Shredded Pancakes in Mutton Soup

Shredded Pancakes in Mutton Soup is a local Mostem delicacy honored as a "superb dish in Shaanxi". It is originated from mutton and beef custard in ancient times that was listed as royal food in the Western Zhou Dynasty as early as 1100 BC. Poems about it can also be found in Sima Qian's Records of the Historian.

The cooking and eating of this sort of local snack has its own way, which requires special attention. It is divided into four types that are to be taken in different ways. The normal way to have it is that the eater must first use his own hands to shred the baked cake into pea-like tiny pieces so that the five tastes of the seasoned soup will easily sap the broken pieces and make them tasty, whereas the cook has to provide suitable amount of soup according to the type and quantity of the cake. He has to put all sorts of seasonings into the broth in a correct way and boil them over a blazing fire, and then pour them into bowls at a right moment. The person enjoying it must also have it from one side to the other just like a silkworm eating its mulberry-leaves so that he'll be able to get a sustainable taste.

There is a legend that connects the table manner for this delicacy with Emperor Tai Zu, Zhao Kuangyin, the first emperor of the Song Dynasty. Zhao was poverty-stricken and reduced to be homeless on sidewalks in Chang'an at his early age. One day, driven by hunger and coldness, he begged in a meat store for some hot mutton soup. After eating, he felt much warmer and energetic. Ten years later, Zhao was already the founding emperor of Song Dynasty. Once during his inspection tour in Chang'an, he came to the same meat store and asked for a dish of shredded pancakes in hot soup. The owner asked his wife to bake some pancakes, broke them into small pieces, cooked for a few seconds with well-prepared seasoning and soup before adding several mutton slices. To his surprise, after having it, Zhao enjoyed it immensely and awarded the owner with 200 teals of silver. Soon it spread across Chang'an, an increasingly people came to the store to try this delicacy. Since the helpers in the store were fully occupied, the diners had to break the pancakes by themselves, which is still practiced today.

In 1644, a restaurant named Lao Ma's opened at Qiaozikou, specialized in making this delicacy. Everyday the restaurant was crowed with diners, winning a wide-spread reputation in Chang'an. Later, after the Eight-power Allied Forces occupied Beijing in 1900, Empress Dowager Ci Xi and Emperor Guang Xu fleded to Xi'an. Ci Xi thought highly of the dish after having it and wrote down three Chinese characters Tian Ci Lou (restaurant conferred by the royal family) for the restaurant. Ever since then, the restaurant rose to fame.

It has the characteristics of tender meat and thick soup, with a delicious taste. If you drink a bowl of soup after taking it you'll get a lasting flavor in the mouth. Rich in protein, carbohydrate and energy, it is a sort of food that can be taken all year round, with better taste in winter.

Marinated Meat in Baked Bun

Marinated meat in baked bun, the traditional snack native to northwestern China, was not only popular with local folks but also welcomed by gourmets nationwide. Among them, "Cured Meat in baked bun" from Xi'an is the most famous one. Actually, the name" Marinated meat in baked bun" adopted the inverted sentence order of ancient Chinese language, meaning "meat sandwiched between a baked bun". In the ancient times, people called the snack a name with opposite order, "baked buns containing marinated meat" instead of "marinated meat in baked bun",which sounded in Chinese similar to "No meat contained" when one spoke fast-how could the snack be without meat? Thus, the worries just turned the name into "marinated meat in baked bun", a change that was made to everyone's satisfaction.

When the outlanders first heard about this snack, they would always wonder whether the order of characters of the name is inverted. But this kind of order is just the expression that was generally used in ancient times. However, regardless of the various expressions, the snack itself remains delicious anyway.

Qishan Minced Noodles

Minced noodles have enjoyed a long history, among which the Qishan minced noodles are the most famous one. Many a story has been around as for the origin of Qishan minced noodles, and one of them goes as follows.

In ancient times, the Zhou people moved from Bin (now the Bin County and Xunyi County of Shaanxi Province) to Zhouyuan of Qi Area (now the Qishan County of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province), lived and bred by the side of Wei River and Beiyuan Area. Later, an evil dragon appeared by Wei River and started to make troubles with the people, bringing a three-year drought that subjected the civilians to torment. The Zhou people were reluctant to leave the homeland that had been cultivated after generations of hard work and then struck back, killing the dragon after seven days' fierce battle. The starving people celebrated the victory by slaughtering the dragon and sharing the dragon meat together with noodles, and really enjoyed the taste. As a consequence, at each anniversary in the following years,the local people would remember the victory by feasting on pork and noodles. This tradition was later adopted for other festivals and worship ceremonies. The minced noodles were spread gradually, and the cooking method was improved and developed for wider transmission.

There goes another story. It is said that during the Emperor Jing times of Han Dynasty, a family from Jingdang Village of Qishan County got their son a wife who was bright and virtuous, not only skilled at the needle work but also good at cooking dishes. One day after her wedding, she would like to make some noodles for her husband's family,and the noodles turned out to be smooth and soft and the taste was unexceptionally good thanks to the various seasoning sauces and palatable soup. The whole family praised the noodles in union,especially his young brother-in-law who since then often shouted or even cried to have her cook the noodles for eating.

The young brother-in-law was especially enthusiastic about reading, and always forgot sleeping or dining for the sake of study. The woman saw the progress made by her brother-in-law and the study became increasingly heavy as the time went by, so she often prepared the noodles to strengthen his body. As the brother-in-law worked even harder than ever, he finally took the scholarly honor at the official examination and ultimately became a local official. In Spring Festival,he invited his fellow officials to dinner at his home and these officials were extensively impressed by the noodles made by his sister-in-law.Since then, the "Sister-in-law Noodles" became well-known and spread everywhere,so many people began to follow the suit.

Since in Chinese the pronunciation of "sister-in-law"resembled that of "mince", as time passed by, the "Sister-in-law Noodles" evolved into "Minced Noodles" and continued up to date around Qishan Area. Until now, the minced noodles are still deeply enjoyed by the local folks and patrons from various regions.

Guokwei

Guokwei, or the Crusty Pancake, is a kind of traditional snack local in Shaanxi Province. It is said that during the construction of "Qian Mausoleum", the mausoleum for the couple of Emperor Gao of Tang Dynasty and Empress Wu Zetian, many craftsmen, civilian workers and soldiers were mobilized to work, casusing a large number of working labors didn't have adequate food to eat. Therefore, many soldiers made pancakes out of flour, put it into the helmet and toasted them on top of fire until fully grilled for eating. While the pancakes were cooked,the aroma of pancakes was so appealing that many people would follow this cooking method to make pancakes.

This kind of pancakes was not only tasteful but also easy to keep,an advantage that led its reputation among local civilians. Since the pancakes were first made in a helmet as the container, thus gaining the name of "Guokwei", also the meaning of its Chinese expression for helmet.

Fanji Cured Meat

Fanji Cured Meat is a famous snack local to Xi'an which manifests the Northwestern food culture, but where does the cuisine originate from specifically? The answer is that the brand of Fanji was started by Mr. Fan Fengxiang and his son in the year of 1925, ninety years old up to date.

The story was passed down that in the Tang Dynasty,a government official named Fan and his family lived in the east of Chang'an City. The family was upright. One year, because the south of Shaanxi Province suffered from the flood, many civilians fled from famine to Chang'an. When Mr. Fan and his family had viewed those refugees, they decided to contribute the grains from their own granary to relieve them of the hunger. Once, when Master Fan himself passed by the east gate of his mansion on his way home, he caught the sight that a ragged young boy kneeling down by a corpse wailing. Upon inquiry, he learnt that it was the boy's mother who died on the way fleeing and the young boy could not afford the burial. Master Fan had deep sympathy over this boy, ordered his servants to help him with the funeral and give him one hundred taels of silver as a gift.

A decade later, this young man made a great fortune out of the business of Cured Meat. To repay the kindness of Master Fan, this boy took the occasion of the celebration for Master Fan's Eighty-year-old Birthday to prepare quality-cooked Cured Meat inside a coffin made of the finest timber before sealing it up and delivering it to Fan's mansion. As there were so many guests on the birthday party, the Fan's did not pay attention to this gift and moved the coffin to the woodshed in the backyard,since when the coffin had remained there for several years.

Afterwards, Master Fan offended the royal court and was reduced from his office and became a civilian. A mishap that brought deep resentment and depression to Master Fan and finally led to his death. In less than several years, the family property was also sold off and their life had become harder. At that point, the family found the coffin placed in the woodshed and considered selling the coffin to get by. Nonetheless, it was so heavy that even with several people trying to lift and move this coffin, it remained unmoved. Mrs. Fan was surprised somehow, and had someone uncover the coffin to check the cause. As the inside of the coffin was exposed, it turned out that a full coffin of Cured Meat was there, emitting fragrant scent and shining sparkly.

Mrs. Fan asked someone of her family to sell some of Cured Meat in the street and found that all had been sold out soon with unanimous praise of the patrons. Many expressed their deep pity not to have the chance to buy the meat. The news spread very fast, and as a result many patrons visited there to reserve the snack. Consequently, the Fan's opened shop in front of its mansion, and the business went very well. As the Cured Meat found in the coffin would get run-out soon, Mrs. Fan showed resourcefulness in this emergency: she bought some fresh meat and boil it into new cured meat with the gravy in the coffin, such to maintain its original taste. Gradually, the Fan's shop grew reputable for the business of Cured Meat.

Empress Dowager Cakes

According to the record of History of Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Bo, the mother of Emperor Wen of Han was very virtuous and bright, under whose education and edification Emperor Wen had experienced the sufferings of ordinary folks since childhood and learnt to understand and sympathize the difficulties of the civilians. Once having ascended the throne Emperor Wen just began to launch benevolent governing policies, achieving the historically renowned "Rules of Wen and Jing".

Empress Dowager Bo was a southerner before and could not help missing heavily her hometown as she lived long in the Imperial Palace.Once, Empress Dowager Bo set out for a spring outing from Chang'an City and travelled all the way its original Wei River to the current Fuping County, where she discovered that the geographical environment was very similar to that of her hometown. When she returned to the Imperial Palace after the travel, she told her son that she would like to treat Fuping County as her hometown.

Emperor Wen was filially obedient and thus issued an imperial edict to build an imperial mansion in the name of his grandmother, the Lady of Lord Lingwen. Once the new mansion was completed, Empress Dowager Bo invited her aged mother and her sisters there to settle down, with the servant girls and chefs followed as well to look after the family. Among these chefs, there was one seasoned in baking cakes and consequently had mastery of the baking skills. Empress Dowager Bo always visited her mother, who would treat Empress Dowager Bo with this snack that Empress Dowager Bo grew fonder of. The mother and daughter shared this snack with the civilians as well, passing out the cakes to the folks.

The civilians were very fond of it for its superb taste. As time went by, this snack was found among the folks who simulated the first ones. As a consequence, when asked about the name of this snack, the folks would use the name"Empress Dowager Cake", a name that has come down to our times.

Mashi

Mashi has been known as a kind of snack since more than a thousand years ago. A patriot, General Yang Hucheng was especially fond of this food. When the news of the victory of Anti-Japan's War reached,he could not help but said to his wife, "Buy me a straw hat since I would like to have a meal from my hometown, with some wine and dishes to celebrate this great occasion". It turned out that his hometown was at the Pucheng County of Shaanxi Province, where the snack of Mashi was very famous. The straw hat that was used against raining days could be also used locally as a tool to create the patterns of Mashi.

As a variety of snack that was available since a long time ago, Mashi now not only carries the manufacturing processes of flour food but also integrates the diverse demands of modern people for healthy dietary style with nutrition. Dozens of green vegetables, beans and specially-made spices are now used to make a series of nutritious and tasty Mashi.

Shortcake

It is commonly seen in Xi'an, a city with long-standing history where the stalls and shops across the streets selling shortcakes are always lined with countless patrons rushing to buy the shortcakes. How could the average shortcakes attract so much patronage? As explained by the story, the shortcakes are appealing because they enjoy an ancient yet meaningful origin in addition to their wonderful taste.

It is said that after coming back from pilgrimage to obtain Buddhist scriptures, Master Xuanzang (the eminent monk of Tang Dynasty) had been immersed in translating the Buddhist dharma, seldom eating or sleeping at the Daci'en Temple, dedicated to carrying forward Chinese Buddhism regardless of his health status. When the translated volumes placed on the desk were overtopped his height, Master Xuanzang would then move the Buddhist volumes to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda for reservation.

One day when Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty was idle, he paid a visit to Daci'en Temple followed by the courtiers. As he was entering a penetralium, the first sight he caught was that an aging monk was dedicated to translating the Buddhist dharma, unaware of the arrival of his Majesty. The eunuch following Emperor Gaozong was just about to rebuke the monk before his Majesty shook his hand to stop the eunuch.Master Kuiji, the abbot of the Daci'en Temple just arrived upon hearing about the visit of the Emperor, and Emperor Gao whispered to him, "who is this Master concentrating on translation of scripture? "Kuiji put his palms together devoutly, answering," Your Majesty, this is Master Xuanzang. "Emperor Gaozong nodded" Ah, I have met Master Xuanzang before, when he carried the bricks and stones himself to build the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.But today I could not recognize him because he was too haggard. It must because he has overworked himself translaing scripture day and night!" Therefore, the Emperor ordered Kujito prepare some nice meals to nourish Master Xuanzang's body .Pointing to the piling-up Buddhist volumes and the fancy vegetarian food, Kuiji answered, "Master Xuanzang was so abandoned in translating the scripture that he always forgot to have the meals. Even the meals were heated several times later, yet he still could not have time to eat them."

When hearing this, Emperor Gaozong was deeply moved by the spirit of perseverance and meticulosity, and consequently thought to himself how to ensure Master Xuanzang could have some meals no matter the food was hot or cold. When Emperor Gaozong returned to the Imperial Palace, he called up the court chefs to offer suggestions. After taking the imperial edict, the court chefs brain-stormed to come up with an idea: they used the light oil to make a precious"multi-layer cake"- the color appeared golden yellow, layered-distinctly, oily but not greasy, and tasted crispy and palatable even when the cake became cold. Emperor Gaozong greatly rejoiced at this food and awarded Master Xuanzang a box of"multi-layered cakes"on the day when Master Xuanzang translated the scripture as many as 1000 volumes.

Master Xuanzang satisfied his hunger with these cakes while not delaying the translation of the scripture. As a result, not only his appetite gradually improved but also his complexion appeared rosy, enabling his translation work to become more efficient. Afterwards, the story and cooking method of "multi-layered cake" were known to the folks, driving most people to make the shortcakes in order to honor Monk Xuanzang and his fellow masters who joined him in the scripture translation.