Talk On Roast Beijing Duck And Chinese Food Culture

By Author: Constance Martinez
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Chinese people began to domesticate wild duck two thousand years ago, but European people did not do that. Instead, they domesticated the goose very early.

As China had specialized in producing duck for thousands of years, this fowl became a special product of the country and was preferred by Chinese people to the goose, which was generally not in favor. Furthermore, the duck used for producing roast duck was of an excellent species bred painstakingly by Chinese over a long period of time. The scientific name of the species is Beijing duck. It was imported by the United States in the year 1874 under the name of Peking duck, and thereafter it came to be spread all over the world. Nevertheless, the duck of this species being bred in China now is still reputed to be the best.
The method used at first in China for roasting a duck was almost the same as that used in the Western world for roasting a goose. It was called "roasting duck in the hermetic oven". As a matter of fact, its main features were essentially those that characterized the Western mode of preparation of roast goose.

An oven was built by laying ...
... stones or bricks. A fire was made to burn inside the oven, so that a large amount of heat was absorbed by the walls of the oven, and the duck placed in the oven later was roasted by the heat dissipated by the walls until it was well cooked.
Near the end of the Qing Dynasty, the method for roasting duck underwent a change. The hermetic oven was replaced by the pendent oven. In other words, roasting in a hermetic oven came to be combined with roasting over burning fire. The body of the duck was smeared with honey and then hung for roasting, so that not only the roasted duck would have the aroma imparted to it by the burning log, but the high temperature characteristic of the hermetic oven could also be attained.
During that period, Chinese people made a far-reaching innovation in the duck-roasting process. They did away with disembowelment of the duck. Only a small hole was bored in the body for removal of the viscera. Air was forced under high pressure into the space between the skin and the flesh so that the two became separated from each other. Then the duck body was smeared with maltose syrup and left to dry in a cool place. The whole duck would become almost crimson in color, as if it had been painted with red lacquer. Therefore, roast Beijing duck came to be called jokingly by some foreigners the "lacquered duck".
With regard to details, it should be noted that before the duck is put in the oven its chest is to be filled with boiling water and the hole closed by being tied up with a piece of string. The boiling water is to be discharged only after the roasting process has come to an end. This seemingly trivial modification has several advantages. First, the duck will not lose water when being roasted. Second, the water will keep the chest of the duck swollen so that the skin will not shrink and will not become softened by the roasting, with the result that the duck skin will be thin and crisp and become the most delicious part of the roast duck. Having been roasted in this way, the duck will be golden and lustrous, its surface will be crisp and fragrant, and its meat will be very tender with a peculiar flavor.
Chinese food culture
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