Jinyun Shaobing, also known as barrel cake, is a traditional snack in Jinyun County, Zhejiang Province. It is said to have a history of more than 650 years. Jinyun Shaobing is made of flour, fresh pork and prunes as the main raw materials, and is baked by charcoal fire in a Shaobing barrel.

Legend has it that Emperor Xuanyuan once made alchemy in a furnace at Dinghu Peak in Jinyun Mountain. He was very focused. When he was hungry, he would grab a piece of dough and stick it on the wall of the alchemy furnace to bake it. After Emperor Xuanyuan rode a dragon and ascended to heaven, local people used clay to imitate the Yellow Emperor's pill furnace, making pottery furnaces and grilling dough for eating.

Later, this technique of pasting a cake base in a ceramic furnace and grilling the mature cakes over charcoal fire became a unique traditional technique in Jinyun, Jinhua and other places.

It is also said that when Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, went to Jinyun during the war, he could not forget it after eating Jinyun sesame cakes. After he became the emperor, he specially named the master who made Jinyun sesame cakes as the imperial chef and specially made sesame cakes for him.

One day, Zhu Yuanzhang had just taken a bite of sesame seed cakes when he met Liu Bowen and asked to see him. So Zhu Yuanzhang covered the plate with sesame cakes and deliberately tested Liu Bowen: "Sir, do you know what is under the bowl?" Liu Bowen replied: "Half like the sun and half like the moon, one part was once bitten by a golden dragon. According to my calculations, it is sesame cakes. "That's right."

There is Liu Ji's "Song of Shaobing" as evidence:

"One day when Taizu of the Ming Dynasty was eating Shaobing in the inner palace, he took a bite, and the inner prison suddenly reported it to the imperial master. When Liu Ji came to see him, Taizu took the bowl back and called Ji in. After the ceremony, the emperor asked Ji, "Sir, you know a lot about mathematics. Do you know what is in the bowl?" Like the moon, it was once bitten by a golden dragon, and this food is indeed true."

Liu Ji studied in Shimen Cave in Qingtian in his early years, not far from Jinyun, and must have eaten Jinyun sesame cakes; I want to pinch my fingers. "Lunsuan" is false, but it is true that he can smell the familiar aroma of Jinyun Shaobing from a distance. Having said this, some people may think that I am asking Jinyun Shaobing to serve as a high-ranking official in the imperial palace; in fact, the deliciousness of Jinyun Shaobing lies entirely in the "earth". Jinyun is a small county in the mountainous area of ??southern Zhejiang. It has simple folk customs and abundant products since ancient times. Most of the shaobing masters are half farmers and half bakers. The raw materials for baking shaobing are either self-sufficient or have a supply chain from neighbors.

Main ingredients

Flour, pork (sandwich meat), prunes, salt, caramel, and sesame seeds.

Production steps

1. Mix flour to make dough; methods are different in winter and summer. Use hot soup in winter and cold water in summer. In summer, the current and delayed cooking are different. Use hot soup now and cold water later.

2. Cut the sandwich meat into cubes, add prunes and salt, and mix to taste.

3. Take the leavening agent, wrap it in the stuffing, pinch it together, press it flat, and roll it into a round cake with a diameter of about 10--15cm.

4. Brush a little maltose on the front of the cake and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Brush a little water on the back and stick it to the inner wall of the charcoal-heated barrel.

5. Grill over charcoal fire for 3 to 4 minutes. When the cake is golden brown and the aroma overflows, use special iron tongs to remove it.