Egg Roll
One of 2 entries · Jennifer 8. Lee — The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
The egg roll — a thick wheat-flour wrapper filled with cabbage, pork, and vegetables, deep-fried until golden and crispy — is a Chinese-American creation with no direct Chinese ancestor. Chinese *chūn juǎn* (spring rolls) use a thinner, crispier wrapper and different fillings; the American egg roll uses a thicker, bubbly, doughier wrapper that produces a distinctly different product. The egg roll became a standard item at every Chinese-American takeout and is one of the most widely consumed fried foods in America. It is the appetiser that precedes General Tso's, the snack that accompanies chop suey, and the portable food that is eaten cold from the refrigerator the next morning.
A large (12-15cm) cylindrical roll with a thick, bubbly, golden-brown fried wheat wrapper enclosing a filling of finely shredded cabbage, ground pork (or shrimp), shredded carrot, and sometimes bean sprouts, celery, or mushrooms. The wrapper should be crispy and blistered on the outside, slightly chewy within. The filling should be moist but not wet. Served with hot mustard (the sharp, nasal-clearing Chinese-American mustard) and sweet-and-sour sauce (or duck sauce).
1) The filling must be cooked and cooled before wrapping — raw filling releases moisture during frying, making the wrapper soggy. 2) The wrapper is sealed with a flour-water paste — any gap allows oil to enter and the filling to escape. 3) Fry at 175°C until deeply golden — 3-4 minutes, turning once.
The Chinese-American egg roll is to Chinese spring rolls what Italian-American meatballs are to Italian *polpette* — a diaspora product that has diverged so far from its ancestor that it is its own thing. Acknowledging this is not a criticism; it is a recognition that diaspora cuisines create genuinely new foods.
Jennifer 8. Lee — The Fortune Cookie Chronicles