The long, long search for Peking duck

In the UK, when visiting a Chinese restaurant, it is almost inevitable that Peking crispy duck or Aromatic crispy duck (as it's also known), will be ordered as an appetiser. Delicate thin pancakes with small brown bubbles arrive in a bamboo steamer, along with a plate of finely shredded cucumber and spring onions, (scallions), a dish of sauce, maybe rich and sweet Hoisin or plum and of course, the duck itself. 

In some authentic restaurants where the emphasis on presentation is as important as the food, the duck meat will be shredded from the bone table side, by a deft server with two forks. The prize of the ultra crispy skin will be left alongside the meat, all to be wrapped up in one of those thin pancakes and eaten in literally two bites, but, what bites they are. The combination of crispy, sweet, savoury, fresh, chewy and rich sauce is enough to bring tears to your eyes and the reason why this dish is so beloved in Britain. 

Britain, yes, but how we have tried to find this in a restaurant in Vancouver.

To enjoy this at home in this city, the duck is easy enough to buy ready cooked at any of the Asian supermarkets or restaurants abundant here, or even simple enough to cook at home yourself, but the pancakes are as elusive as the lost city of Atlantis. I have made them myself, rolling the dough out impossibly thin in lightly oiled pairs to be fried in a dry pan, the smoke alarm screeching and the apartment filled with smoke, but the disappointment of many pairs seeming to have fallen in love and not wanting to be parted resulted in less pancakes than required and a frustrated cook. Where to buy them? We have literally hounded Asian supermarket workers, demonstrating rolling the tender and crispy duck into a pancake with hand gestures, whilst thrusting a tray of barbecued duck right under their noses. "No, we don't have" they say, again and again and again.

Then, there's the question of ordering this at Chinese restaurants. It's now common knowledge that most of these establishments in big cities have 'secret menus' for their 'real' Chinese patrons and even the late night place we visit will refuse you certain things such as whole fried fish, with honest admissions that they want to keep it for their Chinese customers, but surely Peking duck is so common anyone can enjoy it? Not so. 

A Chinese / Canadian friend told us to simply just ask for it, whether on the secret menu or the more open variety. We did and received the pancakes, (at last)!, with a dubious dish of stir fried duck meat with carrot, onion and cucumber in a insipid, too subtle sauce. This was disappointing, especially as not a scrap of crispy skin was to be seen. 

We've more or less given up trying to locate this magnificent dish in restaurants, but, finally, we found the pancakes. They were living in a large freezer, in a vast Chinese supermarket, hidden behind their red bean and green onion counterparts and labelled as 'BBQ duck wrappings'. A worker handed us a package after our enquiry and simply said "You steam, OK". Oh joy, did we steam.

Although everything for this dinner was simply a reheating and assembly affair, I have provided a recipe for both the duck and the pancakes for the more intrepid cook. The most important detail for the duck is to ensure that the skin is very, very crispy as it provides the contrast to the softer meat and slight crunch of the cucumber and spring onions. This meal is all about contrasting textures and tastes.

Recipe : Peking duck

This recipe will serve 8 - 10 people as an appetiser

Recipe adapted from the Encyclopedia of Regional Chinese Cooking by Kenneth Lo

1 duck, (3.5 - 4lbs)

Wash the duck, dry thoroughly, then hang in a cool place to dry the skin for at least 3 hours and preferably overnight. 

Preheat the oven to 400oF

Place the duck on a wire tray over a roasting tin, (or some crumpled up foil if you don't have a wire rack) and place on the middle shelf of the oven. 

Roast for 1hour and 15 minutes without opening the door. Check the duck is cooked by piercing the thigh with a knife and checking that the juices are perfectly clear with no trace of pink whatsoever. (You can use a meat thermometer if you prefer). 

Let the duck rest for about 20 minutes, wrapped in foil and then remove the skin, shredding and placing in a pile on a dish or plate and continue with the meat, using two forks to shred finely.

Recipe : Pancakes

Adapted from same book as above

1 lb (450g) all purpose (plain) flour

250ml (8 fl oz) boiling water

85 ml (3 fl oz) cold water

1 tsp sesame oil

Add the boiling water to the flour and mix well. Add the cold water and knead the dough until it is smooth, then let it rest for 15 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into two pieces and roll each into a 2 inch diameter sausage shape. 

Cut or pinch off 1 inch lengths (you should have about 40) and flatten each piece into a pancake shape with your hand. Keep the cut sides of the small piece top and bottom. 

Lightly brush the top surfaces of each pancake with sesame oil. Stick the pancakes together in pairs, oiled sides inward, then roll out until 5 inches in diameter. 

Heat a heavy based frying pan or crepe pan over medium heat and cook each pancake on one side until bubbles rise (about 20 seconds), then turn and cook the other side for about 10 seconds more until light brown. 

Remove from the pan and separate the pancakes quickly, pulling them apart carefully. 

For the entire meal:

1 plate of prepared duck meat and crispy skin

1 bamboo steamer of prepared pancakes

1 dish (about 8 tbsp) of Hoisin or plum sauce

1/2 cucumber, peeled and very finely shredded into lengths

2 bunches of spring onions (scallions) very finely shredded

To assemble: take a pancake and lay on a plate. Next, take between 1/2 - 1 tsp sauce and smear it onto the pancake in a line. Top with some shredded cucumber and scallions, followed by some duck meat and skin. Roll up the pancake and eat. Simple as that. As mentioned earlier, this is usually served as an appetiser for a larger meal with everyone helping themselves to the meat, sauce and vegetables placed in the centre of the table. It's nice to bring the bamboo steamer containing the pancakes straight to the table.

Neil and I ate this as our main meal, eating 5 pancakes each. The duck we bought was reheated under the grill allowing the meat to heat through and the skin to crisp up once again.

If you visit a Chinese restaurant in the UK soon, be sure to try this dish if you are new to it. Our Canadian friends had no knowledge whatsoever and were blown away when I served it to them. Often at home you can buy ready made packs of this dish where everything is provided simply to be reheated and served, (maybe an idea for an entrepreneur in Canada)?

If you live in the UK and already adore this dish but avoid it because of the many calories in the fatty duck, think of me and enjoy the fact it's so available to you.