Priyu.com – Salsa..Samosa..& Smore

Anyone who has been to or is from China knows that Chinese food in China is nothing like the Chinese food in the US. In fact, I don’t recall seeing fried rice which is so popular in US in any of the traditional restaurants. My trip to China began in the capital city of Beijing. They say that “there are two things you must do in Beijing, to eat the Beijing Roast duck and to see the ten thousands miles long Great wall. So writing about Beijing Culinary Travel cannot be complete without the mention of Peking Duck. My friend Bill Zhang took me to Quan Ju De – a restaurant famous for its Peking Duck. But before I could give into the fatty pleasures of the roast duck, I had to learn a little about this Beijing delicacy.

Peking duck begins with a duck that must be the white Beijing variety of superior quality – the “Forced- Feeding Duck,” which is about three kilogram when killed. When roasting the duck, compressed air is injected into the duck between its skin and flesh to make the skin glossy and shiny. By using less smoky hard fuel- fruit tree branches, pear, peach or date tree branch for instance, as firewood, the duck has a fruity flavor and rich and red in color. The serving and eating manner of the Beijing Duck is also unique. The chef presents you the whole duck before taking it away for slicing. One duck may produce about 120 very thin slices, each containing both meat and skin. The duck slices are brought back to the table with some thin pancakes, green onion or shallot, sweet soybean paste, fresh cucumber, garlic paste and sugar sometimes. Here is how you devour the duck: take a piece of the pancake in one hand, then put 3 or 4 slices of the duck onto the pancake with each of the above mentioned vegetable and seasoning. Do not forget the soybean paste in particular. Finally wrap up the pancake into a roll and eat it.