Ingredients
1 no ingredients
Directions
Someone asked about Peking Duck. I've got two recipes in my
collection - one is too simple, the other too long to post.
So I'll just describe what to do, very briefly. If you want a good
detailed recipe, check out Ken Hom's Chinese Technique (Simon &
Schuster, 1981).
1. Loosen the skin from the duck by massaging it, pulling the skin
away where possible.
2. Blanch the duck for a couple of minutes.
3. Hang it up to dry for 4 hours, then baste it with sherry or with
honey-water 1/2 and 1/2 mixture. Hang it up again to dry for 4 hours.
4. Roast duck - one recipe says the other says
30 min. at 375 15 min at 450
1 hour at 250 55 min at 350
30 min at 400 20 min at 450
The rationale for this I'm not sure of, but all recipes claim that
changing the oven temperature makes a vast difference.
5. To serve - slice off skin and cut it into 1"x2" pieces. Cut meat
into similar-sized pieces. Provide 2" scallion lengths (green and
white part), hoisin sauce (canned or bottled), pancakes (below). Each
diner rolls a bit of meat, a bit of skin, and a scallion length into
a pancake that has been spread with about a teaspoon of hoisin sauce
and eats the mess with fingers.
Pancakes (adapted from Grace Zia Chu, Pleasures of Chinese Cooking):
2 c flour, 1 c boiling water, 2 T dark sesame oil
Add water to flour in a bowl and work with a wooden spoon into a
dough. Knead 10 min. and let rest for 10 min.
Form into a long roll about 2" in diameter. Cut into 1/2" pieces and
flatten to 1/4". Brush a little oil over a piece of dough and lay
another piece over it. Roll out with rolling pin, slowly and from the
center out, until the piece is 4" or more in diameter. Proceed until
all dough is rolled out.
Heat ungreased griddle over low flame and add dough circle. When it
bubbles slightly, turn it over and heat the other side. While it is
still warm, pull apart the two halves and fold at the center with the
greased side inside. Repeat with remaining dough circles.
Steam for 10 min. before using as above.
From: Michael Loo
Servings: 1 duck
Peking Duck Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Duck; Meat; Poultry
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to track the history of written cooking instructions back into the distant past, in fact as far as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that maybe, mostly, these old records were just basic hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to food historians are some ancient tablets in ancient Sumerian which describe the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel wonderful and blissful. Progressing into The time of the romans around 25BC a man called Apicius assembled a number of scripts showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his works, Apicius tells us how the roman meals were divided into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and desserts, known in latin as `Gustatio, Primae Mensae and Secundae Mensae`. Aspicius tells us how the ancient chefs made use of many herbs and spices, including some familiar names for example bay, fennel and dill. Moving on, there are two books which date from the fourteenth century - a cookery book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Although the titles sound familiar, these are nothing to do with the indian curry that is served today, but instead recipes for the types of food prepared for the rich and wealthy people of that period. Later, in the 15th century, the Crusaders brought back many new spices and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including spices like coriander, parsley, and rosemary. The introduction of these new herbs and spices caused a surge in books on cooking, the majority of which are now in private collections. During the next few hundred years, the powerful families of Wesstern Europe strove to lay on the most exotic banquets, and because of this the best chefs and their recipes could command a high salary. Even so, it wasn`t until the 1800s that fine cooking and cookery books became popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated the best years of their lives to collating, verifying, and writing down recipes common in their social group. By the time we get to the twentieth century, recipe publications were starting to become popular mostly due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased spare time and having more money to spend. Like it or not, the introduction of TV brought us celebrity TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. And that brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting us all to search through massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Peking Duck recipe.
