On day 4 of our wanderings through Beijing we rounded a corner toward a lake when suddenly we were confronted with a long line of women. All jostling one another to get closer to the front, gripping their plastic bags and parasols. At the front of the line was a man, slowly, methodically, working a giant crepe pan. From what I could see (being slightly taller then the average Chinese) he was cracking eggs, smearing batter and wrapping something up into edible packages. I knew I needed one of those packages. If there is a line waiting to eat something, I always get into that line.
But, as fate would have it, as I wandered to the back of the line I encountered a pickle vendor. Anyone who knows me that I hold pickles above most other foods. He had a long counter filled with yellow, brown, orange, green, and black pickled things. Again the language barrier didn't work in my favor, but I was offered a few samples of the mystery pickles. They were all delicious! Deep, fermented flavors with a bright tang. Ahh to be a pickle master. I totally forgot about the mystery crepe.
Take a look - see anything YOU recognize?
As luck would have it, the next morning at 5am we were boarding a public bus to go to the Great Wall of China. At the front door of the bus was a food cart making those crepes! The line wasn't as long, so for a dollar, I soon had one in my hands.
First, the cook smoothed crepe batter over the hot plate, then cracked too eggs on it and spread them around. Added green onions and cilantro and flipped it over. On the other side she brushed soy and chili oil and then added what I think is pork crackling, but may have been crispy dough.
Then folded and flipped it all up into a handheld sandwich. It was AMAZING! Steaming hot, spicy, crunchy and eggy. It started the day off well! If only we knew what it was called! Any readers know the name of this?
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