Episode Details

In July 1971, Henry Kissinger's tense secret talks in Beijing reportedly softened over a lunch of Peking duck. This deep dive explores how a regional roast bird became a centuries-old culinary art form and a tool of Cold War statecraft.

We trace roast duck from the Yuan dynasty text of Hu Sihui to the ducks that followed Grand Canal barges north to Beijing, and the rivalry between Bianyifang, founded in 1416, and Quanjude, founded in 1864. We also unpack force-fed versus modern broiler breeds, the air-pumping, blanching and glazing that create crisp skin, closed versus open ovens, the three-stage meal, and global adaptations like crispy aromatic duck.

• How moving the capital to Beijing reshaped the landscape and brought Nanjing ducks north
• Why traditional force feeding gave way to faster-growing breeds that now dominate Beijing kitchens
• The chemistry of pumping air under the skin, blanching, maltose glazing and 24 hours of drying
• Bianyifang's closed brick oven versus Quanjude's open oven fired with peach and pear wood
• How the dish hosted leaders from Kissinger to Fidel Castro and Helmut Kohl as soft power