Taizhou Shibing Tube

Taizhou Shibing Tube

　　Taizhou Shibing Tube is a specialty snack from Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province. The Shibing Tube originated in Huangyan, and local chronicles record that it was created to commemorate Qi Jiguang. It is also known as Mabing Tube. The dish is made by spreading wheat flour on a hot pan to bake a large, round, and thin pancake, which is then filled with ingredients such as sliced meat, mung bean sprouts, egg crepes, bamboo shoots, dried tofu, rice noodles, and rolled into a tube shape before eating.

　　Shibing Tube is a unique traditional Han Chinese snack and festival food custom in Taizhou, Zhejiang. The locals have the custom of eating Xibing (also called Mabing or Shibing Tube) during Lixia, Dragon Boat Festival, and the 13th day of the fifth lunar month. Shibing Tube, also known as "Five Tigers Capturing the Sheep," as the name suggests, involves wrapping various delicious dishes in paper-thin wheat crisps (sometimes made with rice paste to form a rice tube) into a tube shape. It contains many types of ingredients, such as carrots, shredded pork, celery, and other tasty and fresh vegetables. It is also commonly called "Maijiao," and is also referred to as Mabing Tube and Xibing.

　　How to make Shibing Tube: Making Shibing Tube can be as simple or as elaborate as you like, depending entirely on your preference. But the most crucial part is having the wrapper used to roll the fillings, and the quality of the wrapper is very important — it must be both thin and tough. If it lacks toughness, it will easily tear when filled, and if it’s too thick, it will directly affect the texture. Nowadays, this is less of an issue, as ready-made Shibing wrappers are available in markets, saving a lot of trouble. As for the fillings, common choices include rice vermicelli, scrambled egg strips, braised pork, stir-fried dried tofu with leeks, stir-fried onion with pork or garlic shoots, cabbage, mung bean sprouts, and more. Basically, any ingredient that suits your taste can be used as a filling. Lay the wrapper flat on the table, use chopsticks to pick your favorite small dishes one by one and place them on the wrapper, then roll it into a cylinder about 5 centimeters in diameter. Eat one roll at a time; typically, people eat two or three rolls, and some may even eat four or five. However, rolling the Shibing Tube requires skill. If rolled too large, it looks like an overweight middle-aged woman — bulky and clumsy, which can affect the appetite, and sometimes the outer wrapper might even tear, causing the filling to squeeze out through the crack, making the eating experience less enjoyable. If rolled too small, it’s like an underdeveloped young girl — not enough ingredients are packed in, and you might as well just be eating the wrapper itself, which tastes like chewing on straw and is far less delicious. At the same time, it must remain intact without breaking during the eating process, keeping its entire body smooth and clean in your hands and lips until it fully makes its way down your esophagus. This is truly a skill.