Yancheng Straw-Fired Cake

Yancheng Straw-Fired Cake

　　Yancheng Straw-Fired Cake is a specialty snack from Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. The cake uses pure leavening agents and just the right amount of alkaline, resulting in a bronze-colored bottom that contacts the stove plate, while the top and sugar glaze turn golden brown from the baking. The edges remain white without scorching, and the center is soft, sweet, and refreshing. Therefore, people describe it as “golden and jade-like with a bronze base and jade edging, soft, sweet, and refreshing Straw-Fired Cake.”

　　As the name suggests, the Straw-Fired Cake gets its name from being baked in a straw-fired stove. Legend has it that its history can be traced back to the year 5 AD, before Wang Mang’s usurpation of the Han Dynasty throne. It is said that during the Han Dynasty, Wang Mang originally made cakes for a living, and the cakes he made were the predecessors of today’s Straw-Fired Cake. The reason Wang Mang was able to usurp the throne was largely because his two daughters were successively chosen to enter the imperial palace, making him a member of the royal family and giving him the opportunity.

　　Eileen Chang once wrote in an essay that when she lived in Shanghai, she often heard street vendors calling out, “Chao Lu Bing––!” (Fried Stove Cake––!) with a lingering cry that stirred up appetites. In fact, what she referred to as “Chao Lu Bing” should have been written as “Cao Lu Bing” (Straw-Fired Cake). This was a popular snack made by people from northern Jiangsu using a special method back in the day.

　　The craftsmanship of the Straw-Fired Cake emphasizes “proper fermentation, proper heat, and proper alkali,” which results in the effect of a “golden top, bronze base, and jade edging.” Because of its pure taste and convenience, it is deeply loved by the public. As people from Shanggang traveled far and wide, the Straw-Fired Cake gradually gained acceptance beyond the region. Currently, besides many hotels and restaurants in various counties (cities) of our city frequently placing orders, many former residents of Shanggang in cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Qingdao also often ask acquaintances to bring some back for them.

　　Traditionally, Shanggang Straw-Fired Cakes have never had fillings. They used to be round, but nowadays they are usually oblong, so many people often mistake them for yellow baked cakes. There are also certain ways to enjoy the Straw-Fired Cake: typically, people buy a few, slice some pickled ginger, and brew a cup of tea—this is what is called “eating a coarse cake in a refined way.” Modern variations are even more diverse: there’s duck soup soaked with Straw-Fired Cake, chicken soup soaked with Straw-Fired Cake…

　　The flour used for Straw-Fired Cakes is generally premium quality, fermented with traditional starter doughs, without the use of modern fermentation agents. The fermentation process also pays special attention to water temperature: typically, 70% hot water and 30% cold water. If the water is too cool, the dough will harden and not stick to the stove wall, resulting in a cake that lacks softness. If the water is too hot, the cake will end up tasting greasy.

　　“Golden top, bronze base, jade edging, soft, sweet, and refreshing Straw-Fired Cake”—the northern Jiangsu specialty, Shanggang Straw-Fired Cake, has endured two thousand years of market fluctuations and fifty years of steadfast perseverance, yet now faces the risk of being lost due to a lack of successors.

　　Although with the replacement of straw stoves by coal stoves, liquefied gas stoves, induction cookers, and other appliances, along with the influx of Western foods like bread, cakes, and pizzas in the market, the Straw-Fired Cake is gradually fading from the scene and nearly extinct, its devoted makers still uphold the age-old, unchanging handmade production methods with unwavering dedication.

　　Making “Straw-Fired Cake” is a very busy and labor-intensive job. Each time the cakes are made, the stove is first heated red-hot with straw, creating intense flames and sweltering heat. When the furnace temperature is sufficiently high, the fire is tamped down with a fire fork to control the flames. At this point, the “cake-laying master” quickens the pace, swiftly grabbing dough pieces, using both hands to place them—one hand taking two dough pieces at a time—from the left and right sides of the furnace all the way to the top. In the blink of an eye, the furnace is fully lined with dough pieces. Then, with the fire fork, the straw ashes are raked open, and suddenly the flames leap up and the temperature soars. In no time, the dough pieces begin to puff up and the surfaces turn golden. The aroma of sesame fills the air. Then the fire is tamped down again. The master uses one hand to hold a shovel and the other a net, scooping the fully baked cakes into the net.

　　The Xu family’s Straw-Fired Cake from Shanggang is quite famous in the Yancheng and Jianhu areas. It is understood that the father of Mr. Xu Shiqin, a resident of the town, was the first-generation inheritor of the Xu family’s Straw-Fired Cake. Xu Shiqin started helping her father from the age of four or five, learning through observation and instruction, and quickly mastered the production techniques of the Straw-Fired Cake under the guidance of her father and elder brother. Around 1932, although Shanggang Town was not large, there were many Straw-Fired Cake shops, with the peak exceeding 30. In the early years after liberation, during the collectivization movement, the Xu family’s Straw-Fired Cake, like others, merged into a large collective enterprise. In 1956, following her father’s untimely death, Xu Shiqin took over the collective Straw-Fired Cake shop. Her son, Xu Weicheng, also began working at his father’s cake shop at the age of 15 and quickly became a key member of the team.

　　Nowadays, although people’s living conditions continue to improve and food culture becomes richer, the Straw-Fired Cake remains a favorite among the people of the water towns. Some who have wandered far from home have a special fondness for it. Businesspeople visiting Yancheng for inspections often drive more than 20 kilometers from Yancheng to Shanggang just to have a taste and bring some back for their families. Some locals from the water towns and visitors from elsewhere who go abroad will also make a special trip to Shanggang to custom-order Straw-Fired Cakes as gifts to take to other countries, to give to Chinese-Americans there. The small Straw-Fired Cake carries historical and cultural heritage, encapsulates local eating habits, and connects the deep homesickness of those living far away...