Place: A private kitchen, Beijing.
Chinese ham with bun and honey, white cabbage with a ridiculous amount
of chilis and spicy oil, fish braised in wine sauce, smoked duck
(樟茶鴨).
I was introduced to this private kitchen, located near Yonghegong
(Lama Temple) in Beijing, by a friend who lives nearby and who, upon
discovering the place, has been treating it as her kitchen away from
home. Knowing her epicurean standards, I was quite certain that, if
she could be a repeat visitor, I was up for a good treat. To be sure,
the food was not jaw-breaking spectacular, but I was impressed by how
a restaurant with a non-descript and minimally-equipped kitchen could
serve up some of the trickiest dishes in Chinese cuisine. For example,
the smoked duck, if properly made (and, in my opinion, it was), had to
be first smoked using a specialized blend of tea leaves, tree barks
and tree stems. Then, it had to be re-marinated with Chinese wine and
vinegar and steamed in order to cook through the meat, and then deep
fried to yield a phenomenally shiny skin. The result was a sumptuous
offering with plenty of delicate smoky flavors, hints of a sweet
floral wine, and a robustly crisp shell.
