Cat's ear has a long history and is similar to the "hoto" mentioned in the Northern Wei Dynasty's "Essentials of Qimin", which is made in the shape of a cat's ear and is small, exquisite, smooth and appetizing, making it a popular noodle dish that has been passed down for a long time.
Cat's ears are made in a simple way: after making a moderately soft dough, roll it out into a slightly thicker sheet (about two or three centimeters), cut it into half-centimeter pieces, sprinkle flour on them, and press the pieces forward with both thumbs to form cat's ears. It is also possible to roll the noodles into strips as thick as your index finger, pinch small pieces with your right hand, and grind them into cat ears in your left palm. The noodles are then cooked in a pot of boiling water and served with various kinds of marinades and toppings. In addition to white noodles, but also with soybean noodles, buckwheat, oat noodles, sorghum noodles and other raw materials, can also be stewed, can be steamed, can be fried.
According to legend, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty traveled to the south of the Yangtze River, once in a small boat to enjoy the West Lake. Swimming with great interest, the day suddenly started a light rain, the crowd rushed to avoid the rain in the cabin of the boat. We wait and wait, but the rain is getting bigger and bigger, down for a long time are not stop. A few hours passed, Emperor Qianlong was hungry and couldn't help but ask the old fisherman if he had anything to eat. The old fisherman told Qianlong that he had noodles but no rolling pin to make them. When he was worried, the old fisherman's little granddaughter came to him with a kitten in her arms and said, "There's no rolling pin, I'll twist it with my hands." So the little girl twisted the noodle into pieces, which resembled the ears of a kitten, and were small and cute. She put this strange shape of the noodles cooked in a pot and then poured with fish and shrimp marinade to Qianlong to eat. Qianlong see the unusual appearance of the noodles, exquisite chic, after eating more feel the flavor, hurried to ask the girl what this is called noodles, the girl replied that the cat ears. Qianlong very much like this dessert, after returning to the capital that called the little girl to do for its "cat ears". Since then, "cat ears" has become a famous point.
Another story is that the little girl grew up and married, in order to make ends meet, selling noodles at a stall to make ends meet. One day, remembering the past encounter, immediately put up the "Imperial Palace personally tasted the cat's ear" front, attracting customers to come to Hangzhou to become a famous food, has been popular to this day.