In 818, Bai Juyi was promoted from Sima of Jiangzhou to the position of Assassin of Chungju. Taking advantage of the promotion, Bai Juyi personally made some flax cakes and ordered the horse to send them to Yang Jingzhi, a confidant who was in the history of wanzhou at that time, and improvised a poem:
"Flax cakes like Kyoto, crispy noodles are freshly baked. Sent to the hungry Ambassador Yang, taste as if there is no support. ”
This means:
This craft of making flax cake was learned from others when I was in Chang'an, and it was freshly baked, and the noodles were crispy and fragrant. This time, it is sent to the hungry Ambassador Yang, you can try it to see if it is similar to the taste sold by the Xingfang Restaurant outside the Anfu Gate of Chang'an.
From this allusion, it can be seen that flax cake was already a very popular national snack in the Tang Dynasty.
So what exactly is flax cake?
As the name suggests, the "hu" in flax cake means that it is a food from the western region. It is said that zhang Qian first brought it back to Han China when he went to the Western Regions. It is recorded in the Book of later Han that the Han Ling Emperor was very fond of eating flax cakes.
"Hemp" means sesame seeds, and a large part of the aroma of flax cake comes from this sesame.
But when examining the history of this flax cake, people encountered a small question, that is, is this flax cake steamed or baked?
The Historian Hu Sansheng of the Song Dynasty once said: "Hu cake, now the steamed cake." However, it is said in the Miscellaneous Records of The Essence: "When I saw flax cake, I did not know its name, and according to the characteristics and practices, I called him a stove cake." So whether it was steamed or stove cake made many people confused for a while, but in the end they found the answer from Bai Juyi's poem.
According to Bai Juyi's poem, it is "newly baked" rather than "newly baked", according to which it can be judged that flax cake should actually be a stove cake. In addition, the "crispy oil" can only be achieved if it is baked, so it is natural that the flax cake should be baked.
In many places, flax cakes are also called "sesame baked cakes" or "blast oven baked cakes", and the usual practice is to bake flour, oil, sesame seeds and other ingredients. The newly baked flax cakes are golden in color, crispy in the outer crust and soft on the inside, making them extremely delicious and delicious.
Flax cake has been passed down to this day, generation after generation of heirs have continuously improved it, until now, Xi'an flax cake can have as many as 40 flavors for people to taste, both can be tasted alone, but also with "shabu lamb" and other delicacies to enjoy together.
Friends who have watched the TV series "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an" do not know whether they remember such an inconspicuous small role - An Zhuguo, the official of Jing'an.
There is a lot of money in this country, and there is a beautiful lady, and the two are very affectionate. When an envoy from his home to Yasuyoshi before his death, Madame asked in the back, "What do you want to eat tomorrow?" An Zhuguo replied, "Flax cake, put more sesame seeds." Who would have expected that An Zhuguo would never come back when he went, and he would never be able to eat the flax cake made by his wife himself.
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