A roast duck dish from Beijing prized for its lacquered, crackling skin, traditionally air-dried, glazed with maltose syrup and roasted in a closed or hung oven, then carved and served with thin pancakes, scallion, cucumber and a sweet bean or hoisin-style sauce. Its lineage traces to imperial court kitchens of the Ming dynasty, and it remains one of the most internationally recognized dishes of Chinese cuisine.
Facts
Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountAn early roast-duck precursor, then called shao yazi, is recorded in the 1330 Yuan-dynasty manual Complete Recipes for Dishes and Beverages; the dish now known as Peking duck was fully developed later, under the Ming dynasty, and Bianyifang, the first restaurant specializing in it, opened in Beijing in 1416. Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own accountChina (Nanjing origin, later Beijing) 2 Origin Period, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks the opening of Bianyifang, the first restaurant specializing in Peking duck, in Beijing, by which point the dish's Ming-dynasty development was complete. Classification
Dietary SuitabilityContains Meat or Poultry 1 FAQs
How old is Peking duck as a restaurant dish?
It reached its developed form in the later Ming dynasty, and its first specialist restaurant opened in 1416.
The Peking roast duck now associated with the name was fully developed during the later Ming dynasty, and by then it was one of the main dishes on imperial court menus. The first restaurant specialising in Peking duck, Bianyifang, was established close to Qianmen in Beijing in 1416.
Connections
Associated With
Expresses Tradition
Source Larousse Gastronomique
In Cuisine
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Uses Ingredient
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
The thin pancakes the duck is wrapped in are made from wheat flour.
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidsontier 1
Sources
1. The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014entity record, Name (dietary-suitability)
Name: Peking Duck
- In Cuisine: Chinese Cuisine
- Uses Ingredient: Wheat
- Uses Ingredient: Salt
2. Peking Duck (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory sectionQuote, History section
A variation of roast duck was prepared by the emperor in the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The dish, originally named "shāo yāzi" (燒鴨子), was mentioned in the Complete Recipes for Dishes and Beverages (飲膳正要) manual in 1330 by Hu Sihui (忽思慧), an inspector of the imperial kitchen.
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009Expresses Tradition: Salt Curing, Smoking and Drying, s.v. Peking Duck
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