Traveling on the road, in addition to feast your eyes, but also to feed the stomach. But this stomach full of food, and is not a rough meal randomly dispatched. Travel to a place, in addition to the scenery to explore the history, but also from the food to find the history, the ubiquity of history is just proof of the development and progress of civilization.

Xinjiang is a vast and diverse region with a fascinating natural landscape, a mysterious and ancient history, unique human customs, and mouth-watering food and snacks. Speaking of Xinjiang cuisine, the most familiar is made of mutton a variety of flavors, which grilled lamb kebabs and roasted whole sheep is particularly tempting.

But in the world of mutton, Xinjiang people's use of mutton can be more than just these - If you come to Xinjiang not to eat mutton is a kind of regret, then do not eat the baked buns made of mutton, is another kind of regret of Xinjiang mutton.

Roasted buns, in all regions of Xinjiang can eat, but the most popular and most authentic flavor is still in Hotan. Go to Hotan, the face of the streets and alleys of the baked buns store, the most can not miss is "Yulong Kashi famous Aikodemu baked buns" store. This is an old signature store in Hotan, with a history of 31 years.

A bowl of milk tea and two baked buns are the favorite breakfast of Hotan people. The finely diced lamb shank must be accompanied by skin sprouts (onions), which is the soul of the baozi, and dipped in cumin and chili pepper, to understand what kind of flavor is hidden in the golden and crispy baozi.

But it's not just breakfast these days. It's also lunch. As long as the "Ekoderma Buns" store is open, there will be no end to the number of diners. Tourists and locals alike gather at a table to drink milk tea and eat baked buns, interacting with each other over the steaming aroma.

The place is crowded all year round. Every day at lunchtime, when the new pit baked buns cooked, the back room will come loud "baked buns cooked" yell, which yells like a rallying cry, a large number of guests flocked to the table to "grab", this said "to be This one said, "I want five," and that one shouted, "I want ten. If you're slow, you'll have to wait a little while for your bed.

With the continuous development of tourism in Hotan, the fame of this baked bun is also more and more, tourists come to Hotan almost all come here to eat. In order to satisfy the desire of tourists for this flavor, It is reported that the "Ekoderma Wood Baked" baozi store to sell 3,000 to 5,000 baked buns every day. Such large quantities require intense work and a large labor force to ensure supply.

When I walked through the crowd and came to the back kitchen, I couldn't help but stare, there are at least 30 to 40 cooks working at the same time. Seeing their busy and orderly work attitude made me think of the idiom of "like a fire in full swing".

The long history of baked buns must follow tradition in order to retain the flavor, so naan pit baking is a treasure that can not be replaced by modern equipment, and smaller than the average naan pit.

Must be made of alkaline soil, alkaline soil will be more and more hard to ensure that the pit will not collapse after a long time of use. People will do a good job before the buns to the pit wall, the pit should be sprinkled with brine, and sprinkle brine action are very careful.

In order for me, a foreign tourist, to understand, a young chef showed me and told me: "Salt water has a rapid cooling effect, allowing the arm to move quickly in and out of the 300-degree Celsius hot bed." And the purpose of this in-and-out is to get the buns into the pit and against the walls.

At the same time, in order to let me feel the temperature inside this pit, the chef handed me a bun and asked me to feed it into the kang with my own hands. At that moment, I was full of gratitude and nervousness. When I put my hand into the pit, I realized that even though the salt water had a cooling effect, its temperature was still very high.

But after the walls of the pit were plastered with buns, people would dust large amounts of salt water into the pit again. The heat turns the brine into steam, which serves to ensure that the buns don't get too stiff when they're baked, and then a thick blanket is brought out to cover the pit. All the work seems to be over then, and the next step is to wait for the buns to cook.

When the golden and crispy baked buns come out of the naan pit, the tempting aroma is hard to resist. This aroma and heat just out of the pit is most tantalizing, and all of a sudden you feel that selling a baked bun for 5 dollars is really conscientious.

In order to cater to the tastes of modern people, Ekoderma's baked buns in addition to the most traditional beef and mutton, there are also improved tomato and green pepper flavors, fragrant and not greasy, very much loved by foreign tourists. But for more tourists, ultimately to the traditional flavor can not be missed.

The great beauty of Xinjiang, due to the environment and location of the special characteristics, resulting in the flavor of lamb here is very delicious. In thousands of years of history, the people of Xinjiang not only love to eat sheep, but also better at eating sheep. Their way of preparing mutton has changed with the flow of history. Among them, barbecue is the oldest.

People learned to use fire from their ancestors, and then turned the raw meat into the most passionate flavor on the tongue, and grilled buns, probably the best synthesis of barbecue and lamb. It is not only a wisdom, but also a civilization. It is said that the first baked buns were made by local herders who hunted and then used the meat of the captured hare with a crust.

Nowadays, the popularity of "Ekoderma" bakery is due to the preservation of traditional craftsmanship. It is reported that there are often Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong tourists to go to the reservation of vacuum-packed baked buns, and even more Japan, Canada and other foreign tourists to taste, have vacuum-packed to bring back home.

I was very surprised. Japanese people for food has always been fine, but also follow the old ways, many Japanese local centuries-old store sold those flavors, it is because of the preservation of tradition, to win the hearts of the people. Therefore, Japanese tourists will choose to bring back to their home country after tasting Xinjiang baked buns, which shows how dedicated "Ekoderma" is to the inheritance of ancient flavors.

The owner of the store is also on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The owner is also on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.