Fan’s Cured Meat in Pancakes (a sort of sandwich) is one of the traditional Shaanxi delicacies . In fact they are pancakes made of high-quality wheat flour stuffed with cured meat . The popular name among the local people’s “pancakes in cured meat”. If you call them “pancakes with cured meat ,” the native would consider it awkward and laughable .
Cured meat bears a long history in China . Researches prove that “Zi” out of the “Eight Treasures of the Zhou Dynasty” recorded in “The Rites of the Zhou Dynasty” refers exactly to cured meat . Fan’s cured meat apeared in Xi’an a long time ago , and there is a story about it .
In the Tang Dynasty , an official called “Fan” lived in Eastern Chang’an . Once he helped those flood-stricken refugees from Southern Shaanxi with his grain storage , and financed a young man when his mother died . The years later, this young man became wealthy through his cured meat business . To show his gratitude, he went to Fan’s 80th birthday with an intricately built coffin made of Chinese prickly ash wood . In the coffin there hid cured meat made of 250 kg of lean meat . Since there were many guests on the day Fan did not take any notice of the coffin . The coffin was put in the storage house . Ten years later Fan was deprived of his offical post and died of illess . The family had no means of making a living but sell property . At last , they found the coffin in the small house . When the family opende it , there was the aromatic and freshly looking cur meat ! Mrs. Fan sent some of it for sale in the market , and it was well received . The new spreas quickly . More people rushed to the family for the meat . Mrs. Fan put some fresh meat into the juice . The newly cooked cured meat was just as delicious . Then the Fans ran a store to sell cured meat and its fame went apace . Later , during the reign of Emperor Guang Xu in the Qing Dynasty , Fan Bingren , the father , and Fan Fengxiang , the son , both descendants of the Fans , came from Lantian to Xi’an and opened their cured meat store . After some improvement was made upon the traditional techniques , their store surpassed all the others in the same trade .
In the year 1989 , Fan’s Cured Meat in Pancakes won the “Gold Tripod Prize”awarded by National Business Ministry .