Warning: I get requests about how to make peking duck at home recentely, so I publish this post. But summer is not a good season because of the high temperature. You can keep this for cooler days.
Maximally approached homemade Peking duck finished in an oven with duck pancake. Compared with chicken, Duck is not a common choice in Chinese kitchen. But I am a duck lover, especially for roasted whole duck. Peking duck is my ideal star.
It is not difficult to make a homemade Peking duck. But this is not the authentic Peking duck recipe because I just do not have enough tools for finish all the steps. And I simplified the steps to make this recipe realizable at home.
To begin with a perfect Peking duck recipe at home, firstly choose head on (easy to hang for air drying out), clean and leaner ducks. Add around 1 teaspoon of white vinegar in clean water and soak the duck for 1 hour. Then prepare lines and tie the ducks from the top of the neck. Hang them on hooks. I hang the ducks on the top of kitchen pool. Please note: I make this peking duck in March when the room temperature is around 13-15 degree C, you will need to hang the duck in fridge or in a room with air conditioner in hot summer days.
You can see the difference from the follow picture. The right one is well tightened and the left one is still waiting for the treatment.
Then mix 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce with1/2 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine and 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder. Spread the sauce on the inner side of the duck.
In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of maltose with 2 tablespoons of hot water and 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar. Then brush the liquid evenly on the duck skin (the liquid should be warm for the first brushing). Then wait for 30 minutes and brush again. Hang on for at least 24 hours (I don’t recommend making this is summer, autumn and winter are the best seasons). In winter, you can hang up for 5 days.
Then seal the bottom before roasting.
Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Place the duck on a baking grill and use a lined baking pan to catch the drops. And then roast for 20 minutes. Then take the duck over and roast the other side for another 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 120 degree C and continue roasting for 30 minutes. (My bird is around 1000g each one, if you get larger ones, lengthen another 10 minutes for 500g weight addition).
Let the skin even crisper
Option 1: heat enough hot oil, then hold the neck and pour the hot oil on the skins. I use a very deep bowl for this step. Be carefully, do not get burnt by the hot oil. This help to make the skin even crisper.
Option 2: Set the oven temperature to 180 degree C again and re-roast for 6-10 minutes (watch carefully at this step and do not let the skin get burnt.)
How to cut the duck
Rest the duck for several minutes before cutting. Firstly cut a line around the breast. Then divide into two part in the middle.
Then slice the breast meat one by one.
How to serve
Make peking pancake during the roasting time, cut cucumber into small strips. Cut the leek onion in half, take the green part out and cut the remaining white shell and then cut into small shreds.
Sweet bean sauce: mix 2 tablespoons of sweet bean sauce with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Sweet bean sauce can be found in typical Asian supermarkets or Amazon under various English names, but with the same Chinese name (Simplified Chinese:甜面酱; Traditional Chinese: 甜麵醬). Sweet bean sauce is made from soy beans and mainly used as a seasoning for example zha jiang mian.
How to assemble
Take one peking duck wrapper, brush around 1 teaspoon of sweet bean paste on the bottom, lay a small brunch of shredded leek onion and a small strip of cucumber. Then place two slices of duck breast.
Roll up and enjoy!
Homemade Peking Duck
Ingredients
Roasted duck
- 1 duck ,clean, lean around 1000g
- 1 tsp. white vinegar ,for soaking
- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
- 2 tbsp. maltose
- 2 tbsp. boiling water
- 1.5 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
Assembling
- 10 pecking duck pancake
- 2 tbsp. sweet bean sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 English cucumber
- 2 leek onions ,white part only
Instructions
Prepare
- To begin with a perfect Peking duck recipe at home, firstly choose head on (easy to hang for air drying out), clean and lean ducks. Add around 1 teaspoon of white vinegar in clean water and soak the duck for 1 hour. Then prepare lines and tie the ducks from the top of the neck. Hang them on hooks. I hang the ducks on the top of kitchen pool.
- Mix 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce with 1½ tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine and 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder. Spread the sauce on the inner side of the duck.
- In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of maltose with 2 tablespoons of hot water and 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar. Then brush the liquid evenly on the duck skin (the liquid should be warm for the first brushing). Then wait for 30 minutes and brush again. Hang on for at least 24 hours (I don’t recommend making this is summer, autumn and winter are the best seasons). In winter, you can hang up for 5 days.
Roast the bird
- Seal the bottom before roasting with soaked toothpicks.
- Pre-heat oven to 180 degree C. Place the duck on a baking grill and use a lined baking pan to catch the drops. And then roast for 20 minutes. Then take the duck over and roast the other side for another 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 120 degree C and continue roasting for 30 minutes. (My bird is around 1000g each one, if you get larger ones, lengthen another 10 minutes for 500g weight addition).
Let the skin even crisper
- Option 1: heat enough hot oil, then hold the neck and pour the hot oil on the skins. I use a very deep bowl for this step. Be carefully, do not get burnt by the hot oil. This help to make the skin even crisper.
- Option 2: Set the oven temperature to 180 degree C again and re-roast for 6-10 minutes (watch carefully at this step and do not let the skin get burnt.)
How to cut the duck
- Firstly cut a line around the breast. Then divide into two part in the middle. Then slice the breast meat with skins one by one. You can hand-shred the left meat off and leave the leftover bones for a soup broth.
Side ingredients for serving
- Make peking pancake during the roasting time, cut cucumber into small strips. Cut the leek onion in half, take the green part out and cut the remaining white shell and then cut into small shreds.
- Sweet bean sauce (甜面酱): mix 2 tablespoons of sweet red bean sauce with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.
How to assemble
- Take one duck wrapper, brush around 1 teaspoon of sweet red bean paste on the bottom, lay a small brunch of shredded leek onion and a small strip of cucumber. Then place two slices of duck breast. Roll up and enjoy.
Nutrition
Thats great, it’s been a long time since i had Peking Duck.
I’m going to try this soon, even if it’s summer over here 🙂
Then you need your air-conditioner well worked.
Hi there!
You mention you can’t publish all the steps for a commercial/professional version on Peking duck which I understand. But…. Was wondering if you would be able to send them to my email? Have been trying to find a real rescue for Peking duck since trying it in Beijing and have been unable to find any good recipes online.
I’m a chef and have access to duck ovens and fryers etc and would love to try recreating the completely real version!
How to hear from you soon.
Richard,
The processes are quite similar but I skip some steps, for example blooming up the duck since I do not have the machine. And the roasting method is different. For commercial peking duck, they are using large bucket roasting where heat come from all around and the duck is hanged. So they have better colors than homemade version.
I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing!
Hi E,alone nice recipe but what is the treatment you mention with the two ducks – right one tightened and left one waiting for the’treatment’.?
Also I can see water being poured from a kettle. Are you pouring boiling water on the duck? At what time please?
Thank you!
Hi Renate,
Yes, the other one is waiting for treatment. I am doing this to show the difference stage before and after the treatment.
I am pouring hot oil over the duck, make the skin even crisper after roasting.
I can not locate maltose. Is there a suitable substitute?
You can use homemade syrup, honey or corn syrup. But maltose is the best choice.
Hello, can you please tell me, do you use maltose syrup or maltose powder?
I use maltose syrup.
You can get on Amazon.com
Thank you for sharing. I love to cook. We don’t get the red bean paste nor the sweet bean sauce. We use blackbean sauce. I cook with honey and rum rarely vinegar only when doing sweet and sour.
Never thought of grating a zucchini.
Chinese culture: food makes us happy. Brings good friends together and melds a family with STRONG bonds. My Dad’s Trinidad recipe book, my Publication by KitLing and Kipling spectacles. The Pacific Mall and our Family connection with the CANADIAN Chinese Community being in BUSINESS connecting our Lineage
Thanks Alanna,
Black bean sauce should work fine too. Sweet and slightly sour sounds a good idea too. Yes, I agree that food is a great connection among people. When we visit my grandma who is already 80 years old, the first thing come in mind is her delicious dishes. Happy cooking.
Hi Elaine,
I am trying your recipe for our family Christmas in Spain as a change to turkey and Goose. i have given 5* as the prepared duck smells absolutely divine after preparation now leaving it in the fridge until the 25th. 🙂
Hope it turns out good! Happy cooking!
I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love your site! I have used it for so many recipes in the last 5 months of being stuck at home because of coronavirus. We are an Indian family that loves authentic Chinese food and have traveled all over china just to eat food. We have been to Changsha and Chengdu just to eat authentic Hunan and Sichuan food. It was my fathers dream to visit Hunan so 16 of us went for his 80th birthday! This was 6 years ago. Last year we went to chengdu and count get enough of the Sichuan food there. Most exciting of all of course is the hotpot! I must say I have learnt so much from your site and cooked things that I couldn’t even dream I would be able to. And you make it all very simple. We have visited Hongkong Beijing and Shangahi many times of course… And and very very in love with all kinds of Chinese food. Especially really spicy Chinese. But the Indian food we eat here is much spicier haha! My mother is one of the best cooks in India and has written to very famous cookbooks…. “a princely legacy- Hyderabadi cuisine” and “biryani”. She is currently going to release her third book called Dal is is all about lentils.
I never write comments anywhere but I really wanted to tell you how much I love your recipes. Everyone in my family loves all the dishes we have made from your site. We even made the Peking duck which all Indians love anyway… but no one has ever attempted this at home. It came out very very close to what we have eaten in the best restaurants. Unfortunately you don’t get maltose here so I used honey. And we couldn’t import it because during corona times it’s been hard for the indian stores to get special imported ingredients. The bang bang chicken salad was divine… and all the Sichuan recipes of course. We buy lots of high quality Sichuan pepper when we travel to china. So luckily we were well stocked up on that. The Sichuan pepper you get here isn’t fresh or strong sadly.
Anyway I just thought I’d say hello!
All the best
Nainika Karan
New Delhi
India
Nainika,
This is such a great comment, really!! It makes me believing that all of my work do have value in addition to a regular blog receiving traffic. It helps to connect me with other nice guys like you, explore food and nice things in life. Your month is a great cook and writer really. I hope I can be on of their group too.
Hello!
Loved the recipe, I’ve been wanting to make this for a long while (1-2 yrs). I ve decided to give it a try, however I can’t find Pekín ducks with head on, do you have some advice?
No worries, duck without head works fine too.
This is a great recipe and works beautifully.
I’m lucky enough to have 2 fridges and so can leave my ducks hanging for 4 days without the trouble of shifting food all over the place.
Thanks so much.
Thanks Anne!