Peking Duck - the Chinese Chicken

Trying new foods is one of my favorite parts about traveling. I love sampling local cuisine and regional specialties. In fact, some of my best meals have come while tasting something new - eggs poached in wine in Burgundy, a Guinness as my first beer (ever) in London, Celcuk tost in Ephesus, char grilled oysters in New Orleans or chicken gizzards in Prague.

In prepping for China, one of the things I'm most excited about is the food. Beijing is China's culinary center of the north and, as the capital city, is a host for food from all of Asia. From the Islamic foods of the Uighurs who live in western China, to Mongolian hot pot dishes, to the sweet and saucy Cantonese that we're familiar with - Beijing has it all.

Peking Duck is, by far, the most famous dish produced in Beijing. It’s a delicacy that takes an entire day to produce. Fattened ducks are first killed, plucked and cleaned. Then air is pumped underneath the skin to separate it from the fat beneath. After that, the birds are soaked in boiling water and hung up to dry (Hence, the common, Chinatown sight of birds hanging in the windows). While the ducks are hanging, they’re glazed with maltose (malt sugar) syrup. After they’ve hung to dry for 24 hours, the duck is then roasted in an oven for about an hour, until it turns shiny brown. The ovens are fired using wood from fruit trees — the smoke giving the meat a sweeter flavor.

Two of my classmates - Suzy and Anna - and I discovered a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Boston's Chinatown that serves authentic Chinese food. If you every have a chance, check out King Fung... you won't be disappointed. Like most restaurants Stateside, much of what they offer is Cantonese. However, they did have a few dishes from the north - including the famous Peking Duck. We ordered a day in advance and booked a duck for lunch yesterday.

Let me tell you - it was delicious!

The waitress brought out the entire duck - from beak to feet - for us to peruse at the beginning of the meal. It was steaming hot with glazed, red skin. I think it even winked at me before the server whisked it away for the chef to slice and dice.

Duck is traditionally served in three stages. First, diners receive a platter of the skin and drumsticks accompanied by sides of hoi san (garlic) sauce, steamed pancakes and scallions. You're supposed to make tiny burritos of everything and chow down with your hands, so we did. The skin is pretty resilient, especially since it's basically been lacquered with the sugar basting materials, so there was plenty of fingerwork involved in trying to get everything into our mouths. And there was an abundance of napkin usage, too. Duck is greasy and the juices are kept in by the thick skin during baking.

Second course was a stir fry of vegetables (in our case, carrots, onions, snow peas and bean sprouts) with the duck's meat - boy, was it piled high! Our meal could have easily served five or six, but we valiantly tried to man up and finish it all. We were unsuccessful. I guess we just boyed-up or something.

The final course is a duck soup made with the breastbone and neck. The thin broth tastes quite a bit like chicken stock and comes with chunks of tofu, cabbage and onions. It was a little weird finishing off with the lightest portion of the meal, but by the time we got to the third course, we were all stuffed anyway. So the liquid finish turned out to be the right call.

If you're in Boston and looking for a fun, cheap meal (a day in advance), definitely give King Fung a call. The waitress speaks English, it's easy to find and the whole shebang is only $34 - total, not per person (cash only). Definitely give it a try.

I cannot wait to get to Beijing and see how the fatted ducks there compare.

Quack, quack.

Duck, Party of Three

First course
Second Course
Third - and the bird is done