When it comes to traditional cakes in Tianjin, we have to say "Tianjin eight pieces", that is, "eight pieces". Tianjin people must bring two boxes of snacks, a box of "eight pieces" and a box of cakes when visiting relatives and friends or getting married in the New Year. This is standard.
The traditional dim sum in China mainly includes Beijing flavor, Suzhou flavor and Guangdong flavor, and there are many small branches and ethnic minority schools. However, due to historical reasons, Tianjin is deeply influenced by Beijing-style cakes. Although it is self-contained through continuous improvement, it can still find traces of the roots of the imperial capital.
It is said that the earliest "eight pieces" are not the names of cakes, but eight kinds of pasta used in major festivals and celebrations in the Qing Dynasty, including pasta printed with auspicious words such as blessing, luck, longevity, happiness, happiness and wishful thinking, and special "silver ingot fish", which are placed in eight plates to pose patterns. Therefore, the early "eight pieces" were imperial meals, and later they were introduced to the people.
The traditional "eight pieces" in Tianjin are snacks made of eight kinds of fillings, such as hawthorn, rose, green plum, sugar, red bean paste, jujube paste, salt and pepper and raisins. There are "big eight pieces" and "small eight pieces". The big eight pieces are roughly jujube flowers, blessings, Lu characters, longevity characters, happy characters, burritos, walnut cakes and wax cakes; Small eight pieces include jujube recipe, almond cake, DOG, apricot, pomegranate, apple, walnut and little persimmon.
With the continuous improvement, the varieties of Dabakuai sometimes include Fanmao Cake, Big Roll Crisp, Big Oil Cake, Butterfly Roll, Bat Crisp, Chicken Oil Cake, Zhuangyuan Cake, Qixingdianzi and so on. The varieties of Xiaoba also include fruit pie, small roll crisp, DOG crisp, chicken oil cake, small snail crisp, salty dumplings, jujube flowers, pit noodles and so on. There are more upscale "refined eight pieces", including Zhuang Yuan cake, Taishi cake, capsule cake, almond cake, chicken oil cake, broken skin, white skin cake and egg yolk cake.
Because variety shows have developed so much, people simply don't remember them. The "Tianjin Eight Pieces" in old Tianjin are sold by the box, and one box includes all of them, collectively referred to as "Eight Pieces". Friends who want to buy separately can order casually through the glass, then take a bag of paper in the store and tie it with cowhide rope. You pay the money and leave. You're next.
Related reading: Why do old Beijingers avoid talking about "dim sum"?
Supposedly, "pastry" is a name for "dim sum". Tianjin people call it that, but Beijingers are afraid of the word "dim sum". Before the Republic of China, people selling cakes in Beijing were called "cake shops", not "dim sum shops". Even now some old Beijingers are taboo. Why?
It is said that this is because there was a penalty of "year after year" in the old criminal law until 1905 was abolished in April, and 1355 existed in our law.
This so-called "mid-year" is also called "thousand pieces" by ordinary people. When being punished, the prisoner's meat should be cut off piece by piece. It is said that a skilled executioner can guarantee that the prisoner will still have a heartbeat after cutting 180. It is said that Liu Jin, the great eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, was chopped 4700 knives, which took three days to finish.
It is because it is so cruel that some prisoners' families will pay bribes to the executioners later, begging them to let the prisoners die before cutting the meat, so as to avoid the suffering of the flesh. The executioner also has clever tricks. Before the execution, they stabbed the prisoner in the back of the heart with a dagger and killed him with one knife. This is called "dim sum". As the imperial capital of Beijing, ordinary people will naturally avoid this unlucky name.