During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a Hui nationality surnamed Wan came to Beijing from Dachang and worked as an apprentice in a "pot gang workshop" specializing in the production and sale of beef tauren in sauce in Xiaxie Street outside Xuanwu Gate. Soon, he used the accumulated money to buy a trolley and sell homemade snacks near Xidan South Street. Later, he set up a shed to sell roast beef at the west entrance of Dongan Second Hutong, the avenue of Xuanwu Gate, and also sold some steamed buns and biscuits. Because he chooses meat carefully and has a good meat cleaver, he attracts many customers. People call it a "barbecue bowl".
Barbecue Wan mainly deals in roast beef, and later added mutton. Wan barbecue is very strict about the choice of ingredients. Beef is selected from cows weighing over 300 kg and about 4 years old or castrated bulls. Barbecue only uses tender parts such as the upper brain, tenderloin and ribs of cattle. Only about 40 kilograms of Xikou Tuanwei sheep, castrated rams and suckling sheep are selected for mutton.
Barbecue in BBQ Bay has the characteristics of complex production technology, fine production, exquisite fuel and unique flavor.
When processing beef and mutton slices, there are unique knife methods and exquisite wanhua knife work, and the sliced meat is thin, even and tidy. Barbecue is made of pine cones, pine branches and other fuels. When barbecuing, the aroma is compelling and you can smell it from a distance.
There is a special grill on the barbecue table of the barbecue shop, and diners can roast while eating. First, apply the fried melon seeds with sheep tail oil and heat them for later use. Then, spread the chopped green onion on the hot roasted seeds and nuts. Then, put the meat slices marinated with ginger juice, soy sauce, cooking wine, marinated shrimp oil, tomato and egg white on the roasted seeds and nuts. When the meat is almost cooked, sprinkle with coriander powder and turn the meat slices over until the beef turns purple and the mutton turns pink and white.
At this time, the meat slices are thin but not firewood, fat but not greasy, fresh and refreshing, and the meat flavor is also mixed with bursts of pine fragrance.
In 1930s, the barbecue shop expanded its business scope. Every afternoon, guests line up in front of the store without waiting for the fire to barbecue. At that time, politicians, dignitaries, foreigners and citizens were customers of barbecue shops.
Now, the new address of BBQ Bay Head Office is in Nanlishi Road, Xicheng District. After the renovation, the store specially opened a single room, which restored the century-old traditional eating and baking characteristics of old Beijing. One or twenty people can sit around a charcoal stove covered with a big iron grate, with one leg on the bench and two "six-track logs" in their hands. They can eat and roast their own beef and drink it while eating, which has a special flavor.