First, South Duck and North Ferry
To talk about the history of Beijing roast duck, we have to talk about the history of this roast duck first. The roast duck we are talking about now was originally called "roast duck". The earliest record in the literature is in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the roast duck was really "roasted": put the live duck in a big cage, pile charcoal fire in it, fill it with a good sauce while running, and finally roast it alive and pull it down. I have to say that this way of eating is too fierce, and ducks must be very desperate before they die. Later, in the Yuan Dynasty, doctor Hu Sihui had a book "Eating and Eating", which mentioned the practice of "Roasting Duck": "One wild goose (duck), one with its hair, intestines and belly removed, one with its belly cleaned, washed, and wrapped with two onions and one or two coriander." It can be seen that this practice is much more "civilized" than the Tang Dynasty, but it is still very different from today's roast duck.
Beijing roast duck, which we are familiar with today, should have been born in the Ming Dynasty at the earliest. However, this kind of roast duck is not native to Beijing, but was introduced from Nanjing. As we all know, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was first established in Nanjing, and it was not until the Yongle Dynasty that it moved to Beijing. And this way of hanging furnace roast duck was spread from Nanjing to Beijing at this time. The specific time was recorded as Yongle 14th (14 16), and the first cheap store was opened in Mishi Hutong, Beijing in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that there is also the word "Jinling" on the plaque in front of the store. Until the Qing Dynasty, there was a saying in the article "Ji Sheng at the Age of Emperor Jing" that "duck in the south furnace, roast piglets, hang donkey meat ...", which shows that this "duck in the south crossing the north" is conclusive. The old cheap square in Yongle became the originator of Beijing roast duck today.
Except for Beijing natives, when most foreigners hear about Beijing roast duck, Quanjude will be their first thought, and they may not be familiar with this cheap shop. Of course, people in Jinan may also know about cheap shops, but they always think that they sell pot stickers there. This topic will be discussed again in the future. So how about here? Let's introduce the roast duck in this cheap square to you first.
Different from the well-known hanging roast duck in Quanjude, at that time, the traditional cheap square was braised roast duck. The so-called "two Shao and three Shao to fill the pot, stew the duck and roast the pig" refers to this practice. The stove for stewing roast duck was first built with bricks, and the bricklaying pays attention to three floors, four floors and seven floors. The characteristic is that there is no open flame. No matter what fuel is used, the furnace wall should be baked until it is gray, and then the duck will be put into the furnace, and the oven door will be closed. The duck will be cooked by the heat of the furnace wall, and the oven door cannot be opened or the duck can be turned over. The advantage of this roasting method is that the duck is heated evenly and consumes less oil, but it does require very high skills and experience from Master. This is also an important reason why the development of Cheap Shop is not as good as Quanjude, and it is too difficult to train talents.