Shark’s fin soup is another rare and famous dish and, because the fins are purchased dry, requires a long and careful preparation. In addition, chicken stock is also a must before it can be served. In preparing shark’s fin soup, half a catty is needed for twelve servings. Only the loose shark’s fin is used, and this is prepared with shredded chicken, crabmeat, or pork in chicken stock. The finest and most costly shark’s fin soup is a clear one to which no starch is added. To allow guests to savor the delicate soups made from shark’s fin, they are served at the beginning of a banquet, a rare exception to the Chinese practice of serving soup at the end.
         Another world-famous dish is Beijing roast duck, one of northern China’s famous specialties It is prepared from a 3-4-month-old white Beijing duck; after cleaning, the duck is plugged and half filled with water; it is then placed in the oven so that while the water steams the inside of the duck, the outside is roasted over a fire made from wood of the jujube, pear, or apricot tree. The duck is cooked for about three-quarters of an hour and is basted with its own fat.
      The whole duck is usually brought to the table by the chef and then taken away to be cut into thin slices which are eaten wrapped in thin crepes or in rolls covered with sesame seed. The slices of duck are usually dipped into a thin brown sauce, chopped leeks, cucumber, and scallion.
      In the famous Mongolian hot pot thinly sliced strips of lamb are cooked in boiling water contained in a special vessel attached to a brazier. The lamb strips are picked up with chopsticks and placed in the boiling water then taken out a few minutes later, when cooked,, to be dipped in one or more of the sauce, pimiento sauce, wine sauce, chive sauce, bean-curd sauce and sesame seed sauce. To end the meal a soup is prepared using vegetables, noodles and bean curd which are added to the boiling stock in the brazier.