The Making of Peking Duck
Air is blown under the skin to separate it from the flesh and aid crisping. Photo by Michael Ventura
Ducks, dipped in boiling water and coated with malt sugar and vinegar, air dry. Photo by Michael Ventura
Chang displays a roasted duck. Photo by Michael Ventura
Chang demonstrates his precision carving skills. Photo by Michael Ventura
Chang places sliced duck breast in neat rows next to thin strips of cucumber and scallion. Photo by Michael Ventura
“The skin is the most important part,” Chang says. “We never put it in the pancake. It is enjoyed separately.” Photo by Michael Ventura
“I’m not the best at everything, so I need people to help me,” Peter Chang says with a smile. So he hired Ying Situ, who won awards in China for the Guangdong-style roasting of meats, such as chicken, pork and duck, before moving to the United States seven years ago. Whole ducks, which come from a farm in Pennsylvania, are soaked for four hours in water. Compressed air is then forced under the skin through a slit in the neck, blowing it up like a balloon. Separating the skin from the flesh aids in rendering out fat as the duck roasts, resulting in crispier skin. Situ then eviscerates the ducks, seasons the cavities with salt, sugar, five-spice powder and a secret blend of 10 medicinal Chinese herbs, sews them up and blanches them in boiling water for two minutes. Then the birds are coated with a syrup of malt sugar and white and red vinegar (to aid in skin caramelization), hung in the kitchen for an hour with a fan blowing on them, and then hung in the walk-in refrigerator overnight. Then they are roasted for 50 to 60 minutes, hanging, in the $23,000 German-made combination oven that Chang bought especially for their preparation. The ducks are served with thin pancakes, julienned cucumbers and scallions, hoisin sauce, and sweet garlic sauce imbued with rose petal paste. They must be sold within two hours of exiting the oven or the skin will be too soft. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Situ says. “One master passes down the knowledge to one person in a generation, and that was me.”
