Baihou Thin Pancake

Baihou Thin Pancake

　　Baihou Thin Pancake is a traditional Han Chinese snack from Baihou District, Dabu County, Guangdong Province.

　　Legend has it that during the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, Yang Zuoxu, one of the renowned “Three Hanlin Scholars from One Family” in Dabu and widely celebrated at the time, served as the Judge of the Shaanxi and Xi’an Provincial Surveillance Court. Yang Zuoxu and his entourage brought back four delicious treats from the north to their hometown — thin pancakes, mung bean cakes, bean soup, and fern starch cakes. Among these, the thin pancake, after years of imitation, refinement, and improvement by local people, evolved into today’s uniquely flavorful and widely loved Hakka snack — Baihou Thin Pancake. The ancestors of the Hakka people came from the Central Plains, and coincidentally, the Baihou Thin Pancake also originated there. This dish is also known as “Treasure Packed in a Silk Pouch.”

　　Legend has it that in a small mountain village in Baihou Town, Dabu County, there was a poor family whose child had never been to the market even by the age of ten. The town held market days on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th of each lunar month. At that time, Baihou Town had only one narrow street, lined with just over a hundred low-rise shops, two to three stories tall. The shops had awnings hanging in front. On market days, the crowd jostled shoulder to shoulder, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere. The poor child begged the adults to take him to the market. When they passed a snack stall under an awning, the sound of “pounding pounding pounding” of pancake dough being slapped could be heard, and the sight of thin pancakes wrapped like handkerchiefs and rolled into tubes wafted appetizing aromas, making the child’s mouth water. The child asked loudly, “What’s wrapped in the handkerchief?” Unable to afford any, the adults could only coax the child, saying, “It’s just junk wrapped in a cloth.” Later in life, when the child grew up and achieved success, he vividly remembered this childhood experience and wrote a self-deprecating poem:

　　I recall my childhood days, not yet venturing far from home,

　　When parents took me to the streets, I asked what lay within that cloth.

　　Baihou Thin Pancake is not your usual round mooncake, husband cake, or wife cake, but rather a strip-shaped food made by wrapping a filling in a specially made thin flour wrapper. The filling is a mixture of mushrooms, shrimp, minced meat, dried tofu, cooked bean sprouts, and more. Once cooked, the pancake is light yellow in color, richly aromatic, smooth, tender, and delicious — a famous snack from Baihou Town, Dabu County.

　　Its preparation method:

　　First, make the pancake wrapper by mixing flour with appropriate amounts of water and a little saltwater, then kneading vigorously until soft, elastic, and sticky. Pinch off a portion, quickly slap it onto a preheated flat griddle, and bake until it becomes as thin as paper. Then lift it onto a plate.

　　Second, prepare the filling. Typically made with premium shredded meat, dried tofu, scallion whites, mushrooms, shrimp, shredded squid, and other ingredients, along with an appropriate amount of cooking oil and soy sauce, simmered until fully cooked. Then wrap the filling in the freshly made pancake wrapper, roll and tie it neatly, sprinkle with pepper or chili sauce, and it’s ready to eat — flavorful and memorable.