Wang Yunhai
? Steamed buns are traditional pasta in eastern Henan, northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui, with a history of more than 2,000 years. According to historical records, when Zhao, the hero of Xuzhou's resistance to gold in the Northern Song Dynasty, Xuzhou people scrambled to make steamed buns and rolled them up to reward the hero, and a story of military-civilian unity spread.
The so-called "flipping buns" means making soft dough from unfermented flour, then rolling it into dough with a thickness of less than 2 mm with a rolling pin much smaller than the rolling pin, slightly thicker in the middle and pointed at both ends, and baking it on a hot hammer. Boiled steamed stuffed bun is not only a delicious food that people loved in the past, but also very popular among men and women in urban and rural areas.
The delicacy of steamed stuffed bun is universally acknowledged. There are various ways to eat, such as baking and eating. They are delicious and have a strong taste. Chewing them will make your chin ache. You will still chew them with relish. You can also eat steamed bread with rolled vegetables, such as shredded potatoes, rolled eggs and peppers, or rolled pickles. I remember when I was a child, I often ate steamed buns with soy sauce, and my favorite was steamed buns with green onions. There is a third way to eat steamed stuffed bun with vegetable soup. Most elderly people have poor teeth. They like to tear the steamed bread and soak it in vegetable soup, or dip it directly in the leftover food. Old people often regard such meals as delicious food. The fourth way of eating is more special, that is, most steamed bread stored for too long is reluctant to throw it away, so it is put in noodle soup. After the pot is boiled, the pimples on the dough are ready to move under the action of blisters, which is euphemistically called "Lai Toad's top quilt". It tastes both hard and soft, and you can't stop. Of course, these are all in the past. Nowadays, old people, children and trendy young people prefer to soak steamed buns in mutton soup, beef soup or egg soup and gluten soup, which is not only delicious, but also very nourishing. Another way to eat is to roll up the leftover steamed bread and dip it in some water, put it at the bottom of the oil pan, or fry it in a wok. The steamed buns cooked in the oil pan are fragrant, tender and crisp, crispy outside and tender inside, so don't change them into snacks!
Steamed buns are delicious, but there are many exquisite methods and the technology is not simple. First of all, you should have a three-legged hammer specially used for steamed bread, use three brick stools to make dough early, put it on the chopping board to wake it up, and then find a mussel shell carved out of bamboo mussel shell. One end of the mussel shell should be carved thin and smooth, so that you can turn steamed bread freely. It's best to get some firewood to burn, such as bean stalks, sesame stalks or straw. When everything is ready and the dough wakes up, the person who bakes buns rolls out the kneaded dough with a rolling pin. The steamed buns rolled out by skilled women are thin and round, and there are also women who are clumsy at hand. Steamed bread is uneven in thickness, just like the head of a three-pointed plow, which is ugly and difficult to turn over. It is even more irregular to put it on the hoe, and it is put on the hoe if it is not careful. If the dough is kneaded and round, you can burn the steamed bread if you meet a master who can't turn it upside down. If the fire can't be controlled, it will also cause the steamed stuffed bun to burn. I remember when I was a child, my mother cooked steamed buns. When I cooked them, I turned them over. I often burn them so that I can't turn them over. As a result, my mother was so angry that she picked up a rolling pin and tapped my little hand. She also scolded me that if my married daughter-in-law turned them over, my mother-in-law would hit them on the head with a rolling pin, scaring me to turn them over carefully. It is said that practice makes perfect. Later, after a long period of practice, I was finally able to master cooking flexibly, and the baked buns were beautiful and delicious. My mother also said that you won't have a long memory without thugs. Therefore, whether it is flipping steamed bread or turning steamed bread over, it needs tacit cooperation to bake delicious steamed bread.
? With the passage of time and the continuous improvement of processing technology, most hotels and restaurants in the city now steam steamed buns by machine. Eating authentic steamed buns at home is a luxury. Only the old people in the countryside are still cooking steamed buns in the traditional way, and they have never forgotten the craftsmanship handed down from generation to generation. The steamed buns baked by them with cigarettes are not only sought after by young people, but also make elderly people homesick. They say that the steamed bread baked by firewood is burned by cigarettes.
Until now, I still like to bake my own steamed bread. I also miss the good times when my mother and I baked steamed bread together, and I miss the thin, round and delicious steamed bread baked with firewood.
Wang Delan, pen name: Wang Yunhai, member of Anhui Folklore Society, researcher of Suzhou Folklore Research Center. From August 2065438 to the present, he has published many essays in Dawn, Suzhou Radio and Television Station and Yongqiao Times.