Ingredients
- A wheat bun, usually from a griddle
- Pork, or beef in many Muslim shops
- A spice brew of star anise, cinnamon, and chili
- Cumin, often
- Sometimes green chili or cilantro
How it is cooked
- Meat is braised for a long time until it can be chopped, not sliced into steaks.
- The bun is split and toasted on the cut side.
- The meat and its jelly are packed in. Too little meat is the failure mode.
- Eat it at once. The bread goes tough as it sits.
Taste
Spiced, salty, and rich, with a bread that should crack a little. Cumin and chili are the Shaanxi signature. A halal shop’s beef version is a different and equally serious sandwich.
Possible allergens
- Wheat in the noodles or wrappers, and often in soy sauce.
- Soy sauce, which in China is often brewed with wheat.
- Pork or beef. Ask which.
- The spice is not peanut, but chili oil in the shop may be.
- A shared wok or a house chili oil can add peanut, sesame, or shellfish even when the recipe does not.