Boxed chicken cake Photo by Li Xiaochun
Author Li Xiaochun Guo Jun
"Fellow countrymen, when will you leave the provincial city?" The provincial city is the most famous, into a pearl chicken cake, you go to the provincial city to buy the most urgent chicken cake. This Cantonese slip of the tongue made the chicken cake once famous in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Today, some long-established restaurants in Guangzhou still insist on making chicken cakes by hand and making them into boxed or canned special souvenirs for sale. In Taishan, Guangdong Province, the taste of local chicken cakes makes many wanderers remember homesickness.
Bulk chicks cake Photo by Li Xiaochun
As a hometown of overseas Chinese, Taishan is the epitome of the intersection of Chinese and Western cultures. Taicheng's Arcade Building Complex organically blends Chinese and Western styles, and enjoyed the reputation of "Little Guangzhou" in the 1920s and 1930s. Taishan's food culture is also quietly changing with the footsteps of overseas Chinese returning to their hometowns, and some special snacks and pastries at home and abroad have successively entered the daily life of Taishan people, and have taken root in Taishan after improving according to the eating habits of locals, and chicken cakes are one of them.
Bright-colored chicken cake Photo by Li Xiaochun
It is understood that the chicken cake is known for its sweet and pine, salty with sweetness, and peculiar flavor, and is one of the four famous cakes in Guangdong. It was founded in Guangzhou during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, a Shunde maid named Xiaofeng presented an original cake-like snack when receiving guests for the host, because of the unique taste was greatly appreciated by the guests and was asked what the name of this cake was, the owner felt that the cake was made by Xiao Feng, so he casually said that it was "Xiao Feng Cake". However, its famous cake is half a century later, Guangzhou Henan Chengzhu Tea House Mid-Autumn Moon Cake is not selling, its cake maker is anxious, according to the production method of Xiao Feng Cake, boldly use the kneaded moon cake and pork, vegetable hearts mixed as filling, and then mixed with southern milk, garlic, pepper, five spice powder and salt, to produce a new variety of "Cheng Zhu Xiao Feng Cake" to attract many customers to patronize, because the Cantonese people in the diet habitually call chicken "Phoenix", so the Small Phoenix Cake is also called chicken cake.
Master Mei Ximing shows students how to make chicken cakes Photo by Li Xiaochun
"The appearance of traditional chicken cakes is irregular, just need to cut the flour skin mixed with flour, sugar, sugar glue and water into four or five finger-wide strips, put the ice meat (fat pork marinated with wine and sugar after boiling water), sugar, onion, ginger, garlic, milk, salt, allspice, pepper, sand ginger, oil, wine, water, flour, maltose, peanuts, sesame seeds and other fillings mixed in proportion to the rolled flour skin, using the way of wrapping the filling on both sides of the powder skin, and rolling the filling into a long cylindrical shape. Cut out the small potion according to the size of the cake, turn over the filling and face up, and gently press it into a cake shape with the palm of your hand. Guangdong Culinary Arts Technical School Pastry Teaching and Research Team Leader and Cantonese Cuisine Master Engineering Pastry Instructor Mei Ximing introduced that some masters use walnut kernels, olive kernels, melon seeds and other fillings, and the chicken cakes can be baked in the oven with egg liquid, and can be baked after 20 minutes.
"Freshly baked chicken cakes, the unique flavor quickly overflows as soon as the oven opens. There are old neighbors nearby who joke that when you smell the smell when you walk by, you know that the chicken cake is freshly baked, and you will come to buy a box to relieve your hunger. According to the master of the Taicheng store of Meiyuan Cake Family in Duanfen Town, Taishan City, they insist on hand-making chicken cakes according to the traditional method, and some old overseas Chinese return to Taishan to buy chicken cakes in the store, and feel that there is ice meat, chewy head, southern milk flavor, and ginger flavor of the big chicken cake is the taste of the hometown Taishan.
Freshly baked chicken cake Photo by Li Xiaochun
"We have freshly baked bulk chicken cakes sold in bags and barrels, freshly baked with crispy and traditional flavors, each priced at 2 yuan. Bagged and barreled chicks are sold for $5.50 and $6.50 respectively. The sales staff of Taishan Meipinxuan Cake House Haiyuan Store told reporters that the bagged and barreled chicken cakes are in line with the current consumption concept of young people, and the chicken cakes sold in bulk are more suitable for the tastes of the older generation.
"Although there is no 'chicken boy' in the chicken cake, every bite is Taishan flavor, which has the taste of Taishan Jin Meat Mooncake, and can chew more and more fragrant, and every time I return to Taishan, I want to buy it and eat it." Taishan an old overseas Chinese said. (End)
Original title: Chicken Cake: Guangdong Overseas Chinese Taishan people remember the taste of homesickness
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