MUZIChinese Matrix
Pastries · FFET10167
Tianjin Shibajie mahua: white and sesame dough strands twisted around a filling strip; the craft is a national heritage item.
A long white porcelain plate holds two thick fried dough twists laid at a slant, golden and sesame-flecked brown strands wound in a tight spiral, the nearer one snapped to show a crumbly cream filling strip.
Cakes and pastries of every kind, baked, steamed or fried.
Here Tianjin mahua means the Shibajie style: strands of white dough and sesame dough twisted together around a crisp, sweet filling strip and deep-fried. The Guifaxiang Shibajie mahua making craft entered batch 4 of the national heritage list in 2014. The method appeared in the early 20th century, created by Liu Laoba, a mahua seller in central Tianjin, and named after the shop's location on Donglou Shiba Jie; the exact starting year is not documented. A January 23, 2025 report gives 1927 as the brand's founding year. Mahua is made elsewhere too, and this entry covers the Tianjin style alone.
Tianjin Shibajie mahua is a thick twist of fried dough in which white-dough and sesame-dough strands are wound around a crisp, sweet filling strip. Ingredients include flour, oil, sugar, osmanthus, sesame, ginger and peanuts.1
The Shibajie mahua method appeared in the early 20th century, created by Liu Laoba, a mahua seller in central Tianjin, and named after the shop's location on Donglou Shiba Jie; no dated text was found, and the exact starting year is unknown. A January 23, 2025 report gives 1927 as the founding year of the Guifaxiang Shibajie mahua brand.1,2
Tianjin. The craft began in Hexi District, spread through the city and then elsewhere; the original shop stood on Shiba Jie in the Donglou area. Tianjin is among the main places that make mahua, alongside Xianyang, Jishan and Chongyang. This entry covers the Tianjin style alone.1,2,5
There are more than 20 key steps. The strands are twisted by hand with the filling strip set between the white and sesame strands; the oil, starter and alkali are adjusted to the quality of the flour and the temperature.1
Liu Laoba added a crisp filling between the strands, and Shibajie mahua takes its name from the street where the shop stood. No further reason is documented, and this entry does not guess.1
It is one of the Three Specialties of Tianjin and was listed in batch 4 of the national heritage list in 2014. In 2019, the mahua culture museum beside the Guifaxiang main factory required a booking; in January 2025, the flagship store was crowded before Spring Festival.1,2,3
Legend has it that people twisted dough into the shape of a scorpion's tail and fried it as a charm against scorpions. This is a tale told about mahua in general and does not belong to Tianjin alone.
Told in: A folk tale recorded in the English Wikipedia entry on mahua, about the snack in general; no dated text was found.
Legend has it that during a festival of several days when cooking fires were forbidden, people fried honey dough that could be eaten cold, and this is said to be how mahua began. This too is a tale about mahua in general and does not belong to Tianjin alone.
Told in: A folk tale recorded in the English Wikipedia entry on mahua; no dated text was found, and this entry does not use the number of years given in the entry.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
Let me be plain about this: the two recipes I read that give amounts and steps are adaptations. One is an ordinary mahua made with egg and baking powder, and the other is a yeasted big twist labeled northeastern. Neither is the Guifaxiang Shibajie mahua, with its white and sesame strands wound around a filling strip, and I did not find a published home recipe for that kind. So what follows is a plain twist fried at home, with no filling strip, and not the Tianjin Shibajie style. The dough amounts follow the egg and baking powder recipe, and the heat is my own choice at home.
Allergens: wheat, egg
