Special Roast Duck

one of my favorite foods.... not to mention.... my favorite Chinese food.... is Peking duck.... particularly, Peking duck skin!!! It comes from a specially roasted duck that has been forced-fed and raised specifically for Peking duck preparation.

the preparation of this dish is as follows: Peking Duck requires a duck with its head still attached. First, it is inflated with a pump or other object, separating the skin from the body (in ancient times someone with strong lungs would achieve this by blowing through a straw). Then the skin is scalded with boiling water to make it drier and tauter and brushed with molasses so that it acquires a dark, rich color with the slight aroma of caramel during the subsequent cooking process. After drying for half a day, the duck is hung by its neck in a hot oven where it is roasted for an hour or more, during which time the copious fat of the duck melts off and the skin becomes crispy.

traditionally, it is served as follows: the duck's crispy skin (with a small amount of meat attached) is shaved off at the table and served with steamed "lotus leaf pancakes", slivered green Chinese onion, and sweet noodle sauce or Hoisin sauce. Pieces of duck skin are placed on the pancake, along with the sauce and scallions. The pancake is then rolled up and eaten. (from Wikipedia.com)

every 7th day of the month, we have this tradition of having Peking duck. today, after going around the city looking for a suitable place for the meat shop, we proceeded to Glorietta in Makati to invite Nini to have Peking duck dinner with us. however, it so happened that she already had dinner appointments with Rob and Bob's brother and his girlfriend; and so, we asked her to let them join us.

as always, we had a grand time eating good food and enjoying good company!!!