Embedded cakes, also known as "sandwich cakes", "mortar cakes" and "trapped cakes", are local specialty foods in Wenling and are also favorite foods of Wenling people. Soft glutinous rice cake skin, all kinds of fried fillings sealed in the rice cake skin, looks like a full "big jiaozi", coupled with a bowl of mung bean noodle soup, bone soup or tofu (also called tofu flower), is undoubtedly an excellent choice for breakfast. Wenling people's busy and fulfilling day begins with a delicious embedded cake.
? There is a little legend about embedded cakes. Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a man who worked in the fields every day, from morning till evening, uninterrupted, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Because of this, he often skips lunch. He wants his wife to deliver food at noon, but there are two mountains from his home to his work, which will tire his wife out. He tried many ways, but none of them were perfect. One evening, when he came back from the field, he saw his four-year-old child playing with mud: he spread the mud on the ground with many leaves, stones and dry mud of different colors, and he was trying to wrap it up. Watching from the sidelines, he had a brainwave, grinding rice into powder and making a soft and white skin (which is what we call rice cakes). Just as his wife was cooking, he put the rice in the skin and glued the edges together, which became our embedded cake now. The next day, he took the embedded cake to the ground and took it out at noon. He was not hungry and had the strength to work again, which doubled the amount of work that day. Soon, this method was widely circulated, and the practice of embedding cakes was passed down from generation to generation.
? Now in the streets of Wenling, it is easy to find a cake shop. There is a long wooden desk in the shop (stainless steel is abundant now), and the small stainless steel plates on the desk are neatly arranged in a row. There are various vegetarian fillings on the plate, such as onions, carrots, celery, shredded potatoes, fried noodles, pickles, eggs, spicy cabbage, "pickled shrimp" and so on. The rice cake is wrapped in a white cotton mattress to keep warm. Next to the console table, there are two cauldrons on the stove, and the fragrant braised pork and dried tofu in the pot are steaming out.
The shopkeeper stood in front of the console table, and the customers who ate embedded cakes came. They took out a steaming cake ball from under the thick white cotton mattress, rolled it into a cylinder, and then pressed it into a thin piece with their fists. They pinched the bottom and tail a few times, like opening a boat-shaped pocket, and soon put the fillings needed by customers into the rice cake in turn from a small stainless steel plate. Then squeeze in with your left hand, and squeeze the edge of the opening skillfully with your right hand. Like wrapping jiaozi, you must leave a cut on the embedded cake. Finally, scoop a spoonful of broth from the steaming braised pork pot and pour it from the opening. At this time, an authentic embedded cake was officially completed.
When eating embedded cakes, you can also choose several classic combinations, for example, it can be served with mung bean noodle soup (broken mung bean noodles), dried tofu bone soup or tofu raw (also called tofu flower). Among them, there are two ways to eat raw tofu (also called tofu flower). One way is to add laver, pickled mustard tuber, boiled skin and chopped green onion, which is salty; The other is syrup (boiled with brown sugar), which is sweet. You can mix them at will according to your personal preference.
Holding a tube of white and tender embedded cake, a brand-new and satisfying day began. People who are anxious to go to work can directly use a set of plastic bags and eat while walking; If you are not in a hurry, you can sit down at the table in the store and let the store hold a bowl of mung bean soup noodles, dried tofu bone soup or tofu and eat it raw. In any case, as long as you pick up the embedded cake and take a big bite, the soft glutinous rice cake, the crispness of "soaked shrimp", the halogen fragrance of pork and the fresh fragrance of vegetarian dishes with delicious soup will only make you feel the fragrance and energy spread all over your body, not to mention how satisfied you are!
For Wenling people, "embedding cakes" is an unavoidable word, an indispensable complex and a feeling that permeates life. Many Wenling people who work, study and live in other places are obsessed with hometown food, and embedded cakes are the most coveted hometown food. I remember an article about interviewing an old overseas Chinese living in Wenling. The article said: He left his hometown, and every time he returned to his hometown, the first thing he did was to ask for a pork jiaozi, and then he had a nice meal. I think this embedded cake contains a lot of homesickness of this wanderer. He is not from Wenling, and it will never be easy to understand Wenling people's obsession with embedded cakes. As the writer Gu Qingsheng said: "The taste I liked when I was a child is hard to change now, and the memory of that taste is hard to erase from my mind." Therefore, taste is a lifelong taste recognition system provided by the master in his hometown. With this identification system, people can easily distinguish their hometown from a foreign land at the dinner table. "
Nowadays, many Wenling people who have left their hometown never enjoy the taste of their hometown. In order to understand their own desires, some will choose online shopping to solve their thoughts. Search online for embedded cakes, and you can find the purchase link. The price is similar to that bought on the street. It is also convenient to heat it in the microwave oven after receiving it. Although it's not as delicious as just cooked, it's already very good for wanderers far away from home. Others will let relatives and friends bring a few tubes to satisfy their hunger. You people from my old country, tell me what happened there! . Do you want to try the embedded cake before going back and forth to the cake stall? "
Embedding cakes is a microcosm of Wenling's food culture, and it is an irresistible delicacy, which has an irreplaceable position in Wenling people's hearts. Once rubbed, it wraps up Wenling people's lives.
Tips:
Wenling: A county-level city under the jurisdiction of Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, the first sunshine of the new millennium and the new century shines in Chinese mainland, and it is a coastal city.
② Shrimp with sauerkraut: it is another special snack in Wenling. Pickled shrimp is not shrimp, but a snack made of wheat flour. Stir wheat flour and water into a thick paste, add seasoned minced meat as stuffing, wrap it in a utensil, throw it into boiling oil, fry the dough until golden brown, and scoop it up with a colander to eat. It can be eaten alone or cut into cubes and added to embedded cakes.