A gilded, tile-shaped fried pastry from Xinzhou — each piece built from pure egg yolks, fine sugar, and wheat flour, deep-fried to a clean golden snap and pressed into its arched form while still hot from the oil.
Xinzhou tile crisps have been made in the city's oven-food workshops since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties — local records claim more than six hundred years of production history, though early written documentation is sparse. The dish gained its most celebrated name in 1900, when Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu, fleeing Beijing after the Boxer Uprising, passed through Xinzhou on their westward journey. A local official presented crisps made by master Wang Fenglong of Mahui Town; Cixi, pleased, bestowed the name 'Dragon-Phoenix Tile Crisp'. This episode is corroborated by multiple Xinzhou local records and oral histories. The originating workshop's own records are no longer extant, so the six-hundred-year figure is held as tradition.
A thin golden arc that shatters at the first bite — the crack is crisp and clean, followed by a warm, eggy sweetness and a faint caramel finish; the dough practically dissolves on the tongue without clinging.
Egg yolks contain around thirty percent lecithin by dry weight — a naturally amphiphilic emulsifier whose hydrophilic and hydrophobic ends stabilise fat and water in the dough into a fine, uniform dispersion. At 160-170 degrees Celsius during frying, water trapped in the dough flashes to steam, expanding into fine pores that give the crisp its characteristic snap. Simultaneously, reducing sugars in the dough react with amino acids from the egg protein via the Maillard reaction, generating hundreds of heterocyclic compounds responsible for the golden colour and toasted aroma. Pressing the freshly fried strip over a curved mold while still hot locks the arched tile shape as the interlayer oil crystallises on cooling.
Variations
Some Xinzhou households omit the mold-pressing step, producing flat rectangular crisps rather than arched tiles. A sesame variant dusts the strips with sesame seeds before frying. Commercial production sometimes substitutes whole-egg powder for fresh yolks, reducing cost but dulling the rich yellow colour and eggy aroma.
On the Palate
Where Xinzhou Tile Crisp sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 20How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Separate eggs carefully, keeping only the yolks in a large bowl. No white should contaminate the yolks — even a small amount causes excessive bubbling during frying. Whisk yolks until smooth and slightly lightened in colour.
Watch outKeep every trace of white out of the yolks — even a little makes the dough bubble up wildly when it fries.
- 25 min
Add caster sugar to the yolks and whisk until fully dissolved. Pour in half the cooking oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick and pale.
- 310 min
Sift flour onto a clean work surface and make a well in the centre. Add the yolk mixture; mix from the inside out with fingertips. Add remaining oil gradually while kneading to form a smooth, moderately firm dough. Do not overwork.
- 410 min
Roll the dough to a uniform 3 mm thickness. Cut into strips approximately 10 cm long and 4 cm wide.
- 55 min
Press each strip firmly into a tile-shaped mold — or use the back of a curved spoon — to impress the outline. Release from the mold.
- 610 min
Heat oil in a deep pan to 160-170 degrees Celsius. Fry the dough pieces in batches, turning once, for 3-4 minutes until deep golden on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain briefly.
Watch outFry at a hundred sixty to a hundred seventy degrees until deep golden both sides, then drape hot over a dowel to set the arched tile shape as it cools.
- 710 min
While still hot, lay each piece over a smooth wooden dowel or the handle of a rolling pin and press gently to set the arched tile shape. Cool completely on a rack; the shape hardens as the oil crystallises.
