Beijing Muslim History: Old Halal Notes from the Northern City (Part 1 of 6)
Reposted from the web
Summary: Beijing Muslim History: Old Halal Notes from the Northern City is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: East City:. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Muslim History, Northern Beijing, Hui Muslims while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source. This is part 1 of 6.
Part 1 of 6
East City:
1. Donglaishun at Dong'an Market (including the Tianyishun halal sauce shop (Tianyi Shun Qingzhen Jiangyuan))
2. Xideshun Tripe King (Baodu Wang) at Dong'an Market
3. Jinshenglong Tripe Feng (Baodu Feng) at Dong'an Market
4. Tofu Pudding Ma (Doufunao Ma) at Dong'an Market
5. Meat Pie Zhang (Roubing Zhang) at Dong'an Market
6. Baikui at Longfu Mosque
7. Baodu Man at Dongsi Pailou
8. The mutton shop at the corner of West Kushuijing and Xinxian Hutong inside Chaoyangmen.
9. The sesame flatbread shop (shaobing) on West Kushuijing Hutong inside Chaoyangmen.
10. Deshun Restaurant inside Chaoyangmen.
11. Deshengzhai on Jingshan East Street.
12. Yueshengzhai on Hubu Lane inside Qianmen.
13. Fusheng Canteen in Dongdan.
14. Zengqingzhai on Yiliu Hutong outside Di'anmen.
Xicheng District:
1. Ruizhenhou inside Zhongshan Park
2. Kaorouwan inside Xuanwumen
3. Hui Muslim beef and mutton shop inside Xuanwumen
4. Youyishun Restaurant at the Xidan intersection inside Xuanwumen
5. Dong Siba's spiced lamb head (jiangyangtou) inside Deshengmen
6. Xue Siba's steamed lamb (zhengyangrou) outside Deshengmen
7. Yang's lamb stall (yangrouchuangzi) on Guanxiang Street at Deshengmen
8. The sheep market (yanghang) in Madian outside Deshengmen
9. Hui Muslim snack shops inside Xizhimen.
Dongcheng District.
1. Donglaishun at Dong'an Market.
Donglaishun as described by Zhang Zhongxing.
In the early 1930s, I lived in the dormitory of the Third Campus of Peking University, located at Beiheyan outside Donghuamen. I would walk south from the school gate, turn east, and cross Dong'anmen Street to reach Dong'an Market. Donglaishun was on the east side inside the north gate of the market. It had two entrances facing north. The western entrance was the main shop, which had three floors. The eastern entrance was the budget section, which did not connect to the upper floors. There are many restaurants in the market, ranging from high-end ones like Senlong Restaurant and Wufangzhai to small shops like Junshan Restaurant and various food stalls. There must be about twenty of them. As poor students, we liked going to Donglaishun because it had two advantages: the food was good and cheap, and it suited both big and small budgets. Plus, the staff were especially friendly to diners.
Let's talk about their friendliness first. Right inside the door, there was always someone sitting in a long gown. People said he was the second manager. When he saw someone walking toward the door, he would immediately stand up, smile, bow slightly, and say, 'You're here! Please, come in!' Then he would turn inside and shout, 'How many people? Make some room!' You could choose to stay on the ground floor or go up to the second or third floor as you liked. The waiter would help you get seated, smiling broadly, and ask what you wanted to eat. Back then, it wasn't common to look at a menu; you had to call out the names of the dishes. When choosing dishes, the waiter would often offer his opinion on how to pair them for a better meal. Sometimes they even suggest you don't need to order too much, or if it's not enough, they help you add more quickly. Everything is friendly. After eating, you settle the bill, pay, and exchange polite words: "Are you taking this with you?" You usually leave a small tip, like two jiao, and the waiter shouts out: "A tip of two mao." The cashier and the kitchen staff call back in a long, drawn-out tone: "Thank you—." When you leave your seat and walk out, the two managers at the door stand up from afar. As you get close, they smile, bow slightly, and say: "See you this evening." (for lunch) or "See you tomorrow." (for dinner)
Plus, the food is high quality and inexpensive. Donglaishun started out by selling meat pies (xianbing) and porridge from a pushcart. Their years of experience taught them that the surest way to make money is to offer high-quality goods at low prices and win through high sales volume. They have always stuck to this tradition. Take their famous hot pot lamb (shuan yangrou) as an example. People say the sheep are bought from outside the Great Wall and kept at their own farm, where they are fed grain for a month before slaughter. This makes the meat fatty and tender, unlike sheep that only eat grass. The seasonings are also homemade, produced at the Tianyishun Sauce Shop located across from the north gate of the market. Because the ingredients are good and the preparation is meticulous, everything tastes great, whether it is a high-end dish or a simple one. Their hot pot lamb is the best in the city, no question. Other dishes like braised beef (wei niurou), stir-fried lamb (bao yangrou), honey-glazed fritters (tasimi), crispy horns (sujiao), spiced beef tendon (jiang jianzi), as well as everyday foods like beef pies (niurou bing), lamb dumplings (yangrou jiaozi), soybean paste noodles (zhajiangmian), and millet and bean porridge (xiaomi douzhou) all have their own unique flavors and keep customers satisfied. The prices are all fair. Some lower-priced items might not make much money, like the lamb dumplings (yangrou jiaozi). The quality is great, and ten of them cost only four cents. You probably couldn't even make them that cheaply at home.
For us poor students, the fact that prices can be high or low is a huge advantage. If you have guests, you can go up to the second or third floor, or even sit in a private booth or a small room. You can order a few dishes and some wine. Everyone leaves full and happy, and it only costs two or three yuan. If you are alone and only have twenty cents in your pocket, you can still walk in, eat twenty dumplings and drink a bowl of millet and bean porridge (xiaomi douzhou) for a total of nine cents. You can confidently pay with a ten-cent coin, hear a "Thank you!" Then you walk out, go to the Dangui Market, pick out a used book for ten cents, and happily head back to school.
Looking back at the time I lived at Beiheyan, I went to Donglaishun so many times. Most of the time I didn't go upstairs. I just ate ten cents' worth of lamb dumplings and millet and bean porridge. Usually, I still had enough money left to browse the Dangui Market and look for old books. When I did go upstairs, I was always with one or two classmates or friends, so we could try things like crispy horns (sujiao) and honey-drizzled pastries (tasimi). In autumn and winter, when I am by myself, I often like to go to the working-class section near the east door. They say the owner first got rich through hard manual labor, so even after becoming wealthy, he wanted to keep his roots to show he had not forgotten his humble beginnings, or as they put it, he had not forgotten his poor brothers. There is no one to greet you at this east door, probably because the working-class regulars have never been ones for formalities. Once inside, you see a row of long tables running north to south with benches on both sides. No one offers you a seat, so you just find one yourself. After you sit down, a server asks what you want to eat, whether it is flatbread (bing) or noodles (mian), and how much you want by weight, because the regulars need to know exactly how much they are getting. If you order fancy dishes, they will bring those out just the same. The interesting thing is that the customers and the staff are all very blunt with each other; when people are drinking and lively, they might glare or slam the table, sometimes even shouting, which makes you think of Jing Ke and Gao Jianli in the markets of Yan.
Fuxuan Suohua by Zhang Zhongxing
The big tent at Donglaishun
People who ate at Donglaishun were all wealthy. But the big tent downstairs at Donglaishun served poor, everyday people. They took the leftover scraps from the hot pot meat, stewed them into a savory sauce, and poured it over noodles. You could buy a big bowl for very little money, which satisfied both your cravings and your hunger.
My Last Century by Guan Geng
The storefront of Donglaishun
In the early years, around noon every day, bicycles, pedicabs, rickshaws, flatbed carts, motorcycles, and cars would all head toward the west entrance of Jinyu Hutong. They packed the road from the west entrance of the hutong to the Jixiang Theater so tightly you could barely move.
These people were all men, mostly Beijing locals between twenty and forty years old, who headed straight into the shop as soon as they got off the bus. Back then, Donglaishun had a cafeteria-style shop selling dumplings, meat pies (xianbing), and big bowls of lamb bone broth (yangtang) noodles with gravy, all made from the leftover scraps of the hot pot lamb, since the costs were already covered by the hot pot. But they knew how to run a business, selling the scraps again as meat pies and dumplings that were oily, stuffed full, and cheap. The diners came for exactly this: it satisfied their cravings and kept them full for a long time.
Past Beijing by Zhang Zheng, Donglaishun's Hot Pot Lamb.
Han Ziqi sat in a private booth upstairs at the Donglaishun restaurant at the north entrance of the Dongan Market on Wangfujing Street, with no heart to enjoy the snowy view outside, his eyes just staring blankly at the boiling water in the copper hot pot as if studying the tiny waves. After staring for a while, he lazily lifted his chopsticks, picked up a thin slice of lamb, swished it in the boiling water once, twice, three times, pulled it out at the perfect moment, dipped it into the bowl of sauce in front of him, and then put it in his mouth to chew slowly. He was actually very hungry, but he still kept up his habit of many years, never wolfing down his food or making rude smacking sounds. Eating is not just about filling your stomach; it is a pleasure, and you should not waste good food. Even in these times when food is scarce and prices are sky-high, he did not order cabbage or glass noodles, which are only good for filling space. He only asked for two plates of sliced meat and a small dish of pickled garlic (tangsuan). He ate a slice of meat, then took a bite of the garlic, slowly savoring the taste that was sweet within the spice and spicy within the sweet. He did not order alcohol. Alcohol is forbidden for Muslims, and he strictly followed this rule. Like many Hui Muslims, he did not smoke either. Even when he was deeply troubled, he never puffed on cigarettes or used alcohol to drown his sorrows. Aside from the jade and treasures he poured his heart into, his lifelong passion was the delicious food at halal restaurants. He was a regular at the Donglaishun restaurant. He knew everything about the place almost as well as he knew the Qizhenzhai shop he dedicated his life to, or the special arts and crafts import and export company where he worked later.
He chewed on the fresh, tasty slices of meat. Where is the most tender hot pot lamb? It has to be Donglaishun. The lamb here is incomparable to anywhere else because of its unique standards. They only use castrated sheep from West Ujimqin Banner in Inner Mongolia. After a period of careful pen-feeding, the sheep are slaughtered. They only take the cuts known as modang'er, shangnao'er, huanggua tiao'er, and the large and small sancha'er. From a sheep weighing forty to fifty jin, only thirteen jin of meat is suitable for use. After being frozen, the meat is sliced with incredible skill into pieces as thin and even as paper. When placed on a plate, the patterns on the plate are clearly visible through the meat. One jin of lamb at Donglaishun is sliced into more than eighty pieces. The seasonings used to enhance the flavor are very particular. They include sesame paste (zhima jiang), Shaoxing yellow wine (Shaoxing huangjiu), fermented bean curd (jiang doufu), pickled chive flowers (jiucai hua), chili oil, shrimp oil, chopped green onions, minced cilantro, and Donglaishun's special drizzling soy sauce (pulin jiangyou). The soup base in the pot is flavored with dried shrimp and dried mushrooms (koumo). This hot pot has a unique charm that is clear, fragrant, fresh, and delicious. It is intoxicating to eat, much like how the famous jade expert Han Ziqi would carefully examine a rare treasure. But at this moment, neither the art of looking nor the art of eating occupied his mind. His heart was like the boiling water, and he could not say what he was thinking. From Donglaishun to Qizhenzhai, he chewed on the history of others and his own. Donglaishun's first owner, Ding Deshan, whose courtesy name was Ziqing, was from Cang County, Hebei. He later moved to Erlizhuang outside Dongzhimen. Back in the day, he was not much wealthier than the penniless wanderer Xiao Qizi. He pushed a handcart of yellow soil into Beijing and sold it at a low price to flower growers to make a difficult living. Around 1903, he saw the potential of the busy Dong'an Market and borrowed money to set up a stall. He started by selling flour-based cakes, flatbreads (tiebingzi), and rice porridge, eventually growing into the Donglaishun Porridge Stall. After over a decade of hard work, he added stir-fried, roasted, and hot pot meats. The hot pot became the most famous, and after several expansions, the business became the leader in its field.
The Muslim Funeral by Huo Da
Condiments for Donglaishun hot pot lamb
For the soy sauce used in the hot pot lamb, they use a special dripped soy sauce (pulin jiangyou). Every summer when the soybean paste is sun-dried, they spread it on tin sheets and collect the oil that drips out. They then refine it with the right amount of licorice, cinnamon, and rock sugar. This is one of the main reasons Donglaishun hot pot lamb keeps its unique flavor. Also, when pickling chive flowers, they add a certain amount of sour pears to make the taste more sweet and tangy. The garlic used for pickled sugar garlic must be large six-clove garlic bulbs harvested two or three days before the Summer Solstice. It takes three months to prepare for sale, involving peeling, soaking in brine, packing and turning the jars, and releasing gas.
Famous Old Beijing Brands: Donglaishun Restaurant, known for its hot pot lamb. Ma Xiangyu
Tianyi Shun Halal Sauce Shop.
(Wang Dongsi: Tianyi Shun Sauce Shop and Donglai Shun were sister stores owned by the same proprietor.)
The west counter at Tianyi Shun sells groceries and seasonings, focusing on Beijing-style sweet pickled vegetables (jiang xiaocai). To make it easy for customers to browse and buy, the display counter for these pickles is placed in the center of the shop. The various pickles are displayed in blue-patterned porcelain jars, which look nice and make it easy for customers to choose. They also provide oil baskets (youlou) in different sizes so customers from out of town can carry them easily.
Tianyi Shun has always been careful about selecting ingredients and crafting products with precision. For example, the soybeans used for making sauce must be large, yellow, and high in oil content, sourced from Majuqiao and Panggezhuang. The production method is: soak 100 jin of soybeans until they expand, then steam them. Add 50 jin of white flour, crush and press the mixture, cut it into rectangular blocks, and stack them on indoor racks to ferment. After fermentation, brush off the fuzz and put them into jars. For every 100 jin of beans, add 50 jin of salt and 200 jin of water. This ratio is called 'one part yellow, two parts water, and half a part salt'. After the mixture breaks down, it is passed through a sieve. It is turned four times a day with a sauce rake (jiangpa) and must be sun-dried for a long time, from February to August, before it is finished. This sauce is called dog days sauce (fujiang), also known as natural sauce. When you use it to make fried sauce, it saves oil and does not stick to the bottom of the pot. It makes beef and lamb look bright and taste delicious, which is why over 70 percent of sauce-meat shops in Beijing choose it.
To make sweet flour sauce (tianmianjiang), steam buns (mantou) using white flour, but do not add baking soda. After fermenting, crush them and put them into a vat. Add 80 jin of water for every 100 jin of flour, adding the water gradually rather than all at once, until it reaches the consistency of thin porridge. Use a sauce rake to stir it four times a day until it turns purple-red by the start of autumn (liqiu). It tastes sweet and is the raw material for making sweet sauce pickles, and it is also an essential condiment for eating roast duck.
For small-mill sesame oil (xiaomo xiangyou), you must buy high-quality sesame grown in the dog days from places like Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou, Panggezhuang in Daxing, and Gu'an County. When making it, strictly control the heat and time to get a high oil yield and excellent color, aroma, and taste.
Summary: Beijing Muslim History: Old Halal Notes from the Northern City is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: East City:. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Muslim History, Northern Beijing, Hui Muslims while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source. This is part 1 of 6.
Part 1 of 6
East City:
1. Donglaishun at Dong'an Market (including the Tianyishun halal sauce shop (Tianyi Shun Qingzhen Jiangyuan))
2. Xideshun Tripe King (Baodu Wang) at Dong'an Market
3. Jinshenglong Tripe Feng (Baodu Feng) at Dong'an Market
4. Tofu Pudding Ma (Doufunao Ma) at Dong'an Market
5. Meat Pie Zhang (Roubing Zhang) at Dong'an Market
6. Baikui at Longfu Mosque
7. Baodu Man at Dongsi Pailou
8. The mutton shop at the corner of West Kushuijing and Xinxian Hutong inside Chaoyangmen.
9. The sesame flatbread shop (shaobing) on West Kushuijing Hutong inside Chaoyangmen.
10. Deshun Restaurant inside Chaoyangmen.
11. Deshengzhai on Jingshan East Street.
12. Yueshengzhai on Hubu Lane inside Qianmen.
13. Fusheng Canteen in Dongdan.
14. Zengqingzhai on Yiliu Hutong outside Di'anmen.
Xicheng District:
1. Ruizhenhou inside Zhongshan Park
2. Kaorouwan inside Xuanwumen
3. Hui Muslim beef and mutton shop inside Xuanwumen
4. Youyishun Restaurant at the Xidan intersection inside Xuanwumen
5. Dong Siba's spiced lamb head (jiangyangtou) inside Deshengmen
6. Xue Siba's steamed lamb (zhengyangrou) outside Deshengmen
7. Yang's lamb stall (yangrouchuangzi) on Guanxiang Street at Deshengmen
8. The sheep market (yanghang) in Madian outside Deshengmen
9. Hui Muslim snack shops inside Xizhimen.
Dongcheng District.
1. Donglaishun at Dong'an Market.
Donglaishun as described by Zhang Zhongxing.
In the early 1930s, I lived in the dormitory of the Third Campus of Peking University, located at Beiheyan outside Donghuamen. I would walk south from the school gate, turn east, and cross Dong'anmen Street to reach Dong'an Market. Donglaishun was on the east side inside the north gate of the market. It had two entrances facing north. The western entrance was the main shop, which had three floors. The eastern entrance was the budget section, which did not connect to the upper floors. There are many restaurants in the market, ranging from high-end ones like Senlong Restaurant and Wufangzhai to small shops like Junshan Restaurant and various food stalls. There must be about twenty of them. As poor students, we liked going to Donglaishun because it had two advantages: the food was good and cheap, and it suited both big and small budgets. Plus, the staff were especially friendly to diners.
Let's talk about their friendliness first. Right inside the door, there was always someone sitting in a long gown. People said he was the second manager. When he saw someone walking toward the door, he would immediately stand up, smile, bow slightly, and say, 'You're here! Please, come in!' Then he would turn inside and shout, 'How many people? Make some room!' You could choose to stay on the ground floor or go up to the second or third floor as you liked. The waiter would help you get seated, smiling broadly, and ask what you wanted to eat. Back then, it wasn't common to look at a menu; you had to call out the names of the dishes. When choosing dishes, the waiter would often offer his opinion on how to pair them for a better meal. Sometimes they even suggest you don't need to order too much, or if it's not enough, they help you add more quickly. Everything is friendly. After eating, you settle the bill, pay, and exchange polite words: "Are you taking this with you?" You usually leave a small tip, like two jiao, and the waiter shouts out: "A tip of two mao." The cashier and the kitchen staff call back in a long, drawn-out tone: "Thank you—." When you leave your seat and walk out, the two managers at the door stand up from afar. As you get close, they smile, bow slightly, and say: "See you this evening." (for lunch) or "See you tomorrow." (for dinner)
Plus, the food is high quality and inexpensive. Donglaishun started out by selling meat pies (xianbing) and porridge from a pushcart. Their years of experience taught them that the surest way to make money is to offer high-quality goods at low prices and win through high sales volume. They have always stuck to this tradition. Take their famous hot pot lamb (shuan yangrou) as an example. People say the sheep are bought from outside the Great Wall and kept at their own farm, where they are fed grain for a month before slaughter. This makes the meat fatty and tender, unlike sheep that only eat grass. The seasonings are also homemade, produced at the Tianyishun Sauce Shop located across from the north gate of the market. Because the ingredients are good and the preparation is meticulous, everything tastes great, whether it is a high-end dish or a simple one. Their hot pot lamb is the best in the city, no question. Other dishes like braised beef (wei niurou), stir-fried lamb (bao yangrou), honey-glazed fritters (tasimi), crispy horns (sujiao), spiced beef tendon (jiang jianzi), as well as everyday foods like beef pies (niurou bing), lamb dumplings (yangrou jiaozi), soybean paste noodles (zhajiangmian), and millet and bean porridge (xiaomi douzhou) all have their own unique flavors and keep customers satisfied. The prices are all fair. Some lower-priced items might not make much money, like the lamb dumplings (yangrou jiaozi). The quality is great, and ten of them cost only four cents. You probably couldn't even make them that cheaply at home.
For us poor students, the fact that prices can be high or low is a huge advantage. If you have guests, you can go up to the second or third floor, or even sit in a private booth or a small room. You can order a few dishes and some wine. Everyone leaves full and happy, and it only costs two or three yuan. If you are alone and only have twenty cents in your pocket, you can still walk in, eat twenty dumplings and drink a bowl of millet and bean porridge (xiaomi douzhou) for a total of nine cents. You can confidently pay with a ten-cent coin, hear a "Thank you!" Then you walk out, go to the Dangui Market, pick out a used book for ten cents, and happily head back to school.
Looking back at the time I lived at Beiheyan, I went to Donglaishun so many times. Most of the time I didn't go upstairs. I just ate ten cents' worth of lamb dumplings and millet and bean porridge. Usually, I still had enough money left to browse the Dangui Market and look for old books. When I did go upstairs, I was always with one or two classmates or friends, so we could try things like crispy horns (sujiao) and honey-drizzled pastries (tasimi). In autumn and winter, when I am by myself, I often like to go to the working-class section near the east door. They say the owner first got rich through hard manual labor, so even after becoming wealthy, he wanted to keep his roots to show he had not forgotten his humble beginnings, or as they put it, he had not forgotten his poor brothers. There is no one to greet you at this east door, probably because the working-class regulars have never been ones for formalities. Once inside, you see a row of long tables running north to south with benches on both sides. No one offers you a seat, so you just find one yourself. After you sit down, a server asks what you want to eat, whether it is flatbread (bing) or noodles (mian), and how much you want by weight, because the regulars need to know exactly how much they are getting. If you order fancy dishes, they will bring those out just the same. The interesting thing is that the customers and the staff are all very blunt with each other; when people are drinking and lively, they might glare or slam the table, sometimes even shouting, which makes you think of Jing Ke and Gao Jianli in the markets of Yan.
Fuxuan Suohua by Zhang Zhongxing
The big tent at Donglaishun
People who ate at Donglaishun were all wealthy. But the big tent downstairs at Donglaishun served poor, everyday people. They took the leftover scraps from the hot pot meat, stewed them into a savory sauce, and poured it over noodles. You could buy a big bowl for very little money, which satisfied both your cravings and your hunger.
My Last Century by Guan Geng
The storefront of Donglaishun
In the early years, around noon every day, bicycles, pedicabs, rickshaws, flatbed carts, motorcycles, and cars would all head toward the west entrance of Jinyu Hutong. They packed the road from the west entrance of the hutong to the Jixiang Theater so tightly you could barely move.
These people were all men, mostly Beijing locals between twenty and forty years old, who headed straight into the shop as soon as they got off the bus. Back then, Donglaishun had a cafeteria-style shop selling dumplings, meat pies (xianbing), and big bowls of lamb bone broth (yangtang) noodles with gravy, all made from the leftover scraps of the hot pot lamb, since the costs were already covered by the hot pot. But they knew how to run a business, selling the scraps again as meat pies and dumplings that were oily, stuffed full, and cheap. The diners came for exactly this: it satisfied their cravings and kept them full for a long time.
Past Beijing by Zhang Zheng, Donglaishun's Hot Pot Lamb.
Han Ziqi sat in a private booth upstairs at the Donglaishun restaurant at the north entrance of the Dongan Market on Wangfujing Street, with no heart to enjoy the snowy view outside, his eyes just staring blankly at the boiling water in the copper hot pot as if studying the tiny waves. After staring for a while, he lazily lifted his chopsticks, picked up a thin slice of lamb, swished it in the boiling water once, twice, three times, pulled it out at the perfect moment, dipped it into the bowl of sauce in front of him, and then put it in his mouth to chew slowly. He was actually very hungry, but he still kept up his habit of many years, never wolfing down his food or making rude smacking sounds. Eating is not just about filling your stomach; it is a pleasure, and you should not waste good food. Even in these times when food is scarce and prices are sky-high, he did not order cabbage or glass noodles, which are only good for filling space. He only asked for two plates of sliced meat and a small dish of pickled garlic (tangsuan). He ate a slice of meat, then took a bite of the garlic, slowly savoring the taste that was sweet within the spice and spicy within the sweet. He did not order alcohol. Alcohol is forbidden for Muslims, and he strictly followed this rule. Like many Hui Muslims, he did not smoke either. Even when he was deeply troubled, he never puffed on cigarettes or used alcohol to drown his sorrows. Aside from the jade and treasures he poured his heart into, his lifelong passion was the delicious food at halal restaurants. He was a regular at the Donglaishun restaurant. He knew everything about the place almost as well as he knew the Qizhenzhai shop he dedicated his life to, or the special arts and crafts import and export company where he worked later.
He chewed on the fresh, tasty slices of meat. Where is the most tender hot pot lamb? It has to be Donglaishun. The lamb here is incomparable to anywhere else because of its unique standards. They only use castrated sheep from West Ujimqin Banner in Inner Mongolia. After a period of careful pen-feeding, the sheep are slaughtered. They only take the cuts known as modang'er, shangnao'er, huanggua tiao'er, and the large and small sancha'er. From a sheep weighing forty to fifty jin, only thirteen jin of meat is suitable for use. After being frozen, the meat is sliced with incredible skill into pieces as thin and even as paper. When placed on a plate, the patterns on the plate are clearly visible through the meat. One jin of lamb at Donglaishun is sliced into more than eighty pieces. The seasonings used to enhance the flavor are very particular. They include sesame paste (zhima jiang), Shaoxing yellow wine (Shaoxing huangjiu), fermented bean curd (jiang doufu), pickled chive flowers (jiucai hua), chili oil, shrimp oil, chopped green onions, minced cilantro, and Donglaishun's special drizzling soy sauce (pulin jiangyou). The soup base in the pot is flavored with dried shrimp and dried mushrooms (koumo). This hot pot has a unique charm that is clear, fragrant, fresh, and delicious. It is intoxicating to eat, much like how the famous jade expert Han Ziqi would carefully examine a rare treasure. But at this moment, neither the art of looking nor the art of eating occupied his mind. His heart was like the boiling water, and he could not say what he was thinking. From Donglaishun to Qizhenzhai, he chewed on the history of others and his own. Donglaishun's first owner, Ding Deshan, whose courtesy name was Ziqing, was from Cang County, Hebei. He later moved to Erlizhuang outside Dongzhimen. Back in the day, he was not much wealthier than the penniless wanderer Xiao Qizi. He pushed a handcart of yellow soil into Beijing and sold it at a low price to flower growers to make a difficult living. Around 1903, he saw the potential of the busy Dong'an Market and borrowed money to set up a stall. He started by selling flour-based cakes, flatbreads (tiebingzi), and rice porridge, eventually growing into the Donglaishun Porridge Stall. After over a decade of hard work, he added stir-fried, roasted, and hot pot meats. The hot pot became the most famous, and after several expansions, the business became the leader in its field.
The Muslim Funeral by Huo Da
Condiments for Donglaishun hot pot lamb
For the soy sauce used in the hot pot lamb, they use a special dripped soy sauce (pulin jiangyou). Every summer when the soybean paste is sun-dried, they spread it on tin sheets and collect the oil that drips out. They then refine it with the right amount of licorice, cinnamon, and rock sugar. This is one of the main reasons Donglaishun hot pot lamb keeps its unique flavor. Also, when pickling chive flowers, they add a certain amount of sour pears to make the taste more sweet and tangy. The garlic used for pickled sugar garlic must be large six-clove garlic bulbs harvested two or three days before the Summer Solstice. It takes three months to prepare for sale, involving peeling, soaking in brine, packing and turning the jars, and releasing gas.
Famous Old Beijing Brands: Donglaishun Restaurant, known for its hot pot lamb. Ma Xiangyu
Tianyi Shun Halal Sauce Shop.
(Wang Dongsi: Tianyi Shun Sauce Shop and Donglai Shun were sister stores owned by the same proprietor.)
The west counter at Tianyi Shun sells groceries and seasonings, focusing on Beijing-style sweet pickled vegetables (jiang xiaocai). To make it easy for customers to browse and buy, the display counter for these pickles is placed in the center of the shop. The various pickles are displayed in blue-patterned porcelain jars, which look nice and make it easy for customers to choose. They also provide oil baskets (youlou) in different sizes so customers from out of town can carry them easily.
Tianyi Shun has always been careful about selecting ingredients and crafting products with precision. For example, the soybeans used for making sauce must be large, yellow, and high in oil content, sourced from Majuqiao and Panggezhuang. The production method is: soak 100 jin of soybeans until they expand, then steam them. Add 50 jin of white flour, crush and press the mixture, cut it into rectangular blocks, and stack them on indoor racks to ferment. After fermentation, brush off the fuzz and put them into jars. For every 100 jin of beans, add 50 jin of salt and 200 jin of water. This ratio is called 'one part yellow, two parts water, and half a part salt'. After the mixture breaks down, it is passed through a sieve. It is turned four times a day with a sauce rake (jiangpa) and must be sun-dried for a long time, from February to August, before it is finished. This sauce is called dog days sauce (fujiang), also known as natural sauce. When you use it to make fried sauce, it saves oil and does not stick to the bottom of the pot. It makes beef and lamb look bright and taste delicious, which is why over 70 percent of sauce-meat shops in Beijing choose it.
To make sweet flour sauce (tianmianjiang), steam buns (mantou) using white flour, but do not add baking soda. After fermenting, crush them and put them into a vat. Add 80 jin of water for every 100 jin of flour, adding the water gradually rather than all at once, until it reaches the consistency of thin porridge. Use a sauce rake to stir it four times a day until it turns purple-red by the start of autumn (liqiu). It tastes sweet and is the raw material for making sweet sauce pickles, and it is also an essential condiment for eating roast duck.
For small-mill sesame oil (xiaomo xiangyou), you must buy high-quality sesame grown in the dog days from places like Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou, Panggezhuang in Daxing, and Gu'an County. When making it, strictly control the heat and time to get a high oil yield and excellent color, aroma, and taste.
