Wuzhen Gusao pancake

Gusao pancake has been produced in Wuzhen for at least hundreds of years. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 20 - Local Products in Wuqing Town Annals revised by Wuzhen's subprefect Dong Shining and subsequently revised by Lu Xuepu, has its "biographies": "They were printed into round pancakes using extremely fine wheat flour, sugar, and sesame seeds, pepper, salt, white sugar, with sweet and moist taste, and are famous from afar and near." Speaking of their origins, there is a story:

More than a hundred years ago, there was a family surnamed Fang in Wuzhen Town. The couple opened a "Tianshun Cake Shop". Due to their low capital, they couldn't afford to open a workshop, so they had to sell ordinary pastries from big workshop to make a living. Later on, the couple gave birth to a boy and a girl, so this small business was no longer enough to support the whole family. The couple used their brains to expand their business. They saw the ingredients for the crisp candy made in the big workshop: refined fine ingredients, stirred fried flour, boiled white sugar, shelled sesame seeds, and boiled lard, which were carefully stirred, steamed, and pressed into small pastries by templates. This type of cake, roughly similar in raw materials to crispy candy, is loved by customers as soon as it is launched due to its exquisite production and easy to eat. Later, their business was on the up-and-up. By the time their son got married, this small pastry shop had already expanded into two storefronts.

The owner of Tianshun pastry shop knew in his heart that business could thrive only through exclusive operation. For this reason, they established strict confidentiality regulations: They personally prepared ingredients, made them by themselves, and did not lend tools. Their production method was only passed on to the son and daughter-in-law, not to the girl. Althrough the production method was preserved, but the family was no longer harmonious. The daught was not convinced. She thought that she was the biological daughter, but she was not allowed to learn. Dad was too unfair! The girl was even more jealous of her sister-in-law because she was afraid her father, so she had to vent her anger towards her sister-in-law. Once, after waiting for her sister-in-law to leave, the girl hurriedly went to the stove to grab a handful of salt and mixed it in the pile of powder made by my sister-in-law. She thought that this time her sister-in-law made a cake that tasted salty. Let's see if my dad would teach her how to make it in the future!! However, after the small pastry made this time was sold, customers were all praising it, saying that the small pastry was both fragrant and sweet with a hint of salt, and particularly delicious. In this way, the small pastry not only gained a good reputation in Wuzhen, but also spread to other towns. The business of Tianshun pastry shop is even more prosperous. In order to attract business, the shop owner took advantage of the situation and increased the publicity, stating that it was made by two cooperative ingredients from his family's girl and sister-in-law. He changed the name of the cake to "Gusao pancake", so Wuzhen's Gusao pancake became famous like this.

Later, the store became larger and larger, and four gates in Wuzhen opened branches. Girls and sister-in-law were no longer angry with each other, and they worked together to make Gusao pancake. This small dim sum became the most famous cake in Wuzhen.