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.
Traditional
Chinese roast duck chain Quanjude upset purists.
Reuters
- Monday, January 14 2008
BEIJING
(Reuters) - Traditional Chinese roast duck chain Quanjude, which has
already upset purists by changing its English name to "Quanjude Peking
Roast Duck - Since 1864", has upset more with a plan to use electric
ovens instead of wood.
The
new method applies German-developed computer technology
to roast Peking Duck instead of the age-old method of chefs turning the
ducks on a spit in a firewood oven, the China Youth Daily said on
Monday.
"We commoners not only eat
Quanjude duck for its flavour, but also for the hundreds of years of
tradition and culture that our ancestors left to us," Han Xiaofen was
quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Of
3,066 people surveyed, 77 percent were opposed to using electric
roasters, and 63 percent were worried that the move would popularise
the brand as a fast-food chain.
"If
Quanjude uses electric ovens to cook its ducks then what difference is
there from KFC?" an angry customer said. "They
think only of cutting costs and increasing profit."
Quanjude,
whose history dates back to the Qing Dynasty in 1864, raised 388
million yuan (27.2 million pounds) on the Shenzhen bourse in November
when it became the first Chinese food and beverage company to go public.
The
company, which sells more than 3 million ducks a year at its nine
restaurants and 61 franchised outlets, plans to expand before the
Olympics and make a name on the international scene.
The
restaurant chain's name change is part of efforts to raise English
language standards ahead of the huge influx of foreigners expected to
visit Beijing in this Olympic year.
(Reporting by Beijing
newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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