duck
In the summer of 2018, my family flew back to China. We normally do this once every 2-3 years to catch up with relatives. Great experience, good food, fun places to visit. It’s also nice meeting relatives I did not know about (all extended relatives live in China, none in the US. It’s like the stories you hear about X person saw you as a baby and claim they “raised” you but you have zero recollection of that person). Regarding good food, probably the most memorable dish was Peking duck. It’s a whole roast duck, stuffed with various spices such as star anise, cloves, and Sichuan pepper. The duck is then pumped with air to cause the skin to separate from the fat, and then is dipped in boiling water, tightening the skin. The duck is then hung to dry, where it is glazed with a runny syrup. It is then left for 24 hours until being roasted in the oven. The end result is a duck with extremely crispy skin. That’s probably the best part, the duck skin is crispy, fatty, and delicious. When comb