Egg roll
 Freshly fried egg roll with rough, bubbly outer skin | |
| Type | Chinese-American cuisine |
|---|---|
| Course | Hors d'oeuvre or side dish |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Created by | Undetermined. General belief is in New York City in the 1930s. Henry Low included an egg roll recipe in his 1938 book Cook at Home in Chinese. |
| Main ingredients | Wheat pastry skin, cabbage, pork (or other meat) |
| Egg roll | |||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 蛋卷 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "egg roll" | ||||||||||||||||
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The egg roll is a variety of deep-fried appetizer served in American Chinese restaurants. It is a cylindrical, savory roll with shredded cabbage, chopped meat, or other fillings inside a thickly-wrapped wheat flour skin, which is fried in hot oil.[1] The dish is served warm, and is usually eaten with the fingers, dipped in duck sauce, soy sauce, plum sauce, or hot mustard,[2] often from a cellophane packet.[3] Egg rolls are a ubiquitous feature of American Chinese cuisine.
Provenance of the dish
The origins of the dish are unclear and remain disputed. Egg rolls are closely related to, but distinct from, the spring rolls served in mainland China, and were first seen in the early 20th century in the United States.
Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States, has stated that the modern American egg roll was probably invented at a Chinese restaurant in New York City in the early 1930s, by one of two chefs who both later claimed credit for the creation: Lung Fong of Lung Fong's, or Henry Low of Port Arthur. According to Coe, Low's recipe, printed in a 1938 cookbook, Cook at Home in Chinese, included "bamboo shoots, roast pork, shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, salt, MSG, sugar, palm oil, and pepper," but notably did not include cabbage, which is the main filling ingredient in modern egg rolls.[4]
Egg rolls do not typically contain egg in the filling.[5] In addition to the disputed origin of the dish, it is unclear how the word "egg" appeared in the name, since the predominant flavor in American egg rolls is cabbage, not eggs. A 1979 article in The Washington Post speculated two possible theories: 1) that the word for "egg" in Chinese, (蛋, Mandarin:dàn, Cantonese:daan6), sounded similar to the word for "spring", (春, Mandarin:chūn, Cantonese:ceon1), and 2) that southern Chinese chefs relied on using eggs when trying to make thin wrapper skin from flour and water.[6] Another possible origin of the name is from a recipe for "egg roll" (also labeled as "dan gun") in the 1917 cookbook The Chinese Cook Book by Shiu Wong Chan. This recipe called for meat and vegetables rolled inside a layer of fried egg rather than a flour-based wrapper. [7]
Other varieties of rolls
While there are many types of spring rolls native to East Asia and available in authentic Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants in the United States,[8] American egg rolls are distinctive.[9] A typical "New York–style" egg roll measures approximately two inches in diameter by six inches in length, with a thick, chewy, crispy, bumpy exterior skin.[10] Egg rolls, like other Americanized Chinese food specialties,[11] may contain vegetable cultivars and flavor profiles that are not common in China,[12] including broccoli.
Restaurants that serve egg rolls occasionally also offer spring rolls as a separate menu option, and these spring rolls may be served with a cold filling wrapped in Banh trang rice paper wrappers (particularly at Vietnamese restaurants that serve both egg rolls and spring rolls as appetizers), or fried, as seen in some Thai and Chinese eateries. When fried, spring rolls served in Asian restaurants in the United States usually have a smaller diameter and a lighter, crispier skin made out of thinner sheets of wheat or rice dough.[13][14][15]
See also
References
- ^ "On the Table: The Curious Home of Gary Allen, Food Writer & Dillettante". Justserved.onthetable.us. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Egg roll condiments. - General Discussion - Eggs". Chowhound.com. 11 April 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "What to make with those leftover Chinese food condiment packets - What the heck's a bonbon?". Whateverworks.typepad.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Uncle Phaedrus, Finder of Lost Recipes". Hungrybrowser.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Copycat Takeout Egg Rolls - The Woks of Life". Thewoksoflife.com. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Davis, Melissa (25 January 1979). "Inside the Egg Roll". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "The Original Egg Roll Recipe". mashed.com. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
- ^ Santanachote, Perry (29 April 2015). "Beyond Egg Rolls: 9 Spring Rolls Everyone Should Know About". Thrillist.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Are egg rolls Chinese? (split from Ontario board) - General Discussion - Chinese". Chowhound.com. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Recipe for egg rolls (allegedly New York-style) - Home Cooking - Eggs". Chowhound.com. 4 December 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Lapetina, Adam (14 January 2014). "10 little-known historical facts about American Chinese food". Thrillist.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Egg rolls authentic flavor complete any menu with simple satisfaction". Goldentigerfoodservice.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Spring roll v Egg Roll [moved from Austin board] - General Discussion - Eggs". Chowhound.com. 30 April 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "Great Food Debate: Egg Rolls vs. Spring Rolls". Tay.kinja.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ "What Is the Difference Between Vegetable Spring Rolls & Egg Rolls?". Oureverydaylife.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
