Fuqing Snacks - Guang Cake

According to Fuzhou Prefecture Records: In the 42nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1563 AD), the national hero Qi Jiguang led his army into Fujian to pursue and annihilate Japanese pirates. It had been raining for days and the army could not use the stove, so Qi Jiguang ordered him to bake the simplest cake, string it up with hemp rope and hang it on the soldiers to serve as dry food, which greatly facilitated the battle to annihilate the enemy. Later, this small cake became popular among the people and was not only widely eaten, but also became a necessary offering for worshiping gods and ancestors. Later generations, in memory of Qi Gong, called this kind of cake "Guang Cake".

In Fuzhou, people usually call cakes without sesame as "guang cake" and those with sesame as "Fuqing cake". But in Fuqing City, 60 kilometers away from Fuzhou, people call cakes with sesame on the surface "guang cake". When it comes to "deliciousness", in comparison, the light cake made by Fuqing people is slightly better.

Fuzhou people used to use charcoal ovens to bake cakes. Now, to save trouble, they mostly use electric ovens. The people of Fuqing still retain their own way of making light cakes, which is not only fresh, but also interesting. To exaggerate, it can be called a labor art that integrates music and dance.

They use a large clay-covered vat nearly two meters high and about one meter in diameter to bake the cakes. First use bundles of pine branches to light a huge fire in the vat to burn the walls "white", leaving only embers at the bottom of the vat. Then, two people work together to put the prepared cake embryo into the vat, and quickly and accurately stick it on the vat. On the wall, if he were a little slower, he was afraid that his bare arms would be blistered. Since they were facing a large fire pit when baking the cakes, both of them were shirtless regardless of winter or summer. One by one, they passed the embryos, and one by one, they placed the embryos into the tank. They stretched, yawned, and leaned up, with quick movements and tacit cooperation. Together with the crackling sound of pasting the cakes, it was like a musical accompaniment, with a strong sense of rhythm. In less than ten minutes, all the hundreds of cakes are pasted and then slowly cooked over charcoal fire. It is really eye-opening. The light cakes baked in this large vat are golden and very crispy.

The small shops that sell out all the cakes in downtown Fuzhou are all stores and workshops mixed together. Fuqing's light cakes are made by workshops and distributed to vendors for sale. Therefore, in Fuqing, you can see stalls selling out pancakes everywhere along the street. The pile of light cakes on the stall was like a hill, which turned into a street scene in Fuqing.

In the past, cakes were only eaten by the common people and could not be used in elegant places. Maybe it's because of the change of fortune. Nowadays, big restaurants and hotels in Fuzhou also cut the cake into clams, stuff it with minced meat, steamed pork, potherb, and green vegetables, and pour some vinegar and garlic sauce on it, and serve it as a banquet dish. A special snack is served to guests.

No one would have thought that Guangbing would be as prosperous as it is today.

Fuqing Fish Balls

The outer shell of Fuqing Fish Balls is fine and elastic, making it smooth and plump to eat, and even more delicious with fillings. Legend has it that a businessman went out on a business trip by boat. Due to a typhoon, the boat took refuge in the harbor and ran aground. He waited for repairs before sailing again. On the ship, fish was eaten every day. The merchant was tired of eating and felt nauseous from the fishy smell. Seeing this, the boatman mixed some of the only potato starch on the boat with fish cut into long strips and cooked it in a pot. The fish was much more delicious than before, but the merchant still found it difficult to swallow. The boatman further removed the bones from the fish, chopped it into surimi, mixed in potato starch, stirred it evenly, and cooked it in a pot. It was indeed delicious, smooth in the mouth, and had a unique flavor. Later, the merchant's business failed and he opened a "fish ball" shop. Since then, fish balls have been passed down. Preparation method: Remove the bones and chop (or mince) fresh fish (preferably eels and sharks) into puree, add water, refined salt and an appropriate amount of MSG, pour it into a plate and stir vigorously for about 15 minutes, until the fish soup floats on the water. Stop, add dry starch and stir vigorously until it becomes sticky. Chop the pork belly into meat sauce, cut the dried shrimps into rice, and cut the green onions into fine pieces. Put them all into a container, add soy sauce, etc. and stir to form a filling. Knead the filling into small round pieces of uniform size and set aside. Then take the fish soup paste with your left hand and spread it on the palm of your hand. Take a small round spoon with your right hand to take the filling and put it in the middle of the fish soup. Put the five fingers of your left hand together to wrap the filling in the middle. Then take the fish soup from the round hole formed by the thumb and index finger. Squeeze it out, scoop it out with a small round spoon and put it into a basin of clean water. Cook in batches and then scoop into soup bowls for consumption. Although the fish balls are inconspicuous, they are also a bowl of dishes that won the top ten celebrity chef awards from Shuangqiang.

Fuqing Bianrou

The ancestor of Bianrou is the familiar "wonton". Due to differences in fillings, soups, eating methods, and seasonings, flat meat is divided into more than 20 varieties such as boiled flat pork, fried flat pork, braised flat pork, three-fresh flat pork, shrimp flat pork, and flat pork noodles. .

Li Gang (1083~1140), a famous politician, military strategist and national hero during the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties, was once demoted to Shaxian County to be in charge of taxation. He liked the flat meat of Shaxian County very much and once wrote with his brilliant pen: A poem praised Shaxian County's Bianrou: "In a package of chaos, there is always righteousness and strong winds. The seven peaks are overlapping with greenery, and the feet are full of entertainment, and the flat currents of ten miles are from west to east." It has been passed down to this day.

Method:

1. Beat the meat with a mallet, preferably a flat and thick wooden stick. You can also use a rolling pin until it resembles meat paste.

2. Add appropriate amount of salt, monosodium glutamate or chicken essence to the meat paste and stir evenly.

3. Wrap the fillings like wontons.

4. The soup in the pot is best made with pork bones in advance. After the soup boils, add the flat meat, and wait for the clear or slightly milky soup to emerge one by one. Flatten the meat, float the noodles in the pot for a while, add a little scallion oil and it's ready to eat.