Li Zhi
Every time I touch the switch of memory, so many cold winter days emerge in front of me. Looking back 30 years, even 40 years, the winter experienced by childhood and adolescence is so cold. Either the north wind is whistling or the snow is falling, as if the door at the end of memory leads directly to the North Pole.
Even so, occasionally there will be warm bits and pieces flashing in the memory. Usually in the morning, the north wind roars in the sky. When you open your eyes, you will see the ice tumor hanging under the eaves. Although I haven't got dressed yet, I feel the chill. At this time, the sound of "Dangdang Dangdang" and "Dangdang Dangdang" came from the ear, which was the action of mother chopping stuffing. Immediately, my sister and brother and I understood that breakfast was jiaozi.
Northern Aohan, Inner Mongolia is a vast sandy land, rich in buckwheat. Eating jiaozi, of course, is based on buckwheat noodles, so it should be called buckwheat noodles jiaozi, which is different from white noodles jiaozi in wheat growing areas. The stuffing materials are also very fixed: pork (the year-old pig raised at home) and sauerkraut (the Chinese cabbage grown at home is sour).
The meat was mixed the night before. Choose a piece of pork belly, freeze it a little in a room without fireworks, cut it into small pieces (generally don't chop it, try to cut it fine), sprinkle with chopped green onion, Jiang Mo and pepper noodles, combine it into a string with two pairs of chopsticks, and pour the sauce while stirring until the meat "speaks". Mother put such a pot of meat on a high place, covered it and pressed a heavy object. This is done to prevent cats and mice.
Sauerkraut stuffing is made in the morning. It is said that sauerkraut that has been broken all night will be mixed with rust. When you hear the sound of chopping stuffing, no matter whether you are sleepy or not, you get dressed quickly and get up, because jiaozi, who had eaten a meal of buckwheat husk and pork sauerkraut stuffing, is already waving.
When chopping stuffing, mother will light branches in two stoves in the hall. The fire is burning and singing sweetly. Even through a door, you will feel its warmth. In addition, it didn't take long for my mother to bring in a pot of burning coal and steaming things and put them in the middle of the ground. The room immediately became warm and harmonious, just like the spring breeze.
At the same time of warmth, the sound of "Dangdang" stuffing continues. At that time, there was no stuffing mixer, and more stuffing had to be chopped out with a kitchen knife. The sound of the blade colliding with the chopping block, such as galloping horses and sudden rainstorm, is particularly provocative. If there is a pause for a second or two, it must be to gather the scattered sauerkraut together.
Bao jiaozi is not in the first room. That place is too cold. On the contrary, just like eating, he put a kang table in a warm room with dough, dumpling stuffing and rolling pin on it. At this time, everyone who can get started is around the table like eating. This scene is still the warmest and most harmonious scene. Everyone is happy, more happy than sitting down to eat. At that time, those who cut the hair, patted the skin and wrapped jiaozi started to work together, each with a division of labor but a tacit understanding. The most unforgettable thing is the atmosphere. The family talked and laughed, and cooked a delicious meal together. What a yearning warmth. I think the reason why jiaozi's buckwheat noodles are so delicious must be the combination of affection and happiness. People joke while wrapping up jiaozi. People who are good at joking will shake out a series of jokes with witty remarks, and the climax will make people laugh; People who are good at telling stories will tell a story about The Three Kingdoms or The Journey to the West, and sometimes they will hear people criticize The Red Chamber. I remember, the legendary scene of Zhao Yun shooting off the rope pulling the sail from a hundred paces away was told by his father when he was packing jiaozi. But more often, it is about family history, family affairs, when we moved from where to where, why there was such a migration, when we married a daughter-in-law, and when we had a son or daughter. All these are explained by our mother or father, and it is still in our ears.
Talking and laughing, soba noodles and jiaozi are arranged on the curtain like rabbits. Jiaozi, a buckwheat noodle, is bigger than jiaozi, a white noodle. He is charming and fat. The old cat sneaked over and sat a foot or eight inches away from jiaozi, watching eagerly. Gluttonous children also sneak over and stare at jiaozi licking his lips. Mother would bury four or five jiaozi in the embers of the brazier.
For a long time, people have not known what these "cooked" jiaozi tastes like. The mother's every move is just to stop this "greedy bug" for the children. What is really memorable is the cooked jiaozi.
As soon as the lid was lifted, a mass of white steam rushed straight to the roof, and the room immediately became warm and humid. Scratching, countless jiaozi scrambling to jump into the boiling water, rolling in the water, gradually, the smell came out.
What is sensitive to smell is the smell of buckwheat. After boiling water, the aroma of buckwheat noodles is very light, mixed with water vapor, as if it were still there. This fragrance is simple and primitive, without any modification or embellishment, and it enters people's bodies silently and finely. Although the memory of this taste is light, it is still unique. It is not mixed with various fragrances such as flowers, vegetables and meat. I think, in my memory, it must have gone.
It is forbidden to cook buckwheat noodles in jiaozi, and they should be boiled in boiling water for a long time. In this process, the meaty taste of meat stuffing mixed with spices and soaked in sauce and the sour taste of chopped sauerkraut are actually emitted through buckwheat skin. So far, I also feel strange. The thick skin is wrapped tightly. How did they infiltrate?
Different from mild noodles, the smell of dumpling stuffing naturally shows arrogance and contempt for everything. Although it was separated by dough, it rudely expelled all the smells in the hall and occupied people's sense of smell with its unique strength.
Jiaozi went to the table and people were sitting around. The "small burn" that my father loved to drink also stirred the wine into many aromas. I grabbed one and "cut it" from the middle. It was sour, sauce and meat, and it rushed over and swept everything like rain. I remember once, I suddenly paused at this time, glanced at the person sitting next to me out of the corner of my eye, and then looked at all the people on the table. I found that at that moment, no matter my father and mother, my sister and brother, the same expression appeared on my face. This expression is not yearning, not satisfaction, but surprise. Strange, I used to eat dozens of buckwheat noodles in jiaozi every winter. Why am I so surprised when I first felt this way?
The taste of pork is a bit cunning. It is always hidden behind the thick sauce flavor, and it must be carefully tasted before it can be detected. However, sauerkraut is too straightforward. Originally, it had only one taste-sour, but when it was mixed in dumpling stuffing, it turned sour after borrowing the meat flavor and sauce flavor, which was particularly appetizing. Take a bite and swallow it. All people say is this sentence: sauerkraut stuffing is delicious.
Eat buckwheat noodles and garlic, jiaozi. Peel garlic cloves, mash them in a garlic jar, and add salt and water. This is the most primitive garlic paste. After it joined, it formed a legion with noodles, vegetables, sauces and meat, with all kinds of seasonings and high reputation. They are intertwined, such as five Youlong, wandering between plates, chopsticks and tongue teeth, moving around, opening seven secrets, opening five internal organs and stringing skins, which makes people want to stop. If you are impatient, you will leave a thin layer of sweat on your forehead.
Generally speaking, after drinking more than a dozen cups of jiaozi, people recover from the aroma and start chatting. The first few words are buckwheat noodles, pork and sauerkraut, and they will gradually turn to other things.
As far as I can remember, jiaozi, a buckwheat noodle, has always been very attractive, and people will eat it every meal. Strangely, several years later, with the improvement of living standards, jiaozi no longer used buckwheat noodles, but refined flour, jiaozi flour, Fuqiang flour and dumpling stuffing. Dumpling stuffing is no longer a single pork and sauerkraut, but a variety. But I can't eat enough anymore. It's not that I don't want to eat more Often eat seven or eight points full, the stomach began to resist, can't eat. In the local dialect, it is called "Xia". Compared with buckwheat flour, white flour will not make people overeat, but it can make people "healthy". In contrast, buckwheat noodles have no such unwelcome temperament.
There are other ways to eat buckwheat noodles in jiaozi, such as wrapping ribs, such as steaming, but the taste is not as good as that of buckwheat noodles, pork and sauerkraut. Don't forget, to eat this kind of jiaozi, you must have garlic, otherwise you will lack a fragrance.