Stuffing cakes (embedded cakes): the lingering pastoral flavor of Wenling.

This article is an abridged version of Shi Mei Wenling.

Huang Xiaohui (kunqiu @ 126.com)

Stuffed cakes (also written as embedded cakes, sandwich cakes, fresh cakes, rice cakes and mortar cakes) are the favorite "convenience foods" of Wenling people in Zhejiang Province. Many people start their busy and full day with a tube of stuffed cake. In the streets of Wenling, you can often see stuffing cake shops (stalls). In front of a long wooden (or stainless steel) case, there are seven pots and eight bowls of stuffing heads (or stainless steel square plates) to prevent flies, with a glass cover or gauze cover in front. There are all kinds of meat food, such as pork, fried dough sticks, onions, carrots, celery, shredded potatoes, fried noodles, pickles, eggs, spicy cabbage, avocado (called "soaked shrimp" in some places) and so on. Some shops and stalls cook pork on a small stove, while others are accompanied by stalls with oil-soaked fruits. The cake is wrapped in a quilt to keep warm.

The customer came and stood beside the cake shop (stall) owner to give directions. The boss picked up a corner of the quilt, cut off a piece of fresh cake suitable for diners' appetite, kneaded it into a ball on the chopping board, then kneaded it into a long thin slice, folded it in half, pinched it on the tail a few times, sealed it, and then, according to the diners' tastes, squeezed in all kinds of meat in turn (selected some meat, chopped it on the chopping board and wrapped it), and then squeezed the cake skins on both sides like jiaozi, leaving a hole at the top. Generally speaking, pork, avocado (usually chopped first) and scrambled eggs are added separately. The same crust tastes different because of the different fillings inside. Each tube of stuffing cake, because diners have different tastes, tastes slightly different, and becomes a kind of "personalized" customized food. Sometimes, some people who are good at eating stuffing cakes have to scoop a few spoonfuls of broth into it, and this stuffing cake tastes even better.

In Wenling, people can also eat raw tofu or mung bean noodle soup (chopped bean noodles), or dried tofu bone soup. There are two ways to eat raw tofu: salty and sweet. Add laver, pickled mustard tuber, boiled skin and chopped green onion to the salty ones, and add brown sugar (sugar paste) or white sugar to the sweet ones for anyone to choose.

Stuffing cakes are not unique to Wenling. There are stuffing cakes in Huangyan, Luqiao, Yuhuan and Jiaojiang in Taizhou. People in Dajing Town, Yueqing City, Taiping dialect area also like to eat stuffed cakes, which are called "cake heads" like Chumen people in Yuhuan. Wenling people like to eat stuffed cakes, and they have also made bold innovations in traditional stuffed cakes. In recent years, some shopkeepers have pounded cakes with machines or pressed cakes with hydraulic presses, and the fillings have become more diverse on the basis of tradition, enriching people's tastes.

Not only the production method has a new pattern, but also the sales method of stuffing cakes keeps pace with the times. "Every homesickness will make your mouth water, and nothing can reach your eyes." This is a poem by Dai Fugu, a patriotic poet in Wenling, Southern Song Dynasty. Although the poem is about seafood, it is also suitable for filling cakes. Delicious stuffing cakes often haunt Wenling people in other places, because many Wenling people (and perhaps some non-Wenling people who have tasted stuffing cakes) have dreamed of selling stuffing cakes on Taobao. A few years ago, when I was searching for the sales of local agricultural products in Wenling on Taobao, I talked to a Taobao shop owner who runs this business. At that time, he said that this thing was ready in winter and would be delivered by express delivery. I once saw a newspaper report that some Wenling people were ingenious and bought a vacuum packaging machine, which could extend the shelf life of the stuffing cake. His customers are "all over Shaoxing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangdong and other places, mostly from Wenling."

Traditional materials: stone mortar, firewood, wok, steamed rice, briquette stove, table, tray, bowl, etc.

Ingredients include japonica rice (late rice), pork, potatoes, radishes, dried bean curd, celery, pickles, poached eggs, spicy cabbage, onions, fried dough sticks, pickled shrimps (oily fruit), rice noodles, salt and so on.

Production method:

Cooking cakes should use japonica rice (late rice, now generally northeast rice) and high-quality rice soaked in water 10-20 minutes (depending on winter and summer, weather conditions, etc.). (It's shorter in hot days and longer in cold days), then drain the rice, grind it with a mill (stone mill used to be used), and then steam it in steamed rice.

There are two main sources of fillings, one is fried or cooked by housewives, such as potatoes, radishes, celery and onions. And pork can be cooked in an iron pot (Fang Jia, Zheng Min, Taiping Street is pickled with star anise and cinnamon. ). The other kind is supplied by other sellers, such as fried dough sticks and pickled shrimps (oily fruit). Tofu eaten raw with stuffing cakes is often supplied by others.