Roast duck is a famous dish in Beijing and Nanjing, belonging to Beijing cuisine or Jinling cuisine. It is famous for its red color, tender meat, mellow taste, fat but not greasy. It is slightly yellow in color, soft and fragrant, and can be eaten with other vegetarians. It is a common dish at banquets and a home-cooked dish.

Roast duck has a long history and originated in Jiankang, China in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, roast duck was recorded in the Record of Food Treasures. After Zhu Yuanzhang made Yingtian (Nanjing) his capital, the chefs of the Ming Palace Museum used Nanjing's plump and fleshy lake ducks to make dishes. In order to add flavor to duck dishes, the chef bakes them with charcoal fire. After the dishes were cooked, the ducks tasted crispy, fat but not greasy, and were praised by people, that is, they were named "Nanjing Roast Duck" by the court.

Characteristics of dishes:

Beijing Roast Duck has a long history. As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, "roast duck" was recorded in the book "Edible Goods Collection". There is a record of "roast duck" in "Diet is about to" written by Hu Sihui, a doctor in Yuan Dynasty. Roast duck is "barbecued duck", which is the earliest roast duck.

After Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the capital in Yingtian (Nanjing), the chefs of the Ming Palace Museum used Nanjing's plump and fleshy lake ducks to make dishes. In order to add flavor to duck dishes, he baked them with charcoal fire to make them crisp and fragrant. In the late Qing Dynasty, dog roast duck was praised by people and named "roast duck" by the palace.