Because this "Xinjiang Napoleon" is so delicious, we solved the mystery of its life experience

Among the countless stories passed down by word of mouth, there is a "halal market" near Changshou Road (that is, Mr. Penguin's office). Every Friday, the place is filled with stalls, smoke fills the air, and shouts come and go. Mutton skewers, hand-cooked rice, naan, grilled buns, as well as a variety of dried fruits, candied fruits, snacks... there are surprises every time you visit.

One day at noon, Mr. Penguin came to this magical market to look for food again.

Passing by a certain stall, I found many people queuing up in front of a mysterious dessert. The rectangular baking pan was filled with a whole piece of milky white soft cake, and a layer was sifted on the surface. Thin powder, if you look closely at the cross-section, this thick thing is divided into many fine layers.

The cake seller quickly used a spatula to cut into pieces, pack them into boxes, and weigh them. Because there were so many people waiting, his movements were as fast as operating an assembly line.

"Excuse me, what's the name of this cake?" Answer: "Napaliyong, it's delicious."

Although Mr. Penguin's belly is already full of mutton Rice, steamed buns and roasted lamb kidneys, but this time I couldn't resist the temptation of "very delicious" and let the little brother cut two pieces.

Well, the soft filling melts like butter, the puff pastry in the middle is a bit tough, and the whole thing is still soft. It slides into the stomach without much bite, and the layering is particularly plump - very much like New York. A hybrid of Internet celebrity lady M (a kind of mille-feuille crepe) and French Napoleon (Mille-Feuille).

Lady M (left) vs Mille-Feuille (right)

Before I could recover from the intoxication, a friend asked, eh, "Napali Yong"? Why does the name sound so similar to "Napoleon"?

Open Baidu and enter Napaliyong. It turns out that this dessert is a regular feature in many Xinjiang restaurants! Some netizens said that they had eaten it in a Xinjiang restaurant and noticed that its English translation is napoleon.

Oh, Xinjiang actually has its own Napoleon? ! So, is Xinjiang’s Napoleon related to the thousand-layer aristocratic dessert from France, which is famous for its complexity? (Mille-Feuille means thousand layers in French, and its English name is Napoleon)

After searching through all Chinese search engines to no avail, we decided to find experienced Xinjiang natives to find out.

Life experience entanglement: "Native-born" Xinjiang dessert?

Relying on the encouragement of the Xinjiang Penguin in the office in the circle of friends, Mr. Penguin was lucky enough to hook up with an experienced driver who is well versed in this dessert industry.

After chatting with an old driver, I suddenly realized: It turns out that Napaliyong is not the "traditional Xinjiang dessert" that everyone thought...

In fact, Napaliyong It has only been launched in China for 7 years. It debuted at the World Expo Food Exhibition in 2010. It is the result of the exchange between the Shanghai-based Xinjiang restaurant chain Yerichali and the Uzbekistan National Pavilion.

Well, as a close neighbor of Xinjiang, Uzbekistan is a necessary route for the Silk Road, and it is also a member of the former Soviet Union. Presumably, Naparyong’s earliest life experience is closely related to geography. ?

Later, when studying the French Napoleon, Mr. Penguin discovered a Russian replica called Наполеон (Napoleon)?

It first appeared in the 19th century and became famous in 1912 when Russia celebrated the 100th anniversary of its victory over France. The structure of the thousand-layer structure was taken from the Grande Armée led by Napoleon, and the cake was sprinkled The white powder symbolizes the heavy snow that helped the Russian army win the battle.

This patriotic and iconic dessert of the former Soviet Union is none other than Napaliyong!

Yerichali’s Napaliyong

After the World Expo, through exchange opportunities, Yerichali successfully obtained the recipe of Napaliyong and applied for making this kind of pastry. patent. Seeing the potential of Napaliyong to be similar to Western-style desserts and with national characteristics, they invested a large amount of money and promoted it as a signboard.

Later Napaliyong really became popular.

The pastry chefs who left Yerichali either found another place, or simply went out and opened a small workshop on their own to supply this kind of pastry to other Xinjiang restaurants. In the blink of an eye, Napaliyong quickly opened up in Shanghai The branches and leaves spread out.

What’s surprising is that from consumers’ discomfort when they first came into contact with it, to being spread by word of mouth among diners, to now it has rushed out of Shanghai and been misrepresented as “traditional Xinjiang pastry”. ”, Napaliyong’s success only took a few years.

Go deep into the kitchen, this is how the delicious food comes about

Neither the lightness of lady M’s cream, nor the thin pastry like Napoleon’s feathers, Mr. Goose only knows this Napa Liyong is delicious, but I am really confused as to what the filling and crispy skin in the middle are made of.

Out of curiosity, we went straight to Yerichali’s chef and asked the most senior pastry chef how to make this dessert.

Walking into the kitchen, a giant mixer was humming at work: the bread mixer was not half as big as it, and something like a mixture of eggs and flour was being stirred in the basin at high speed.

Master Wang, who makes pastries, explained that the filling being stirred is the creamy filling center of napaliyong. Before stirring, eggs, butter, flour and sugar must be mixed and steamed. Steam it thoroughly in the box and then beat it for at least 30 minutes to achieve a soft and smooth texture.

The chopping board at the other end is covered with a piece of crispy crust with holes poked into it. The master presses it lightly with his hand, making a crisp "click" sound.

"Unlike the French puff pastry, which requires folding, rolling and tossing, our puff pastry is quite easy to make. It doesn't have so many layers, but it's still quite delicious." Master Wang Say, to make this kind of crispy crust, roll out eggs, butter, and flour in proportion, then bake in the oven until golden and crispy.

As she spoke, she skillfully picked up the spatula and spread a layer of creamy filling that had been mixed previously on the crispy crust. Smooth it out and lay the next one. Repeat this operation several times.

Master Wang kept emphasizing that the butter and sugar ingredients in the Uzbek version of "Napaliyong" are too strong!

"When we improved the recipe, we reduced at least half of the butter and sugar. The people there are big and like to eat sweet and greasy food, but we have to adapt to the taste of the city people. .. Originally they had to put 8 pieces of butter in a whole plate of cake, who can bear it?"

In order to standardize the size and layer height, they also unified the napaliyong into "standardized seven-layer cakes" "Skin": seven layers, which means from bottom to top, seven sheets of puff pastry filled with milk filling should be stacked.

Spread it in seven layers, sprinkle with "snowflakes", and put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours. After taking it out, the napaliyong will look like what you see.

By the way, the napaliyong that has been softened at room temperature is much more delicious than the one just taken out of the refrigerator.

Compared with the French Napoleon, who wins?

If you still don’t quite understand the difference between French Napoleon craftsmanship and it, here is a step-by-step diagram for you to understand easily:

Therefore, the routes taken by the two are basically the same. different. What French Napoleon sells is its complicated craftsmanship and layered taste. You can label it "exquisite" and "high-end"; relatively speaking, Napaliyong is "from a barbarian" and its cooking methods are much simpler. But with its unambiguous ingredients, it still retains the style of an excellent Western pastry.

Compared to the high-end French Napoleon, which costs fifty or sixty yuan a piece, the price of this Russian version of Napoleon is much more affordable due to the savings in manpower. The price is 6 yuan for a small piece, and the starting price is 4 yuan per portion for dine-in, and 2 yuan for take away if ordered a la carte.

Yerichali vs. Xinjiang Market, the battle over the "orthodoxy" of Napaliyong

Napaliyong, who comes from different sects, has a wide range of styles and tastes:

< p> The masters who left Yerichali later formed their own sect. Compared with the Yeli version of "seven floors", Napaliyong on Macau Road has more layers and is denser. I also heard that many Xinjiang restaurants on the market only have four to five floors in order to save costs.

The first time I ate the amazing Napaliyong at the Xinjiang market, Penguin Jun has never encountered it again. Every time I visited the Xinjiang market after that, the little brother's cuts were very casual, with the skin sometimes being hard and sometimes waxy, and sometimes even having a slight taste of raw flour. Moreover, at the Xinjiang market, two pieces of napaliyong cost me 40 yuan. The price is almost as high as the cut cake!

In comparison, the "seven-layer" with very stable length, width and height looks more beautiful, and can maintain the crispy skin and soft filling for a long time.

Having said that, there is a premise that cannot be ignored in the debate about which Napaliyong is "more authentic": Napaliyong is not the only one that has spread from the west to the east and has been mistakenly regarded as "traditional Xinjiang cuisine" "Snacks.

Just like another dessert we had in the restaurant that day, "Baklava" made with walnuts, raisins, meringue and a lot of icing sugar. Its name in the Middle East is Baklava. It is also a sweet that was slowly introduced to Xinjiang through the Silk Road. It has its own form in many Eurasian countries; for example, the flat bread in the Middle East and the naan you have eaten are actually from the same family...

Baharawa and Naan

Food with stories will always take on various forms in the process of spread and evolution. No one can be called the real one. The original creator, even if he applied for a patent, Napaliyong is still flourishing in restaurants in Xinjiang under various fancy names.

In any case, from a sentimental perspective, it is difficult to say that a group of niche delicacies with exotic characteristics can gain a foothold in modern cities, be accepted by consumers, and be passed down in new ways. is a bad thing.

What’s more, without competition, there will be no progress. Catching up on the hot trend of "thousand layer cake" in the past two years, Yerichali is preparing to expand the product line of Napaliyong. The first new flavor to be tested is to add large pieces of durian to the filling. The square-shaped phyllo with fruit pulp and chopped almonds on top has just been launched at the Yi O' Lai store near Disneyland, and will soon appear in other stores.

Durian has a fine texture, and when mixed with steamed fillings, it is full of aroma and light.

Durian lovers naturally admire it, but some people with conservative tastes may turn away from it.

In the future, there may be other desserts introduced to China, replacing Napaliyong and becoming a new generation of legend to satisfy the increasingly picky taste buds of diners. This is something we cannot predict. .

In the final analysis, in this fast-paced society, perhaps only innovation itself can truly stand the test of time.

Text｜Judy

Pictures｜Xin Yue, one person

Photography｜Pei Xuan