Taizhou Maibing (Griddled Wheat Cake)
A thick round of wheat dough, plain or stuffed with dried mustard greens and pork, egg or tofu, cooked slowly on a flat iron griddle until firm and blistered, eaten by hand.
How to eat it
It comes cut into wedges or folded in paper; pick a wedge up with your hands and bite from the point. The crust is firm and the inside dense, closer to a thick flatbread than a pancake, so it takes some chewing and goes well with a bowl of soup or soy milk. Filled versions leak a little oil from the greens, so keep the paper underneath. Eat it warm, when the crust still crackles; cold maibing turns tough, though locals reheat it dry in a pan the next morning.
The story behind the dish
The hill counties behind the Taizhou coast grew wheat as a second crop, and a heavy griddle cake was the way farming families turned it into food that kept for a day and could be carried to the fields. That is the origin of maibing, whose name is simply "wheat cake". The plain version was the everyday one; stuffing it with salted dried mustard greens and fatty pork, or with egg, was for better days and is now the norm at stalls. Xianju in particular is known for its version, and the cake is still made the old way, by hand on an iron griddle over a low fire, turned several times until the outside sets.
For reference
Every kitchen does it its own way. What follows is the typical version — ingredients, heat and price shift from city to city and from one restaurant to the next, so take it as a guide rather than a fixed recipe.
If you have an allergy or something you can't eat, check with the staff before you order.