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Beijing Duck
The Quanjude Restaurant, the largest roast duck
restaurant in Beijing if not in the world, opened for business in
1979. Located near Hepingmen Gate (Peace Gate), it has a floor space
of 15,000 square meters divided into 41 dining halls, including one,
which can serve 600 customers simultaneously. The dining halls
reserved for overseas guests can accommodate a total of 2,000 diners,
and include a hall where all-duck banquets in which all the dishes are
made from parts of the duck can be served to 600 people. Filled to
capacity, Quanjude Restaurant can serve as many as 5,000 meals a day.
The art of roasting ducks evolved from techniques used to prepare
sucking pigs. For more than a century, specialized chefs have
developed the idea that the skin of the duck should be so soft and
crisp that it melts in the mouth. In applying the traditional method
of preparation, the chefs at Quanjude pay particular attention to the
quality of the duck, the auxiliary ingredients and the type of wood
burned in the oven. Special farms supply plump Beijing ducks weighing
an average of 2.5 kilograms each. The two famous Beijing condiment
shops, Liubiju and Tianyuan, supply the dark tangy bean sauce spread
on the pancakes. The fragrant sesame oil and refined sugar are also
specially selected. Finally, only the wood of fruit trees such as
date, peach and pear are used in the roasting process to give the meat
its unique fragrance. The preparation of the dish
requires a series of complicated steps, which include inflating the
unbroken skin like a balloon so that it roasts just right. Quanjude
employs chefs who specialize in these techniques, while other chefs
prepare the non-duck dishes. Whereas in the past the restaurant’s
staff numbered no more than 40, it has at present grown to over 1,000.
Among them are chefs and managers with records of 40 or 50 years of
faithful service. The slicing of the meat from the
carcass of the duck is an art in itself. A skilled chef is able to cut
between 100 and 120 slices in four or five minutes, each slice with an
equal portion of both skin and meat. Inventiveness is another quality
cultivated at Quanjude. One seasoned chef has mastered more than 80
dishes made from the duck’s innards, head, wings and webs. A selection
of these dishes, whether hot, cold, boiled, fried, stewed or pickled,
will be the makings of an all-duck banquet. The first
restaurant to bear the name Quanjude opened in 1864 during the reign
of the Qing Emperor Tongzhi. Due to its high standards, the
restaurant’s fame spread rapidly and for many years the supply of
roast ducks could hardly satisfy the demand. For this reason, the
restaurant was rebuilt and expanded in 1948. In 1954 a branch (known
as Hongbinlou) was opened in West Chang’ an Boulevard and another in
Wangfujing Street in 1959. These additions, however, still did not
solve the problem, and with the opening of the Quanjude at hepingmen
in 1979, it was no longer necessary to make a reservation a week in
advance to taste Beijing’s most famous culinary delight.
The history of the roast duck can be traced back to as early as the
Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) when it was listed among the imperial dishes
in the Complete Recipes for Dishes and Beverages, written in 1330 by
Hu Sihui, an inspector of the imperial kitchen. Details regarding the
cooking process were also described in this early cookbook.
In the early 15th century, when the Ming Dynasty capital was shifted
from Nanjing to Beijing, roast duck remained one of the famous dishes
on imperial court menus. According to the local history, the earliest
roast duck restaurant in Beijing was the old Bianyifang Restaurant,
which opened during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566). Distinct from the
method in which the duck is hung from a hook in the ceiling of the
oven and roasted over and roasted over burning wood, the Old
Bianyifang Restaurant roasted its ducks with radiant heat. The walls
of the oven were first heated with sorghum stalks whereupon the duck
was placed inside and cooked by the heat given off by the walls. A
duck roasted in this manner is crisp to the touch and golden brown in
appearance; its flesh is both tender and tasty. During
the Qianlong period (1736-1796), roast duck was a favorite delicacy of
the upper classes. According to Recipes from the Suiyuan Garden, the
famous cookbook written by the poet and gourmet Yuan Mei, “Roast duck
is prepared by revolving a young duckling on a spit in an oven. The
chefs of Inspector Feng’s family excel in preparing this dish.” Other
scholars, after dining on roast duck, were inspired to poetry. In one
collection of old Beijing rhymes (Duan Zhuzhici) one of the poems
reads: “Fill your plates with roast duck and suckling pig.” Another
contemporary annotation reads: “When an official gives a banquet he
will choose dishes to please each of his guests. For example,
Bianyifang’ s roast duck…” To satisfy the growing demand
for roast duck, and with an eye on the profits to be made from a good
name, many restaurants opened from a good name, many restaurants
opened under the Bianyifang name. In fact, in 1926, nine roast duck
restaurants in Beijing carried this name. In the late 1960s the
Bianyifang Restaurant’s name was changed to the Chongwenmen Roast Duck
Restaurant, but in 1979 it resumed its former title. Its menu includes
more than 20 traditional duck dishes, including the Four Delicacies:
wing and web, liver, heart and pancreas. We have given
much information about the history of this noble dish but none at all
on how it is eaten. The simple procedure is as follows: Pick up a
pancake in one hand and, using a section of raw scallion as a brush,
paint a few splashes of bean sauce on the pancake. Next, place the
scallion in the center of the pancake, and with your chopsticks add a
few pieces of duck, finally rolling it up for convenience’s sale. Here
then is one of the most unforgettable mouthfuls in all of Chinese
cooking. Note: The roast
duck restaurants of Beijing are distinguished by their nicknames: the
Big Duck, on Qianmen Avenue, an older restaurant not described above;
the Small Duck, the old Bianyifang Restaurant; the Wall Street Duck,
the Quanjude Restaurant, the largest and newest addition to the
Beijing “duck family” at Hepingmen Gate (described above); And the
Sick Duck, so called due to its proximity to the Peking Union Medical
College Hospital. Beijing Quanjude
Roast Duck Restaurant
14, Qianmen Xidajie
Tel: 65112418 Beijing Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck
Restaurant
32, Qianmen Street
Tel: 67011379 Beijing Wangfujing Quanjude Roast Duck
Restaurant
13, Shuaifuyuan Hutong, Dongcheng District
Tel: 65253310 Beijing Jingxin Quanjude Roast Duck
Restaurant
A2 Dongsanhuan Beilu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 64660895 Beijing Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant
Hepingmen Dajie, Xuanwu District
Tel: 6552 3745 Bianyifang Roast Duck Restaurant
A2 Chongwenmenwai Dajie, Chongwen District
Tel: 67120505 |
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