Peking duck - the best recipes. How to properly and tasty cook Peking duck.

Hello, guests and subscribers of my blog! Since you have come to this page, it means you know that today we will talk about cooking Peking duck.

Peking duck is rightfully the queen of any holiday table. Prepared according to all the rules of Chinese culinary art, it simply melts in your mouth. This traditional Chinese dish should be tried by everyone who decides to visit the Middle Kingdom.

Peking duck at home

There is even a saying in China that goes something like this: “You can’t say you haven’t been to Beijing if you haven’t seen the Great Wall of China and tried Peking duck.”

But, if you are not planning a trip to this country in the near future, then this is not a reason to deny yourself the preparation of juicy duck with a golden crispy crust, prepared according to all the rules of Chinese cuisine.

Of course, to cook such a duck, you need to have patience, time and knowledge of secrets. And most importantly, special devices that are needed to prepare the carcass for further processing. Naturally, you won’t find such devices at home, but you can slightly modify the process without missing the main points.

Peking duck at home:

It is difficult to cook Peking poultry according to all the rules at home. But a simplified version is quite accessible. The main thing is to properly prepare the carcass, giving it the taste of a Beijing dish.

The preparation will take most of the time, but then the duck will become juicy and aromatic. When preparing this dish at home, you can add something of your own to the recipe, for example, mango.

Compound:

• Small duck 1 pc.
• Butter 50 gr.
• Red wine vinegar 1 tsp.
• White onion 2 pcs.
• Fresh ginger 1 cm
• Vegetable oil 1 tbsp.
• Mango 300 gr.
• Carnation
• Star anise
• Cinnamon
• Thyme
• Fennel seeds, Szechuan pepper
• Dry white wine 100 ml.
• Honey 2 tbsp.
• Salt
• Ground red pepper

Preparing the duck:

1. Rub the carcass on all sides with salt and refrigerate for 12 hours.

2. Then take it out, let it warm up to room temperature and scald it with boiling water. Rub with cloves, star anise and Szechuan pepper, leave for another 5 hours so that the duck is well soaked.

3. Dry and cut into portions.

4. Place the chopped duck in a bowl, pour over the marinade, stir and refrigerate for 5-6 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment and place the duck pieces on it. Bake for 45 minutes until the meat is browned.

6. Cut the mango into slices, sprinkle with cinnamon and red pepper. Fry in hot butter on all sides, 4 minutes on each side. Place on a napkin so that the oil drains completely.

7. Pour the remaining marinade into the frying pan where the mango was fried, add butter, mix everything to form a sauce. Add duck and mango to the sauce, stir gently and heat for 6 minutes.

8. Place everything on a serving plate, pour over the sauce and serve hot.

You can decorate the dish with green onions, kiwi or mint sprigs. The dish is served without a side dish, but you can add boiled rice to it.

Peking duck - recipe for cooking at home in the oven

Another recipe using citrus fruits. Here they are used not for marinating, but for stuffing poultry. Although the classic recipe does not make Peking duck with stuffing, we cook it at home, so why not try it as an experiment.

Product composition:

• duck - 1.5 kg.
• sea ​​salt
• sweet grape or rice wine - 2 tbsp. l.
• honey - 2 tbsp. l.
• lemons - 3 pcs.
• grapefruits - 2 pcs.

Step-by-step cooking recipe:

1. Wash the bird, scald with boiling water on both sides. It is convenient to do this with ordinary tweezers, removing excess hairs and stumps. Season the inside generously with sea salt.
2. Prepare the marinade by mixing wine and liquid honey in equal proportions. Pull the carcass onto the bottle, place a wooden stick under the wings and secure the wings to it. All this is done to ensure that the skin is well stretched. Then use a brush to cover the carcass with marinade.
3. Place in a cool place for 12 hours, more if possible. It’s good if there is a slight draft in this place. The final result after baking will depend on how dry the bird’s skin is. The better it dries, the tastier it will be.
4. Prepare the fruit. Peel grapefruits and one lemon, cut into four parts. Also cut the remaining lemons into quarters, but with the peel on.
5. Cover a baking dish with foil, place the prepared carcass, and place peeled pieces of citrus fruit inside. Secure with a skewer so that the juice that will form during cooking remains inside as much as possible; this will make the duck meat tastier and softer.
6. Turn the bird over onto the breast and scatter the remaining lemons around it. Place in the oven to bake, don’t forget to place a container of water on the bottom of the oven. Cooking time 50 minutes at 180 degrees. Then you need to turn the duck over, wrap the ends of the legs with foil and bake for another hour.

Homemade Peking duck recipe with apples

Peking duck with apples can become a table decoration if you cook it following the technology. But at home it is problematic to complete all the points exactly. Therefore, you can take a simplified version and, replacing some products with similar ones, bring the dish to match the taste of the Beijing version.

The main point of cooking duck is its proper preparation, which takes a lot of time.

Compound:

• Bird – 1 pc.
• Sour apples – 7 pcs.
• Orange juice – 1 tbsp.
• Dry white wine – 100 ml.
• Soy sauce – 0.5 tbsp.
• Wuxianman – 1 tbsp.
• Honey 2 - tbsp.
• Salt
• Ground pepper, red, white and black

Cooking steps:

A little about Wuxianman seasoning. This Chinese seasoning, which no Chinese dish is complete without, consists of five spices, and if you don’t have a ready-made mixture on hand, you can make wuxianman yourself. To do this, grind cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, star anise and fennel seeds in a mortar in equal proportions.

Preparing for baking:

1. Rub the carcass well with salt and honey. Leave to soak in the refrigerator for about 12 hours.

Then remove the duck, scald it with steam and dry it. Rub with honey, soy sauce, wine and wuxianman seasoning and leave at room temperature for 6 hours.

Before rubbing the duck with spices, you need to use a syringe to blow air under the skin in several places so that it is separated from the fat layer.

2. Every half hour you need to water it with orange juice, thus adding fresh marinade.

3. Peel, core and chop the apples. Cut one apple into smaller pieces and add to the marinating bird.

4. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Place the carcass in the prepared baking dish, previously lined with parchment.

5. Bake in the oven for 60 minutes, periodically basting the carcass with the sauce that flows into the pan. After an hour, stuff the duck with apples. Place a few apples around it and put it back in the oven for 60 minutes, reducing the temperature to 160 degrees.

When serving, you can place the whole breast on a serving plate and pour the sauce over it. Or you can, by cutting the meat into pieces, on which you must leave a strip of golden brown crust, create a culinary masterpiece on the plate by adding a suitable side dish and sauce to the dish.

How to process a bird

To taste real Peking duck, but cook it at home, you need not only choose a classic recipe. According to experienced housewives, many little things are important in this dish. You need to start with the right choice of poultry, otherwise it will be difficult to cook it even according to a proven recipe. Peking duck is ideal for baking in the oven: it has a relatively thin skin and minimal fat.

But let us remember that for the correct recipe, not only the answer to the question of how long to cook the duck matters. Pre-treatment of the carcass and sauce play a significant role. What do we need in the kitchen to cook an amazingly tasty duck:

• bird weighing 2-2.5 kg;
• 3 tbsp. l. honey;
• sesame oil – 1 tbsp. l.;
• dark soy sauce – 2 tbsp. l.;
• salt.

When a housewife is going to cook Peking duck at home, she needs to be prepared that this is a long process. On the first day, you need to wash the carcass, rub it with salt and leave it overnight. In the morning, you can continue the process: there are still many tasks that need to be completed in order to cook the most tender meat. A difficult operation lies ahead - a real bathhouse for the future Peking duck.

The traditional recipe involves dipping the bird into boiling water several times. After drying the meat, take a syringe and use it to force air under the skin of the duck: this process is worth studying in the photo. Afterwards, the carcass can be coated with honey and left alone again, as our recipe dictates. When the meat is soaked, continue cooking Peking duck at home.

Now you need to marinate the duck by preparing the first sauce. It is made by combining honey with soy sauce and sesame oil. Peking duck is coated with this mixture at home every half hour. The procedure should be repeated 8-9 times, then the bird will become the most favorite on the family holiday menu.

When the duck is soaked in the sauce, you can continue the process, following the recipe. Now we move on to baking it in the oven: you need to prepare an oven, heating it to 250 degrees. To make a real Peking duck at home, we place a baking tray with water below. We install a grate over it, having previously greased it. We will fry the bird on it.

How long does it take to cook a duck so that its characteristics meet the requirements of classical Chinese cuisine? A carcass of the specified weight is usually fried at 250 degrees for 40 minutes, and then cooking continues, lowering the temperature to 160. Then you need to turn the Peking duck over and bake it in the oven for another 30 minutes.

How to cook Peking duck with orange?

Preparing this delicacy is a rather long and painstaking process that takes more than one day. The lion's share of time is spent preparing the bird.

Compound:

• Duck 1 pc.
• Oranges 7 pcs.
• Honey 3 tbsp.
• Dry white wine 200 ml.
• Ground black pepper
• Lemon juice 2 tbsp.
• Wuxianman seasoning 1 tsp.
• Sugar 50 gr.
• Water 200 ml.

If you couldn’t get ready-made wuxianman seasoning, then mix cloves, Sichuan pepper, star anise, fennel seeds and cinnamon in a mortar and grind. Everything is taken in equal proportions.

How to cook:

Preparation

1. Mix salt and pepper and rub the prepared, steam-scalded duck carcass with the mixture.

2. Take 1 tablespoon of honey and add seasoning. Mix well and rub the resulting syrup onto the duck both inside and out, trying to rub it well into the skin.

Place the carcass on a wire rack, cover with cellophane and, placing the rack on a deep plate, place the entire structure in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

3. Remove the dried duck from the cold and leave at room temperature to thoroughly soak the meat.

4. Cut four oranges into small slices, after peeling them and removing seeds. Add a little honey, mix and put everything inside.

5. Sew up the skin, coat with the remaining honey mixture, and bake the carcass in an oven preheated to 190 degrees for about two hours.

During this time, you need to baste the duck several times with syrup flowing onto the tray to achieve a golden crispy crust.

6. At this time, prepare orange sauce:

Peel and cut two oranges into slices.

Prepare syrup from sugar and water and boil orange slices in it.

After 10 minutes, strain the syrup, gradually pour in the wine, add the ginger crumbs and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. Remove the finished bird from the oven, remove the screed and remove the filling.

8. Place the duck on a platter, garnish with orange slices and a sprig of rosemary, parsley or thyme.

In order to make the dish in portions, you need to cut the carcass into thin slices so that the juicy meat is covered with a crispy crust. Serve on a serving platter, placing the filling first and then the duck pieces. Pour orange sauce over everything and garnish with orange slices.

The dish should be served hot, so it will better preserve the bright aroma and tenderness of the meat.

In a slow cooker

Tender, aromatic and soft duck is obtained in a slow cooker. Of course, it in no way replicates the classic Peking duck cooked on a spit or in the oven, but it also turns out delicious. And most importantly, this option is a win-win!

The duck is chopped into pieces. For the marinade, use a standard set of spices:

• 4 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce and spices;
• half a tbsp. spoons of vinegar and the same amount of red hot pepper;
• salt 1 tbsp. spoon;
• glass of water;
• a little vegetable oil;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dry ground garlic;
• hot pepper – 1 tsp.

What to do:

1. Salt the bird and refrigerate until morning.
2. Coat with honey and wait another hour.
3. Roll in mixture of all other ingredients except water.
4. Place the pieces in a slow cooker, add water and set to simmer. If the duck is damp, it is better to extend the cooking time.

Step-by-step recipe for Peking duck pieces

Skin-on breasts work best for this recipe. The weight of each of them is about 200-250 g. During the cooking process, the duck is first fried in a frying pan and then baked in the oven with apples and sauce. The result is a tender and juicy dish.

Compound:

• Duck breast 2 pcs.
• Apples 1 kg.
• White onion 2 pcs.
• Lemon 2 pcs.
• Butter 100 gr.
• Vegetable oil 2 tbsp.
• Apple juice 200 ml.
• Brown sugar 1 tbsp.
• Wuxianman (grind in equal quantities: cloves, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds) 1 tbsp.
• Ground nutmeg
• Mint 4 sprigs
• Salt
• Ground pepper

How to cook:

1. Peel the onions and chop finely.

2. Pour apple juice into a saucepan with heated butter, after a minute add chopped onion. Leave to evaporate over low heat. The volume should be reduced by half.

3. Squeeze the juice from two lemons. Peel the apples, remove the core and cut into large slices. Pour lemon juice over the apples, sprinkle with pepper and nutmeg and leave to steep for 20 minutes at room temperature.

4. Rub the breasts with salt and cut the skin in the form of a mesh.

5. Fry the breasts in heated vegetable oil, placing them skin side down first, then turning them over. Fry the meat on each side for 5 minutes.

6. Place the finished breasts on a napkin and cool. Then cut them into thin pieces, leaving a strip of skin on each.

7. Place onion sauce in the frying pan where the meat was fried and heat for 7 minutes, stirring so as not to burn. Add butter, add sugar and cook for another 5 minutes, also stirring the sauce all the time.

8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the prepared products in thin layers on a greased baking dish, pouring the sauce over them each time.

9. The first layer is sliced ​​duck breast, the second layer is apples and so on.

10. Having laid out all the ingredients, pour over the remaining sauce, add mint sprigs and cover everything with a sheet of foil. Place the pan in the oven for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and leave in the oven for another 10 minutes.

11. Arrange the duck pieces and apples on a serving platter, garnish with herbs and serve hot.

The dish must be served immediately, without allowing it to cool. This way it will preserve the taste and aroma as much as possible.

Cooking features

Knowing some of the intricacies of cooking Peking duck will allow you to fry the bird at home so that it will be no worse than in a Chinese restaurant. At the same time, such a culinary masterpiece will cost relatively little.

• Before cooking, the cleaned and gutted duck must be scalded on all sides with boiling water. In China they hang it on a hook for this purpose. At home, you can get by with a large colander or simply put the bird in the sink and scald it with boiling water, gradually turning it on different sides. This manipulation will make the skin and meat of the poultry more receptive; they will quickly absorb the marinade and the aroma of spices, thanks to which the finished dish will have a seductive smell and will be tender and tasty.
• Before cooking, the duck must be marinated at least overnight, although in the Middle Kingdom it is kept in the marinade for at least a day.
• Marinade for Peking duck is made based on honey and other ingredients that give the bird a sweetish taste and allow it to form a golden brown crust when baked. Ingredients that are spicy and have a specific aroma, such as garlic, have no place in the marinade - leave them for the tobacco chicken.
• Protecting the duck skin with foil at certain stages of cooking and changing temperature conditions allows the poultry meat to bake and turn the skin into a flavorful crust without charring it. Follow the recipe directions exactly for these points.
• Place a baking tray under the rack on which the Peking duck will be roasted in the oven, where the resulting fat will drain. Pour water onto a baking sheet. This makes the meat more juicy and makes it easier to wash the pan from fat after cooking.

Traditionally, Peking duck is served with pancakes, fresh cucumber and hoisin sauce. If you can’t find it in the store, you can replace it with regular soy sauce or the mixture in which the duck was marinated, simmer it over low heat for 5-10 minutes and cool. The duck itself is cut into small pieces, trying to ensure that each of them includes a piece of skin. These pieces are placed on a pancake greased with sauce and wrapped, adding a long slice of fresh cucumber.

Video on how to cook Peking duck at home:

And finally, I suggest you watch a short video from blogger Olga Matvey on how to prepare this wonderful and very tasty dish at home. Enjoy watching!

On a note! Peking duck can be served with a sour sauce, such as plum or lingonberry. As a side dish, you need to choose low-fat dishes, since this bird itself is quite high in calories. Mashed potatoes, rice, vegetable or fruit salads are ideal.

That's all for today. And I say goodbye to you until the next issue. Leave comments, share the article with friends and subscribe to blog news.

See you. Bye!

Author of the publication

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Preparatory stage

The process of preparing Peking duck is quite lengthy, mainly due to the need for pre-processing of the bird. Therefore, if you want to prepare this Chinese dish for the holiday, start the process of preparing the bird in advance (a couple of days before the event).

1. If the duck is frozen, it will need to be defrosted, and not in the microwave, but naturally. On the first evening, remove the duck from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator. The next evening, leave the duck on the table at room temperature.
2. A thawed duck or an initially fresh duck (plucked, cleaned of entrails) can be immediately washed and then dried.
3. Trim the tips of the wings (upper phalanges) of the duck. Remove excess fat concentrated in the tail and neck area of ​​the bird.
4. Hang the duck by the neck (using a hook or rope) over the sink or place in a colander. Boil a kettle and give the bird a “hot shower” with boiling water. As a result, the duck skin should turn white.
5. Pat the scalded duck dry with a paper towel. Then rub the bird with sherry or rice vinegar, inside and out. Wait about ten minutes.
6. The next step is to rub salt, preferably sea salt, into the duck (also inside and outside).
7. Now the duck can be sent to “rest” in the refrigerator for 12 hours, giving it a vertical position (place it on a bottle or hang it), since the remaining blood will drain. It is necessary to place a container under the bird for the draining liquid. There is no need to cover the duck with anything: it should dry well.
8. After 12 hours, remove the duck from the refrigerator for the next procedure - honey rubbing. Lubricate the bird thoroughly with honey (only on the outside). Then put it in the refrigerator again for 12 hours.