When it comes to beef cakes, people often think that this is a dish only found in the South. But few people know that, in Hanoi's Old Quarter area, along with green bean cake with pandan leaves and nine-layer cloud cake, there is beef cake that is also considered an afternoon gift associated with many people's childhood. Introduced by people around the old town, I found the only cow-wheeled cart still for sale owned by Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Hang.
Ms. Hang lives in Hang Bun and is now nearly 50 years old. “My mother-in-law taught me the profession of making beef cakes. He sold for 40 years around town, then it was my turn to take over."
Ms. Hang shared that since she succeeded her mother-in-law, up to now, it has been nearly 26 years that she has been pushing the cart around the old town every day.
According to Ms. Hang, her husband's family is Chinese living in Hanoi's Old Quarter and made a career selling beef cakes.
Asked about the name of the cake, Ms. Hang briefly explained: "Because when the dough is fermented with yeast, the dough will crawl onto the rim of the bowl, so it's called that."
After 26 years of baking with her husband, she said this is a difficult cake to please, and must be "cherished" like a child to produce quality cakes. This cake is increasingly absent, perhaps because of that.
The rice used to make beef cake flour is 203 rice, carefully selected. Do not choose rice that is too new because when made, the cake will be sticky and not spongy. Go through the incubation process with some other ingredients, until the dough has risen, then steam it. Ms. Hang and her husband usually start making batches of beef cakes every day at around 5am. At around 12 noon, there will be cakes sold at home.
Calling beef cake a "difficult" dish because in addition to incubation techniques, there are also weather factors that affect the rise, which can make the cake dense. The surface of the cake often has many small bubbles due to the fermentation process and the release of air during steaming. Every day, Ms. Hang only makes about 8kg of beef cakes. Steaming takes about an hour and a half. However, she still steams the cake completely with a wood stove because the electric stove "doesn't help the cake rise as expected."
In addition to making beef cakes, Ms. Hang also makes green bean cakes with pandan leaves, nine-layer fruit-flavored cloud cakes or cocoa coffee. Therefore, walking around on the street, it is easy to recognize her shopping cart. A small woman, wearing a hat, slowly pushed a cart with a large, round beef cake, white as a grapefruit flower, covered with a towel. Next to it is a nine-layer cloud cake with green, red and red fruit flavors that looks very pleasing to the eye. When customers come to buy goods, Ms. Hang will flip out the cloth and skillfully use a large knife to cut the beef cake into bite-sized rectangular pieces.
At first glance, people will often think they look like dumplings. However, when I held the cake in my hand, I immediately smelled the fragrant yeast mixed with the smell of rice. Tear off a small piece of cake with your hand, put it in your mouth, and the eater will feel the softness, spongy texture, and slight chewiness. Immediately after that is the mild sour taste, mixed with a very sweet sweetness that makes anyone who eats it for the first time curious to taste the next bite.
When customers come to buy cakes, Ms. Hang cuts as many cakes as they need. They are mainly regular customers around the old town, eating from the time her mother-in-law carries the wooden tray with folding legs to the time she pushes the cart to sell. Ms. Nguyen Thu Trang (38 years old) shared that this was an afternoon gift when she was living on Phan Huy Ich street and she really liked it. She still clearly remembers that day, every child like her was looking out on the street, waiting for the lady selling beef cakes to steal her mother's ass and announce: "Who is beef cake?"
Today, amidst all the modern gifts, the light and fluffy piece of beef cake is still loved by people, perhaps not only because of its unique flavor. This is also a simple childhood gift that everyone used to eat every afternoon, standing outside the door, eagerly perking up their ears to hear the call of "someone asking for beef cakes" to ask their mother to buy them for them.
