Chinese food is categorized into geographical categories: Eastern food, including Shanghai style dishes, are known for their seafood and sugary taste. Western Chinese foods, such as Szechwan and Hunan dishes, incorporate a lot of chili peppers, making them very hot and spicy. Southern cuisine includes Cantonese-style dishes with sweet and sour combinations. Northern foods, also called Peking foods, are famous for their flour dishes such as breads, noodles, and dumplings.
The origin of food from Peking dates back hundreds of years. Hundreds years ago, Chefs from all over China went to Peking to cook for the Emperor, and many cooks opened their own restaurants offering the best foods from all different regions.With the fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911 and the rise of the Republic, all of the court chefs were forced to leave the Forbidden City. Many of them established restaurants in Peking rather than returning to their native provinces.
The most famous Peking dish is Peking Duck (the pronunciation is : Peiching kao ya). Preparation takes several hours. The ducks are first cleaned; then air is blown into them so that they puff up, allowing the meat to cook evenly and the juices to flow throughout the birds. The ducks are marinated and basted with a sugar and water combination and air dried for three to four hours. This allows the skin to cook crispy and tasty. They are then roasted in a barrel-shaped oven over a low charcoal fire for more than 40 minutes. The charcoal adds a distinct flavor to the birds. The proper way to eat Peking Duck is to place slices of meat and skin, scallions, and a drop of sweet soy bean paste on a thin pancake, and then roll it into a pocket. The most famous restaurant that serves peking duck is Quan Ju De.
Another famous northern dish is Smoked Chicken. Prepared in almost the same way as duck, Peking Smoked Chicken (Peiching hsun chi) is a beautifully presented whole chicken, golden brown on the outside and juicy soft on the inside. Prepared using the traditional method, the chicken is marinated in a special sauce and then roasted over a charcoal fire which is covered with pine nuts, giving the meat a nutty flavor and the skin a crispy texture. This delicious dish is served in chopped quarters; there is no special method for eating it, except to simply enjoy it.
Among the most popular Peking foods are dumplings (the pronunciation is: chiao-tzu). It is not uncommon to hear of one person eating 30 or more dumplings at a setting. Steamed, boiled, or fried, Chinese dumplings are small flour pies, shaped like fruit tarts and filled with vegetables, pork, or beef. The large, steamed variety is best. Try dipping your dumpling into a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce, and sesame oil to enhance the flavor.
I know there are many Chinese restaurants in Canada and America, but those restaurants are not serving the real Chinese foods because the chief makes some changes in flavor in order to satisfying Canadian and American's tastes. So if you want to try the real peking foods, please come to Beijing. Just like the slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game, here I want to say, Welcome to Beijing!
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