Go for gold in Beijing’s food trends

Hilde G. Lee Daily Progress correspondent
Published: August 12, 2008

We have seen various images of Beijing while watching the Olympics on television, but we have not discovered much about the food of this capital city of China. Many of us are familiar with some Chinese provincial cooking, primarily Cantonese and maybe Hunan or Sichuan, both of the latter being spicy.

But Beijing cuisine is another story.

The cuisine of Beijing is threefold — Chinese Muslim, the magnificence of classical Chinese court or palace cooking and the simple, solid food of the countryside. The poor country surrounding Beijing tends to be arid and infertile. This is a land where living has been precarious, with bitter climate and where growing daily necessities such as millet, wheat, lentils, corn and sweet potatoes has been extremely difficult.

Chinese Muslim cooking originated in the great grasslands and steppes of western China, where the population was predominately Mongol. It was brought to northern China after the conquest of Beijing (then known as Peking) by the Golden Hordes of Genghis Khan in the 13th century.

Long, long simmer

Barbecuing, spit-roasting, long low-heat simmering of large chunks of meat were the methods of cooking used by the Mongols. Many centuries of adaptation by the Chinese refined the techniques of the Mongol herdsmen. Beijing (Peking) duck, for example, one of China’s finest dishes, did not become established until the middle of the 19th century when it evolved from primitive spit roasting.

Quick-dip boiling is the basis of today’s Beijing hot pot, also known as Mongolian hot pot. A pot of broth is kept at a rolling boil in a charcoal-fired hot pot. Paper-thin slices of lamb are dropped into the broth and cooked instantly, then retrieved with chopsticks and dipped in various sauces before eating.

Steppe up to table

The barbecues of the steppes became the table-barbecued meats of Beijing. A large charcoal-burning brazier blazes in the center of a plain wooden table. Each diner uses extra-long chopsticks to pick up thinly sliced beef or lamb and barbecues them on top of the brazier. The slice of meat is then dipped into a bowl of beaten egg, then into various piquant sauces and eaten with aromatic hotcakes or buns. Sometimes the meat is mixed with noodles, lettuce, cabbage hearts, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and a little wine and cooked for a few minutes in a small casserole.

The Imperial Palace contributed less to the cuisine of Beijing than did the Mongols. This may have been due to the fact that the last family to occupy the throne of China came from Manchuria (the Qing

Dynasty 1644-1911), where no distinctive style of cooking existed.

However, having conquered China, the Manchus sat back to enjoy 300 years of the good life. At one time there were 2,000 chefs in the kitchens of the Forbidden City, cooking delicacies for the emperor and his court.

Almost all of the more refined palace dishes were created during the second half of the Manchu rule, especially after Emperor Ch’ien-lung’s visit to South China. Some of the excellent dishes that reflect southern influence include “chi ting hsia jen,” a stir-fry of diced chicken and shrimp; “t’ang ts’u yong t’ao jau,” sweet and sour pork; and “kuei fei chi,” royal chicken. Many of the dishes of other regions of China became established in Beijing only after they were brought to the capital.

The people of north China prefer steamed buns and noodles rather than rice, which is the starch of southern China. Their favorite noodle dish, “ch’a chiang mein,” resembles a version of spaghetti Bolognese. The principal difference between the Chinese and the Italian version is that the Chinese add raw shredded vegetables, bean sprouts and pickles to the noodles. This provides textural contrasts and greater piquancy.

A favorite cooking ingredient of the region is “t’sing,” soybean paste. This can be described as soy sauce in solid form. It is used extensively in stir-frying pork or chicken pieces and minced meat. It is also an ingredient in the sauce brushed on pancakes in which pieces of Beijing (Peking) duck are wrapped. This paste, used in judicious quantities, brings out the savouriness and flavor of the ingredients with which it is cooked.

Shandong, a province south of Beijing, is usually included when one speaks of North China and its cuisine. It is located on the Yellow Sea and the Gulf of Bohai. Giant prawns are the specialty of this region. Train or trucks bring them to Beijing, where they have won fame in top gourmet restaurants.

However, Shandong has other claims to gastronomic fame. For 35 years until 1914, the area around the town of Qingdao (Tsingtao) was leased to imperial Germany. This brief spell added a northern European flavor to the cuisine. One benefit was Tsingtao beer, which was made according to an old German recipe. It is now the most famous beer in China, as well as the rest of the world wherever Chinese food is served.

Europeans planted large areas of grapes in Shandong, and the area has become known for its wines. The white wines, in particular, have won international recognition.

Over the years a wide variety of imported ingredients have found their way into the cuisine of Beijing. With the advent of rapid transportation the great variety of foods in other Chinese provinces have become intermingled with the cooking in Beijing. America dishes have even begun to appear. But they are recognized as “American” cuisine.

One of these days I hope to tell you about the diverse foods of some of the other regions of China, including Canton, Hunan or Sichuan.