Anyone who has spent time in China will know that when it comes to breakfast pickings are somewhat slim. One exception to this is Jian Bing, called at times the Chinese pancake and the Chinese crepe. These are both misnomers in many respects.
Is Jianbing the Best Chinese Breakfast?
So, few would argue that Chinese lunches are great and Chinese dinners and indeed Chinese cuisine is one of the best in the world. Ironically the United Kingdom is the complete opposite of this…
For the Chinese and breakfast it is almost like that did not try. One option of course is congee, or as it is also known cruel. Fun fact I was once on a flight from New Zealand to China, I was one of 3 non-Chinese people on the flight. The breakfast options were congee, or English breakfast. By the time they got to me only congee was left. I really did lose my shit! You see that shows that even Chinese people will not pick it as an option against an English breakfast. Phew, I do digress somewhat….
I will later do an article on Chinese breakfast dishes, but for now I will just list a few other options. The include flowery bread without any flavor served with soy milk (even KFC offer this), bean drink type soup that is sweet, but not sweet enough and sometimes even fish dishes. This is not cool man.
I mean I could really go on, but now is not the time. Now is the time to talk about Jianbing – THE best breakfast in all of China.
Jian Bing vs Ji Dan Bing – what are they?
From the early morning to 12 at the very latest you will see street vendors preparing both Jian Bing and Ji Dan Bing, both of which are pretty much basically the same.
The dish consists of the following, a pancake made from wheat and grain flower, eggs which are cooked into the pancake (if I must), sauces and then a crispy cracker type thing is added, ideally with a cheap Chinese sausage and some spicy sauce.
I have read that there are lots of variants, which include adding hoisin sauce alongside a bunch of other things, but the classic sides are scallions, thin cut potatoes and carrots. Ham can be used in exchange of the sausage, although this is Chinese processed ham, not exactly Canadian bacon.
How do you make Jian Bing?
The pancake batter is put on a huge street food hotplate. Of course it can also be done with a saucepan, but I have not seen this. As the pancake is made the egg is pad through to cook with it. It is then turned over before the big crispy cracker and the other ingredients you desire are added. Its then folded twice form both sides to produce the dish.
This is then served to usually within a bag where you pretty much just munch away to your hearts content. And how much does a Jian Bing cost? Back in the day like 40 cents, but nowadays perhaps 80 cents, or RMB 6 – at least in Xian.
And while there are “many variations”, the two most famous are the Shandong-style jianbing, who because they invented it get all adventurous and add shit like pork. The main thing though is that they claim to have started the trend thousands of years ago.
Then there is the Jianbing guozi of Tianjin, another city that has been practicing the art for thousands of years. They use mung bean flour to make a pancake with less gluten, as well as adding a feed dough stick, rather than the big fried cracker.
So where has the best Jian Bing pancake in all of China?
As a very old Chinese dish there is a real artiness to making Jianbing that means that in almost every place you find it, which is pretty much everywhere, it is not only a little unique, but there are vendors with different styles and indeed popularity.
Shen it comes to the best place you can get it, obviously Shandong and Tianjin would both claim their place. For me personally though I ate so much of this when I was teaching in Xian that I will also think of the city when I even see it.
The best though that I personally have had is outside of Dandong Train Station and the Dante Hotel on my way to North Korea. This is for a myriad of reasons, but to name but a few! Firstly Dandong gets cold, so when we would arrive here in the snow on our way to North Korea these were life giving for thir warmth and sustinace. And secondly? They taste better than any I have tried before or since in all of China! Psychosomatic maybe? Perhaps….