The word "hi-bo" brings back many memories. When I was a child, it was a great yearning for my child to marry a new wife and eat wedding cakes. Marrying a daughter-in-law in rural areas is mostly arranged in winter. When people are free, they can also do the children's wedding with confidence. The sun has just risen in the morning and the fog has not dispersed. The crisp firecrackers shook off the frost on the branches of Sophora japonica. "Hurry up, the new wife to kang! Let's see the bride! " Several children roared and ran over. Women in twos and threes came to the alley. They greeted the people in the street loudly and talked and laughed with each other. They are always followed by a few children with clear noses, wearing tiger hats and small cotton boots, dressed up completely new. Look at those women. They are holding a wicker basket covered with a new towel in their arms. Some people are holding a wooden tray covered with a bright new towel. There are often many people in the family, but they don't pay for gifts when they go to dinner. This basket and tray are filled with snow-white noodles, which is a remarkable symbol of eating wedding banquets in the old society. It is an ancient custom that people will give these white flour to their families when they enter the door. These noodles are called "jiaozi noodles". Before the arrival of a new wife, local people will eat jiaozi and have a big meal at noon. Take jiaozi noodles with you when you eat. Actually, there are only two Jin of noodles. I think people at that time wasted a lot of flour on wedding banquets because they were poor. Bringing some noodles to the host family is a great help to every family. People who often eat wedding banquets will not come home empty-handed. In that basket or tray, there will be four or six cakes engraved with the word "double happiness" and inlaid with two red dates, commonly known as "like fire".
Speaking of eating wedding banquets, there are not many delicious things in my mind. That snack is sweet and doesn't like to eat; A few pieces of fat in the buckle bowl on that table make my eyes dizzy; Tofu doesn't like it, vermicelli doesn't like it. When others are feasting, I have lost my appetite with chopsticks, and I can only add a few cold dishes at most. Eating such a wedding banquet is simply a kind of pain. What I like best is the bread in my hand. "Bobo" is actually another name for steamed bread. Bobo is handmade steamed bread. Little red dot on the steamed bread looks like Zhu Shazhi, a beautiful woman's eyebrows. Red is beautiful against white. Hold it in your hand, but you can't bear to eat it. Come closer and sniff hard with your nose. Ah! This is a kind of My Sweetie with a little fermented acid, with the intoxicating taste of wheat flour!
In the past, weddings were held in the countryside, unlike now, when banquets were arranged and the host family led the guests to sit in the restaurant, everything was fine. Save trouble and worry. There are weddings, funerals, building houses and other major events in the countryside, and you have to kill pigs and sheep and hold banquets yourself. It takes a lot of white steamed bread to entertain so many guests. These steamed buns must be steamed in advance to do business.
Whoever builds a house, marries a daughter-in-law, and holds a funeral will steam steamed bread. Housewives are very concerned about these things. They ask each other. When the host family steamed buns, they told each other that the neighbors had come. The hut was crowded with women. The room is full of people who make noise, vomit and laugh. People who like smoking pass cigarettes to each other. A striking match lit several cigarettes in a row, and people smoked comfortably, but they could not forget to talk.
The noodles were made in advance, and several large earthen pots occupied the kang with great momentum. Fermented noodles are soft, like a pool of mud without bones and muscles. "come on Who will know you! " "I will do it!" "I will ..." After saying his word, several young daughter-in-law quickly got on the kang and knelt beside the big earthen basin, rubbing their faces with their hands. Steamed bread becomes delicious in the effort of kneading dough, which requires effort. Whoever has great strength will have extra strength when kneading dough, and steamed bread tastes chewy. When the flour is fermented, the corresponding alkaline flour should be prepared first, and the steamed bread with proper pH is delicious. Add alkaline water to the fermented noodles, add dry flour and knead vigorously. Such a big basin of noodles can't be made without hard work. Look at the kneading man, his fists clenched, his arms waving, his whole body slightly undulating, and in a short time, his forehead was already sweating. Look at the strength when kneading, and the dough feels good. It's just right to hold hands without touching your face! Noodles are sticky, short alkali, and steamed bread is sticky and not delicious; My face is in my hand. That's too much alkaline noodles, and the steamed bread is yellow. Therefore, the kung fu in hand determines whether the steamed bread is delicious or not, which is also a kind of technical work. You see, they are so skilled that they really let you learn, but you really can't learn for a while. The dough gradually became a ball, and the sweat of the young wives also flowed down. The people waiting next to him immediately gathered around, took out the dough from the basin and kneaded it into small pieces. At this time, the panel is full of kneading hands, but they are experts in making rice balls and steamed buns. Look at the dough. Smooth and shiny, no longer rough in the basin. People are talking and laughing and in a hurry. This ugly dough suddenly turned into a small white and delicate steamed bun. They stood in rows on the white cloth, as neat as a queue waiting for inspection. Steam steamed bread, cover it with a cloth to wake it up for a while, so that it tastes good when steamed.
The fire by the stove caught fire. When the water in the pot is boiled, put the steamed buns into the pot one by one, cover the pot cover and buckle the earthen pot on it. After a while, the steam curled up and the earthen basin became hot. The owner will habitually touch it with his hands. The hot steam rose slowly, covering the whole roof, like layers of clouds, and refused to disperse for a long time. Experienced women don't look at the clock, just guess that the steamed bread is cooked and stop fighting. After about ten minutes, it's time to boil. The lid of the pot was neatly lifted. Wow! What a beautiful white doll. It's glowing white, and the smell of naturally fermented sweet noodles permeates the whole room. Let the steamed bread cool and pour it into the big dustpan in the house. So some people eat it, and it needs a lot of steaming! The kang has been burning hot for a long time, so it needs to be swept. Lying on it at night, where can I sleep!
In the past, when people were poor, what could fill their stomachs was the cake of sorghum rice flour and corn flour, and once again, it was the corn head of sweet potato powder. What impressed me the most was that when I lifted the lid, a air billow from My Sweetie went straight into my nose, and a pot of steaming black sweet potato noodles was steamed and steamed. I didn't want to see it again. This is probably the worst food in my memory. As for this white flour cake, it is the food we yearn for very much, so I will look forward to the New Year, build a house and marry a wife, so that I can eat it.
In my memory, the days of steaming steamed bread are mostly happy. Because every Spring Festival, my mother will lead the whole family to steam steamed bread and carve flowers. How tempting those pasta are! Parents will steam steamed buns on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, and put them into half a big jar after cooling. You can't move around in that tank at ordinary times. You are not allowed to take it out unless it is a holiday. Children are always greedy. When their parents are away, we will secretly open the cylinder head, take out a small noodle flower and secretly run to a place where no one is eating. The flower is cold, and a bite will be a waste. I dare not swallow it in my mouth for a long time, for fear that the sweet feeling will disappear instantly. Chew enough, all sexual things are eliminated into the stomach, and then sincerely sigh: white flour cake is really delicious! How many years, when I think of the scene at that time, the sweet and fragrant happiness is still clear and unforgettable!
When I was a child, it was easy to watch adults steam steamed buns. If you really want to do it yourself, you still have a long way to go. My sister next door can steam steamed buns when she is a teenager. I envy her. The aunt next door will often instill in me: the girl is old and can't cook. How can she find her husband's family? This kind of worry implies that I must learn to cook and steam steamed bread, which is the standard that I must meet as a married woman. My mother and my second sister usually do odd jobs such as cooking and cooking at home. I've always been a student, and then I teach, and it's never my turn to do the work at home. I was seventeen when I steamed steamed steamed bread for the first time. That year, my first steamed bread was really a success! What an unforgettable day it was! One evening that summer, a hurricane blew the world into darkness. My parents didn't come back from working in the fields. I practice steaming steamed bread at home. When I opened the big pot cover with trepidation, the full dough was instantly displayed in front of my eyes, and I was not surprised at all. I didn't expect to succeed once! At this time, it was dark outside and I couldn't see my fingers. A gust of wind blew, so I quickly covered the pot. I'm worried about my parents. Are they still working in the fields? Can't you go home? That kind of darkness is really terrible ... when it gets dark, the stove will be covered with dust, and look at my steamed bread, which is more or less stained with dust. Although the steamed bread bitten in my mouth that day was a bit awkward, it was praised and encouraged by my family.
After marriage, I have been insisting on steaming steamed buns myself, but the steaming technology has not improved. Either there is too much alkali or too little alkali. I remember once steaming steamed bread with too much alkali. I helplessly looked at the steamed bread that had turned yellow before the pot was cooked. Suddenly, I used my quick wits: since the pH of steamed bread is suitable, I might as well put some vinegar in the water. What will it be like? Keep your promise. I picked up the vinegar bottle and poured it several times. The steamed bread has come up. I don't believe it. I took a peek. I can't help being ecstatic. Not bad! Wait until the pot is ready. Steamed buns are all white and bright, not to mention eating them. They look so comfortable! Really touched the doorway, steamed bread craft is ok, but lazy. Steaming steamed bread is changed to buying steamed bread, and the available steamed bread can't taste the original steamed bread. I can't find that kind of power, that kind of porcelain, that kind of fragrance!
Today, I went shopping in Bai Yan. Passing through the pasta group on the first floor, I saw all kinds of pasta: flower rolls, oil cakes, big cakes, pies, biscuits with various fillings, hand-carved florets, celery buns, pumpkin buns, millet buns and black rice buns. ...
Looking at these noodles, my eyes suddenly lit up! A different kind of kindness came to mind again, remembering the past years, and kneading steamed bread by hand came. The sweetness of steamed bread fills my taste buds again. Ah, the laughter in the room, my father lit the fire, my mother was busy by the stove, and I was carrying an upside-down bowl with red paint at the bottom. The thick fog hung over the roof and refused to disperse for a long time. Mother quickly picked up the steamed bread and put it on the curtain, so I dipped a chopstick in the paint at the bottom of the bowl, and the craftsman gently touched the steamed bread ... a little, a little ... The steamed bread dangled in front of me, like an auspicious doll, and the eyebrows burned red. ...