Tianjin people like to eat stuffings, and steamed buns are particularly famous. However, there is another delicacy that is as famous as steamed buns - dumplings.
Tianjin people also love to eat dumplings, especially during holidays, dumplings are an indispensable delicacy on the table. Tianjin people who love dumplings and are good at making dumplings have even made dumplings an intangible cultural heritage!
In Heping District, there is a famous intangible cultural heritage dumpling - Halal Baiji Dumpling.
Halal Baiji Dumplings originated in 1890. Tianjin native Bai Xingheng was founded in Beitou, Tianjin (now Goutou Hutong, Jinhuayuan Street, Hongqiao District), named "Baiji Steamed Food Shop", and sold various sweets and steamed food. It also sells vegetarian dumplings and vegetarian dumplings with shrimp skin and leek powder, which have won the favor of customers and are crowded every day.
In 1926, his son Bai Wenhua inherited his father's business and opened the shop on Street in niaoshi. Based on the original vegetarian buns and vegetarian dumplings, we developed zucchini and mutton dumplings and three fresh dumplings, and changed the name of the store to Baiji Dumpling Shop. It became an instant hit, and before the public-private partnership in 1956, it was already a well-known old brand in Tianjin.
In 1982, Baiji Dumplings reopened at No. 554, Heping Road, . Baiji Dumplings won the Tianjin Quality Food Award in 1984 and 1985; in 2000, it was recognized as a "Chinese Famous Snack" by the Chinese Cuisine Association; in 2011, the "Baiji" brand was recognized as a "Chinese Time-honored Brand" by the Ministry of Commerce.
Baiji dumplings have the characteristics of carefully selected ingredients, reasonable formula, rich nutrition, thin skin and large fillings, fragrant and delicious, not greasy after eating for a long time, and suitable for all ages.
1, material selection:
(1) uses selected halal mutton. Process: 2:8 ratio of fat to thin, twist twice to make filling.
(2) Selected water chestnuts and zucchini. Process: Peel the water chestnuts, smash and squeeze them dry. Peel and remove the flesh from the zucchini, smash them and squeeze them dry. Reserve the zucchini juice.
(3) uses traditional secret recipes and ingredients. Process: Use the traditional secret recipe and mix the ingredients with the ground mutton, water chestnuts, and zucchini in proportion and mix until uniform.
(4) Special high-gluten refined flour. Process: Mix high-gluten flour with water according to the season, and make the dough soft and hard. Knead the dough repeatedly. The kneaded dough should be shiny and free of honeycombs. Remove the kneaded dough and release it. Go to the dough table, cut it into 3.2cm thick strips with a knife, and then roll each strip into 2.5cm thin strips by hand, then add the dough, each 10 dough pieces weigh 1.4 taels to 1.5 taels; roll out the dough, Push up and down to roll into an oval shape without wrinkles.
2. Production:
. Pinch the rolled out skin. Use the left hand to hold the skin and the right hand to use a ruler to push the stuffing into the skin. Then use the thumb and index finger of both hands to pinch. The pinched dumplings should have moderate sides, no yin and yang sides, and an ingot shape. The finished dumplings weigh 3.4 to 3.5 taels per 10 pieces.
In Tianjin, whenever eat dumplings during the winter solstice, people always like to eat zucchini and mutton dumplings. As for this "tradition" that has become a custom, Baiji Dumplings has contributed a considerable part of its strength.
Today, with the improvement of people's living standards, dumplings are no longer a "rare delicacy", but the time-honored taste of Baiji dumplings still remains in the memories of generations of Tianjin people.
