|
During
the recent uproar about the condemning of specialist ovens used for
roasting Peking Duck as not conforming to EU standards, the tasty
dish was regular referred to a Britain's favourite Chinese dish.
HISTORY
Peking Duck was first prepared
for the Emperor of China in the Yuan Dynasty. The dish, originally
named "Shaoyazi", was mentioned in the Complete Recipes for
Dishes and Beverages manual by Hu Sihui , an inspector of the
imperial kitchen in 1330. In the Ming Dynasty, the Peking Duck was
one of the main dishes on imperial court menus. In the same period,
the first restaurant specialising in Peking Duck, Bianyifang, was
established in the Xianyukou, Qianmen area of Beijing in 1416.
By the Qianlong Period
(1736-1796) of the Qing Dynasty, the popularity of the Peking Duck
spread to the upper classes, inspiring poetry from poets and scholars
who enjoyed the dish. For instance, one of the verses of Duan Zhu Zhi
Ci, a collection of Beijing poems was, "Fill your plates with
roast duck and suckling pig". In 1864, the Quanjude restaurant
was established in Beijing. Yang Quanren, the founder of Quanjude,
developed the hung oven to roast ducks. With its innovations and
efficient management, the restaurant became well known in China,
introducing the Peking Duck to the rest of the world.
Peking Duck is traditionally
roasted in either a closed oven or hung oven. The closed oven is
built of brick and fitted with metal griddles. The oven is preheated
by burning Gaoliang wood at the base. The duck is placed in the oven
immediately after the fire burns out, allowing the meat to be slowly
cooked through the convection of heat within the oven.
It is designed to roast up to 20
ducks at the same time, hung on hooks above the fire and roasted at a
temperature of 270 °C (525 °F) for 30-40 minutes. While the
ducks are cooking, the chef may use a pole to dangle each duck closer
to the fire for 30 second intervals.
Even the Quanjude restaurant on
Qianmen Street - which runs along Beijing's ancient north-south axis
to the south of Tiananmen Square had to bow to the passage of time
however. A fire that has burnt for 143 years and roasted more than
115 million ducks has had to be kept kept alight for future feasts
even as developers razed the neighbourhood around Beijing's oldest
Peking duck restaurant.
Fans and staff held a ceremony to
safeguard the flame that has burnt since 1864, when the duck farmer
turned restaurateur, Yang Quanren, founded the eatery. The flame will
be nurtured until the premises rise from the rubble under the city's
sweeping renovation.
|