You can see a snack on almost every street in Guiyang. At first glance, it looks like a newborn baby wrapped in "swaddling clothes" in the delivery room, and Guiyang people vividly call it "silk doll". The "baby" of a silk doll is a pancake baked with flour, as thin as paper, but as big as a palm. The vegetarian dishes wrapped with it are crisp and refreshing, and have the effect of appetizing and strengthening the spleen.

In Beijing, two thousand miles away, there is also a snack, which is eaten with pancakes and rolled vegetables. It is shaped like a silk doll of one or several sizes, but it is not called a silk doll. Beijingers gave it an imaginative name-spring cake.

Silk dolls mainly appear in Guiyang, while spring cakes actually appear in Northeast China, Fuzhou, Chaoshan and other regions. Some people even say that spring cakes, as a traditional snack in Chaozhou, evolved from ancient folk snacks in Chaozhou, but I don't believe it. Some people say that spring cakes in Beijing are the best, and I believe them, so the word "Beijing" is added in front of the spring cakes in this article.

Spring cake is the first five coriander to develop into a spring dish, and then evolved from it. The ancients put five kinds of dishes together to make a dish, which is called "five coriander". The record of the Five-Heart Plate can be found in the Local Records at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty: "The layman has no birthday, so go to the Five-Heart Plate. People with five hearts are angry with the five internal organs. " In the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen explained the five coriander here: "When vegetables such as onion, garlic, leek, Polygonum hydropiper, Artemisia, mustard and so on are mixed, they are called five coriander."

Zhou lived in the Western Jin Dynasty. At that time, five coriander was usually used to celebrate birthdays. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, five coriander became a necessary food in beginning of spring, and it was renamed as "Spring Dish". There were no pancakes in the spring plate at that time, only vegetables.

There is a warm story about the evolution of spring plate into spring cake: according to legend, there is a scholar whose wife is very virtuous, and they have deep feelings and hit it off at first sight. Scholars concentrate on reading, but often forget to eat. This worried my wife, and she thought about it. Finally, on that day in beginning of spring, she came up with a way to eat and make spring cakes. Spring cakes can be eaten as both a meal and a dish. Scholars eat spring cakes while reading, eat delicious meals and have more energy to read. Soon, the scholar went to Beijing to catch the exam, and his wife made spring cakes and fried them for her husband to eat dry food. As a result, Hao Chen won the highest prize, so he was very happy. He gave his wife's spring cake dry food to the examiner to taste. As soon as the examiner ate it, he was full of praise and immediately wrote a poem composition called "Spring Roll". From then on, the fried ones were called spring cakes and the fried ones were called spring rolls, which became famous for a while and spread to every household in the folk, forming the custom of eating spring cakes or spring rolls for every household.

There is no way to verify the age of this story, but from the fact that literati took the imperial examination, it should have happened at least after Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, because the imperial examination system only began to rise in the era of Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. As for the record of spring cakes, it originated from the Four Seasons Mirror in the Tang Dynasty: "beginning of spring eclipsed radish, spring cakes, lettuce and the first spring dish." In other words, in the Tang Dynasty, spring cakes were listed separately in the spring plate.

As far as the development process is concerned, compared with spring cakes, silk dolls are too young, and spring cakes are simply the ancestors of silk dolls. Silk dolls have been on the stage of history for less than one hundred years. Like spring cakes, there is a story. In Guizhou dialect, silk dolls have the same pronunciation as private dolls, meaning illegitimate children. According to legend, during the Republic of China. There is an old couple in Guiyang. They have no children or daughters. One day, they found a baby girl by the roadside, and everyone called her a private doll. The old couple are penniless, but now they are outspoken and their lives are even more difficult. Fortunately, her husband occasionally helps temporary workers in the flour workshop and gets a little flour in return, which becomes the staple food of a family of three. There is not much flour, so we can't put it. The husband once saw spring cakes, so he told his wife to refer to the practice of spring cakes, dilute them with water and a little flour, spread them in a pot to form a thin dough, and then cut some vegetarian dishes into silk and wrap them in dough. Because the family is poor and there is no seasoning, she can only put some sour water brewed by herself for girls to eat. Because bread and vegetarian dishes are silky, they are called "silk dolls". Girls like it very much, and they never tire of eating it. They almost grew up eating silk dolls. When the stars move, the girl becomes very beautiful. The villagers explored the reason, and the girl smiled and said, "It's all because they often eat silk dolls." People laughed and said that "private dolls eat silk dolls, which are as beautiful as flowers". Therefore, "silk dolls" are widely circulated, especially for girls who love beauty. However, silk dolls were once degraded in Guiyang, even disappeared for decades, and did not reappear until the 1970s.

So far, the production of silk dolls is very particular, and the pancakes used for wrapping must be as thin as the wings of cicadas, and the largest is no more than a slap. When kneading dough, add water and salt into the flour, fully knead it (the ratio of water to flour is 1: 6), heat the pan, brush the oil and dry it, then grab the dough with your left hand and roll it to the bottom of the pan to form a thin round crust with a diameter of 9 cm, then immediately lift the round pancakes with your right hand, and after making dozens, put them in a steamer to make them slightly soft for food. Some families also use electric irons to make pancakes. You can put the dough on the bottom of the iron with a pestle to make a piece. Then blanch the mung bean sprouts, kelp, celery and bracken in boiling water. If the materials are rich, you can put dozens of plates, including cold noodles, vermicelli, pickled radish, shredded carrot, crispy whistle, shredded ear, shredded lettuce and shredded cucumber, and put them into small plates respectively, and put soy sauce, vinegar and cucumber into small bowls. Put all kinds of shredded vegetarian dishes into a pancake and wrap them into a pocket shape with a big top and a small bottom. Add crispy soybeans and then pour a spoonful of water gracefully. At this moment, the water will run through the whole body of the silk doll, and it will be crisp and delicious to chew, with complex taste and spicy and pleasant taste. The side dishes of silk dolls are vegetarian dishes, and there is nothing fishy, so they are also called "vegetarian spring rolls". Its core competitiveness lies in the bowl dipped in water. Every silk doll shop has its own secret recipe, and dipping in water determines the quality of business.

Spring cakes are not so particular about pancakes. They can be as big as round fans or as small as lotus roots. The side dishes need to be fried first. According to personal preference, there is no need to dip them in water. The side dishes of spring cakes can be paired with meat and vegetables. Authentic spring cakes usually put a little onion bud, and it is best to put a little shepherd's purse if possible. This kind of spring cake tastes strong, crisp and salty, which is consistent with the word "biting spring". In short, the stir-frying of side dishes is the core competitiveness of spring cakes, and each store is different. The taste of side dishes determines the success or failure of spring cakes.

When you taste the silk doll, you can see the true temperament of the taster. People with delicate personalities generally eat better. They will wrap the silk doll tightly before swallowing it, chew it carefully with their mouths closed and taste it slowly, just like tasting the ups and downs of life. People who are a little impatient eat at sixes and sevens. They taste like jiaozi. The silk doll is half in the mouth and half outside. The leftovers in their hands are in a mess, flowing out with the water, flowing down the five fingers and all over their palms. It's really embarrassing. But some people don't care, just lick the water dripping on their palms with their tongues, and then continue to wrap vegetables with pancakes and repeat the last round regardless of other people's surprised eyes. In this man's view, life is so much that he may encounter embarrassment at any time and place. If you care about other people's eyes, even if there is a big hole under your foot, it is not enough to hide it. In that case, it's better to live yourself like no one's watching.

When you eat spring cake, at least you don't have to worry about eating awkwardness, because it doesn't need to be dipped in water, so you can eat whatever you want, and you don't want to pretend to be gentle, you can also chew and wolf down. For many people, spring cakes are delicious and full of affection. But for me, eating is not embarrassing, but I feel a little embarrassed. I'm from the south, but I stayed in the north for many years. My wife is a typical professional woman. She seldom cooks and can't cook, but when she arrived in the north, she learned to make spring cakes. Every weekend, my wife is always happy to make spring cakes, but she can't make pancakes, so she buys dumpling skin or tofu skin instead, as long as it can be wrapped. When cooking, you can do whatever you want, sometimes it's too salty to talk, and sometimes you don't put any salt. Whenever I start eating, she will stare at me and ask, "What's the matter? Is it not delicious? " At this time, I always hold back my tears, eat a spring cake, and then praise it delicious against my will. I was thinking: Maybe Lu You said, "What's wrong with spring cakes?"

At this time, I often can't think much. My wife picked up another one and handed it to me. She smiled like Mona Lisa and said, "Come again!" "

Therefore, the growth of happiness is contrary to the trend of pain.