Peking Duck

My first full day in Beijing was spent in meetings. The purpose of this trip to China is for a Coaches Summit for the 2008 Summer Games that will be held here in Beijing. We bring the coaches and team leaders out here to present various logistical information to them and for BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games) to take the delegation on tours of each sports’ respective venues. Even though most of the sites are still construction zones, it’s quite valuable to get a feel for where your sporting event will happen and where it is in relation to transportation, housing, dining, etc. This is probably one of the most well-traveled groups of people you will ever meet. No one bats an eye at stepping off a plane in a foreign country that uses a completely different alphabet than us and being able to hail a cab to get them where they need to be. These folks have brought their teams to compete in some of the most obscure places in the world.

After a day of presentations, we had a group dinner at a place called Da Dong Beijing Duck. It is said that the two things you must do when in Beijing is to visit the Great Wall of China and to dine on Peking duck. Peking duck dates back to the Ming Dynasty, about 600 years ago. Back in the day, it was only prepared for the Emperor, therefore it was considered a dish for royalty. Now, however, this recipe has found its way to the common people. This dish is not something that is whipped up easily after work. Air is pumped into the duck until the skin separates from the fat. The duck is then hung up to dry in the open air before being roasted in an oven until it is crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. For my family back in Louisiana, the taste reminded me of fresh cracklins at a boucherie. Here is the menu from dinner tonight:

COLD DISH
Salmon Sashimi with assorted sauces (see photo)
Crispy seaweed
Ceasar Salad (it had lettuce, but wasn’t a Western-style Ceasar salad!)
Tongzi (vegetable with garlic paste)
Yellow-fin tuna with broad bean
SweeT & Sour ribs

HOT DISH
Steamed diced duck in bird’s nest
Lobster noodle
Sauteed sole with Chinese Toon
Fried diced Australian beef in spicy black bean
Fried goose liver with apple sauce
Sauteed bean sprout
DaDong roast duck (Peking Duck)
DaDong roast duck soup

DESSERT
Don’t remember the name of it, but it was like grits in a brown sauce
Fresh fruit

I’m not gonna lie, the fried goose liver was pretty hard to get down. The taste wasn’t very far from lamb, but the sight of it and the mouth-feel was quite disturbing. The Peking duck was served in small pieces, kind of like chipped beef or Greek souflaki lamb meat from a rotating spit. It was served with miniature wheat or corn tortillas with about 6 different stuffings (carrots, cucumber, garlic paste, some kind of diced pepper, sauce, and other stuff). Overall, it was an interesting meal. Our Chinese interpreter said some of the dishes were traditional Chinese, but for the most part, the food was tailored to Western tastes. We are having another group dinner tomorrow evening, so maybe we’ll get a bit more authentic then.

For now, I will leave you with the picture of the salmon sashimi (yes, it’s raw!) along with photos of a boat restaurant and street lights from our walk back from the restaurant. Until tomorrow. . . Xie Xie (pronounced shea shea) [thank you] for following my blog!