Basket Oil Dumplings

Basket Oil Dumplings

　　    A local snack from the Zhao Kingdom cuisine in Handan. Legend has it that the creator, Wang Yixiang, opened a meat bun shop with his father outside the southern gate of the Zhao Kingdom in his early years. One day, when Lian Po, a famous general of the Zhao Kingdom, was passing by the southern gate on his way to muster troops at the Wuling Congtai, he smelled the aroma of meat buns from afar. When Lian Po went to buy buns, they were all sold out. Lian Po said, “Aren’t those buns on your chopping board?” Wang Yixiang replied, “Those are raw; they still need to be steamed.” Lian Po asked, “How long will that take?” Wang Yixiang answered, “Less than an hour.” Upon hearing this, Lian Po grew impatient and threw all the raw buns on the chopping board into a pot of boiling water. In no time, the buns floated to the surface. After eating the boiled buns, Lian Po praised them repeatedly, saying, “Each bite is full of juice and flavor—absolutely delicious!” From then on, Wang Yixiang changed his meat bun shop into the “One Bite of Oil” Bun House, and business flourished even more. Later, during the Northern Song Dynasty, it was renamed “One Basket of Oil,” and the name has been passed down to this day.