Peking Duck - Beijing

To the history nerds, to the battle-cravers, to the proclaimers of monarchies and empires long lost, it pains me to disappoint you. Beijing’s crowning glory is neither the Summer Palace, nor the Forbidden City, no the sites of the ever-controversial Olympic Games (Ashlee Simpson, you got off comparatively easy for lip-synching...). Beijing’s crowning glory is undoubtedly Peking Duck.One duck is ordered to be eaten in various ways, so raise your own torch and write your own history of how you like your duck.

Peking duck starts with a crack instead of a quack. The skin directly over the center of the breast is an expertly shaved starter, a skin so crispy it crunches under the cleaver and melts at the sight of your saliva.

The rest of the duck is skillfully sliced, and you roll it into a thin pancake with hoisin sauce and scallion, with optional cucumber. You can also use a specialty bun of Beijing in lieu of the pancake. Inside the roll, the skin still crunches, and the grease drips down your chin as you devour pancake after pancake, forgetting that there’s more to come.

Different places have different variations of what you can do with the stock that remains. The most common choice is a bone-sucking soup, full of soft cabbage and slippery vermicelli. Some places opt for stir-fried bean sprouts, another opulent option whose quality varies from chef to chef. I always opt for the dry-fry, a simple sprinkling of salt and a high heat frying that saddles you with the arduous task of gnawing the remaining slivers of flesh off the dry bones. yet it’s the meat closest to the bone that holds the most flavor so open wide...