Do they...squeeze ducks to get it?
February 11, 2015 8:57 AM Subscribe
I don't think I've ever had Peking Duck.
/vegetarian regrets.
It's interesting how well the poll and map attached to the article back up the geographical difference on duck sauce, I always assumed it was part of all Americanized Chinese cuisine.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:03 AM on February 11, 2015
/vegetarian regrets.
It's interesting how well the poll and map attached to the article back up the geographical difference on duck sauce, I always assumed it was part of all Americanized Chinese cuisine.
posted by Drinky Die at 9:03 AM on February 11, 2015
Idiots. It's "duct" sauce, as it was originally used for sealing cracks in heating ducts.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:15 AM on February 11, 2015 [63 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 9:15 AM on February 11, 2015 [63 favorites]
I'm from Beijing and we've always just called the sauce that comes with Peking Duck tianmianjiang. Tianmianjiang is also delicious in lots of other things like noodles.
"Duck sauce" is pretty much an Americanized Chinese food thing.
posted by kmz at 9:16 AM on February 11, 2015
"Duck sauce" is pretty much an Americanized Chinese food thing.
posted by kmz at 9:16 AM on February 11, 2015
"We recommend 'A Mongoose and Black Mamba Fight to Death'"
Jesus Christ, Smithsonian. That's one hell of a second course.
posted by boo_radley at 9:19 AM on February 11, 2015 [10 favorites]
Jesus Christ, Smithsonian. That's one hell of a second course.
posted by boo_radley at 9:19 AM on February 11, 2015 [10 favorites]
I went through my entire childhood and maybe even a few years of adulthood thinking Welsh rarebit was Welsh rabbit.
posted by COD at 9:26 AM on February 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by COD at 9:26 AM on February 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
I don't know, but there's something about Barbra Streisand. Just watch out for the Big Bad Wolf, it's an acquired taste (and generally a bit disturbing/NSFW).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:27 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:27 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I went through my entire childhood and maybe even a few years of adulthood thinking Welsh rarebit was Welsh rabbit.
"Welsh rabbit" was the original term. "Rarebit" is a later invention based on a (false) folk etymology.
posted by yoink at 9:30 AM on February 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Welsh rabbit" was the original term. "Rarebit" is a later invention based on a (false) folk etymology.
posted by yoink at 9:30 AM on February 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Duck sauce" is pretty much an Americanized Chinese food thing.
I read a couple of books on Americanized Chinese food a few years ago. I don't think either of them covered duck sauce specifically, but I'm not surprised to have that confirmed.
posted by immlass at 9:33 AM on February 11, 2015
I read a couple of books on Americanized Chinese food a few years ago. I don't think either of them covered duck sauce specifically, but I'm not surprised to have that confirmed.
posted by immlass at 9:33 AM on February 11, 2015
It's duck sauce! It's Welsh rabbit! FIRE!
posted by maudlin at 9:37 AM on February 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by maudlin at 9:37 AM on February 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Don't tell them about the baby oil.
posted by gimonca at 9:38 AM on February 11, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 9:38 AM on February 11, 2015 [11 favorites]
This article has me thoroughly baffled. Not only have I never heard of duck sauce, but I'm also now wondering whether a lot of you think hoisin is something completely different than I do, or whether it's your marmalade that's crazy-looking.
posted by edd at 9:40 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by edd at 9:40 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I had a boyfriend from New Jersey who always asked for duck sauce at Chinese restaurants. And yes, my first thought as a West Coasterner was to ask, what, do they make it out of ducks?
Imagine my disappointment when it was basically a bland sweet and sour sauce (really just "sweet", hardly any sour), and nothing like the pressed duck sauce from restaurants like La Tour d'Argent in Paris. Warning: contains video of ducks being butchered and pressed.
Anyway. After tasting it I noted that duck sauce is insipid and should have been my first warning sign that he and I weren't meant to be.
And someday I really want to go to La Tour d'Argent.
posted by offalark at 9:46 AM on February 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Imagine my disappointment when it was basically a bland sweet and sour sauce (really just "sweet", hardly any sour), and nothing like the pressed duck sauce from restaurants like La Tour d'Argent in Paris. Warning: contains video of ducks being butchered and pressed.
Anyway. After tasting it I noted that duck sauce is insipid and should have been my first warning sign that he and I weren't meant to be.
And someday I really want to go to La Tour d'Argent.
posted by offalark at 9:46 AM on February 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
A lot of my friends cook with duck sauce - they use it as a glaze or marinade for chicken. Apparently you can buy it in jars.
posted by Mchelly at 9:50 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by Mchelly at 9:50 AM on February 11, 2015
It's a spiced fruit preserve/chutney, typically ginger apricot-plum, sometimes filtered, sometimes not. I've even seen it made with pumpkin. Might be an interesting bit of ethnography to look at the various regional variations of it. I'm sure there are many local traditions.
The name "duck sauce" does seem to be a US thing---in Canada the same thing is almost always "plum sauce" and sold for use with egg rolls only. I've only ever seen peking duck in Canada come with hoisin, whether in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta or BC. However, I've never had fancy duck in the Atlantic provinces, come to think of it.
posted by bonehead at 10:07 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
The name "duck sauce" does seem to be a US thing---in Canada the same thing is almost always "plum sauce" and sold for use with egg rolls only. I've only ever seen peking duck in Canada come with hoisin, whether in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta or BC. However, I've never had fancy duck in the Atlantic provinces, come to think of it.
posted by bonehead at 10:07 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hm...I've spent around 70-ish nights in Shanghai and never once gone out for Peking duck. Nobody's even mentioned it (even among my native colleagues). Maybe I should try it next time?
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by Doleful Creature at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2015
For me "duck/plum sauce" has always been the hoisin that came with Peking duck. I was surprised when I started eating Vietnamese and found it was served with phở and spring rolls as well...
posted by jim in austin at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by jim in austin at 10:08 AM on February 11, 2015
"Duck sauce" is pretty much an Americanized Chinese food thing.
I'm not so sure. Tianmianjiang is served with Peking Duck, but there's also the matter of Cantonese cuisine, which has a much stronger presence in North America than Beijing cuisine. The article mentions the "marmalade-like" sauce served with Cantonese/HK style roast duck. The author says that isn't the duck sauce they were thinking of, but my mind also thought of that sauce first when "duck sauce" was mentioned. I think that sauce seems to be at least distantly related to "duck sauce". It seems they are both eaten with roast duck, and the sweetness and slight acidity of the sauce is used to counter the fatty/oily taste of the duck.
posted by FJT at 10:11 AM on February 11, 2015
I'm not so sure. Tianmianjiang is served with Peking Duck, but there's also the matter of Cantonese cuisine, which has a much stronger presence in North America than Beijing cuisine. The article mentions the "marmalade-like" sauce served with Cantonese/HK style roast duck. The author says that isn't the duck sauce they were thinking of, but my mind also thought of that sauce first when "duck sauce" was mentioned. I think that sauce seems to be at least distantly related to "duck sauce". It seems they are both eaten with roast duck, and the sweetness and slight acidity of the sauce is used to counter the fatty/oily taste of the duck.
posted by FJT at 10:11 AM on February 11, 2015
In my experience, "duck sauce" is some variation of apricot/plum sauce.
It's yummy, sure, but around here bbq/roasted duck also comes with real duck sauce - a small container of the de-fatted duck drippings. Some prefer the plum sauce, some prefer the duck drippings.
posted by porpoise at 10:14 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's yummy, sure, but around here bbq/roasted duck also comes with real duck sauce - a small container of the de-fatted duck drippings. Some prefer the plum sauce, some prefer the duck drippings.
posted by porpoise at 10:14 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wonder if geography may have something to do with it, actually, in the sense that any kind of Asian-cooking culinary export would most likely hit the US first via the west coast, and work its way east. That's how I believe the first "Chinese food" came to this country anyway, via immigrants to San Francisco in the mid-1800's.
So it's not too much of a stretch to assume that most likely, the existing cuisine either got diluted as it made its way to the east, or whatever initial "these people want that awful sweet crap on things, let's just make some shit up" impulse that happened worked its way east and was still around when people in the west coast wised up and so it's still there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on February 11, 2015
So it's not too much of a stretch to assume that most likely, the existing cuisine either got diluted as it made its way to the east, or whatever initial "these people want that awful sweet crap on things, let's just make some shit up" impulse that happened worked its way east and was still around when people in the west coast wised up and so it's still there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on February 11, 2015
I never had Beijing duck (I just can't call it Peking duck) in Shanghai - I'm sure you can get it and at pretty good quality too, but there's so much delicious Shanghai food to eat that...I mean...why not just eat All The Shanghai Food? You can get good pressed duck in the US, but good Shanghai food is really hard to find. (There was a good Shanghai restaurant in Chicago, but it closed years ago; if I ever win the lottery, I am going to offer big bucks to some Shanghai home-style restaurant owner to come over here)
Anyway, in Beijing, you could get plastic-sealed Beijing duck which you could - for instance - heat in the microwave in your tiny apartment and devour in a mannerless manner. I mean, you could also get the gourmet kind, but the grocery store kind wasn't bad either.
Ah, those were happy times! Truly two of the world's great cities.
posted by Frowner at 10:19 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Anyway, in Beijing, you could get plastic-sealed Beijing duck which you could - for instance - heat in the microwave in your tiny apartment and devour in a mannerless manner. I mean, you could also get the gourmet kind, but the grocery store kind wasn't bad either.
Ah, those were happy times! Truly two of the world's great cities.
posted by Frowner at 10:19 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Count me in as someone who loves the brown, vaguely chunky duck sauce. It baffles my mind that it is so localized to New England. I always assumed that horrible apricot stuff in packets was a cheap-out shelf stable version of New England style duck sauce.
To me, Chinese* food isn't worth eating without real duck sauce. Total childhood comfort food thing. Is it really just apple sauce and molasses? Does anyone have a recipe?
*the Americanized fast food, not the real Chinese food that real Chinese people eat, which is good but in a totally different category
posted by fermezporte at 10:20 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
To me, Chinese* food isn't worth eating without real duck sauce. Total childhood comfort food thing. Is it really just apple sauce and molasses? Does anyone have a recipe?
*the Americanized fast food, not the real Chinese food that real Chinese people eat, which is good but in a totally different category
posted by fermezporte at 10:20 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't tell them about the baby oil.
Or Girl Scout cookies... which were once made with baby oil?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:25 AM on February 11, 2015
Or Girl Scout cookies... which were once made with baby oil?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:25 AM on February 11, 2015
Look what I just found in my desk drawer.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2015 [5 favorites]
Frowner, there are some Shanghai-style restaurants in NYC that seem great to me, as a person who has admittedly never been to Shanghai. Mostly in Chinatown and Flushing.
posted by lunasol at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2015
posted by lunasol at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2015
"you know, like milt. Only from ducks. What can I say? Chinese people eat weird things."
Why is it that like 9 out of 10 things described as a "delicacy" is completely disgusting? (to my personal tastes.) I mean, just pick one at random.
Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundídu, casu fràzigu in Sardinian language, or in Italian formaggio marcio, "rotten cheese") is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae (maggots).
posted by Drinky Die at 10:45 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Why is it that like 9 out of 10 things described as a "delicacy" is completely disgusting? (to my personal tastes.) I mean, just pick one at random.
Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundídu, casu fràzigu in Sardinian language, or in Italian formaggio marcio, "rotten cheese") is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae (maggots).
posted by Drinky Die at 10:45 AM on February 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
We ate Beijing duck for our last dinner in China a few weeks ago. I had to look up a spot, as the only time any of us had Beijing duck in Shanghai was when our buddy's parents came to visit 5-6 years ago. (Go to Lao Beijing next time, doleful creature! We approved. I'm sorry I suddenly moved back to America and can't go with you!)
We couldn't even find any real Beijing-style roast duck in the medium-sized city we were living in. When we lived in Beijing and Shandong Province (which claims Beijing duck as its own invention), you could get amazing duck ev.ery.where.
Aaaaand now I'm homesick for China. Thanks, Metafilter!
posted by MsDaniB at 10:49 AM on February 11, 2015
We couldn't even find any real Beijing-style roast duck in the medium-sized city we were living in. When we lived in Beijing and Shandong Province (which claims Beijing duck as its own invention), you could get amazing duck ev.ery.where.
Aaaaand now I'm homesick for China. Thanks, Metafilter!
posted by MsDaniB at 10:49 AM on February 11, 2015
When we lived in Beijing and Shandong Province (which claims Beijing duck as its own invention), you could get amazing duck ev.ery.where.
Last time I visited I Beijing I think we had Peking Duck pretty much every meal. My grandparents could even get it delivered!
posted by kmz at 11:19 AM on February 11, 2015
Last time I visited I Beijing I think we had Peking Duck pretty much every meal. My grandparents could even get it delivered!
posted by kmz at 11:19 AM on February 11, 2015
Frowner, there are some Shanghai-style restaurants in NYC that seem great to me, as a person who has admittedly never been to Shanghai. Mostly in Chinatown and Flushing.
But in New York! That might as well be on the moon. When I win the lottery, I will build a Shanghai-style restaurant next to my house*.
*And create jobs in my neighborhood and pay generous wages to both the locals and the Chinese talent. And eat at the restaurant every day.
posted by Frowner at 11:22 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
But in New York! That might as well be on the moon. When I win the lottery, I will build a Shanghai-style restaurant next to my house*.
*And create jobs in my neighborhood and pay generous wages to both the locals and the Chinese talent. And eat at the restaurant every day.
posted by Frowner at 11:22 AM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Chinese canadian from toronto here.
Hoisin and plum sauce are different things.
Hoisin is slightly savoury and sweet and tends to have the consistency of ketchup.
Plum sauce is sweet and sour and kind of like jam or chutney.
For Peking duck, its a whole production where the duck is skinned at your table and you put the crisply skin with with hoisin and eat it in a mini wrap and some garnish. Then they cut up the rest of the meat and serve on a plate.
If you go to the bbq shop, you can order a plate of duck (with or without rice), skin on and its served with plum sauce. Most bbq shops are cantonese or southern style. Cantonese style bbq goose is also served with plum sauce. The better shops will make theirs in-house.
Optionally, in any of these places they will ladle bbq drippings over your plate of meat. Sometimes they mix the drippings with the hoisin sauce, but never with plum sauce. You can of course eat your duck with either plum or hoisin sauce.
Serving plum sauce with spring rolls seems to be a north american thing. I always eat spring rolls at with Worcester sauce.
And now i want to eat bbq duck for dinner.
posted by captaincrouton at 11:55 AM on February 11, 2015
Hoisin and plum sauce are different things.
Hoisin is slightly savoury and sweet and tends to have the consistency of ketchup.
Plum sauce is sweet and sour and kind of like jam or chutney.
For Peking duck, its a whole production where the duck is skinned at your table and you put the crisply skin with with hoisin and eat it in a mini wrap and some garnish. Then they cut up the rest of the meat and serve on a plate.
If you go to the bbq shop, you can order a plate of duck (with or without rice), skin on and its served with plum sauce. Most bbq shops are cantonese or southern style. Cantonese style bbq goose is also served with plum sauce. The better shops will make theirs in-house.
Optionally, in any of these places they will ladle bbq drippings over your plate of meat. Sometimes they mix the drippings with the hoisin sauce, but never with plum sauce. You can of course eat your duck with either plum or hoisin sauce.
Serving plum sauce with spring rolls seems to be a north american thing. I always eat spring rolls at with Worcester sauce.
And now i want to eat bbq duck for dinner.
posted by captaincrouton at 11:55 AM on February 11, 2015
I'm from New England, but have only encountered the brownish duck sauce accompanying take-out food; the sweet sauce I've seen at the table at Chinese restaurants near me has always been hoisin. Also, for some reason enormous jars of duck sauce appear on clearance at the supermarkets after Passover.
Another difference in the New England variation of Americanized Chinese Food, at least according to MeFi, is that restaurants have an appetizer called "Peking ravioli" which is a dumpling with a thick wrapper.
posted by XMLicious at 12:00 PM on February 11, 2015
Another difference in the New England variation of Americanized Chinese Food, at least according to MeFi, is that restaurants have an appetizer called "Peking ravioli" which is a dumpling with a thick wrapper.
posted by XMLicious at 12:00 PM on February 11, 2015
Also, for some reason enormous jars of duck sauce appear on clearance at the supermarkets after Passover.
This would be that reason.
posted by Mchelly at 12:07 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
This would be that reason.
posted by Mchelly at 12:07 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
To me, "plum sauce" is the sauce that comes with moo shu pork, that you drizzle on the pancake before wrapping it up. I see some mention online that this is "hoisin sauce," but the ones I've always had from restaurants or take out (Kansas City and Chicago) are sweeter and a bit thinner than any hoisin sauce I've had.
posted by dnash at 2:06 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dnash at 2:06 PM on February 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Faint of Butt,
If you leave that in the drawer of an office break room, it'll spontaneously reproduce. Due to it's heterozygous genotype, some of its offspring will be duck sauce, but some will also be mustard sauce.
posted by fontophilic at 2:12 PM on February 11, 2015 [9 favorites]
If you leave that in the drawer of an office break room, it'll spontaneously reproduce. Due to it's heterozygous genotype, some of its offspring will be duck sauce, but some will also be mustard sauce.
posted by fontophilic at 2:12 PM on February 11, 2015 [9 favorites]
New England duck sauce at the restaurant was a staple of my childhood, and I would always get SO CONFUSED when we would buy alleged "duck sauce" from the supermaret and it was bright orange and syrupy.
It also took me a long time to realize that everyone from elsewhere in the country thinks "Peking ravioli" is hilarious.
posted by threeants at 8:17 PM on February 11, 2015
It also took me a long time to realize that everyone from elsewhere in the country thinks "Peking ravioli" is hilarious.
posted by threeants at 8:17 PM on February 11, 2015
It also took me a long time to realize that everyone from elsewhere in the country thinks "Peking ravioli" is hilarious.
Count me as a New Englander who also thinks it's a silly-sounding name. They've been a lifelong favorite but it was a lifelong search to find a less colloquial name for them in English, ending only once I'd tried actually ordering "potstickers" and "dumplings" outside of NE and was extremely disappointed with the result. This early AskMe thread seems to arrive at the names in Chinese languages as being guo tie/wo tip/鍋貼, but I haven't managed to remember that during the times since then I've been at a restaurant outside of NE.
posted by XMLicious at 10:53 PM on February 11, 2015
The orange colored fruity "duck sauce" you get in plastic packets at Chinese-American restaurants is absolutely NOT equivalent to the authentic hoisin sauce. It's an American invention that is not seen in China
Of course. Orange duck sauce is an example of unique and authentic American cuisine, like General Tso's chicken. What surprised me is that it's not universal throughout the country. I'm very curious about New England duck sauce now; what's it made of, and what are the chunks? And what do Californians dip their egg rolls in?
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:04 AM on February 12, 2015
Of course. Orange duck sauce is an example of unique and authentic American cuisine, like General Tso's chicken. What surprised me is that it's not universal throughout the country. I'm very curious about New England duck sauce now; what's it made of, and what are the chunks? And what do Californians dip their egg rolls in?
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:04 AM on February 12, 2015
And what do Californians dip their egg rolls in?
In Northern California, egg rolls and fried wontons are usually served with bright red sweet and sour sauce.
posted by Lexica at 9:06 AM on February 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
In Northern California, egg rolls and fried wontons are usually served with bright red sweet and sour sauce.
posted by Lexica at 9:06 AM on February 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Interesting... I use the red sweet and sour sauce for fried wontons, but egg rolls and shrimp toast call out for the orange duck sauce. Perhaps research is needed.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:29 PM on February 16, 2015
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:29 PM on February 16, 2015
« Older Oops - I had to bodliboodblibeep! | Slimy Piece of Worm-Ridden Filth Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 9:01 AM on February 11, 2015