Cold Tossing · FFET10489
Ban (cold dressing)
Ban mixes ingredients with seasonings; recorded examples include shredded chicken, tofu skin, and cold noodles.
The method of dressing raw or cooked-and-cooled ingredients with seasoning and serving them cold.
Ban here means cold dressing: mixing raw ingredients or ingredients that have been heated and cooled with seasonings. A cookbook dated 1792 records shredded chicken dressed with soy sauce, mustard, and vinegar, along with dressed tofu skin and eggplant.
What
Ban here means cold dressing: mixing raw ingredients or ingredients that have been heated and cooled with seasonings.1,2
When
A cookbook dated 1792 records shredded chicken dressed with mustard, vinegar, and soy sauce, as well as sea cucumber dressed with mustard for summer. This dates the cookbook, not the technique's origin. Another historical text uses ban for mixing chives with meat, which does not establish cold dressing.3,4,6
Where
A food account dated 1916 mentions cold dishes made by mixing in its entries on Beijing foods; this does not establish Beijing as the technique's birthplace.7
How
Seasonings vary with the ingredient: shredded chicken takes soy sauce, mustard, and vinegar, while accounts of tofu skin, malan greens, and eggplant use soy sauce, vinegar, or sesame oil. Cold noodles are also recorded tossed with vinegar, garlic, and sesame oil.4,5,8
Why
Cold dressing has a documented summer use: the cookbook dated 1792 describes mustard-dressed sea cucumber as a summer preparation.3
Impact and influence
These accounts apply dressing to shredded chicken, sea cucumber, tofu skin, vegetables, and cold noodles, covering a range of ingredients.1,8