Jian Bing (Street Crepe)

Name: Jian Bing (Street Crepe)
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: Makes 4 crepes
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 100 g mung bean flour (or 50 g mung bean flour and 50 g plain flour — the milder entry); 100 g plain flour; ½ tsp (2 g) salt, ½ tsp (2 g) five-spice; 350 ml cold water, or enough to a thin, pourable batter; 4 eggs; 4 tsp (20 g) hoisin sauce, 4 tsp (20 g) chilli bean sauce (doubanjiang) or chilli oil; 4 crisp fried crackers (bao cui) or a handful of fried wonton strips; 2 spring onions and 1 tbsp (5 g) coriander, chopped fine; 2 tbsp (30 ml) oil, for the griddle

Chinese · Medium · Makes 4 crepes

The northern street breakfast and the morning's own theatre: a thin mung-bean-and-flour batter swept across the hot griddle in one stroke, egg cracked and spread over, the chilli-and-bean sauce brushed on, and the crisp cracker (bao cui) folded into the soft crepe at the last second — the contrast of the soft and the shattering that the commuter eats standing. The technique is the batter's rest and the wrist's single sweep.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The batter

the milder entry)

The coating and the sauce

- The batter's rest: the flours, salt and five-spice whisked with the water to a smooth, thin batter — the consistency of thin cream, coating the whisk in a translucent veil — then rested 2 hours (or the night before) so the flours fully hydrate. The unrested batter strings and tears on the griddle; the rested one sweeps in a single stroke. - The assembly line: everything within arm's reach before the first crepe — sauces open, egg cracked and ready, spring onions in a bowl, the crackers by the spatula. The crepe's cook is 90 seconds a side, with no window for hunting.

Step 1. The sweep and the egg — 60 seconds. The griddle or wide flat pan at the medium (a droplet of batter hissing softly on contact), the surface wiped with the oiled cloth, and a ladle of batter poured on and swept in one circular stroke to a 25 cm round. The egg cracked onto the centre immediately and smeared across the whole crepe's face with the spatula's flat, the white's albumen broken as it spreads. Checkpoint — the egg-set face is matte and the crepe's underside peels freely at the spatula's nudge at 60 seconds — if the batter strings and holds, the batter is too thick; whisk in water a spoon at a time.

Step 2. The flip, the sauce and the fold — 60 seconds. The crepe flipped egg-face down for 20 seconds, flipped back, and the face brushed with hoisin and chilli sauce edge to edge. The spring onion and coriander scattered on, the cracker laid across the centre, and the whole folded in thirds over the cracker — the soft wrapping the crisp at the last motion. Checkpoint — the eating test straight from the paper: the crepe's chewy-soft, the egg's savour, the sauce's sweet-heat — and the cracker still audibly cracking inside its warm wrapping. A soft cracker means the fold waited too long. Chef’s Note — the street cook's griddle never leaves the heat, and the home cook's mistake is letting the pan recover between crepes. Cook them back to back: the first crepe seasons the pan for the second. If your pan runs hot at the medium, lift it off the burner for a five-count between crepes rather than lowering the flame — a cooling pan sweeps batter badly, a briefly lifted pan holds its season.