Snack Attack: Can These Meat Pies Bring Good Luck?
Snack Attack is your weekly guide to the sometimes flavorful, sometimes smelly, sometimes odd munchies to be had in the capital.
A 肉饼 ròubǐng is a good snack indeed. And while they come in a variety of sizes – from flat as a pancake to puffed and tall – Beijing is known for one roubing in particular, the 门钉肉饼 méndīng ròubǐng.
Named mending – doornail in English – for its similarity to the large ornamental doornails that decorate imperial buildings in Beijing, the pie can be traced to the Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that it was created for the Dowager Cixi herself (although it seems like she was too preoccupied with court intrigue to comment on whether she liked them or not).
Little morsel of meaty goodness or doornail lookalike? You decide!
The thing is, since the pies resemble imperial doornails in shape and color – they've usually got a golden tinge to them – and since rubbing these doornails can allegedly give one good luck, by extension, eating a mending roubing can give one a bit of luck as well.
Be they lucky or not, mending roubing up the ante on meaty goodness. They're small in stature, characterized by a thin exterior which, when bitten into, reveals an interior of ground beef and onions. It's savory throughout, and in many ways it's a bit like a larger version of Shanghai's 生煎 shēngjiān – albeit with a little less juice.
Bite in for a juicy, savory experience like no other
These can be found pretty much everywhere around the capital, but below is a list of three spots where you can get your mending roubing fix – and perhaps a bit of good luck as well.
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Images: Vincent R. Vinci
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