At noon yesterday, under the arcade building of Longjin Middle Road, a Cantonese traditional cake shop was crowded in front of the door, and the long queue once lined up in front of the door of the next shop... It is reported that this is the norm for the store.
"Give me two walnut crisps and half a pound of chicken cakes!" The 62-year-old Zhao Bo handed 13 yuan to the salesman, who gave him a large bag of cakes, which was not small. Zhao Bo said that dipping chicken cakes in porridge and eating them is a delicacy that will last in memory. "Chicken cakes are made of fatty meat, you can't eat more, eat a little at a time, mainly to miss the taste of childhood."
The "Guangdong New Language and Food Language" written by the Qing Dynasty scholar Qu Dajun said: The custom of Guangzhou, the family makes various refreshments at the end of the year. It is also known that before the New Year, guangzhou people "the sound of family beating cakes is similar to that of pounding clothes, and it can even be heard." "Ling crisp, almond cake, walnut crisp..." These Cantonese cakes are exquisite in materials, thin skin and filling, and guangzhounese shrewdness and yearning for exquisite life are condensed in a small piece of cake.
Because of this exquisite and shrewd attitude to life, even if the traditional cake shop hides in the corner of the city, as long as the price is fair, fresh and delicious, it will definitely be queued.
■ "Almond pastry has accompanied me through the hardest times"
Deep in the Mouth Market on Middle Nanhua Road in Haizhu District, there is a traditional bakery that is "always in line". The reporter came to this cake shop yesterday and found that in order to buy the red bean crisp baked at 4 p.m. for the first time, there were already several old ladies sitting in the shop waiting.
Cantonese-style cakes are abundant and are presented in this shop, such as cross cakes, roasted pastries, beef ears, almond cakes, walnut crisps... There are more than 20 kinds of them. Ms. Zhu, who was in line, said that the most famous of the shop is peanut crisp and almond puff pastry, especially the peanut crisp with 9 yuan a pound of the best reputation, sweet and salty, crisp and delicious.
In Ms. Zhu's view, the sincerity of the owner of this cake shop is all on the cake, and the hospitality is somewhat casual. The reporter tried to interview the owner of the store, but was refused. The clerk said: "The recipe and seasoning of the cake are personally mixed by the boss, and his child is still young and still has to make the cake, which is really not enough time to sleep." ”
"This shop makes cakes very carefully, delicious and cheap, no matter how long the queue is, I am willing to buy them." Ms. Zhu said. Ms. Guo, who was also in line, said that she had to buy peanut crisp and almond puff pastry every time. At the critical moment when she gave birth, these two pastries accompanied her through the most difficult time. In 2013, she said, she was waiting for a baby at a nearby hospital, wandering around the wet market and inadvertently patronizing the bakery that was lined up in front of the door. "I was exhausted during the production, thanks to the almond pastry in this shop, which replenished my strength and eventually gave birth to a child."
Subsequently, the reporter visited several traditional cake shops in the city with long queues, such as Minghua Cake Point and Xinghui Western Cake, which are not beautiful in facades and difficult to find, but the winning magic weapons are basically the same, that is, freshly baked, cheap and delicious.
■ "Making cakes is like being a person, fine and exquisite to do a good job"
Wife cake and husband cake, this sweet and salty cake, pinned on the friendship between husband and wife. At a traditional bakery on Middle Longjin Road, Yang Bo, 63, buys some wife cakes every six months to come home, which he says is related to a story from his youth.
When Yang Bo was young, in order to make money, he worked two jobs, often unable to take care of the family, and sometimes after work, he would buy some wife cakes to go home and make his wife happy. Then one day, Madame said that the wife's cake was sweet and sweet, so it was better to buy some bread. "Later, I heard my daughter say that my wife did not really hate the wife cake, but the bread was cheap and hungry, just to save money." Yang Bo said that now that the material conditions are better, buying some cakes is not a burden, more importantly, there is sweetness in the cake that couples have experienced together.
In fact, making bread is harder than making bread. Mr. Yuan, one of the leaders of the Zanji Cake, which has 7 branches in the old city, said, "Kneading a piece of bread and kneading a piece of noodles can make a lot of things, while there are many traditional cake patterns, and just kneading the dough needs to knead several kinds." "For example, wife cake and char siu puff pastry are used with completely different noodles, and the recipe is different.
In Zanji, a bread maker can only be apprenticed if he turns to traditional bread. When making bread cakes, many steps can be used using machines, while traditional cakes need to be manually carried out when seasoning, kneading and kneading dough. The neighbors bought freshly baked cakes in the morning, but behind them were the uninterrupted hard work of the cake maker in the early morning.
To make Cantonese cakes well, it takes step by step exploration, and the time from groping to success may be as long as three or four days. Mr. Yuan said that a marzipan is nothing more than a combination of mung bean flour, water, sugar, almonds, and oil, how to be crunchy, melt in the mouth, and the proportion of spices is very critical, less is not good, it is all experience obtained from repeated failures. "If the temperature is raised a little higher, the effect will be reduced, which is a very challenging job, because it often fails, and many people are not in the mood to do it."
The consumption habits of Guangzhou people have always been shrewd and pragmatic, living within their means, but they can always live a tasteful life. Small profits, high sales, and keeping fresh products are the characteristics of such bakeries, and if they are not more meticulous in the production process, they cannot afford to lose the loss caused by production errors. "Old Guangzhou people are very good at eating, but also very picky, as long as there is a little taste is not right, they can taste it immediately." Mr. Yuan said.
Although the customers of these traditional cake shops are mostly middle-aged and elderly, Mr. Yuan is full of confidence in the future of traditional cake shops, "I believe that when young people reach a certain age, they will also patronize our shop. ”
Text: Guangzhou Reference Guangzhou Daily reporter Long Kun
Pictured: Guangzhou Reference Guangzhou Daily reporter Li Bo
Guangzhou Reference Guangzhou Daily Editor Zhang Hongyan