Shaomai was first recorded in historical records as a Chinese textbook published by Koguryo in Yuan Dynasty, which recorded that "plain and sour stuffing with a little wheat" was sold in Dadu (now Beijing) in Yuan Dynasty. The book's annotation about "Shaomai" is that wheat flour is made into thin slices, wrapped in meat and steamed, which is eaten with soup. In dialect, it is called Shaomai. Wheat is also for sale. Another cloud said, "The skin is thin and the meat is actually chopped. When the top is pinched as thin as a thread, it is said to be a little wheat." "With flour as the skin and meat as the top, it is called Shao mai in dialect." If we compare the method of making "a little wheat" here with modern Shao Shao, we can see that they are the same thing. There are still many restaurants in Inner Mongolia writing "a little wheat" today.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, although the word "Shaomai" was still used, the names "Shaomai" and "steamed dumplings" also appeared, and "Shaomai" appeared more frequently. For example, there is a description of "selling peach blossoms" in Jin Ping Mei Ci Hua. The word "Shao mai" appears in books such as the Record of Yangzhou Painting Boat and the Record of Tongqiao Chair. There is a poem by Emperor Qianlong that mentioned Shao Shao-Shao: "The wonton is full of dishes, and the new glutinous rice balls are added." Emperor Qianlong's eating and selling is bound to ask the ins and outs of this thing clearly, so it is no problem to take "selling" as the authentic source of the name. The "selling" here is "selling".
In the Qing Dynasty, the cookbook Tiaodingji compiled by an anonymous person collected "Shaomai with meat stuffing", "Shaomai with bean paste" and "Shaomai with oil and sugar". Among them, "Laoxian Shaomai" is made of chicken and ham with seasonal dishes as stuffing. "Fried Sugar" is made with diced suet, walnut kernel and white sugar as stuffing. There is also a kind of "marinated" asparagus dish in the south of China. At present, the varieties sold in various places are richer and more exquisite. For example, Henan has cut stuffing and sold it; Anhui has duck oil for sale; There is beef roast in Hangzhou; There are eggs and meat in Jiangxi; Shandong Linqing has mutton shaomai; Suzhou has three delicacies for sale; There is crab meat in Guangzhou; Nanjing has egg roast and so on, all with local characteristics. Steamed dumplings in Shaxian is different from other steamed dumplings, and it is round, with dried vermicelli and secret sauce. In the early years, all the cooking in Hohhot was sold in teahouses, and tea drinkers always had to add something to eat when they were hungry. However, the teahouse is an elegant place. Unlike restaurants, which are not afraid of thick oil and smoke, they can only prepare steamed flour cakes, and the side dishes are brought by the tea guests. At most, they can only help to heat the meat dishes brought by the tea guests in the cakes, use a few pieces of dough and collect money from them. After a long time, even the dishes in the cake were brought, but they were still priced according to the weight of the bread, and "selling" was born. Therefore, authentic restaurants are priced according to the weight of skins. In Hohhot, "two-and-two barbecues suffocate the Han people", never order according to the amount of jiaozi.
1937 "Suiyuan Tongzhi Draft" has such a record: "However, if you sell one in the room, it is a characteristic of food, because the tea shop sells it by itself. As the saying goes,' incidental' means taking, so it is called selling. And naturalized in steamed dumplings (Hohhot), which is famous far and near. There are also imitators in other counties or towns. And the flavor is slightly inferior. " Authentic Shaoshao stuffing is mutton, ginger and green onions. The breakfast habits of Hohhot people are mainly Shaoshao. The restaurants are generally halal and have a pure taste, which is completely different from the Shaoshao in other places. One or two is eight, which is much more than that in jiaozi. If you can eat half a catty, you are really amazing.