Posted on 07/12/2007 1:58:26 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Eatery closed for selling cardboard-stuffed buns
Created: 2007-7-12 12:00:26
Author:Alice Gu
BEIJING authorities yesterday closed a dim-sum restaurant that sold steamed cardboard-stuffed buns, Beijing Times reported today.
The cardboard was a substitute for pork. The restaurant owner fled and is wanted for questioning.
The raid came after the restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang District was reviewed by a local TV station a few days earlier.
The stuffing of the bun was made of cardboard and pork fat, said the TV program.
The recipe went like this: Cardboard was soaked in water and an industrial-use caustic soda, a poisonous chemical, was added. The cardboard lost its normal color and became fragile under the soda's strong causticity, making it look more like pork. Finally, pork-smell essence and pork fat were stirred into the concoction to make the stuffing more "vivid."
"It may save me almost 1,000 yuan (US$132.14) a day," said the shop owner, according to the program.
It was unclear how long the restaurant was serving the cardboard-filled dumplings.
The buns were prepared at a kitchen in nearby Taiyanggong Village to avoid people finding out. Officials with the Zuojiazhuang Industrial and Commercial Administration closed down the prep kitchen yesterday.
The prep-kitchen's landlord is being questioned, said the Beijing Times report.
Chaoyang District's Industrial and Commercial Administration said it will inspect the district's 58 dim-sum restaurants soon.
Pork prices in 36 major cities nationwide continued to rise last month due to a supply shortage.
Pig leg was sold at 19.56 yuan per kilogram on average in June, jumping 12.3 percent from May, and continuing April's upward trend, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
he must have sold a lot of it to save $132/ day vs. real pork.
If you do it with the right amount, the sodium hydroxide reacts completely with the cardboard leaving no alkali taste.
Foods, other than cardboard, processed with NaOH include lutefisk, grits, pretzels, and olives.
Ingredient in some ice creams: 'Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose', which is prepared by treating cellulose with alkali and monochloroacetic acid. Used as a stabiliser.
According to this website: Link
I usually soak mine in baking soda. It’s safer.
Yuck.
(Long-time Houston residents will probably know what I'm referring to)
ping
Aha!! So THAT was the stuff, and not saltpeter, they secretly fed us in boot camp!!! :)
Besides the buns being cardboard, would you look at the unsanitary conditions of that kitchen! The man making the buns has no shirt on and he could have a lot of hair on his chest, or under arm hair that could fall into the “buns.” Top right photo shows a person with bare feet and the floor littered with trash. A restaurant in the US who did that would be closed down in two seconds.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.