Peking Duck - why do they take my duck away?
When I go eat at Peking Duck restaurants, they always bring a delicious duck over, present it to me and friends or me and family members, then they proceed to slice a few pieces onto the little buns, add some hoison sauce, veggies, and then distribute to us to eat.
Then, it almost seems shocking, they take our duck away.
It's like...half a duck is taken away from us...mysteriously back into the kitchen.
So now we have to order another duck ...then a third duck... + some sauteed dishes to fill us all up.
So my question is: Why does this happen? Is only a small part of a duck edible? Are we being ripped off? E.g., Are they keeping the duck for themselves for some purpose? Making soups comes to mind.
Are they making duck soup with the duck that we should have eaten?
But then here's another interesting obversvation: I notice that Peking Duck service stations at buffets actually throws away big parts of the duck, after slicing up a few pieces to make the buns for people standing on line.
So...perhaps it is just a fact that most of the duck is inedible. But I would just like some information from this forum.
Thanks in advance!
Best Answer
In several of the restaurants I've ordered peking duck at they offer it as part of three courses. They will first present the duck and cut off slices of the skin (with only a small amount of meat), this is then used with the pancakes.
They will then take the duck away away and create a noodle dish with the remaining meat. Finally they use the everything left to make a duck soup (dishes may vary from place to place).
It's quite possible that the restaurant you went to only offers the dishes separately.
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What is the difference between duck and Peking duck?
A Pekin duck is a white-feathered breed of duck originating in China. This breed, preferred in the U.S. market, has a mild and moist flavor profile and is not gamey like other breeds including Muscovy, Moulard and Mallard ducks.What is so special about Peking duck?
Peking duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the Imperial era. The meat is prized for its thin, crisp skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook.Why does Peking duck take so long?
Ducks bred especially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings....Peking duckSimplified Chinese\u5317\u4eac\u70e4\u9e2dLiteral meaningBeijing roast duck5 more rowsWhat breed of duck is used for Peking duck?
The breed of duck used is Pekin Duck. It's referred to as Imperial Peking, because of how it is raised. The birds are allowed to roam free-range for first 45 days of their lives; then then are confined, and force fed four times a day.BBC Discovery Chinese cuisine Beijng Duck
More answers regarding peking Duck - why do they take my duck away?
Answer 2
Typically, the 'Peking Duck' dish only uses the crispy duck skin. The rest of the duck will usually be used in other duck-dishes.
Answer 3
I'm curious if this happened in the US or in China?
When I grew up in China, most restaurants that I went to that served Peking duck would serve it in multiple dishes (they'd call it ????, "Yi Ya San Chi", or "One duck, eaten 3 ways", or two ways, or four ways, etc.). There is less waste this way, and they get you to order more dishes (and pay more) out of one duck.
One of the dishes would typically be the skin on its own or with the wraps/scallions/hoisin sauce (the skin is prized for its crispiness; I don't remember caring too much about the meat of the duck since it's usually very tough and chewy). Another common dish would be the soup made from the meat and carcasses, served with other vegetables, etc.
It's possible that when you ordered Peking duck, they took it away afterwards to make the other dishes. Since you didn't touch the duck and they served it to you, they could use the rest of the duck to make another dish for you - maybe a soup, or a stew, etc.
It would be very strange, though I wouldn't count it out, if the rest of the duck went into making ??, a form of clear Chinese stock, that would just be for the kitchen when they make other dishes.
Answer 4
I wrote a negative review about an Australian Chinese restaurant who did this - $76 for the duck for 2 ppl & what they advertise as a 2 course meal. The choice was: Duck skin, pancakes & sauce AND San Choi Bow Or Duck skin, pancakes & sauce AND duck with soft noodles. We ordered the 1st one, got the crispy skin (no meat), 10 pancakes & sauce. They took the duck away which was quite large with lots of meat. We comment it was going to be a lot of food to eat by the size of the bird. When the 2nd course came out it was 2 small lettuce cups with the tiniest amount of San Choi Bow mixture in it. We asked the waiter where was the rest of the meat and he said that was it.
I buy whole Peking duck from the Chinese BBQ place, 1/4 it up at home and I can get 4 good size 1/4’s to make a Thai style BBQ duck dish for 4 people PLUS strip the carcass and have enough meat to make a red duck curry for 2-3 people.
So, I know for a fact, I’m not getting the entire duck when I get duck pancakes. They’re ripping us off.
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