canapeAdvancedChinese-American

Peking Duck Lettuce Cups

Crispy duck with hoisin, scallions, and cucumber in butter lettuce

⏱️ Prep: 60min🍳 Cook: 120min⏰ Total: 180min👥 Serves: 24🌡️ warm

✓ gluten-free

⚠️ Contains: 🫘 Soy

Ingredients

1Chinese roast duck(from Asian market, or roast your own)
24 leavesbutter lettuce(cup-shaped leaves)
0.5 cuphoisin sauce
1English cucumber(julienned)
6green onions(julienned)
1 tbspsesame seeds(for garnish)

Instructions

If using whole duck, remove skin and crisp in 400°F oven for 10 minutes
Shred duck meat into bite-sized pieces; slice skin into strips
Arrange lettuce cups on serving platter
Place small amount of duck meat and crispy skin in each cup
Drizzle with hoisin sauce
Top with cucumber, green onion, and sesame seeds

💡 Pro Tips

True Peking duck requires air-drying for crispy skin—hang overnight in refrigerator. Shortcut: use store-bought roast duck from Chinese BBQ shop. Separate skin and meat, serve both. Hoisin should be room temperature for easy drizzling.

📜 History

Peking duck dates to Imperial China and became an aspirational dish at upscale tiki establishments. The lettuce cup presentation adapts the traditional pancake wrap for easier party service while maintaining the essential flavors of crispy skin, rich meat, and sweet hoisin.

Also pairs well with:

sakechampagnerum