? Sesame oil is golden in color, fragrant and soft in taste, and has become a favorite food for many people in our region. Before the 1980 s, it was the most wanted food for adults and children here. In childhood, we felt that eating sesame oil was the best enjoyment in the world, and sesame oil became a luxury in our childhood. Eating sesame oil every day makes us feel the happiest life in the world.
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? In my childhood memory, I can only eat sesame oil three or two times a year, both on important days of holidays. "No matter how poor you are, you can't be poor for the New Year", which is the wish of most people. On New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, many villagers will sit in the oil pan and cook a long-awaited delicious meal to let people enjoy the happiness and joy brought by the festival. Every household burns a frying pan, and the oil is fragrant, and the fragrance of sesame oil will diffuse in the streets and alleys of the village and float over the village. Walking in the streets, a thick and fragrant aroma will get into people's nostrils, linger on the nose, stir people's hearts and penetrate people's spleen. The fragrant smell stimulates my taste buds and I can't wait to come at noon.
? Although sesame oil is delicious, there are still many stresses on making sesame oil that can arouse appetite. Not only should we master the heat, but we should also operate the noodles in place and stir them evenly. Therefore, not everyone can make sesame oil into people's favorite food. There are many ways to make sesame oil. In our local area, the most common thing is to dry the boiling water thoroughly. When it dries for a while, dip your fingers in water and estimate the water temperature. When it feels lukewarm, it is close to human body temperature, which is equivalent to about 37℃. Put 1 to 2g of alkaline noodles into water, then sprinkle flour into the water and keep stirring. When I was a child, I especially loved watching my mother cook, especially making sesame oil, a delicious food. I will pay attention to every detail of her cooking. Sometimes I will help my mother stir the dough, participate in the cooking process and enjoy the cooking. After stirring for a while, let the noodles wake up for a while, and then stir again. Repeat this many times until you can pick the noodles tall, long and angular with chopsticks. In the process of stirring, circular bubbles keep bulging, and the bubble film is as thin as cicada's wings, delicate and lubricated. Even if the first process is completed, it is just waiting to be cooked in the oil pan. There are two shapes of sesame oil: strips and balls. Most of the long strips are given as gifts, because they look ostentatious in a bowl and make relatives feel proud. Most of the small spherical ones are eaten at home. To burn oil and sesame seeds, burn the oil red, pick up a small piece of dough with chopsticks and put it in the oil pan. Only heard a splash, boiling oil foam churned in the pot, the dough expanded rapidly, became round and smooth, white and fat, and the bulging belly rippled in the pot. The function of edible oil and sesame requires crispness. Pay attention to the color change of oil and sesame while copying the dough into the oil pan. When it reaches a certain temperature, it should rotate properly. When the oil and sesame turn golden, they can be cooked.
For farmers who have lived in the countryside for a long time and lived on the land, it is rare to eat delicious food like oil and sesame several times a year, and they all value it in their hearts. When cooking this dish, everyone is thinking about their dead relatives, virtual immortals. The oil is out of the pot, so the family can't eat it first, and the children are no exception. First of all, I would like to respectfully dedicate it to all the immortals and the late grandparents. Children should learn to kneel and kowtow behind adults and show piety to God and ancestors. Only after that can we children get permission from adults to eat a long-lost meal with an open stomach. Eating fragrant oil and hemp, thirsty for chopped green onion and egg soup, with a pleasant smile on his face.
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? When we were young, we often saw that others had a sense of envy when they ate sesame oil, and we thought to ourselves, what a happy enjoyment it is to eat a big meal of sesame oil! But think about it. I don't know when I can really eat such delicious food. I may have to wait until the Lunar New Year. Decades ago, in rural areas, people gathered in rice fields for three meals a day. The meals were varied, but the level was low, and they were all made of corn and millet. Usually you can see some craftsmen, doing craft work with oil and hemp. Some of them repair houses for farmers, while others make furniture for farmers. According to our local custom, the host will cook fried rice for the craftsman for three days and entertain the craftsman's master. When I was young, I felt that being a craftsman was also a good craft, which could not only earn money, but also eat a good meal. Who else's son has said that he is a good daughter-in-law and will cook some good dishes to entertain the matchmaker like a horse, so that he can try his best to convince the other party with good words. In addition, when important guests come home, they will be treated to a good meal, such as oil and sesame seeds. For example, an elderly father or mother who has lived in her daughter's house for a period of time and has no better food for the elderly often cooks a meal of oil and sesame seeds for the elderly to satisfy their enjoyment of food. Especially the daughter-in-law who hasn't gone through the door came to her husband's house for the first time, and brought several sisters-in-law or entourage, which is called Xiang's house in our local area. In order to show sincerity to the daughter-in-law, the husband's family should be treated with the highest standard of courtesy. Besides giving money and things, they also have to cook the best food, and sesame oil is the best food that can be taken out. Sesame oil must look good and delicious. Some people are afraid that they will lose face if they don't do well, so they have to invite relatives or neighbors who have cooked well to do it, for fear that their son's marriage will be ruined because they don't do well. When the daughter-in-law comes home for the first time, her husband's family should choose a beautiful oil and put it in a big bag for the future daughter-in-law to take back to her family. This is called counter-offer, and you can't let the guests go home empty-handed.
? In the countryside before the production responsibility system, materials were scarce, and sesame oil became the first choice gift for many families to visit patients and honor their elders. I remember visiting relatives during the Spring Festival in our childhood. When the younger generation visits the elders, they should send sesame oil, two bowls for the main elders and one bowl for the ordinary elders to show their respect for the elders. If the elder is sick, especially some dying patients, as the younger generation, you have to bring some sesame oil to visit and comfort. Sesame oil has become a common gift for people to send their elders and see patients. Oil sesame is equivalent to Mengniu, Yili and Telunsu on the market now.
You are also synonymous with your daughter. When I was a child, I heard whose daughter-in-law gave birth to a child. We often hear people ask, did your daughter-in-law give birth to a boy or a girl? If it is a girl, people will be happy to say, that's good! I gave birth to a "sesame oil" for you! You can live a better life in the future, and you can eat all kinds of oil and hemp. Because at that time, there were no dairy products, bean products and more gifts for people to choose from in the market like today's supermarkets. Mama Youa became a married daughter and a new and best gift to honor her parents.
Oil and sesame, traditional foods from the depths of history, have become memories, expectations and extravagant hopes of generations. In today's society with extremely rich materials, all kinds of foods in large and small supermarkets provide more choices for people to visit relatives and friends. People's recipes are constantly changing, and all kinds of delicious food are dazzling. The traditional grain, oil and sesame that people often talk about are gradually being diluted by contemporary people. I have never seen anyone walking down the street with a small basket full of sesame oil. Instead, they are men and women who drive cars, ride motorcycles, wear fashionable clothes and carry all kinds of high and medium-grade dairy products, bean products and all kinds of nutritious and healthy foods on their backs.
2021July 9th written in Song Temple