Originally Posted by
TWA884
National Geographic attributes the origin of Peking Duck to Hangzhou; it then became a specialty of nearby Nanjing and arrived in Beijing sometime during the Ming dynasty.
Even by the standards of the article: it was being cooked in the south for ~200 years before the move of the Capital to Beijing...where it has been cooked for ~600 years. One presumes it has evolved more in the last 600 than 800-600 year period. It's a bit like saying Haggis isn't really Scottish: possibly via some hair-splitting argument, but for all intents and purposes, that's ridiculous.
It is notable that Cantonese restaurants (at least reasonably high-end ones) offer Peking duck: usually at 2-5 times the price of Beijing restaurants. I don't know whether that's a modern (last 20-30 years phenomenon) or if e.g. 50 years ago, Cantonese restaurants in HK or e.g. SF offered Peking duck..anyone know?
tb
PS as mentioned in the article, London Cantonese restaurants have traditionally served "crispy aromatic duck" which is fried...am wondering whether Cantonese restaurants elsewhere (US/HK) also used to do the same until Peking duck was 'having a moment'...?