Peking Duck

The fame of this dish goes far beyond its place of origin and is as well-known in as the authentic Chinese dish. However, cooking a portion of exquisite but delicious Peking Duck is never easy. It is far more troublesome than cooking General Tso's chicken, for example. Szechuan House pays attention to three major factors when preparing Peking Duck: ingredients, roasting and sauce. Each element is closely related to the other others. Most important of all, the Peking Duck is roasted at the perfect temperature, which finally the final product, a crisp and tasty dish, absolutely deserving a try. 

Ingredients: 

The main ingredient used for Peking Duck in Szechuan House is Long Island Duck, the most expensive duck in , with tender meat and a pleasant taste. Robert Wang claims that the weight of Long Island Duck is important considering it will shrink when roasting. He suggests that 6 to 6 ½ pounds will be perfect for making Peking Duck.

Method:
According to Robert Wang, there are three main steps to making the Peking Duck at Szechuan House.

Step 1: Marinade
This step is to eliminate the fishy smell, and it takes 2 to 3 hours. Some Chinese spices place an important role during this step. After the duck is flavored for the correct time, there is the small but important procedure of coating the duck evenly with maltose water, which is the secret to make the duck crispy.

Step 2: Drain
This step takes 10 hours. Dry the duck in a ventilated place.

Step 3: Roast 
There is a large oven in Szechuan House, which can roast 24 ducks at a time. Controlling the temperature of the oven is very important in this step. In the first half hour, the temperature should be 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and for the next 45 minutes, the temperature should be adjusted to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The whole process for roasting an oven of ducks requires three chefs, and it takes about 24 hours. However, the price for each Peking Duck is only $20.95. Therefore, it is very popular among customers and Szechuan House can have a sales volume of over 30 ducks every day. 

Sauce:
It primarily includes two flavors, salty sauce catering to Asian groups and sweet sauce catering to the Western diners. Different ingredients are used for the two kinds of sauces. The salty sauce is made of Chinese duck sauce, sesame oil, water and other Chinese spices. The sweet sauce is made of seafood sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar. The reason to add sesame oil is to make the sauce taste pleasant.

Chef's Tip:
Roasting delicious duck requires adept skills. The time should be just right, not too long, nor too short. Cooking the duck for too long leads to a burned duck, and cooking too little results in a fishy-smelling duck. What’s more, roasting a duck is a risk of fire, which is why many restaurants fail to serve completely roasted duck.