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Chinese Cuisine
China is proud of its culinary art. People from various
countries and regions can now enjoy famous foods from Guangdong,
Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui, Shandong, Huaiyang, Fujian and Beijing without
leaving the capital. During the Qing Dynasty,
restaurants were classed by names. Those ending with “Tang” were of
the first grade; “Lou” and “Ju,” serving feudal nobles and high Manchu
and Han officials, were of the second. Third grade restaurants were
known as “Erhunpu” and fourth as “Fanpu”. Restaurants with these grade
classifications still the streets of Beijing. After the
Revolution of 1911 many southern Chinese opened eating establishments
in the capital. The Manchus, as their wealth declined, opened
restaurants imitating foods from the imperial kitchen.
The Beijing People’s Government has, since 1949, encouraged the
development of restaurants. Now you can taste everything from Korean
cold noodles and Islamic food to Mongolian hot pot and Mexican tacos.
Night markets line the sidewalks in busy shopping and hotel areas
serving a range of snacks. You can find, among other things, Guangdong
touming xiajiao ( transparent shrimp dumplings), Xinjiang lamb kabob,
Italian spaghetti, Japanese noodles, Beijing roast duck, almond tea,
baked corn, and American hamburgers. Below are a few of
the cuisines and restaurants, which have developed their own trademark
in Beijing, the gourmet capital of China.
Fangshan Palace Recipe Fangshan Restaurant in
Beihai Park prepares dishes in the style of the imperial kitchen of
the Qing court. After the Revolution of 1911, cooks in the imperial
kitchen were no longer needed, and in 1925 a group of them gathered to
open the Beihai establishment. Among their better-known dishes are:
chicken breast saute, Luohan prawn, stewed venison, stuffed mandarin
fish, “phoenix in its nest,” frog and abalone and “Buddha’s hand
rolls.” In recent years the “complete Manchu-Han banquet” of the Qing
court has been revived. It consists of 234 hot dishes and 48 cold
dishes, cakes and fruit. Tan
Family Dishes The Tan Family opened their Cantonese
cuisine restaurant at eh end of the Qing Dynasty. Tan
Zongjun and his son, both members of Qing court officialdom, were fond
of gourmet food. The family developed a large collection of recipes to
suit their tastes. Their food was famous for its fine ingredients
cooked carefully to retain the flavor and light, fresh seasonings.
In 1988 the Tan family restaurant was moved to Beijing Hotel and Tan
family food is now one of the four famous hotel cuisines.
Roast Mutton and Beef Roast meat has a history of
several hundred years in Beijing. In the book History of the Ming
Court: Favorite Food, there is a line: “At snowfall, plum flowers are
viewed; roast mutton is eaten in warm rooms.” Roast meat
was known as “tent food” or “field food” for centuries among the
nomads of northern China. Later when utensils and cooking methods were
improved, it developed its own unique flavor. There are two famous
restaurants in Beijing that serve roast meat: Kaorouji, known for its
roast mutton, located on the north shore of Shichahai; and Kaorouwan,
famous for roast beef, located on Xuanwumennei Street.
Hot Pot Mutton Mutton has always played an
important part in the northern diet; hot pot is one of the preferred
means of preparation. Donglaishun, once a small porridge stall in the
Dong’ an Bazaar, is known for its mutton from Inner Mongolia sliced
very thin and heated at the table in such a chafing dish.
Sauce fir dipping the meat is prepared from a combination of seven
seasonings: sesame paste, fermented bean curd, salty chive flowers,
Shaoxing wine, Soya, pepper oil and bitter shrimp oil. Cloves of sweet
garlic and small flat bread complement the meat. Smaller
restaurants also serve hot pot. The season generally lasts from
October to April. |
