China cuisine is renowned all over the world for its appearance, aroma, and flavour. Its unique style of preparation, cooking and presentation can be traced to the beginnings of Chinese history more than 5,000 years ago. As the capital of China for Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing developed its own unique cuisines incorporating the form in the imperial kitchens of the Qing Dynasty. Among the most famous dishes or styles which found their way from the imperial court to public restaurants are Court Cuisine, Beijing Roast Duck, Tan Cuisine, Mongolian Hot Pot, and Barbecued Meat.

Court Cuisine/宫廷菜肴:

Court Cuisine, as the name suggests, consists of dishes once prepared exclusively for the imperial family. Every dynasty in Chinese history had an “imperial kitchen” to prepare meals for the emperor and his consorts. The dishes were not nonly meticulously prepared, but also included rare and expensive foodstuffs, such as bear’s nests, sharksfins, venison, sea cucumbers, duck webs and other delicacies of land and sea. The Court Cuisine of today is based on the dishes prepared by the Qing imperial kichens but further developed ever since.

Beijing Roast Duck/北京烤鸭:

Beijing Roast Duck is prepared from specially-bred Beijing crammed duck with a unique roasting process which gives it a perfect combination of colour, aroma and taste, a crisp thin skin, and a mouth-melting, and delicious flavour.

Beijing Roast Duck dates back 300 years, and originated in the imperial kitchens of Jingling (today’s Nanjing).

Mutton Hot Pot/ 涮羊肉：

Mutton Hot Pot is a Muslim specialty. All the year round, the family, relatives, and friends would gather round the fire and eat in intimacy and warmth. It has now spread to people of all nationalities including foreign diplomats and overseas visitors in Beijing and become one of the capital’s most celebrated dishes. The hot pot used to be a brass pot with a wide outer rim around a chimney and a charcoal burner underneath. Nowadays electric pot is used. Water containing mushrooms and dried shrimps is boiled in a pot. Thin pieces of raw mutton are cooked with chopsticks in a self-service pot of boiling water. Diners dip thin slices of chopsticks in a self-service pot of boiling water. Diners dip thin slices of raw mutton into the water, where the meat cooks rapidly. The cooked slices are then dipped into a sauce. This cooking method ensures that the meat is both tender, and tasty. Cabbage, noodles and pea starch noodles and gradually added to the boiling water, which becomes a very rich broth drunk at the end of the meal.

Red mansions Banquet / 红楼宴:

Generally speaking in famous literary works, none excels the classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin(?---1763) in the description of gourmet of table delicacies. With regard to the more than 400 characters of the Ning Mansion and the Rong Mansion, the book gives spectacular details of banquets, big or small, seasonal delicacies, tonics of four seasons, fine pastries, gruel, soups, noodles and top quality wines as well. The description of these delicacies is not only closely linked with the characterization and plot of the monumental works, but also gives a complete devoted readers of the book in the past and at the present regret being unable to savour in person the delicious food described by Cao Xueqing.

Tan Cuisine / 潭家菜：

Tan Cuisine originated in the household of Tan Zongjun, a bureaucrat of the late Qing Dynasty. Very particular about their food and drink, Tan Zongjun and his son Tang ZhuangQing would pay high fees to hire skilled chefs to cook at their home. In this way the Tan family created a cuisine based on Guangdong cuisine, one that incorporates the best elements of house gradually made their cuisine famous. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the then impoverished Tan opened a small restaurant, and thus Tan element of home-style cooking in Beijing households.

Barbecued Meat/ 烤肉宛 :

Barbecued Meat is a Manchu dish which has now become a Beijing specialty. More then 300 years ago it was the custom for Qing officials in Beijing to go on picnics in the hills around the capital on the Double Ninth Festival (the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar). They would bring with them boiled beef or mutton, various seasonings and garnishes, and an iron pan for re-cocking the meat. In some attractive spot they would build a fire, heat the pan over it and sear the cold boiled meat in the pan. The seared meat was then dipped into soy sauce and mashed garlic before being eaten. This dish was gradually introduced into restaurants. About eight years ago, the recipe was changed to make the meat more palatable: raw beef or mutton was cut into thin slices and marinated before searing. This kind of barbecued meat then became very popular.