When devouring a jianbing, the biggest question usually is – just what is that crispy thing in the middle? In Tianjin guozi (果子) is used – usually translated as a Chinese doughnut (youtiao 油条) – but the youtiao recipes were very intimidating. Plus you need a large vat of oil to properly fry the doughnut, leaving youtiao up to the professionals, methinks.
Lucky for us, we quizzed our favorite jianbing vendor at the east gate of Tsinghua University and discovered jianbing crisps are much easier. She proudly displays a little handwritten sign on the side of her cart: “Self-fried fritter (zizha baocui 自 炸薄脆).” How does one create a fritter? Her answer: she goes to a wonton wrapper vendor, who cuts extra-large wonton skins for her. She heats up super-hot oil then lightly drops the wrapper on the oil (“就烫一下”), whereupon it bursts into this lovely, airy confection.… READ MORE | 12 Comments