To say that the top of the Beijing food list is roast duck, it is estimated that the vast majority of people will agree, anyone who comes to Beijing, roast duck is definitely the last thing they want to miss. The crispy duck skin is served with tender duck meat, and the sweet noodle sauce and shredded shallots are perfectly blended to create an unforgettable luscious and plump taste.
I think roast duck has melted into the nostalgia of many Beijingers, even if it has never been far away from this city, like me, it is ten days and half a month without eating, just hungry.
However, the cuisine of roast duck was not invented by the Beijingers, according to the "Food Treasure Record", roast duck originated in Jiankang (now Nanjing) during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China, when it was called "hot duck". In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang fixed the capital in Nanjing, he once "ate a roast duck", and in order to please the emperor, the imperial court cook developed a new way of eating duck every day, and finally gave birth to the famous Nanjing roast duck. To this day, Nanjing eats ducks very well, and it is said that "no duck can leave Nanjing alive."
With Zhu Di moving the capital to Beijing, some of Nanjing's local culture and eating habits were also brought to Beijing, and the roast duck masters in the imperial palace were also brought to Beijing, and the recipe and production method of roast duck were later passed down to the people, so Beijing's first roast duck shop "Jinling Cheap Shop" opened in Caishikou Mishi Hutong.
Beijing roast duck is divided into two major genres: "hanging oven" and "stewing oven". The familiar "Quanjude" is the representative of the hanging oven roast duck, which began to appear in the late Qing Dynasty; and the so-called roast duck "ancestor" of the oven school, "Cheap Fang" still adheres to this tradition, its age even exceeds the Forbidden City, so the history of Beijing people eating roast duck has been more than 600 years. The so-called "stewing furnace" is actually a kind of ground furnace, the furnace body is made of bricks, and the size is about one meter square. The characteristic is "duck does not see the open flame", which is made of charcoal fire in the furnace and the burning wall of the stove. The roasted duck in the oven is shiny and crispy in oil, and the meat is white, tender and delicious.
The emergence of "hanging oven roasting" is later than "boiling oven roasting", probably in the Qianlong period, originating from the Qing Dynasty's "Bao Ha Bureau" ("Bao Ha" is Manchu, meaning wine dish, Bao Ha Bureau is the Qing Palace Imperial Dining Room for the emperor to do hanging stove pigs and hanging stove duck "barbecue bureau"), the most famous representative of this school is Quan Jude. The skin of the duck roasted in the "hanging oven" is very thin and crisp, which becomes the best part of the roast duck. The hanging furnace has a furnace hole without a furnace door, and uses jujube wood, pear wood and other fruit trees as fuel, and uses an open flame. When the fruit wood is fired, it is smokeless, the bottom fire is strong, and the burning time is long. The roasted duck has a full appearance, a date red color, a crispy skin, a tender outside and a tender tender outside, and a delicate fragrance of fruit and wood.
Roast duck has been passed down in Beijing for more than 600 years, and the fire in the furnace is not extinguished, and the technology is constantly improved, and it has finally become the most famous "national cuisine". I remember the first time I ate roast duck when I was seven or eight years old, at Quanjude Qianmen, I was so impressed by this experience that I still remember all the details decades later.
I went to the family gathering with my uncle and father and other relatives, and it took half an hour to wait for the seat, and I stood behind others and watched the people eat; after sitting at the table, it took another 50 minutes to wait for the ducks. I was hungry and sleepy, after asking my father countless times "when can I eat roast duck", it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon when it finally appeared grandly, but it was not a whole red duck I imagined, but a plate of cake, and a plate of duck meat with skin, and I suddenly felt very addicted, so I had to learn to roll one like an adult, probably because I waited too long for interest, I didn't feel how to take a bite, but the adults on the table were full of praise, and my little heart also felt that this must be very delicious.
It was still the 1970s and 1980s, the material was not abundant, the table was lackluster, and a Quanjude roast duck could save people half a month's salary to queue up to eat. Friends from other places come to Beijing to eat Quanjude roast duck, just like going to Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall, it is a must-punch place.
A friend posted a copy of the 1985 Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Shop's "Menu of Dishes", this menu shows the price of dishes in Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Shop at that time, now it seems that the dishes seem to be very cheap, but in fact, it is not. Roast duck sold for 8-10 yuan a piece, according to the monthly income of an apprentice at that time of 18 yuan, the monthly salary can buy two roast ducks, so ordinary people eat roast duck once is still very luxurious. So, in my childhood memories, I ate roast duck only once when I was a kid.
After years of food baptism, I finally became a senior "roast duck control", almost every year to kill a "roast duck squad", as long as you feel that the stomach is short of oil and water, you must call friends to relieve hunger, it seems that no trouble is a roast duck can not solve. Especially when friends from other places come to Beijing, they will solemnly recommend and personally demonstrate the correct roast duck eating method. Although when I was a child, I still thought that roast duck was better eaten by slices than to hold a whole nibble, and later I learned that it was strange to eat like that, and the roll duck cake was the most correct way to open a roast duck, the onion sweet noodle sauce and roast duck were a perfect match, without them, the delicious taste of roast duck was almost halved, I really don't know who first invented this way of eating, what a genius!
There are three kinds of condiments for eating duck, one is sweet noodle sauce with green onions, which can be served with cucumber strips, radish strips, etc.; the other is garlic paste with soy sauce, which can also be accompanied by radish strips. Garlic paste can be degreased, roast duck dipped in garlic paste to eat, in the fresh flavor, but also added a touch of spicy, the flavor is more unique, many customers especially prefer this seasoning; the third kind of duck skin dipped in sugar, this way of eating is suitable for women and children.
There are generally two kinds of roast duck staple food, lotus leaf cake and hollow sesame roast cake, the slice of good duck dipped in sweet noodle sauce, rolled lotus leaf cake to eat is the most traditional way to eat; hollow sesame roast cake can be "Chinese food Western eating", put a layer of duck meat in the roast cake, sandwich two pieces of green vegetables eaten with hot dishes, clamp together, grab it with your hands to eat, a bit of Chinese duck hamburger feeling.
But my favorite is the most classic lotus leaf cake with shredded shallots and sweet noodle sauce, they and the fragrance of duck flesh and fruit wood, the crisp skin with a rich and wonderful taste, simple and rough, directly hit the taste buds, really let people linger, can't stop, and finally need a bowl of milky white flavor mellow duck soup slip, do not eat and never stop.
Premier Zhou entertained foreign guests with roast duck
Many people have eaten roast duck, but there may not be so many people who have eaten the "whole duck table". According to the data, the "whole duck seat" has also played a role in the "roast duck diplomacy". Prime Minister Ne Win is the myanmar leader with the most visits, having visited China 12 times in his lifetime. From January 24 to 29, 1960, Nai Win came to China to discuss the border issue, and Premier Zhou hosted a banquet at the Quanjude Roast Duck Shop in Shuaifu Garden. The day's recipe is now open in the archives:
Four cold cuts: brine wings, rotten duck slices, duck liver slices, and mixed duck paws
Hot dishes: duck four treasures, fried gizzard liver, fried duck heart, roast duck, duck rack cabbage soup
Dessert: steamed cake, honey pear, fresh fruit
Fire on duck hearts
Saltwater duck liver
Mustard duck paw
This is the "full duck seat". The so-called whole duck mat is developed on the basis of all duck dishes. Whole duck dishes are completely made of duck, while whole duck seats are high-class banquets with duck as the main raw material, with mountain treasures and seafood flavors, and carefully customized delicacies. It should be said that the whole duck mat is an authentic Beijing dish.
In the hands of the chef, the whole body of the duck has become a treasure, after years of accumulation, it has now formed a "quanjude whole duck seat" represented by mustard duck palm, fire roast duck heart, braised duck four treasures, hibiscus plum blossom duck tongue, duck bag shark fin, etc. It is quite interesting that once Vice Chairman Wang Guangying said at a meal in Quanjude: "The 'whole duck table' has all kinds of duck ingredients, but one dish is missing." Everyone couldn't think of what it was, and he laughed: "It's a duck egg!" "Everybody suddenly realized. After careful study, Quanjude's menu has added a new dish - crystal duck treasure, adding a blank space of "whole duck seat".
Nowadays, in addition to Quanjude and Cheap Fang, these centuries-old brands, Beijing's roast duck shops can be said to be blooming everywhere, high-end innovative "Dadong", "Liqun" in hutongs, "Four Seasons Minfu" that needs to wait for seats all year round... It is said that there are more than 2,000 Beijing roast duck restaurants registered on Dianping, and roast duck has become a daily routine of Beijingers, and it is no longer a luxurious meal.
In short, "the people take food as heaven" is not just a matter of "managing to be full". Many human memories are associated with taste. Unique local cuisine, carrying the culture of a city, this memory and emotion, through the taste of the tip of the tongue, in our blood from generation to generation, Beijing people's nostalgia, will never be missing this duck.