Zheng Ming Zhai, Beijing's "Rao Shop" (Anon. photo, 1948)
Beijing's old food shop often arouses my nostalgia, because from the appearance of the store to the food in the cabinet is very distinctive, the national flavor is very strong, which can be called a symbol of Chinese culture.
Rao Bao shop name is mostly in the name of the jai, gold plaque big characters, paving decoration is extremely elaborate, if it is not the archway towering, the head jumps far, is the roof three-sided curved ruler railing, under the engraving of a very fine hanging cornice, with curly grass, fragrant lotus, dragon, flowers and birds as ornaments, hanging "size eight pieces", "hundred fruit flower cake", "Mid-Autumn Moon Cake", "Eight Treasure South Sugar" and other signs. From the brilliant and finely carved paving, it is already reminiscent of the pastries in the store must also be carefully made and taste beautiful. There is also a feature of the old food shop: that is, there are no lockers and glass cabinets in the store, so even a piece of dim sum cannot be seen. In the case of Ruifangzhai , which was opened outside the East 48th Gate , for example , the three facades , the storehouse is quite deep , and the pastries are placed in vermilion lacquered wooden boxes , lined up against the back wall. Although the lid of the box is supported by a pole, but the box is deep in the wall, and there is a distance of one or two inches from the counter, even if the customer tiptoes up, he can not see the trace of the pastry, and can only "buy old cattle across the mountain", say the name, and let the shop guys take it. But customers are reassured, because the goods are genuine and have been well known for a long time.
Rattan cake
There are many kinds of pastries in the dumpling shop, including eight large pieces and eight small pieces, and each has different methods such as turning hair, puff pastry, pulp lifting, wine skin and so on. There are oil cakes and slot cakes that belong to the cake category. The types of puff pastry are peach crisp, yuan cake, date paste, and chess pieces. Seasonal pastries include vine cake, moon cake, chongyang flower cake, lantern and so on. There are a variety of cylinder ovens, including a low-quality snail cylinder oven made of sweets and cakes back to the oven. There are also honey offerings, small teas, small fried foods, egg rolls, etc., which are too much to describe. One of my favorites is the sage horse.
"Sagema" is a Manchu language. According to Yuan Bai's brother (Professor Qi Gong), there is this famous object in the Qing Wen Jian , which is interpreted as "dog tit sugar dip". Saqima uses eggs, grease and noodles, finely cut and fried, and then stirs with caramel and honey to make it "sugar dipped". Only dog tits are incomprehensible. If it is really dog milk, how many dogs do you need to have enough? Originally, there was a wild berry in the northeast, named after the shape of dog tits, which was originally used as the fruit of saqima, but after entering the customs, it was gradually replaced by raisins, hawthorn cakes, plums, melon seeds, etc., and dog tits are also little known.
Sagema
My favorite saqi horse of the year was made with cream and noodles. The cream is produced in Inner Mongolia, shipped to Beijing in the belly of a cow, and after some fermentation, it has become a cheese , which is very different from the whipped cream and butter common to Western-style pastries now. This particular flavor is not accessible to everyone, but those who love it feel that it is not enough to feast on. In the past, Ruifangzhai mainly supplied the official eunuchs and gentry of Jinghua, and there were two kinds of Sachima horses, general and cream. The former cuts rectangular blocks, while the latter is bared. At Taihua Zhai in Beixinqiao, the Mongolian and Tibetan lamas are their main customers, so the creamy taste of Sachima is particularly strong. Gui Yingzhai in Di'anmen is not far from the Forbidden City, in order to suit the tastes of eunuchs, more often retain the tradition of the court dim sum room, so each family has its own characteristics. But the Sachima is soft and sweet, and the melting in the mouth is consistent, because this is the minimum standard.
Chinese pastries in Beijing have been in a real slump since the 1960s. At first, it was dry but not crisp, and later it developed into hard and undesirable, and the sales in the east, west, south, and north cities were almost the same, as if they were made by one hand. Therefore, there is a joke in society: the car rolled the peach crisp into the asphalt road, used a stick to pry, did not pry, but the stick was broken. Fortunately, I also bought the middle fruit strip, and with it, I pried it, and the peach crisp came out. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but the snack is really hard enough, eat it without paying attention, and it is likely that it hurts the chest. Speaking of Sachima, even people who paid for it are ashamed, from the northeast to Guannei, it has been more than three hundred years, although Beijing is not the birthplace, it is also its hometown, why for a long time Beijing can buy Saqi horses is not as good as the Tianjin halal name Gui Shunzhai. It is the so-called Sachima in Shanghai and Guangzhou, which is squarely cut and wrapped in transparent paper, and from taste to shape, it is not a Saqi horse, but another kind of dim sum, but it is also softer and tastier than the Beijing Saqi horse. Many times when I think of Ruifangzhai's cream sachima, I am really like a world away, I think this smell should only be in heaven, and to eat it, I am afraid that "he is not sure of this life".
The good news is that in the past two years, Beijing's Chinese pastries have improved. I remember that at the beginning of 1989, I was able to buy a soft and non-sticky Saki horse in Dongdan Xiangtaiyi. In January this year, the Beijing Evening News twice reported that Dongzhimenwai Cross Slope had opened a gathering garden composed of four long-established brands (BaolanZhai, Guifuzhai, Zhilanzhai and Juqingzhai) in an effort to restore traditional Chinese pastries. I deliberately went to sightseeing to taste, the variety is quite complete, the taste is also very good, the size of the hair and wine skin eight pieces, oil cake, long cake, Yuanyuan cake, peach crisp, etc., even in the past Guifu Zhai in September flower cake can also be bought, and it is still old.1 Sachima is light yellow in color, the fruit is complete, the entrance is melted, there is no dregs, only seasoning, fried strips, and sugar mixing can be made by mastering each process well. With a moment of joy, I took the initiative to make a couplet for the Gathering Garden and wrote it on a small banner, which read as follows:
Notes of Wang Shixiang
Incidentally, the Sachima sold by Xiangtaiyi this year is better than last year, the color is darker, not as beautiful as the Garden, soft and equal, and the oil taste is more pure, so it can be said that each has its own strengths, it is said that it was made by a teacher of Amway Pastry Factory.
The old tradition of Beijing pastry is being restored, and I am really happy, and I wish the comrades in the pastry industry greater achievements and greater victories!
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Acknowledgements and statements
The pictures in this article are partly from the Internet, and they are invaded and deleted.
This article originates from "Yandu",
The original title was "Rao BaoPu Saqima", by Wang Shixiang.
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