Chinese Style Pancake Day: Crispy Duck Pancakes

Chinese Style Pancake Day: Crispy Duck Pancakes 

How to celebrate pancake day the Chinese way with Sing Kee

Pancake day has arrived! The day when we can shamelessly indulge in this sweet dish, whether your topping of choice is fresh fruit or oozing chocolate, we are all guilty of eating one two many.

Why not try a savoury alternative for a more stomach filling and satisfying sensation with our Chinese pancake recipe.

Where do crispy duck pancakes originate from?

The beloved dish of crispy duck pancakes was born from the accompaniment of peking duck with light pancakes. However, did you know there is a lot of history behind one of our favourite Chinese recipes?

The name Peking originates from the previous name for Beijing. Before 1979, the capital of China was in fact named Peking. This changed due to a matter of transliteration of Chinese characters to english letters, a system called Pinyin was introduced to make computer systems viable and aid people bridge between languages.

The aromatic crispy duck recipe dates back to the Ming Dynasty around the year 1420 when kitchen connoisseurs came far and wide to cook for the emperor. Within those palace kitchen walls, the Peking Duck recipe was born. 

Preparing the duck 

Traditionally, air is pumped into the duck to separate the skin from the excess fat. After this it is hung to dry in the open air with the aim of maintaining succulent insides with a crispy surrounding. 

How to make crispy duck pancakes

Ingredients:

1.8kg duck
1 lemon
6 tbsp AYAM Honey and Soy sauce
150ml Yutaka Shaoxing Rice Wine
Sing Kee Pancake for Peking Duck

Method:

1. Mix together the juice of one lemon, honey, soy sauce and rice wine in a large bowl to create a syrup mixture

2. Place into large frying pan with 1.2 litres of water, bring to boil then lower the heat to simmer for 20 minutes

3. Rinse duck well and dry completely. Place onto a roasting tray

4. Coat all sides of the meat with the syrup, then leave to dry out in the fridge for at least 8 hours (if the skin is dried to the right level it will feel like parchment paper)

5. Preheat the oven to 230c fan or gas mark 9. Place the duck, breast side up, in the roasting tray with 150ml of boiling water. Roast for 15 mins

6. Reduce the heat to 180c/ gas mark 4 and continue to roast for a cooking time of  1hr10mins

7. Remove the duck from the oven and leave to rest for 10 mins 

8. Serve with delicious Sing Kee pancakes or create your own pancake batter.


What to serve with crispy duck pancakes 

The possibilities are endless as Sing Kee’s Chinese supermarket provides an array of serving options. Why not try chopped spring onions and hoisin sauce or even a plum sauce to compliment the succulent meat?

Happy pancake day !