MUZIChinese Matrix
Pan-Frying and Griddling · FFET10426
Wheat cakes cook slowly in a shallow pan; guokui develops a mottled yellow surface.
Pan-frying in a little oil, or griddling in a pan or on a griddle, so that the surface takes colour.
Lao is a way of cooking wheat cakes on a pan or flat cooking surface; laobing is one example. Some forms of guokui cook slowly in a shallow pan until the surface is mottled yellow, then are cut for serving.
Lao cooks wheat cakes on a pan or flat cooking surface. Laobing is a flat wheat cake, and some forms of guokui are cooked slowly in a shallow pan.1,2
The available material does not establish when lao began. The historical cake text consulted describes frying and oven baking, but no method named lao was found.3
Laobing is common in northern China, while guokui is found in places including Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Gansu. Jingzhou in Hubei also has guokui, though the method described there uses a charcoal oven.1,2
One method for guokui cooks the wheat cake slowly in a shallow pan until its surface is mottled yellow, then cuts it for serving.2
Laobing has crisp edges and a softer center.1
Laobing can be cut and eaten as a staple. Guokui has regional forms, including thinner cakes in Pengzhou and very large ones in Qian County.1,2
A tale from Qian County in Shaanxi says that workers building the Qianling tomb baked dough in their helmets. The story concerns local guokui and does not establish the origin of lao as a technique.
Told in: Qian County, Shaanxi; a local tale with no independent historical confirmation.
