By Bivash Mukherjee, IANS
Beijing : A very famous restaurant here that specialises in the signature Peking duck is getting a bit of a stick lately for its preference of electric ovens over the age-old method of using firewood for cooking the hot delicacy.
A visit to China is said to be incomplete without a visit to Beijing’s famed Quanjude Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, along with the Great Wall of China. But the restaurant has been in the news for all the wrong reasons ever since it announced recently that it is planning to go electric as it seeks to spread its area of influence nationwide, which for some implies cost cutting and increasing profits.
Quanjude enjoyed a highly successful November listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The added funds, and its electric ovens, are intended to fire its expansion plans – around 100 branches – all over China.
Traditionalists are fuming over the anomaly with many arguing it would be no better than the fried chicken dished out at major fast-food outlets.
Ma Yue, a Shanghai resident, fears that the crispy part and the succulent taste of the dish may simply evaporate with the new ovens, while a taxi driver bemoaned that in the chase for modernisation a bit of Chinese culture and habits were dying with it.
While that may be a bit far-fetched, a survey by Beijing Youth Daily and popular Chinese portal Sina.com revealed that over 76 percent were opposed to the use of electric ovens at the popular restaurant that is thronged by hundreds of well-heeled and epicurean visitors alike.
The Chinese capital’s most famous dish is processed in several steps and kept hanging in the air for some time before being roasted in a brick oven, akin to Indian tandoori dishes. It is served with Mandarin pancakes and green onions and can cost anywhere between 168 to 198 Chinese yuan (about $23-27) if not more.
Quanjude has said that it is cooperating with a German firm to produce “computer-controlled ovens to roast ducks”.
“Computerised ovens, while guaranteeing quality, simplify, standardise and automate the roasting process,” the restaurant’s group general manager Xing Ying was quoted as saying in the China Daily.
The group insists that the flavour won’t be lost, adding that the ducks will be sprayed with natural fruit juices before they are cooked, while some of the outlets would continue to employ manual roasting methods.
Rivals argue that the restaurant, which dates back to the Qing Dynasty in 1864, would lose some of its lustre and a “bit of history” but Xing is confident it would ride through that.
A pragmatic Ma Yue sees no harm in the changes but adds that “if it alters the taste substantially they might as well go back to the proven way of cooking things”.