Taiwan is swept up in a Peking duck craze! The secret weapon at The Regent Taipei is homemade sweet bean sauce

▲ For Peking duck to taste good, the sweet bean sauce is also crucial.

Reported and photographed by Huang Shiyuan / Taipei

Do you love Peking duck? Major star-rated hotels in Taiwan have recently seen a surge in Peking duck popularity. Peking duck involves slicing roasted duck meat and skin, then wrapping it with cucumber, scallions, and sweet bean sauce in thin pancakes. Among these, the sweet bean sauce is arguably one of the keys to whether Peking duck tastes good. Li Xianghua, the chef of Yi Yuan Beijing Cuisine at The Westin Taipei The Regent, revealed that The Regent Taipei has a unique sweet bean sauce that is the soul of its Peking duck.

Li Xianghua said that the restaurant’s sweet bean sauce has been continuously refined over the years, with ingredients such as licorice, star anise, orange peel, fermented tofu, rock sugar, and tsao-ko added during the cooking process. Finally, apple puree is added to enhance the aroma and sweetness. Li Xianghua also noted that unlike Cantonese-style roast duck, Peking duck does not stuff spices inside the duck, so besides using high-quality ducks, the sweet bean sauce is also key—calling it the soul of Peking duck is no exaggeration.


▲%Agent:The recipe adds various spices. It also includes apple puree to enhance the flavor.

Yi Yuan is a Peking cuisine restaurant within The Regent Taipei. It has been awarded the title of Taipei’s No. 1 Best Peking Restaurant and was ranked third among Taiwan’s 100 Best Restaurants by a magazine. Of course, the signature Peking dish, Peking duck, is also a crowd favorite at Yi Yuan. The ducks used for Peking duck at Yi Yuan are cherry ducks raised in Yuli, Hualien, with an average weight of over 5 kilograms. In the preparation of Peking duck, the internal organs are first removed, and then air is pumped through a small hole in the duck’s neck to inflate the entire bird. Li Xianghua said this process helps separate the duck meat from the skin, making the skin crispier after roasting.

Next, the duck is soaked in boiling malt vinegar water, then hung and air-dried with a fan for 8–10 hours. After drying, the ducks are arranged in a hanging oven and roasted for 60 minutes (50 minutes in summer), followed by steaming for 10 minutes. Li Xianghua explained that steaming after roasting helps retain moisture in the meat and prevents the duck from becoming too dry.


▲ The crispy skin on the duck’s back is delicious and can be paired with maltose to reduce greasiness.


▲ Sliced duck skin and meat.

%Agent:The chef showcases his knife skills.


After the duck is roasted, it’s time to showcase the chef’s skill—the “duck slicing show.”Chef Li Xianghua first uses a special slicing knife to carve out two business card-sized pieces of skin from the duck’s back. The crisp sound and the aroma of roasted duck make mouths water. Chef Li Xianghua explained that the back of the duck has no fat, allowing for the crispiest skin, which can be paired with a bit of maltose to reduce greasiness. He then slices a few pieces with both skin and meat for diners to enjoy different textures.

Next, the chef swiftly slices the duck with skilled knife work, and in the blink of an eye, a plump duck is reduced to just bones. Since Peking duck is served with skin and meat separated, the plating also features the meat stacked on the plate while the skin is arranged around the edge. In addition to the chef’s slicing performance, Yi Yuan’s servers also help guests wrap their pancakes. They take the steamed pancakes from the warmer, spread the special sweet bean sauce, add cucumber, scallions, and duck skin, and then roll them up.


▲ Yi Yuan’s servers also help guests wrap their pancakes.


▲ Millet duck bone congee.

Besides enjoying sliced duck, there are other serving styles, including stir-fried duck shreds with bean sprouts, fried double-yolk eggs, soy-braised duck carcass, pickled tofu and duck carcass stew, jasmine duck bone milk soup, and millet duck bone congee. All of the above dishes require about 30 minutes of preparation time.

Peking duck preparation steps:

1. Inflate to separate skin and meat.


2. Soak in boiling malt vinegar water.

3. Air-dry.




The Westin Taipei The Regent Yi Yuan
Address: B2, 133 Section 3, Nanjing East Road, Taipei City
Phone: 02-3518-3087