A Chinese Christmas dinner

How long has it been since you last updated your Christmas menu? If you've spent years serving ham or turkey or goose for Christmas dinner, perhaps this year it's time for a change. Why not have a Chinese-themed Christmas dinner and serve Peking Duck as your main course?

Peking Duck (or Beijing Duck) has long been a centerpiece of Chinese cooking. As early as the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), a variation of the Peking Duck has been served for the Emperor. The Peking Duck that we know now was fully developed in the Ming dynasty and became one of the staples of the imperial court menu.

The first restaurant specializing in Peking Duck, Bianyifang, was established in 1416. In 1864, Qianjude was established. These two restaurants are still acknowledged today as the best Peking Duck places in China. It was also thanks to Yang Quanren, who founded Qianjude, that the hung oven for making Peking Duck was invented.

The ducks used to make the dish originally come from Nanjing. Nowadays, the dish is prepared from from Pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos domestica). The ducklings are raised in a free range environment for the first 45 days of their lives and then force fed 4 times per day for the next 15 to 20 days. The ducks are ready when they weigh around 5 to 7 kg.

Preparing Peking Duck

Like most Chinese dishes, it is the preparation stage that takes longest when making Peking Duck. The duck has to be thoroughly dried to get the trademark crispy skin. We tried making Peking Duck in the office and used an air compressor to separate the skin from the meat. This step will also help make the skin crispy. I remember watching a cooking show that featured a Peking Duck restaurant. The chef just blew into a small incision on the duck's neck. Of course, authentic Peking Duck uses the whole duck – head, beak and all!

Regular frozen duck from the freezer section of the grocery store works well too. Just remember to scald the skin with boiling water several times. Again, this step helps make the skin crispy.

We bought a frozen whole duck to make Peking Duck. (Image: Radio86)The final step is to hang the duck and baste it with the glaze. For our glaze, we used a mixture of Coca-Cola, dark soy sauce, ginger, sugar and some balsamic vinegar. It is very important that the duck dries thoroughly. We only hung our duck for a couple of hours, but I would suggest leaving to dry at least overnight.

Ingredients:

1 duck (thoroughly defrost and bring to room temperature if using frozen)
boiling water

For the glaze:

5 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
4 Tbsp five spice powder
2 Tbsp brown sugar

For the pancakes:

2 cups all purpose flour
hot water (as needed)
sesame oil

For serving:

spring onions, chopped
carrots, cut into sticks
cucumber, cut into sticks
Peking Duck sauce (or Hoisin sauce)

Method:

To cook the duck:

This is what the duck looked like after we put the glaze. (Image: Radio86)1.Scald the duck with boiling water. This is best done by placing the duck on a strainer and pouring boiling water all over it. Be careful when doing this. Repeat four times.

2.Tie a string around the duck and hang it for about four hours or until the skin feels dry to the touch.

3.Mix the ingredients for the glaze.

4.Brush the glaze on the duck.

5.Hang the duck again until it is dry.

6.Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all the sauce is used up.

7.Preheat oven to 200C and cook the duck for half an hour.

8.Turn the duck and cook for another 30 minutes until the skin crisps up. Check that the duck is cooked through. Let the duck stand for before cutting it up.

To cook the pancakes:

1.Prepare the pancakes by mixing the flour and water until you have a smooth pliable dough.

2.Let the dough stand for about 20 minutes.

Rolling out the dough for the pancakes (Image: Radio86)3.Roll out the dough to about half a centimeter thickness and cut out circles that are about 7cm in diameter.

4.Brush sesame oil on one side of the circle.

5.Lay one pancake on top of another, with the oiled side together. Roll out until the pancakes are about 14 cm in diameter. Put a damp cloth over the pancakes to keep them from drying out.

6.Repeat until all the dough is used up.

7.Put a paired pancake in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook until brown on both sides. Separate the pancake pair and continue cooking rest of pancakes.

Serving Peking Duck

When both Peking Duck and pancakes are ready, serve immediately. Peking Duck is served at the table and carved in front of the diners. There are three stages to serving Peking Duck: first, the prized skin is served, then the meat and finally a broth made from the carcass of the duck.

The cooked Peking Duck (Image: Radio86)Put slices of duck into a pancake. Add the spring onion, carrots and cucumber slices. Top with sauce (we cheated and bought ready made Peking Duck sauce from the Asian store, but I didn't hear anyone complaining...) Roll the pancake and enjoy your alternative Christmas dinner.

The next day, make duck soup from the bones. Just simmer the carcass for as long as possible. Add vegetables and season to taste. Our soup had Chinese cabbage, dried mushrooms, leftover spring onions, carrots and cucumber as well as rice noodles. I turned into a hot and sour soup by adding tamarind paste (or alternatively, you can use lemon juice) and chili. That was two great meals out of one duck and we made enough to serve 12 people.