"Ruilan Village Halal Pastry" is located at No. 57, South Ma Road, West Avenue, Ankang District, is a century-old brand, Ma Mengming is the owner of this shop, and now that he is old, he handed over the shop to his son and daughter-in-law to take care of. The shop displays a variety of pastry products: white lotus crisp, mung bean paste, crystal cake, double hemp cake, winter melon candy...
Although the shop is located in an alley, it is a century-old brand, and it is also the inheritance of the halal pastry making skills of Ruilan Village, an intangible cultural heritage protection project in Hanbin District, Ma Mengming is the third generation of heirs, and now he is 75 years old, and this pastry making skill began in 1921.
Ma Mengming told reporters: "My grandfather is a native of Henan, in 1921, in order to avoid war and locust plague, he fled to Ankang and started this pastry craft, which is the first generation. It was then passed on to my father, who continued to make pastries until 1952, when the public-private partnership was discontinued for 40 years. After the reform and opening up, I picked up this old brand again, and I learned from my own teachers and passed it on. Until 2010, when I was old, I passed on this craft to my son, let my son and daughter-in-law take care of it, and my wife and I usually helped occasionally. ”
According to Ma Mengming, the name of this "Ruilan Village Halal Pastry" also has a small allusion. In the past, it was not easy for foreigners to come to Ankang to do business, and they needed the support of local celebrities. At that time, Mr. Solan Weng gave Ma Mengming's grandfather Ma Ruiyu great support, so when naming the shop, he took a word from the names of Solan Ong and Ma Ruiyu to get the word "Ruilan", and "village" had the meaning of shop and factory to thank Mr. Solan for his help.
With the inheritance of a century-old shop and four generations, the halal pastry making skills of Ruilan Village are not simple, and the key points of different types of pastry making are also different. "This type of puff pastry belongs to the skin-making filling, three points to make seven points of roasting, baking is the most important process, each baking by the inheritors themselves baked." Like the rock sugar hawthorn, it is necessary to look at the fire power, test the eyesight of the producer, and master the concentration and temperature of the sugar boiling. If you describe the process in detail, you can write a very thick book. Ma Mengming introduced one by one at the counter, he pointed to a pastry and said: "There are ten processes like this kind of small dim sum operation, such as material selection, mixing of finished products, processing, mixing filling, crisping, peeling, molding, baking." ”
Today, the pastry shop has a history of nearly 100 years, and in 2016, the "Ruilan Village Halal Pastry Making Technique" was also approved by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Project of Hanbin District. However, in Ma Mengming's eyes, he revealed helplessness, and when it came to the issue of inheritance management, Ma Mengming was slightly silent, saying: "In recent years, the traditional pastry business has not been ideal, and his grandson has now gone to college, and it is estimated that he will not do this business in the future." "Although it is not broken, it also makes people see the reluctance in Ma Mengming's eyes, and what cannot be put down is not only this craft, but also the painstaking efforts of four generations." As an inheritor, I still hope that my son will pass on this skill. Ma Mengming sighed.
(Huashang Daily reporter Yan Wenqing editor Wu Ning)