and the meat beneath, at the thigh's deepest pierce, running clear juices. The total internal temperature at the thigh's thickest point: 80 °C–85 °C — the duck's meat is fully cooked through (the skin is the dish, not the pink of the Western roast), and the breast remains soft under its glass.
The rest and the carve — 15 minutes, then the ceremony. The duck rested 15 minutes (the meat's juices settling — the skin, during the rest, holding its shatter), and the carving done properly: the skin first, lifted in thin, whole sheets from the breast and thighs with a sharp knife (the traditional first course — the skin alone, dipped in a little sugar, the imperial way), and then the meat sliced from the carcass in thin pieces, some with their skin's remainder attached. Checkpoint — the carving's proof: the skin lifted in sheets that crack audibly at the knife's edge (not tear, not bend — crack), and the meat beneath moist and yielding at the slice. The first piece of skin, eaten from the carving board, is the cook's fee and the two days' answer.
The pancakes and the assembly. The pancakes steamed to warm (the stack wrapped in a cloth in the steamer for 3–4 minutes, or the microwave's 30 seconds with a damp towel), the scallion and cucumber in their dishes, the hoisin warmed, and each diner's pancake built: a spread of hoisin, two or three pieces of duck, the scallion and cucumber at the centre, the pancake rolled and eaten by hand. Checkpoint — the eating test: the first bite gives the skin's glass-shatter, the meat's soft savour, the hoisin's sweet-salt, and the scallion's bite in one wrap — the four-hundred-year dish's whole argument, and the home version's honest answer to it.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Skin rubbery, attached to fat	The inflation or the scald skipped	The finger's separation and the boiling water — the two non-negotiables

Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations

- The duck serves the day, carved — the skin does not survive the night, but the leftover meat fills the next day's congee or fried rice, and the carcass makes the stock the congee asks. The dried, lacquered duck holds 48 hours in the refrigerator before the roast — the make-ahead's full gift. - Variation — the Cantonese roast duck (the site's own record): the same duck, roasted with the wet marinade inside the cavity and the skin's crisp from the same scald-and-dry — the southern cousin, sauced from within. - The canon's seat: the roast canon's summit and the Chinese cluster's ceremonial master — the skin-meat separation, the scald-and-dry, and the two-stage render taught once, and lent to every crisp-skin duck and pork the canon carries after.