Qian'an Kiln-Baked Sesame Cake

Qian'an Kiln-Baked Sesame Cake

　　In the early years of the Republic of China, Yang Ming's kiln-baked sesame cake from Huangzhuang was one of the four most famous snacks in Qian'an city. This type of cake is fragrant, crispy, and delicious, with excellent shelf life—it can be stored for months without going moldy or losing flavor. When Yang Ming grew old, he passed on his craft to his daughter, Madam Yang, and his grandson Yang Jingrong. It has since been passed down to their great-grandchildren, Yang Xiu and Yang Wen.

　　Ingredients

　　The reason this cake is so fragrant and crispy lies mainly in the quality of its ingredients and the strictness of its production process: Ingredients: Process your own premium flour—10 jin in total. Mix 6 jin of flour with 6 liang of peanut oil and warm water to make the water dough; mix 4 jin of flour with 2.2 jin of peanut oil to make the oil dough for later use; weigh 7 jin of streaky pork, cut into large dice-sized cubes, and mix evenly with 1 jin of pure sesame oil, an appropriate amount of scallions, Sichuan peppercorns, minced ginger, meat seasoning, and powdered shiitake mushrooms until it makes a "crunchy" sound; 1 jin of sesame seeds, soaked in water, then rubbed and roasted for later use.

　　Production Process

　　It requires mastery of three skills: First Skill – Firing the Kiln: The so-called kiln is a large common ceramic jar, which is vertically cut by more than half and then laid horizontally to form a furnace. Seal it tightly with mud, and heat it using charcoal or branches of the locust tree until the interior turns dark, reaching about 100°C. Then extinguish the fire and rinse the inside of the furnace with water. Place the prepared cakes one by one on the inner wall of the kiln using the back of your hand. Due to the residual heat, the cakes will stick to the wall and be baked both from above and below, cooking thoroughly and emitting a fragrant aroma. Be careful not to overheat or underheat the kiln—overheating will burn the cakes, while too little heat will leave them undercooked. Scrape the kiln walls as needed depending on their color and temperature: cool hotter spots with more water and raise the temperature in cooler areas by adding fuel. Temperature control relies solely on experience judging by the color of the furnace, as no thermometer is used. Second Skill – Wrapping the Dough: “Place 1 jin of water dough underneath and 4 jin of oil dough on top. Roll it out on the work surface into a paper-thin sheet, roll it up, and pinch it into 162 equal-sized pieces. Shape each into a round skin, scoop out the meat filling that has been soaked in sesame oil, wrap it, and flatten it. The amount of filling must be just right—the sealed edge must not leak oil, otherwise it won’t stick to the kiln wall. After wrapping and flattening, dip the non-stick side of the cake in roasted sesame seeds in preparation for putting it in the oven. Third Skill – Baking the Cakes: That is, the actual baking process. Once the cakes are made, place them one by one against the kiln wall using the back of your hand—each batch holds over 80 cakes. They must be placed close together and evenly spaced. At this point, the temperature of the kiln wall is crucial—if it’s too low, the cakes will fall off into the coals and become waste. Adjust the temperature using the iron curtain at the furnace door: open it if too hot, close it if too cool. Each batch takes over two hours to bake.

　　Simple Method

　　Ingredients: Wheat flour, peeled sesame seeds, cooking oil, salt. Method: Place the wheat flour in a ceramic bowl, dissolve a small amount of salt in cold water and pour it into the flour. Add water and stir until evenly mixed—the dough should be relatively firm. Roll it out on the work surface into a thick (one-finger) slab, spread cooking oil evenly on top, sprinkle with a bit of flour, and knead into small flaky pieces. Then roll it into a long strip, shape into a column as thick as a fist, and have two people pull and stretch it into a 5 cm diameter rope. Cut it into sections on the work surface, roll each section into a long strip, fold the ends back, flip and roll it out again, then fold the ends to form a square. Arrange neatly, sprinkle with water, and smear the surface into a paste-like consistency. Evenly sprinkle with peeled sesame seeds, flip it over, and pat the back to secure the sesame seeds. Test the heat of the charcoal-fired kiln wall with a small piece of dough—if the dough turns yellow, it’s ready to bake. Cover and bake for about ten minutes until done. Characteristics: Square-shaped, puffed and golden brown, with thin flaky layers, crispy and fragrant. "Layer upon layer of square delight, sesame’s cunning secrets in sight. Roasted in the eight-trigram hearth so hot, yet the flavor bursts forth when it meets your lot."