Central Plains Food Notes: Breakfast Volume II

8. Sugar Cakes Sugar cakes are dangerously powerful. Only the truly brave, the ones who know exactly what they're doing to their own taste buds, will order one for breakfast. Stalls fry all kinds of dough, but this is the one stuffed with brown sugar or white sugar, crisp on the outside and pillowy within. Take a bite and the syrupy center spills out, thick as honey. In that instant, right in the middle of the morning rush, everything seems to go quiet, like a grand explosion happening in silence for you alone. There's nothing else quite like it.

9. Youtiao At any breakfast stall, youtiao carries itself with real dignity. Unlike pan-fried buns, which shine brightest beside hulatang, youtiao tastes great on its own and pairs with just about any soup. Hulatang, tofu pudding, firm tofu pudding, or doumo, a golden, glass-crisp stick of youtiao will always stroll up to your table and make you realize what your meal was missing.

10. Youmo Youmo is a common wheat pastry, and every region has its own way of making it. In the Central Plains, the dough is mixed with chopped huajiao leaves and scallions, brushed with oil, then kneaded again and again. More oil, more kneading, until it builds up layers. People aren't so different. When hardship comes one after another, someone always ends up crying with you, and those tears somehow help things go down easier. And somehow, you get through. That's why youmo is so good: a lightly crisp, slightly firm outside, and soft, fluffy layers within. Each layer carries a gentle saltiness, and it's delicious.

11. Youmotou Youmotou and youmo are another pair that sound alike but couldn't be more different. If anything, youmotou is like a smaller cousin of youtiao. Youtiao has big airy pockets inside and a delicate, crisp golden "skirt" along the outside. Youmotou is more solid, more straightforward. No choice, really. When you're small and unassuming next to something that flashy, you'd better be sturdy and lean.

12. Meat Pies Meat pies are the true heavyweights of the breakfast stall. They are flat, deep-fried pockets of meat, usually darker than the other pastries and often the priciest. The reason is simple. They're stuffed with good meat and good filling. A meat pie doesn't need the fryer to shout for it. Put meat inside, and it shines on its own.

13. Vegetable Rolls Vegetable rolls are in a class of their own at the breakfast stall, thanks to their wrappers. The skin is so thin it's almost translucent. A vegetarian filling gets rolled into a long strip, then steamed. Once it's done, it looks like a snake coiled up, which is exactly where the name comes from. When you're late for school or work, it's easy to carry and filling enough to count as a real meal. And if parents want kids to eat more greens, a few made-up stories about heroes and wicked snakes help too. All in all, it's doing everyone a favor.

14. Spiced Doumo (Bean and Millet Porridge) Among the endless breakfast options, this spiced doumo stands on its own. It's a thick, yellow-green bowl simmered from soybeans and millet, with Sichuan pepper, fennel, and other aromatics. It's not as punchy as hulatang, and it's not as delicate as tofu pudding either. What holds it together is the fennel and the way the spices are balanced. There may be a thousand things to eat, but as long as a dish keeps its own unmistakable aroma, someone will always take the long way through twisting lanes just to find a bowl.

15. Xiaolongbao Kaifeng xiaolongbao, also called soup dumplings, trace their roots back to broth-filled buns from the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng. People say that among the city's seventy-two famous restaurants, Wanglou once sold "Cave Blossom Buns," crowned "Kaifeng's finest." But that's for scholars to write down and tourists to repeat. If you really want xiaolongbao, find a proper local stall. Order a bowl of millet soup first, squeeze into a gap at one of those low tables, and sit shoulder to shoulder with the locals. Then ask for a steaming basket of dumplings. Let the millet soup cool a little and sip it from the rim. Too hot and it burns. Too cool and the aroma fades, and the soup starts to set. While you wait, get ready for the real work. Unlike breakfast foods that taste the same in every bite and can be wolfed down without thinking, xiaolongbao is the most delicate thing on the stall's menu. The soup inside is scalding and fragrant. Bite too big and you'll pay for it. Bite too small and the soup, filling, and thin skin fall apart into separate mouthfuls, and that's no fun at all. Xiaolongbao takes practice. Eat enough of them, and you'll finally learn how to enjoy them properly. Millet soup might not be everyone's first choice, but anything too salty dulls the dumplings, and tofu pudding is too light. Millet soup is nearly plain yet still fragrant, with little grains that press against your tongue. That solid, honest sip makes the dumplings feel even thinner-skinned, meatier, and more beautiful. As for why it's millet and not rice, maybe it's just because that street only sells millet soup. Still, if you spot another soup, try it. You might discover something new.