Crispy duck owes a lot to its predecessor, Peking duck – a dish with strong connections to Chinese New Year, which this year is on 17 February. While crispy duck is a far more recent British-Chinese invention, Peking duck’s history is thought to date back as far as the late 1200s. During the 13th century, roast duck was sold door-to-door by street vendors in China, and later the recipe for Peking duck was included in Yinshan Zhengyao, a cookbook written by the then emperor’s official dietitian, Hu Sihui. 

Author, TV chef and founder of School of Wok Jeremy Pang has the answer. ‘Both have crispy skin but in totally different ways,’ he says. ‘Whereas crispy aromatic duck is deep-fried, Peking duck is roasted. The initial process of blanching the duck in scalding hot water to tighten up the skin and render the fat is usually applied to both, but from then on the cooking process differs.’

One of the reasons Peking duck is typically left to  the professionals is the space and utensils needed to achieve that glazed, deeply hued, crispy skin. Thankfully, this recipe doesn’t require special tools, meat hooks and walk-in fridges. With a few nifty ingredients and a lot of patience, you can get this done in your own kitchen. 

While blanching is a key step for crispy skin, loosening the skin from the flesh helps too. ‘The ultimate Peking duck has an added step of blowing air between the skin and the meat of the duck to allow the skin to crisp even more,’ says Jeremy. How to achieve this at home? Some use a bicycle pump, or a straw and a healthy set of lungs; that’s fine, but the less I’m huffing into a duck the better, which is why setting aside an hour and using my fingers to carefully separate the skin was enough for me. 

Maltose, a malt syrup, is often used to help create the syrup brushed on the duck, but we use honey as an easy and much less sticky substitute. Adding a little baking powder to your salt helps create as dry a skin as possible, and leaving the duck in your fridge on a rack for at least 24 hours is an additional moisture zapper. Finally, vertically roasting your duck on a drink’s can allows the fat to drip away, leaving you with a showstopper that really fits the bill.