Best Wine with Peking Duck? Oloroso

It is going to be Chinese New Year in a few days' time on the 23rd January 2012. Time Out London says:

January 29 2012 sees the celebrations to welcome in the Year of the Dragon take place in Chinatown and Shaftesbury Avenue (central London's big event traditionally takes place on the first Sunday after the official start of the Chinese New Year, which in 2012 is on January 23).

Festivities begin at 10.15am with a parade of colourful floats from Trafalgar Square to Rupert Street. At noon, Boris Johnson and Chinatown president Stanley Tse commence the Dotting of the Eye ceremony, kickstarting an afternoon of performances featuring music, dance, Chinese dragons, lions and acrobatics.

The show culminates in a fireworks display at 5.40pm. Chinatown will be filled with cultural and food stalls and displays all day.

I'm going to have Peking Duck painted with PX and accompanied by a glass of aromatic Oloroso.

Peking Duck

Here is Wikipedia's report on Peking Duck

Peking Duck, or Peking Roast Duck is a famous duck dish from Beijing that has been prepared since the imperial era, and is now considered one of China's national foods.

The dish is prized for the 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.

Ducks bred specially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is eaten with pancakes, spring onions, and hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce.

Interestingly I have never heard of Beijing Duck. The Peking name has stuck for the dish and there seems to be have been no move to re-transliterate.


I have never made Peking Duck from the start. But I do have a variation on the traditional. 


I buy a duck ready cooked in London's Chinatown or Bayswater.


Then paint it with Pedro Ximénez (or PX for short) and then give it a blast in the oven on 200ºC for 10 minutes. 

I also use reduced PX instead of the plum sauce. Or blend in the PX with the plum sauce. Just lovely.

Blend in PX with the plum sauce

Add thinly sliced cucumber 

Add chilli sauce and the PX with Plum Sauce blend

 And so what is the best wine to drink with Peking Duck?


I will plump for an Oloroso. A bone dry aromatic Oloroso to cut into the fatty duck.

Oloroso to cut into the fatty duck.

The PX and The Oloroso are available from me at Sticky Wines.


Hey and you can have Peking Duck painted black with PX and Oloroso well beyond Chinese New Year. In fact every New Day if you like.
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Warren EDWARDES


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