An old saying went, "To learn how to eat takes three lives, and to learn how to dress, five." So, the basic need of life was not as simple as you thought. The way to eat Beijing roast duck was sophisticated and only came into being after generations of epicures.

Beijing roast duck was reputed to be "the most delicious food" in the world. There wsa a popular saying among foreigners in Beijing: "Two big things in Beijing, Beijing roast duck and the Great Wall". Beijing roast duck could be generally divided into two types: hanged roast duck and smothered roast duck. Hanged roast duck was processed in a flaming oven, and the fuel was the wood of a fruit plant, the best being date tree.

Smothered roast duck was processed in smothered fire, and the fuel was sorghum stalk or other "soft" material. The flavor of two types of roast duck was different, but how to roast the duck was critical.

Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, located in Qianmen, was an old brand name restaurant. It was opened by Yang Shoushan from Ji County, Hebei Province in the third year of the Tongzhi Reign in the Qing Dynasty well over 130 years ago. Except for Pianyi Fang (Cheap Restaurant) that had only smothered roast duck at that time, Quanjude invented and served the hanged roast duck as well. The skin was crusty with a sharp fragrance. The process was carefully adhered to, and all ducks were done on order. The main ingredient was the local Beijing white duck, and the fuel was fruit plant wood. The outer color of the duck would be a nice datelike red, burnt outside but tender in the meat, with a strong aroma.

Quanjude roast duck was guaranteed to be authentic. In the fifties Moa Zedong held a banquet of Beijing roast duck for then Soviet leader Stalin when he visited the country, and the dish was highly regarded. The Mikado once wanted to taste Beijing roast duck, and it was preserved in a vacuum flask and transported to Japan by air. Surprisingly it managed to keep the flavor, and so its legend grew. Over a hundred chiefs of state and government leaders visited Quanjude to find out the true secret of the "all-duck banquet".

The condiments of roast duck were sophisticated.

Eat it this way: 

This way was brought about and became popular by the ladies of wealthy mansions. They did not eat it with chopped green onion, nor did they eat it with garlic, but they dipped the crusty skin of roast duck into a small dish of refined white sugar. After this became popular, the clerks of Quanjude would start to process roast duck and set the table with dishes of white sugar whenever they saw those ladies.

Eat it another way: 

Condiments included sweet soy bean sauce, chopped green onion, cucumber and carrot. And eat it like this: spread a bit sweet soy bean sauce on a small pancake in the shape of a lotus leaf (called "lotus cake"), put a few pieces of roast duck on to it, then a few more chopped green onion, cucumber or carrot, roll up the pancake and ... yummy!

Eat it the third way: 

Condiments included smashed garlic and sweet soy bean sauce, carrot and others. Roast duck in "lotus cake" roll was popular years ago. Smashed garlic could eliminate oiliness. Roast duck was to be eaten with smashed garlic and sweet soy sauce. Eaten this way, the roast duck had a poignant aroma, and the flavor became even stronger. Many favored this condiment. Diners would often hear cries from the upper floors to the kitchen downstairs, "Sma--shed gar-liccc!" Each day, two or three apprentices sat on small stools to prepare garlic. Sometimes the restaurant would run out of garlic!