So good I want to do it again

[figmo]

[Sounds like the subject of a SPAM message, doesn't it?]

When I was in England, I went to dinner with the_magician and Kathy and Leo Sands. The first dish we had brought to our table was some kind of shredded, skinless duck with side dishes of hoisin sauce, shredded green onions and cucumber strips, and steamed moo shu-style pancakes. It was delicious.

So...does anyone have any idea what this dish is called? Kathy said ladyat could smell it from a mile away and also adores it. I want to order it from somewhere, but I don't remember what it's called!!!

Comments

[alymid.livejournal.com]

sounds like crispy duck ...

[mdlbear]

Sounds a lot like a variant of Peking Duck, although that invariably includes the crisp skin as a side dish. I've never had Peking Duck with cucumber, but the green onions, hoisin, and pancakes are invariants. Sometimes the pancakes are thin, moo-shu style; other times they're a little thicker, softer, and more flexible (a little like small tortillas).

[figmo.livejournal.com]

The dish was definitely not Peking Duck, as it didn't come with duck skin (something I think would make me gag right now). It just had the duck meat, shredded, and lots of it.

Re:

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Englishman's input here: I think this must be a local/national variation. I'm pretty sure we call the dish you had "Peking duck" or "crispy duck" interchangeably. Normally the skin is nowhere to be seen, unless they actually do the shredding in front of you (I've seen that done in less than 30 seconds once, it was amazing! =:o} ).

Note that even within England, chines restaurants will use wildly different terms for the same dishes, or have significantly different recipes for the same named dish. There's a pool of "Anglicised" variants that are common to most of the cheaper "take-aways", with ingredients probably all sourced from the same handful of bulk suppliers; and then there's the higher end of the market who have more "authentic" and/or creative variations on the dishes.

So maybe you need to ask specifically for "Peking Duck but without the duck skin".

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

It is Peking duck, and considered a great delicacy. You may have to shop around to find a restaurant that does it but I'm sure you can find one in the Bay Area; Peking Duck requires 24 hours for preparation, so it's not so common.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Um, no, it's not Peking Duck. This dish didn't have duck skin; just lots of shredded duck meat.

Mom used to make Peking Duck, and the skin is an integral part of that dish. I was looking for the dish that didn't contain duck skin.

Re:

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

D'oh!

[mneme]

Note that there's a lot of variation in Peking Duck (hell, there's a lot of variation in what -pancakes- a peking duck comes with).

And a crucial part of peking duck is that the skin (while universally included, as far as I know) isn't really connected to the meat, I suppose this may be a fairly extreme example of same.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

The skin is an integral part of Peking Duck. This dish had no duck skin.

The reason the skin doesn't stick to the duck is you have to inflate the duck the way you would a balloon. This separates the two. You then have to have the duck hang while inflated to keep the two separated so the skin gets crispy.

As I said, Mom used to make this. Part of my childhood involved not knicking over the upright duck in the refrigerator.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

It might be a variation on crispy duck or tea-smoked duck. Unfortunately it may well have been a variation that only that restraunt does since most duck I've seen elsewhere includes the skin.

There's also a Nonya version of the same basic idea, but I can't remember what it's called. (Nonya being a sort of cross between Malaysian and Chinese.)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Almost every Chinese restaurant I've seen in the UK serves it (and without skin, I've never seen it served with skin, the meat shredded), and at least some in Germany do as well. So do many takeaway Chinese places. UK filkers have been known to eat enough that the restaurant runs out, it's a standard order here.

Other duck dishes are often served with skin here, though.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Crispy Aromatic Duck (the adjectives are sometimes swapped or one missed out). Someone American commented the other week that they had made it at home, they got the spices in the US so it's certainly known there, I unremember who it was though...

In the UK it is served in almost every Chinese restaurant I have seen, and by many of the takeaway places as well.

There are several recipes on the net (see Google), the closest I've seen is Peter May's.

[pola-bear.livejournal.com]

Actually, I am pretty sure it is only known in the US by people who've been to the uk.

Bill and Brenda both complain about being unable to get it there when they're here... or there, if they feel the need to, actually...

But it is crispy aromatic duck...

[figmo.livejournal.com]

That sounds right, and it was wonderful.