Unconsciously, the concept of afternoon tea has penetrated into people's lives. In fact, compared with imported afternoon tea, the habit of drinking tea with refreshments and tea has a long history in China, and in the Tang Dynasty there are records of using fruits and dried fruits to accompany tea.
Suzhou people are more good at governing the fine points, Su-style pastries are also known as four seasons of tea food, there are "spring cakes, summer cakes, autumn crisps, winter sugar" seasonal rules. A pot of hot tea, with a few Su-style pastries, such a Su-style afternoon tea you are not impressed?
01.
Generous cake
Dafang cake is a cake as its name, "big square", each piece is about 7 cm square, 2 cm thickness is really touching, look so sweet and lovely, soft and sticky.
Generally Qingming listing, Dragon Boat Festival. In recent years, it has increased supply and sold it in spring and autumn. Dafang cake has sweet and salty points, sweet taste includes rose, fruit, mint, bean paste, sesame seeds, and salty meat Dafang cake. Because the skin is translucent after steaming, the color of the filling is faintly revealed, and it is also called "five-color square cake".
02.
Plate of fragrant cakes
Panxiang cake is a traditional famous spot in Changshu, Suzhou, its color is yellow and refreshing, there are many varieties, there are meat and vegetarian points, sweet and salty differences. Sweet ones include osmanthus sugar, roses, bean paste, date paste, and fruit; salty ones include shallot oil, pepper salt, etc. Among them, the more popular ones are white sugar lard bean paste filling, green onion lard pepper salt filling and rose filling.
The pan cake is exquisite in materials, fine workmanship, butter and moist, and the color, aroma, taste and shape are unique, and are praised by gourmets as a major feature of Su-style dim sum. Ready-to-eat crispy and very tasty.
03.
Su-style mooncakes
Speaking of Su-style pastries, how can you get less famous Su-style mooncakes? The skin of the Su-style mooncake is crisp and loose, the color is beautiful, the filling is fat but not greasy, and the taste is soft. It can be said that it is the essence of Su-style pastries.
The taste of Su-style mooncakes can be mainly divided into two kinds of salty and sweet, salty mooncake varieties include ham lard, chives lard, fresh meat, shrimp, etc.; while sweet mooncake varieties have clear water roses, refined hundred fruits, bean paste, etc., and their flavors have their own advantages.
04.
Cloud cake
Cloud cake is very famous throughout the country, but in terms of well-made and good taste, Suzhou's cloud cake is also one of the best. Authentic and delicious cloud cake is snow white in color, sweet and soft, melting in the mouth, sweet but not greasy, the surface of the cake is smooth and flat, and the thickness is uniform.
The traditional cloud cake is not cut when it is cut into slices, and the taste is relatively single. Now the cloud cake has cut, not cut, the taste is also diverse, on the basis of the original cloud cake to add osmanthus flowers, roses, pine nuts, walnuts and other ingredients, the choice is more abundant.
05.
Mung bean cake
The Su-style mung bean cake is small and delicate, fragrant and delicious, soft and oily to eat, and slightly cold. It is a traditional cool and antipyretic summer food in Suzhou.
There are two types of Su-style mung bean cake: meat and vegetarian. The flavor is divided into roses, date paste, bean paste, and no filling (called water). The difference between Su-style mung bean cake and northern mung bean cake is that Su-style mung bean cake is to put sesame sesame oil, so as to make that delicate and smooth taste.
06.
Sake stuffed cake
Sake brew cake is the traditional seasonal product of Suzhou spring, and the best tasting season is around the Qingming Dynasty, which is a representative food of the Spring Su style.
Sake cakes are made with sake, which is fragrant and sweet, and the baked bread embryos emit a unique aroma of wine. Wrap in fillings such as red bean paste or brown sugar, then cook them in a pan and eat them while hot. Its skin is soft and delicious, with a delicate aroma of sake.
07.
Dingsheng Cake
The traditional Dingsheng cake is made of japonica rice flour and glutinous rice flour, generally light red, two large ends, thin in the middle, in the shape of a fixed tenon, usually sold in pairs, meaning "good things come in pairs".
Dingsheng cake can be eaten hot and cold, generally pink, a bite of fluffy and fragrant, not as sticky and firm as rice cakes, and slightly sweet, soft but not greasy, endless aftertaste.
08.
Osmanthus cake
Every autumn, Suzhou's food is always indispensable to osmanthus flowers, this time of the osmanthus cake can not be missed.
The traditional osmanthus cake is generally made of glutinous rice flour, sugar and honey osmanthus flower, which is sweet and fluffy in taste, with a strong osmanthus flavor, and the smell alone makes people salivate.
09.
Sock bottom crisp
Sock bottom puff pastry is one of the traditional tea dishes, fresh and crunchy, sweet and salty. The freshly baked socks are full of crisp aroma, crunchy and refreshing to eat, and the debris falls like snowflakes, and it is necessary to hold the tray and chew slowly.
It is rumored that Song Xiaozong's Concubine Chen hastily made the dim sum into a waist shape, Song Xiaozong thought it was the bottom of the sewn socks after seeing it, and after eating it, she felt crispy, asked for the name, Chen Fei joked that it was better to call it "sock bottom crisp". So the name passed down.
10.
Date mud hemp cake
There are two kinds of jujube mud and hemp cakes, and the vegetarian flavor does not contain meat and fish, which can be used by monks. You can eat lard grains in the meat-flavored filling core. The traditional date mud hemp cake uses black sesame seeds, and now uses peeled white sesame seeds. The taste is solid and fragrant.
Lard is the finishing touch in the hemp cake, after peeling the pork plate oil, mixed with sugar, osmanthus flowers, Northeast pine nuts and other stirring, together wrapped in jujube paste filling. It tastes crunchy, sweet and has a unique flavor and is very palatable.
Su-style afternoon tea can be both elegant and noble, but also can be stained with fireworks. Choosing a few exquisite Su-style pastries to put on the tea party, or inviting two or three friends, or one person to enjoy, is the elegance of the Chinese tradition. Order a pot of hot tea and a few pastries at the tea house, listen to book reviews with the people around you, and talk about the world, which is also a unique Chinese city firework.