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 Beijing-style milletchatang with syrup, osmanthus jam, sesame seeds, raisins and hawthorn jelly | |
| Alternative names | Miancha |
|---|---|
| Type | Porridge |
| Place of origin | China |
| Main ingredients | Glutinous millet,sorghum,broomcorn millet,proso millet orwheat flour |
Chatang (Chinese:茶汤;pinyin:chátāng;lit. 'tea soup') orseasoned flour mush is a traditionalgruel common to bothBeijing cuisine andTianjin cuisine, and is often sold as a snack on the street. Depending on the region, it can be made using flour from one or more of a number of grains, includingsorghum,broomcorn millet,proso millet,glutinous millet orwheat. The Chinese name is figurative, not literal, as there is neither any tea nor any soup in this dish.
The dish is prepared in two steps. First, the flour is cooked in advance, often by stir-frying. When a customer orders the dish, hot water is poured into a bowl containing the flour(s) to create a paste-like mush, which is served with white and/or brown sugar andsweet osmanthus jam (桂花酱;guìhuā jiàng). The sweet osmanthus plant is not native tonorthern China.
Traditionally, the skill of the server was judged on several factors and one of them is regarding the resulting mush: the most skillful server would be able to create the mush so thick that when a chopstick is inserted into the mush it remains vertical, while at the same time, the mush remains fluid. Other criteria for the servers' skills included the ability not to splash any hot water outside the bowl and spill out any flour, because traditionally, all ingredients are placed in a bowl into which is poured boiling water from a special copper kettle with a long, dragon-shaped spout calledlóngzuǐ dàtónghú (龙嘴大铜壶; 'dragon-mouth large copper kettle'), and special skills were needed to handle this equipment. The ingredients are then stirred together and thechatang is eaten with a spoon.
Seasonedmillet mush (Chinese:面茶;pinyin:miànchá;lit. 'noodle tea') in northern China is a savoury flour gruel. It is made using onlymillet flour rather than a combination ofsorghum andmillet flour. Rather than sweet osmanthus sauce and sugar, it is seasoned withsesame paste, groundSichuan peppercorns, and salt.
In Fujian and Taiwan, the mush (Chinese:麵茶;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:mī-tê) is a sweet snack made withwheat flour and seasoned with sugar and sesame seeds.[1]
Seasoned oily flour mush (Chinese:油茶;pinyin:yóuchá;lit. 'oil tea') is a variety of seasoned flour mush made by stir-frying, or sometimes pan-frying, the flour with animal fat, typically beef fat. Beefbone marrow may also be added. After frying, it is served in the same manner as seasoned flour mush.
Traditionally,chatang vendors were easily distinguished by the kettle they used. The kettle was extremely large, up to four feet tall with a diameter in excess of a foot, and was often made of copper. There are two kinds of kettles: those used by street vendors, and those found in restaurants and tea houses. The two differ in internal structure.
The kettles used by street vendors are double-layered, with fuel in the inner layer in the center and water in the outside layer, similar tosamovars. The advantage of such a structure is that it reduces the need to carry a stove to heat the water in the kettle, and it improves fuel efficiency since most heat is utilized, in contrast to the use of a separate kettle and stove. Furthermore, in the windy weather conditions of northern China, such a structure prevents the flame from being blown out by the wind.
Despite the two varieties of kettles' identical external appearance, the complex structure of the kettles used by street vendors is not present for those used in restaurants and tea houses, for obvious reasons: since the stove is located inside, it is immune to the windy weather outside and stoves are necessary to cook other dishes, so there is no need to pay extra for a more expensive kettle with such a complex structure.
The different ways of serving seasoned flour mush have some cultural significance in distinguishingBeijing cuisine fromTianjin cuisine, since the same kind of seasoned flour mush tastes identical. Traditionally, the styles of serving were clearly different when the hot water is poured from the kettle:
The way hot water was poured inBeijing cuisine consisted of the server standing straight up, with legs spread apart greater than shoulder-width, while the upper body leaned toward the bowl. In contrast, the way hot water was poured inTianjin cuisine involved the server being in asemi-squatting down position with body straight. Obviously, such a feat is rather dangerous, especially without any specialized training, and thus the special kettle has been phased out as modern technology enables the dish to be served like coffee, and the use of a kettle only survives in extremely rare occasions as a cultural heritage demonstration.
