As the saying goes, dumplings get better with wine. For northerners, dumplings are an indispensable food in every household and a favorite delicacy.

Let me record my journey of eating dumplings.

When I first arrived in the north, I saw dumplings being made and eaten for the first time in the university cafeteria. The first eleventh day of college was an activity organized by the class for the students to get to know each other and enhance friendship. Most of the students in the class are from the Northeast, and almost everyone can make dumplings. Only a few of our classmates from the South can't. We don't even know how to make dumplings, even if we don't know how to make dough and roll out the dough. At that time, a classmate joked: "Southern people make dumplings, guess what?" The students responded in unison: "The secret is revealed." After saying this, the students all laughed, which contributed a lot to the atmosphere.

After eating two dumplings, I secretly asked the squad leader if he had any porridge. The squad leader was a very considerate and handsome guy, so he went to get me a bowl of porridge.

The first time I ate dumplings, I fell into the habit of eating dumplings and drinking porridge (hee hee), and I couldn’t stop eating them ever since.

After graduation, I went to the work unit. It was also the National Day. The leader of the work unit sympathized with the single men and women in the work dormitory and organized everyone to make dumplings in the cafeteria. The person in charge at that time was a director, a middle-aged lady, who was smart and capable. We were all gathering together to make dumplings, with a whirlwind and roaring look. I still didn’t know how to make dumplings at that time, I just watched people make them. The dumplings I made that time were the most unpalatable I have ever tasted. The fillings were too bland. But my colleagues said it was bland and it was just right when dipped in garlic soy sauce and soybean oil. But I always suspected that I forgot to add salt. It was just that everyone was too embarrassed to say it and it displeased the boss.

I particularly didn’t like the taste of garlic, so I could only eat the dumplings dryly. I gritted my teeth and ate two to give the director some face, and then I left with an excuse. This is the most unpalatable and miserable dumpling I have ever eaten.

Later, when I got married and had children, my mother-in-law came to my house to help me take care of the children. My husband and mother-in-law are from the Northeast, and of course they also like to eat dumplings, because I don’t like them and don’t eat much, but The dumplings made by my mother-in-law are much more delicious, but I still can’t eat enough, so I still have to drink porridge to eat the dumplings.

As the children grow up little by little, my mother-in-law also goes back to her home, and my family eats dumplings less often.

But northerners especially like to eat dumplings. As long as it is a solar term, there is no one who cannot eat dumplings. There are 24 solar terms and they must be eaten on every festival.

Northerners eat less stir-fried vegetables and prefer to eat pasta, steamed buns, dumplings, pies, hair cakes, steamed buns, etc., but dumplings are an essential food during the festival. I have the impression that as long as Dumplings are eaten on special days.

After staying in the north for a long time, my children also fell in love with eating dumplings over time, so I started to learn how to make dumplings by myself. Kneading dough is a technical task that is not easy to master. First, beat an egg into the dough to make it more chewy. Then add warm water to mix it. Too much water will make it too soft and the skin will break easily. If it is too dry and too hard, it will be difficult to roll out. Not to mention, it is easy to lose the ability to pinch the dumplings when making them. When eating them, the skin is too hard and the texture is not good.

If you want to eat colorful dumplings, you can use various fruit juices and vegetable juices to make noodles. You can use apple, carrot, spinach, purple sweet potato, etc. juice to make noodles.

Kneading, proofing, and rolling the dough are also technical tasks. If the heat is not properly controlled, the taste of the food will be affected. Of course, the easiest thing is to go to the market to buy ready-made dumpling wrappers, take them home and stuff them directly. However, the skin is mostly thick and dry, and the taste can be quite inferior.

Rolling out dough is a unique skill in the north. Just turn a rolling pin in your hand a few times, and the dough will be rolled out into a round shape with a small bulge in the middle. So far, the dough I have rolled out is smooth. , the bulge in the middle cannot be rolled out no matter what, and it is not quite round yet.

Such craftsmanship cannot be shown on the stage in formal occasions.

Making the stuffing is the most demanding technical task. My mother-in-law makes the stuffing dry and does not add water. This kind of stuffing will taste worse, but it has flavor and a stronger aroma.

I learned what my mother-in-law did, but I always beat an egg into the stuffing and add a little bit of oil at the end, so that the stuffing can be wrapped and it will not break when cooked. Son, it is more moisturizing when you eat it.

? In the eyes of northerners, anything can be used as stuffing. Most of the meat is pork, beef, sheep, and donkey, but there is also a lot of fish. There are many fish in the Northeast Sea. Mackerel dumplings are also common, and donkey is rare. Meat dumplings are also a rare and famous dish. But chopping stuffing is laborious work. Lazy people will use a machine to make stuffing when they go to buy meat and take it home, and just put the seasonings on it. However, the stuffing made by the machine is not clean on the one hand, and the meat is too finely minced and does not form into grains. It tastes grainy, elastic and not full.

As for the vegetables used as fillings, there are no strict rules. As long as they are vegetables, they can be used as fillings for dumplings. Celery, Chinese cabbage, Chinese cabbage, chrysanthemum, kidney beans, seaweed, radish, green pepper, water melon, and sauerkraut are all acceptable, but the only vegetables I like are celery, Chinese cabbage, and green pepper. Other vegetables can be eaten, but the taste is average. Pickled cabbage filling My son absolutely couldn’t accept it. My co-worker who I slept with at the time had a close natal family. He almost always brought pickled cabbage dumplings and steamed buns when he came back every week. Although he warmly invited me to share them, I could only avoid them.

My favorite vegetable in the past two years is parsley, unlike other vegetables.

After cutting, it needs to be minced, and the parsley is tender and thin, and all the thin parts can be directly added to the filling. It is a rare and perfect match for dumpling fillings.

? On the fifth day of the first lunar month, we have to make dumplings again. This is also a lazy person’s choice, dumplings stuffed with parsley and beef. It's plump, juicy and fragrant, but I still have to drink porridge and eat dumplings to feel the flavor.

A friend told me that there is a dumpling + rice porridge shop in Dalian Wuyi Square. It seems that there are many patients with my problem. Ha ha.