Chapter 235

Director Cui arrived at the small courtyard just as Madam Ling was finishing her sesame flatbreads. Golden, toasted sesame flatbreads were piled into a small mound, their steaming heat carrying an enticing aroma that, caught in the cross-breeze, drifted straight toward one's nose. Unlike the flatbreads popular throughout Chang'an City, the filling in Madam Ling’s version consisted of dried plum vegetables and minced meat. Madam Ling possessed nimble hands; she would soak the aged dried plum vegetables until they were soft and tender, mix them with a blend of fatty and lean minced meat, wrap them in thin dough, and press them into flat cakes to be seared until crispy on an iron griddle. Each bread was only the size of a palm and quite thin, making the finished product impossibly crispy and delicious.