Chinese Food - Peking Duck Recipe

Peking Duck is one of the most famous Chinese foods originating from the ancient royal courts. For centuries, the best Chinese chefs trained extensively in order to make sure that they could present this delicacy properly to the Emperor. In fact, their very lives depended on it. Today, no chef will lose his life for messing up his Peking Duck recipe but his self-esteem will be sorely dented. However, with attention to detail, a modern day Peking Duck can be a feast fit for royalty. Here's just one of the many up to date Peking Duck recipes:

Ingredients

1 3.5 - 4 lb duck (fresh or frozen)
2 pints water
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
5 fl oz rice wine (you can use dry sherry)
1 lemon

To serve:

8 - 12 Chinese Pancakes
4 - 6 tbsp hoisin sauce
16 - 24 spring onions (cut into thin slivers lengthwise or into brushes)

In China, ducks are specially raised on a diet of soybeans, maize, sorghum and barley for just six weeks, when they are ready for cooking.

Normally, the preparation of Peking Duck is rather time consuming and complex. The duck must be cleaned and plucked thoroughly, then air should be piped in to separate the skin from the flesh which let the skin roast to a lovely crispness. While the duck dries a sugar solution is brushed over the duck and it is then roasted in a wood fired oven. However, with our modern life styles being what they are, this Peking Duck recipe is rather less complicated.

Rinse and dry the duck thoroughly, blotting with kitchen paper.

Mix the water, dark soy sauce, honey and rice wine together and combine with the lemon cut into thick slices and bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 minutes. Ladle the mixture over the duck several times, ensuring that the skin is thoroughly coated. Hang the duck up to dry somewhere cool and well ventilated with a roasting tin beneath it to catch any drips. When the duck is properly dry the skin will feel like paper.

Roast the duck on a rack over a roasting tin in which you have water to a depth of about two inches (this stops the

fat splashing), in a pre-heated oven 475ºF, 240ºC, Gas 9 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 350ºF, 180ºC, Gas 4 and continue cooking for 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Let the duck rest for about fifteen minutes before serving. You can carve the meat and skin into pieces using a knife or cleaver or you can shred it with a spoon and fork.

Serve the duck with warmed Chinese pancakes, spring onions and hoisin sauce.

Each diner takes a pancake, spreads on a little hoisin sauce then tops that with some meat and crispy skin followed by a spring onion brush or some strips of spring onion. The pancake and contents are then rolled up into a tube and eaten either with one's fingers or with chopsticks.

Even this simple version of the classic Peking Duck makes a very special dinner party dish, fit for an Emperor.

Authentic Chinese Food - Mandarin Cuisine

If you're interested in authentic Chinese food rather than the monosodium glutomate filled junk that some western restaurants have the nerve to try and pass off, then why not give Mandarin cuisine a try?

Mandarin cuisine is wonderful to look at as well as being a delight to the taste buds because in Mandarin cooking, presentation is as important as flavour. This is a stylish cuisine as witness the typical dishes of Peking Duck and Mu Shu Pork.

Mandarin cuisine originated in the Chinese royal courts way back during the Qing Dynasty, which could be any time from 1644 to 1912. Delighting the Emperor and the other royals took a great deal of effort, leading to the best chefs creating the most elegant and tasty dishes. Failure to do so could result in a fate far worse than mere unemployment! The legacy of these chefs is reflected in modern Mandarin cookery.

Being the cultural centre of China, Mandarin cookery combines influences from all the other Chinese provinces in its own individual style. Colourful vegetables are married with mild spices and contrasting flavours and textures such as sweet and sour or crisp and smooth are combined to produce a marvellous mixture of colours and scents.

Even snack food is presented in a fancy way. For example spring onions (salad onions) may be coated with dark soy paste and arranged on a platter with sliced boiled egg yoke to look like a flower or elaborately carved carrots and beetroot might be used for colour and texture.

The appearance of breakfast too must delight all the senses and this might be a healthy stir fried tomato dish served with scrambled eggs.

The staple of Mandarin cuisine is wheat rather than rice so pancakes or wraps often feature, containing spiced beef or pork. The pancakes, although simply a mixture of water and flour will be flavoured, maybe with chilli or sesame oil.

One of the best known and simplest to make Mandarin dishes is hot and sour soup. That staple of the Chinese takeaway combines bamboo shoots and a variety of mushrooms for texture with chillies for heat and vinegar for sourness. Another favourite is the Mandarin equivalent of a fondue, which is a pan of simmering beef or chicken stock which you can use to cook shredded chicken or beef, prawns, leafy green vegetables, mushrooms and egg noodles, while you sit at the table.

So, for a truly royal and authentic Chinese food experience, treat yourself to a Mandarin feast, whether home cooked or at a restaurant.

Authentic Chinese Food - Hunan Cuisine

Authentic Chinese food is not the sort of food that you get from your local takeaway restaurant. Authentic Chinese food is regional, provincial and one of those regional cuisines is from the Hunan province.

More than sixty four million people live in the Hunan province of central China where the cooking has been influenced by all sorts of cuisines. The region has vast areas of agricultural land producing plentiful crops as well as being home to one of the largest freshwater lakes in China, which naturally has had its own influence on the cuisine.

There are so many ingredients from which to choose that Hunan chefs can't just make a simple meal by chucking meat and vegetables into a wok. No, Hunan cuisine consists of complex flavours and is prepared very carefully, taking as long as necessary to get the results absolutely perfect.

One typically elaborate dish is Orange Beef - beef which has been left to marinate overnight in wine, white pepper and egg whites then deep fried in very hot oil, drained then fried again until crisp. The beef is then added to stir fried dried chillies, ginger, garlic, fresh chilli, spring onions and orange peel. A sauce mix of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, Chinese white rice vinegar, chicken stock and ground white pepper is then added to coat the beef.

Another characteristic of Hunan cooking is the liberal use of chillies. Dishes are often made using lots of fresh chillies, complete with seeds, so if you're tasting Hunan cookery for the first time, be sure to have plenty of yoghurt or bread to hand to mitigate the heat or you may find that beer is more pleasant and equally effective. Oh and you'll need paper handkerchiefs to mop up the tears as well....... tears of delight, of course.

Rice is prevalent in Hunan province, so unlike other Chinese cuisines, such as Mandarin which uses more wheat, Hunan cookery features rice as well as beef and pork which are abundant here.

Naturally, the Dongting lake is home to fish and seafood as well as ducks. Shellfish is often served dressed with shallots and garlic while the duck (and chicken too) is often seared before being simmered or fried, giving it a wonderful crispy skin, also typical of this region.

Steamed and stewed meat are also typical of Hunan cooking which together with the use of chilles, result in a tasty and healthy meal. Often, the meat used is smoked, cured pork which is a local speciality and results in a delicious dark gravy.

Hunan cuisine is very varied, depending on the season. In summer the climate is very hot and humid so spices are used liberally to open the pores and allow sweating. In winter a dish called Lover's Hot Pot is frequently eaten which is part spicy and partly mild.

Whatever you eat of this cuisine, you're bound to love it.