“Kao Rou Ji” was founded in the 28th year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign (1848 AD). In the Qing Dynasty, the lotus market of Shichahai was opened on the first day of the fifth lunar month every year. Ji Decai, the founder of the restaurant, would go to the Yinding Bridge with a cart and set up a barbecue stand to sell roast mutton from mid-July to the ninth day of September. The smell of his barbecue attracted many tourists. His business was really prosperous. After that, the roasting skills of his family, being passed down through many generations, became mature. The family gradually changed from a peddler to a shopkeeper, and the brand “Kao Rou Ji” was established beside the Yinding Bridge. After 1956, “Kao Rou Ji” developed faster and became more popular. Since the establishment, “Kao Rou Ji” has never left the Shichahai. It has become a famous and unique restaurant with characteristics of the region. Eating meat and enjoying the view, the tourists are always cheerful. The making skills and management mode of “Kao Rou Ji”, which show the food culture and folk culture in Beijing, have great research value.
“Huaizhong baoyue” is one of the restaurant’s eight flavors which have been inherited. In the past, the spirit of Kao Rou Ji was self-roasting and Wuchi, a graceless-style barbeque. “Wuchi” refers to the posture and the style of a self-roasting barbeque. It shows the passion of the real men who truly enjoy the taste of a barbecue. Generally speaking, when enjoying a barbecue, real men have to take a bar about two chi (equal to 1/3 meter) long made from Abelia biflora. Standing next to the Zhizi, the iron plate, with one foot on the bench, they put the meat marinated by the staff on Zhizi surrounded by the smoke and turned the meat frequently to make it well roasted. “Self-roasting” means that one needs to take the ingredients and control the fire by himself, giving full expression of openness and directness.
What does the “eight flavors” of the barbecue means”? It means the barbeque can be “tough, tender, burnt, scorched, sweet, salty, spicy and Huaizhong Baoyue”. “Huaizhong baoyue” means adding the egg fluid, which has the shape of the moon after being half-cooked, to the meat. It seems easy, but the use of egg liquid allows the meat to be tenderer and tastier. As for Wuchi, when the meat is medium rare, the barbecue makers will use the chopsticks made from Abelia biflora to build a small nest in the meat, which is low at the middle and high around. Then, they add the egg fluid into the nest to form the shape of the moon. When the meat is close being cooked, they mix the half-cooked egg liquid fully into it. In this way, a unique taste is formed. The entire process is a real test of the barbecue makers’ skills.
Store: Kao Rou Ji (Houhai)
Tel.: 010-64042554
Address: No.14, Qianhai Dongyan Hutong, Di’anmenwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing (near Yinding Bridge)
