There is a custom in the north of China, on New Year's Day, to welcome friends and relatives, always pack a dumpling to eat. Especially on the first day of the New Year, the whole family to pay tribute to the New Year, will be sitting around together, while wrapping dumplings and chatting, mountains and seas, everything to talk about, from time to time to attract laughter, a great deal of fun." Dumplings are everyone's favorite, and the New Year's meal is especially fragrant. When people eat this slippery taste of delicious water cakes, if then know some of its origin, who can not marvel at the ancient civilization of our long history of pasta Qi Yuan it!
The origin of dumplings
Dumplings originated from the ancient horn. As early as in the Three Kingdoms period, the book "Guangya" written by Wei Zhang Yi, mentioned this food. According to evidence: it is from the North and South Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty period of the "supine moon shaped wontons". And the Southern Song Dynasty "dry meat double under the corner of the" development, has a history of 1,400 years ago. The Qing Dynasty historical records say; 'New Year's Day at the time of the child, the food with away, such as eating flatbread, the name of the corner of the child, to take the meaning of its more years of the child." Also said: "the first day of every year, rich or poor, no matter how rich or poor, all do dumplings with white flour to eat, known as boiled biscuits and cakes, the whole country is the same, no different also. Wealthy families, secretly to the gold and silver ingot hidden in the meat and potatoes, in order to divine the smooth, family members eaters, the end of the year is very lucky." This shows that people eat dumplings on New Year's Day, symbolizing good luck, to show the old and welcome the new. Recent Xu Ke compiled the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes" said: "in the filling, or called the powder angle - and steamed food fried food can be boiled in water and soup called dumplings." For thousands of years, dumplings have been a favorite food for New Year's celebrations, and have been passed down from one generation to the next.
The Story of Dumplings
Dumplings, originally called "Jiao Er", were first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of Chinese medicine. The story of his "soup to get rid of cold" has been passed down in folklore till today.
At the end of East Han Dynasty, there were serious disasters all over the world, and many people suffered from diseases. In Nanyang, there was a famous doctor named Zhang Ji (张機), whose name was Zhongjing (仲景), and he had been studying hard since he was a child, and he had become the founder of Chinese medicine by learning from all the books. Zhang Zhongjing is not only a skilled doctor, what difficult diseases can be removed, and medical ethics, whether poor or rich, he is serious treatment, saving countless lives.
When Zhang Zhongjing was an official in Changsha, he often treated the people. One year, when the local plague was prevalent, he built a cauldron at the entrance of the government office and saved people's lives by giving medicine, which was y loved by the people of Changsha. After Zhang Zhongjing returned to his hometown from Changsha, he went to the bank of Baihe River in his hometown and saw that many poor people were suffering from hunger and cold, and their ears were frozen. He felt very sorry for them and was determined to save them. When Zhang Zhongjing returned home, there were so many people seeking medical treatment that he was very busy, but he always remembered the poor people with frozen ears. He followed the example of Changsha, and asked his disciples to set up a medical hut and a cauldron in a vacant lot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and opened the shop on the winter solstice, giving medicine to the poor to cure their wounds.
Zhang Zhongjing's medicine was called "Cold-removing Jiao Er Tang", which was made with mutton, chili peppers, and some cold-removing herbs boiled in a pot, and then fished them out and chopped them up, wrapped them up in a pastry to form ear-shaped "Jiao Er", and then cooked them in a pot and gave them to the patients who begged for medicine. The patients who begged for medicine were given two jiao ears per person and one bowl. Each person was given two ears and a bowl of soup. After people ate the soup, their bodies became hot, their blood flowed smoothly, and their ears became warm. After eating it for some time, the patients' rotten ears were cured.
Zhang Zhongjing She Medicine lasted until the 30th day of the New Year. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people celebrated the New Year and the recovery of the rotten ears, and made New Year's food after the appearance of the delicate ears and ate it on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. People called this food "dumpling ear", "dumplings" or partial food, eaten on the winter solstice and the first day of the year, in order to commemorate the day when Zhang Zhongjing opened the shed and cured the patients.
Zhang Zhongjing has been around for nearly 1800 years, but the story of his "cold-removing Jiao Er Tang" has been widely circulated among the people. Every winter solstice and the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat dumplings, the heart is still remembered Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. Today, we don't need to use jiao ear to cure frozen ears, but dumplings have become the most common and favorite food.
Dumplings around
Dumplings in its long development process, a variety of names, the old days, there is a "prison pill," "flat food," "dumpling bait," "powder horn" and so on. Tang Dynasty called dumplings "soup in the prison pill"; Yuan Dynasty called "time Luojiao Er"; the end of the Ming Dynasty called "powder angle"; the Qing Dynasty called "flat food" -- Now, the north and south of the dumplings are not the same name. North people call "dumplings", but many areas in the South called "wonton". There are a lot of famous dumplings in different places, such as shrimp dumplings made of clarified flour in Guangdong, pot-sticker dumplings in Shanghai, steamed dumplings with crab roe in Yangzhou, small dumplings in high soup in Shandong, old-fashioned dumplings in Northeast China, and Zhongshui Dumplings in Sichuan Province, all of which are popular varieties. Xi'an has also created a dumpling feast, where dozens of dumplings with different shapes and fillings are used to entertain guests. There are many historical records and folklore about the origin of dumplings.
The meaning of dumpling filling
Celery filling - that is, the meaning of diligence and wealth
Leek filling - that is, the meaning of long-term wealth
Cabbage filling - that is, the meaning of hundred wealth
The meaning of dumpling filling - that is, the meaning of hundred wealth. p>
Stuffed with wild vegetables - i.e., wild wealth
Stuffed with fish - i.e., surplus wealth
Stuffed with beef - i.e., cow wealth
Lamb p>
The filling of beef - the meaning of Yang Cai
The filling of jujube - the meaning of fortune
The filling of three fresh meat - the meaning of three goats
The shape of dumplings
The shape of dumplings
The shape of dumplings
The shape of the dumplings is also very delicate, and in most areas it is customary to keep the traditional curved moon shape. This shape is made by folding the dough and pinching it with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand along the edge of the semicircle, and pinching it fine and even, so called "pinch of blessing". Some farmers pinch the two corners of the dumplings into a curved moon shape and pinch them together in the shape of a "Yuanbao", which is placed on the cover curtain, symbolizing wealth all over the place and a house full of gold and silver. Some farmers, the dumplings will be pinched on the wheat pattern, like a full grain, large ears of wheat, symbolizing the new year will be a bumper crop. But more often, the dumplings are wrapped into several shapes to symbolize that the coming year will be full of wealth, grain, and prosperity.
Placement of dumplings
Dumplings are not only shaped, but also placed according to the rules. First of all, you can't put it in a messy way. As the saying goes, "I'm busy, but I don't want the dumplings to be messed up." Everyday dumplings, horizontal rows of vertical arrangement, are arbitrary, the New Year's Eve package of dumplings can not. Shandong and other places to cover the curtain to be round, first placed in the center of a few dumplings in the shape of a Yuanbao, and then around the Yuanbao circle by circle to the outside layer by layer placed neatly, folk commonly known as the "circle of blessings". Some people even stipulate that, regardless of the size of the cover curtain, only 99 dumplings can be placed on each cover curtain, and the cover curtain must be full. Therefore, it can only be realized by adjusting the spacing between the dumplings and the rows, which is called "Jiu Jiu Fu". There is also an interesting story in folklore about this custom: a long time ago, in a poor mountain village, there was a family that was so poor that they often ate the first meal but not the next. On the 30th day of the New Year, the family had no white flour and no vegetables, and they were anxious to hear the sound of chopping vegetables from their neighbors. Have no choice but to borrow rice and noodles from friends and relatives. And after a good noodle, and then get a little bit of mixed vegetables into the filling, and wrapped up the dumplings. Because the noodles are borrowed, so the package of dumplings is particularly valuable, when placed, a circle by circle from inside to outside, very neat, but also very beautiful. The king of Zao, who had just returned from heaven, was very happy to see them. There is a rich man in the same village, the family has a ten thousand dollar family fortune, weekdays are used to eat the sea food, do not put the dumplings in the eyes. On the 30th day of the New Year, he used meat, eggs and other ingredients to make dumplings, and put them on the cover curtain. When the dumplings were cooked in the pot, the flavor changed. The pork filling became turnip greens. The poor man's dumplings were filled with meat and eggs. It turned out that the king of the stove was very dissatisfied with the rich family's attitude towards the dumplings, and in order to punish him, he secretly switched the dumplings of the two families. The next day, the story spread in the village. From then on, even if people are busy, the dumplings on New Year's Eve must be neatly arranged to make a "circle of good fortune". However, in some parts of Heilongjiang, dumplings cannot be arranged in a circle. It is said that placing the dumplings in a circle will make the days go by more and more dead. Instead, they must be arranged horizontally in rows, so that wealth can come in all directions.
Cooking and Eating Dumplings
On the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, not only do you need to make dumplings, but you also need to eat them. As the saying goes, "Eat dumplings on New Year's Eve - there are no outsiders." It indicates that the dumplings for the New Year's Eve dinner are a symbol of the reunion of loved ones. The dumplings on this day, to be eaten on New Year's Eve, not only have the meaning of family reunion, but also take the meaning of renewing the cross. The custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve has a long history, at least in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. The Ming Palace History records the custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve. "Five nights up ...... to eat water snacks, that is, flat food also." Later, after the inheritance of perfection, it formed the custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Eve in later generations of folk, thought the meaning of resignation and renewal. Dumplings on New Year's Eve, accompanied by the sound of firecrackers, will be under the dumplings into the boiling pot, boiled and fished out of the first for the gods, ancestors, and then accompanied by other food to eat dumplings.
On the 30th night of the new year, there are also rules for cooking dumplings. The firewood used for the fire should be made of bean curd rods or sesame curd rods, which implies that the fire will burn more and more vigorously, and that the coming year will be as prosperous as the blossoming of sesame seeds. To cook dumplings in a pot, you can't stir them with a shovel, but rather shovel them in one direction, against the edge of the pot, forming a circle, the same as the meaning of placing the dumplings. In the eastern part of Shandong Province, the dumplings are usually cooked in such a way as to intentionally break a few of the dumplings, but they are not to be said to be broken, crumbled, rotten, etc., and are to be said to have "earned" or "risen". Because of the dumplings within the dish, the dish resonates with "wealth", so the dumplings "earned", is "earned wealth", Figure a lucky, for a mouthful, to increase the joy of New Year's Eve atmosphere. In some places in central Gansu, New Year's Eve when cooking dumplings, but also add a little noodle **** cooking, with food, beautifully called "silver wrapped around the treasure". Noodles should be thin, dumplings should be wrapped into the shape of a treasure, a metaphor for longevity and wealth, but also to figure a good luck, send people's best hopes.
When eating dumplings, there are also common rules. The first bowl of the first offerings, the ancestors, for the gods. This offering of dumplings also have to pay attention to, Hebei folk "God three ghosts four" said. That is, to the gods on the offerings of three bowls, each bowl of three; to the ancestors on the offerings of four bowls, each bowl containing four dumplings; only the Zaowang master is the least respected, on the offerings of only one bowl of dumplings, the bowl contains only 1, but some people are not happy about it, just a few. In some places, after the dumplings are brought to the offering table, the elderly members of the family have to recite a piece of prayerful jingle, such as:
A flat food with two pointed ends,
down to the pot into the thousands.
A golden spoon scoops it up, a silver bowl serves it,
and it is brought to the table to honor God.
The gods will love it,
and it will keep you safe all year round.
The second bowl of dumplings should be served to the livestock to show the love of livestock. In the old days, large animals such as cows and horses were the main tools of labor for farming families, and people hoped that the animals would have a safe and smooth year just like people. The third bowl is only begun to be eaten by the family. New Year's Eve New Year's Eve dinner, there were many kinds, but other can not eat, only dumplings must be eaten. Eat also remember to eat even better, can not eat singular. Some old people in the family say under their breath as they eat, "more vegetables (wealth), more vegetables," and other old sayings. After the meal, the plate and bowl in which the dumplings are served, the pot in which the dumplings are cooked, and the cover curtain in which the raw dumplings are placed must all be intentionally left with a few (even) numbers, which is called "Yearly surplus. Even the filling and dough used to make the dumplings must be left in an even number.
Dumpling proverb
Dumplings on the wine the more you drink, the more you have: implying that the days are getting better and better.
The first ambush dumplings two ambush noodles: ambush day is the highest temperature in the year, humid, hot days, a year have "three ambush". Hundreds of people say "bitter summer" at this time. Into the ambush, it is less than a month of the wheat harvest, the family grain warehouse, people use this opportunity to play teeth, eat a white noodle, dumplings are usually difficult to see the top, so there is "the first ambush dumplings two ambush noodles" said.
Winter solstice dumplings summer solstice noodles: summer solstice this day, Shandong, commonly eat noodles, commonly known as "water noodles", there is "winter solstice dumplings summer solstice noodles" proverb.
Eating dumpling soup, like a prescription: According to legend, in the early Warring States period, the Qin City magician Bianqi, a miraculous hand, a hundred cures. One winter, when it was a hundred years of severe cold, many people suffered frostbite, and some of them had their ears frozen, how to do? The magpie brought white flour, rolled into an ear, stick in those who were frozen off the ear on the ear, and then luck power, so that the ear back to its original appearance, and with the cold herbs fried to the patient to drink, the patient only felt a stream of warmth flow all over the body, and is no longer afraid of the cold. The latter in honor of this both superb medical skills, but also for the people to relieve the pain of the benevolent God magpie, will be made of flour ear-shaped food, put in the cold herbal soup cooking, the proverbial from this.
Comfortable as inverted, delicious as dumplings: This famous saying in the north is here to verify that the northern people are very fond of eating dumplings. In addition, there are also about the dumplings of the hysteresis, such as: the blind man eating dumplings - the heart of the number; teapot in the cooking dumplings - the belly of the goods can not be poured out.
Exotic dumplings
Many foreigners, like the Chinese, eat dumplings at Chinese New Year, but the way they do it and the way they eat it are unique.
North Korean dumplings: stuffed with beef and especially like to add a lot of chili pepper to the beef filling, the dumplings are wrapped in a half-moon shape standing.
Vietnamese dumplings: stuffed with fish and a lot of orange peel, pork and eggs, the dumplings are the opposite of the North Korean dumplings, lying on their backs.
Russian dumplings: Russian dumplings are filled with beef, carrots, eggs, scallions, salt and MSG, but they also add some minced chili peppers to the dumpling filling, and they are wrapped in a large size, and they cook the dumplings in a broth made from cow bones. However, drinking the dumpling soup is the first course and eating the dumplings and is the second course.
Indian dumplings: similar to Russian dumplings in terms of ingredients and methods, but larger, but not boiled, but roasted.
Mexican dumplings: they are stuffed with onions, beef, tomatoes, and parsley, and the skin is not rolled out, but pressed into a rectangle by hand. The wrapped dumplings are not boiled in water, but put into the tomatoes, chili peppers, onions cooked in the seasoned soup to cook, eat the dumplings and then drink the soup, "the original soup to the original food".
Italian dumplings: the filling is very different from the Chinese, cheese, onions, egg yolks are the main ingredients, and sometimes add some spinach, beef; there is also a kind of chicken, cheese as the main ingredients, the main seasoning butter, onions, lemon zest, nutmeg. They make dumplings by pressing the flour into a long strip, spooning in the filling, dabbing the edges of the dough with water, and pressing it together with the same piece of dough, and then cutting it open with a knife. The dumplings are cooked in the same way as the Chinese.
Hungarian dumplings: the filling is strictly jam, even plums, apricots and prunes are pickled. The dough they use to wrap the dumplings is twice as much mashed potatoes as flour, with lots of lard, eggs, sugar and salt, and sometimes coated with fried bread mush.
The original name of the dumpling was "Jiao Er," and it was first invented by Zhang Zhongjing, the sage of medicine in China
The end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was a time of serious disasters and illnesses for many people. Nanyang has a famous doctor called Zhang Ji, the word Zhongjing, since childhood, study hard medical books, learn from the long, become the founder of Chinese medicine. Zhang Zhongjing was not only a brilliant doctor, who could cure all kinds of illnesses, but also had a noble medical ethics. He treated both the poor and the rich seriously, and saved countless lives.
When Zhang Zhongjing was an official in Changsha, he often treated the people. One year, when the local plague was prevalent, he set up a cauldron at the entrance of the government office and saved people's lives by giving them medicine, which was y loved by the people of Changsha. After Zhang Zhongjing returned to his hometown from Changsha, he went to the bank of Baihe River in his hometown and saw that many poor people were suffering from hunger and cold, and their ears were frozen. He felt very sorry for them and was determined to save them. When Zhang Zhongjing returned home, there were so many people seeking medical treatment that he was very busy, but he always remembered the poor people with frozen ears. He followed the example of Changsha, and asked his disciples to set up a medical hut and a cauldron in a vacant lot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and opened the shop on the winter solstice, giving medicine to the poor to cure their wounds.
Zhang Zhongjing's medicine was called "Cold-removing Jiao Er Tang", which was made with mutton, chili peppers, and some cold-removing herbs boiled in a pot, and then fished them out and chopped them up, wrapped them up in a pastry to form ear-shaped "Jiao Er", and then cooked them in a pot and gave them to the patients who begged for medicine. The patients who begged for medicine were given two jiao ears per person and one bowl. Each person was given two ears and a bowl of soup. After people ate the soup to get rid of cold, their bodies became hot, their blood flowed smoothly, and their ears became warm. After eating it for some time, the patients' rotten ears were cured.
Zhang Zhongjing She Medicine lasted until the New Year's Eve. On the first day of Lunar New Year, people celebrated the New Year and the recovery of the rotten ears, so they made New Year's Eve food in the form of Jiao Er and ate it on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year. People call this food "dumpling ear", "dumplings" or partial food, eaten on the winter solstice and the first day of the year, in order to commemorate the days when Zhang Zhongjing opened the shed and cured the patients.
Zhang Zhongjing has been around for nearly 1800 years, but the story of his "cold-removing Jiao Er Tang" has been widely circulated among the people. Every winter solstice and the first day of the Lunar New Year, people eat dumplings, the heart is still remembered Zhang Zhongjing's kindness. Today, we do not need to use the delicate ear to cure frozen ears, but dumplings have become the most common and favorite food.