Outdoor cooker at Lou Wai Lou in Hangzhou
I recently had my father visit me and we traveled around China for a while. We went to Beijing so I got to have my favorite Chinese dish, authentic Beijing duck, at a famous restaurant in a hutong. So, so delicious. It's not outdoor cooking but it's roasted meat, so I figure I can cram in a single photo.
You can see the chef holding the duck with a pole hook, and crisping the skin by holding it directly in the flames. He then puts the duck back further in the oven to keep roasting and grabs another to hold in the fire. He does this over and over with each duck until they're ready. The duck is then sliced at your table in a special method to maximize skin area by a surgeon-like carver, and served with thin pancakes, plum sauce, and long onions and julienne celery. Marvelous. I ate like a king. But I'm posting this because of something very curious I saw later in our trip, in the beautiful city of Hangzhou.
Hangzhou has a long history as one of China's most beautiful cities. It is the home of Westlake, a famous lake surrounded by scenery that looks like something out of a movie about China. You know, hills, mist, tea bushes, pagodas rising in the distance, that sort of thing. All real and still exist in 2016. Dad's a big spender so I got him to shell out for a $350/night stay at the Hanghzou State Guesthouse. This is another of Westlake's landmarks, having been built by Mao Zedong for his own personal use while in Hangzhou. It has a prime location on the secluded east side, directly on the water. Formerly, this property was off-limits to anyone but Communist Party bigwigs and official state guests, but today anyone can stay there (hurrah for capitalism!). The first or second time I was in Hangzhou, I noticed the entrance and that there were armed guards outside, and felt a pang of envy that I couldn't go in there. Now, the armed guards were still there, but I finally could see what was inside. They still saluted and walked stiffly over to whatever taxi I arrived at, and demanded to know my business. Just show them the room key and they salute and march off. Not exactly the doorman at the Four Seasons.
Needless to say Hangzhou is a big tourist city these days, and with good reason. There are a couple of restaurants that typify Hangzhou cuisine, and you pretty much have to visit one of them. Lou Wai Lou is famous for local cuisine so we might as well eat there. Longjing Tea Prawns, Westlake Vinegar Fish, and Beggar's Chicken are all famous. We walk up to the restaurant and I am surprised to see an outdoor cooker beside the entrance.
The story of Beggar's Chicken is an ancient one. According to the legend, a beggar stole a chicken but had to get rid of it and come back later. Thinking fast, he wrapped it in lotus leaves, covered it with mud, and threw it on a fire and escaped. Later, he came back to recover the stolen property only to discover that the chicken was moist and delicious, as the mud had hardened and made a shell that allowed the chicken to steam itself. Modern versions of the recipe always talk about an indoor oven, so I was surprised to see this here.
Today they stuff the chicken with pork to give it more restaurant value. At this point I wasn't really sure what they were making in the cooker, not thinking about Beggar's Chicken at all, so I stuck the camera into the window of the smoker (can we call it a smoker?).
Fortunately while I was taking photos, the chef walked by to tend the chickens. I asked him how long they stay in there, and he said 3-4 hours. I checked the temperature gauge and it was right at 360°F.
He opened the fire and started taking chickens out. I was surprised to see them and realized that this was the famous Beggar's Chicken that I'd heard so much about. Like I said, I thought it was an inside dish, not outdoor barbecue.
We went inside the restaurant to order our other traditional foods. It was a pretty good darned meal, though horridly overpriced. The vinegar fish was redolent with the taste of black Chinese vinegar, a taste that some people find off-putting but I find goes quite nicely with the oily fish. Hangzhou cuisine is vinegar-based and sour, after all. Our celery and lotus bulb was lightly stir-fried and served as a bland counterpart to the heavily flavored foods, as well as being texturally interesting with the crunchy celery and the starchy lotus bulb scales. I looked on the menu and sure enough the outdoor-smoked Beggar's Chicken was there - at something like $45 per bird. Even if Dad's paying, I still balk at paying that much for a chicken. We got the cheaper, indoor oven roasted variety instead for about half the price, which is still highway robbery for a whole chicken.
I can't say I missed it, it looks like today instead of wrapping the Beggar's Chicken with lotus leaves, they wrap in soaked old newspapers instead. It's supposed to be a thick layer of mud that must be broken with a wooden hammer, but it looks like someone just slathered some on there and then let it be.
The rest of the trip didn't have any barbecue adventures, but plenty of other ones. It was nice to show "my China" to my father and share with him some of the experiences that I've had here. I also got to have a bunch of new experiences, fortunately Dad isn't a stickler about eating local food every meal. Whenever I travel out of town, I always make it a point to eat the foreign foods wherever I am, because we don't have any decent foreign food but Italian and Indian here.
You can see the chef holding the duck with a pole hook, and crisping the skin by holding it directly in the flames. He then puts the duck back further in the oven to keep roasting and grabs another to hold in the fire. He does this over and over with each duck until they're ready. The duck is then sliced at your table in a special method to maximize skin area by a surgeon-like carver, and served with thin pancakes, plum sauce, and long onions and julienne celery. Marvelous. I ate like a king. But I'm posting this because of something very curious I saw later in our trip, in the beautiful city of Hangzhou.
Hangzhou has a long history as one of China's most beautiful cities. It is the home of Westlake, a famous lake surrounded by scenery that looks like something out of a movie about China. You know, hills, mist, tea bushes, pagodas rising in the distance, that sort of thing. All real and still exist in 2016. Dad's a big spender so I got him to shell out for a $350/night stay at the Hanghzou State Guesthouse. This is another of Westlake's landmarks, having been built by Mao Zedong for his own personal use while in Hangzhou. It has a prime location on the secluded east side, directly on the water. Formerly, this property was off-limits to anyone but Communist Party bigwigs and official state guests, but today anyone can stay there (hurrah for capitalism!). The first or second time I was in Hangzhou, I noticed the entrance and that there were armed guards outside, and felt a pang of envy that I couldn't go in there. Now, the armed guards were still there, but I finally could see what was inside. They still saluted and walked stiffly over to whatever taxi I arrived at, and demanded to know my business. Just show them the room key and they salute and march off. Not exactly the doorman at the Four Seasons.
Needless to say Hangzhou is a big tourist city these days, and with good reason. There are a couple of restaurants that typify Hangzhou cuisine, and you pretty much have to visit one of them. Lou Wai Lou is famous for local cuisine so we might as well eat there. Longjing Tea Prawns, Westlake Vinegar Fish, and Beggar's Chicken are all famous. We walk up to the restaurant and I am surprised to see an outdoor cooker beside the entrance.
The words say the name of the restaurant, the name of the dish, and a warning 'very hot, never touch'.
The story of Beggar's Chicken is an ancient one. According to the legend, a beggar stole a chicken but had to get rid of it and come back later. Thinking fast, he wrapped it in lotus leaves, covered it with mud, and threw it on a fire and escaped. Later, he came back to recover the stolen property only to discover that the chicken was moist and delicious, as the mud had hardened and made a shell that allowed the chicken to steam itself. Modern versions of the recipe always talk about an indoor oven, so I was surprised to see this here.
Today they stuff the chicken with pork to give it more restaurant value. At this point I wasn't really sure what they were making in the cooker, not thinking about Beggar's Chicken at all, so I stuck the camera into the window of the smoker (can we call it a smoker?).
Fortunately while I was taking photos, the chef walked by to tend the chickens. I asked him how long they stay in there, and he said 3-4 hours. I checked the temperature gauge and it was right at 360°F.
He opened the fire and started taking chickens out. I was surprised to see them and realized that this was the famous Beggar's Chicken that I'd heard so much about. Like I said, I thought it was an inside dish, not outdoor barbecue.
We went inside the restaurant to order our other traditional foods. It was a pretty good darned meal, though horridly overpriced. The vinegar fish was redolent with the taste of black Chinese vinegar, a taste that some people find off-putting but I find goes quite nicely with the oily fish. Hangzhou cuisine is vinegar-based and sour, after all. Our celery and lotus bulb was lightly stir-fried and served as a bland counterpart to the heavily flavored foods, as well as being texturally interesting with the crunchy celery and the starchy lotus bulb scales. I looked on the menu and sure enough the outdoor-smoked Beggar's Chicken was there - at something like $45 per bird. Even if Dad's paying, I still balk at paying that much for a chicken. We got the cheaper, indoor oven roasted variety instead for about half the price, which is still highway robbery for a whole chicken.
I can't say I missed it, it looks like today instead of wrapping the Beggar's Chicken with lotus leaves, they wrap in soaked old newspapers instead. It's supposed to be a thick layer of mud that must be broken with a wooden hammer, but it looks like someone just slathered some on there and then let it be.
The rest of the trip didn't have any barbecue adventures, but plenty of other ones. It was nice to show "my China" to my father and share with him some of the experiences that I've had here. I also got to have a bunch of new experiences, fortunately Dad isn't a stickler about eating local food every meal. Whenever I travel out of town, I always make it a point to eat the foreign foods wherever I am, because we don't have any decent foreign food but Italian and Indian here.
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