6 replies to this topic

[General_Zhaoyun]

You will probably heard of the famous chinese food "Peking duck". It's available in chinese restaurant all over the world. It was 'supposed' to be a Beijing food.

But, I read that Peking duck did not originate from Beijing but from Shandong province. Is this true? Does anyone know its history of origin?

[polar_zen]

It is possible, I think. Considering Beijing has been the capital of China for hundreds of years, the city's cuisine is a melting pot (no pun intended) of foods from other provinces from Guangdong to Manchuria (basically all over China) that were brought for the emperor and his court as well as other nobility.

That's not to say that Beijing doesn't have its own unique cuisine, Im just saying that being the center of a culture tends to bring influence from all parts of the country.

Whatever the case, it's very tasty .

Edited by polar_zen, 22 September 2007 - 01:08 PM.

[snowybeagle]

The account I read from Origins of Chinese Cuisine (中华名菜的故事, 傅春江, 新加坡 : 亚太图书, 2003) was that the dish came to Beijing from Kaifeng in Henan.

During the Jingkang Incident (靖康之变) in AD 1127 when the Northern Song's capital Kaifeng fell to the Jin invaders, the Jin soldiers captured numerous Song citizens back to Jin's southern Capital in present day Beijing, including skilled craftsmen, artisans etc., and of course, chefs who did a mean roast duck.

The actual origin might have been elsewhere before Kaifeng, since Song's elite were known to enjoy dishes from all over the country.

The roast duck dish became associated with Beijing instead probably because Westerners were introduced to it there first.

[fireball]

I heard the Beijing Duck was so famous because a certain specie of ducks in Beijing was very good for this dish. This kind of duck died out later on and was re-introduced back to Beijing after China and U.S. re-started their diplomatic relationship. Apparently, Cixi had given the U.S. President at the late 19th century some of these special ducks. They grew very well in U.S. When the U.S. government heard that this kind of the ducks died out in China, the U.S. government made these special ducks as the gift for China to express their good will. Thus, these ABC ducks came back home to Beijing!

[jhf0551]

Actually, Beijing duck became famous ever since 1870s, when Bianyifang (便宜坊) first introduced "Inner-stove" roasted ducks (闷炉烤鸭). Nearly at the end of 19th century, Quanjude (全聚德) opened its first restaurant with "Circ-stove" roasted ducks (转炉烤鸭). These two kinds of ducks taste totally different. While many people refer "Beijing duck" as a single thing, they are in fact varied greatly. However, Quanjude is slightly more famous than Bianyifang, so "Circ-stove" is widely accepted as "Beijing duck". But I love "Inner-stove" duck better because it is much cheaper and tastes good. I've never heard of the Shandong origin of the roasted ducks. I only know that Shandong is famous for its "braised chicken". Maybe there are some relationships between chicken and duck.

[kaiselin]

I heard the Beijing Duck was so famous because a certain specie of ducks in Beijing was very good for this dish. This kind of duck died out later on and was re-introduced back to Beijing after China and U.S. re-started their diplomatic relationship. Apparently, Cixi had given the U.S. President at the late 19th century some of these special ducks. They grew very well in U.S. When the U.S. government heard that this kind of the ducks died out in China, the U.S. government made these special ducks as the gift for China to express their good will. Thus, these ABC ducks came back home to Beijing!

Back in the 70s that we shipped some of the overly abundant Pheasants from the US, back to China where they had originated because there were no longer any, or the population was near extinction in their original habitat.
Maybe this is the story you heard ,or a different story and both are true.

[General_Zhaoyun]

I think the following sources are quite useful in explaining the historical origin of Peking duck:

http://en.wikipedia....king_Roast_Duck
http://www.beijingse...ngroastduck.htm
http://www.china.com...nt_15974601.htm

According to these sources, Peking duck originated from "roasted duck" (Zhiya 炙鸭), which had already appeared in China as early as Age of fragmentation (420-589 AD), whereby there were records of roasted duck (Zhiya 炙鸭) in the book Records of Precious Food 《食珍录》. The term "Zhiya 炙鸭" was also mentioned in Southern Song records such as Meng Liang Lu 《夢梁錄》 and Wulin Jiushi 《武林舊事》, suggesting that the Southern Song capital Hangzhou already had people selling roasted duck on streets.

During Yuan dynasty, the dish was prepared for the Imperial Family and was mentioned as "shaoyazi" (燒鴨子) in the Yuan dynasty book Complete Recipes for Dishes and Beverages (飲膳正要) in 1330 by Hu Shihui 忽思慧, an inspector of Imperial kitchen. 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. The Peking Roast Duck that came to be associated with the term was fully developed during the late Ming period when the first restaurant specialising in Peking Duck, Bianyifang 便宜坊, was established in Xianyukou, Qianmen area of Beijing in 1416. This restaurant used closed oven technique (known as Menglu 焖炉), which basically roast the duck by convection (closed oven): the oven was heated up and then soups were poured into the duck. The duck were then roasted within the closed oven.

In 1864, another restaurant Quanjude 全聚德 was opened. It used the hung oven technique 挂炉, which roast the duck by hanging them over fire. They invented a technique that allowed blown air to be trapped between the duck meat and skin. With efficient management and innovation, this restaurant soon became famous.