Legend of Laba porridge
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that Laba porridge comes from India. The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of Sudoku king in northern India (now Nepal). He saw that all beings were suffering physically and mentally, dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, and gave up the throne and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In the past six years, I have only eaten one hemp and one meter a day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings and ate porridge as a souvenir on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year. "Laba" became "Buddha's Day".
"Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples all over the country held Buddhist baths and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend that a herder offered chyle before Sakyamuni became a monk, and cooked fragrant cereal porridge to offer sacrifices to the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was presented to disciples and kind men and women, and later became a folk custom. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks would hold alms bowls along the street and cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that eating it can get the blessing of Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". The poem of Lu You in the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Today, Buddha porridge is more mutually beneficial, and the opposite is Jiangcun Village." It is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "rice stack building" for storing leftovers. Usually, monks in the temple dry leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus grain, and cook laba porridge for believers on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that they can increase their happiness and longevity after eating them. It can be seen that the monks at that time cherished the virtue of food.
Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and then the materials were gradually increased. People in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully wrote "Old Wulin Stories" and said, "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in Jiangnan, Northeast and Northwest China still have the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. With different materials, glutinous rice, red beans, jujube, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies and so on are commonly used to cook sweet porridge. Longan, longan and candied fruit are all ripe. Eating a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, which can really increase happiness and prolong life.
How to eat old Beijing during the Spring Festival?
Beijing folk song: "Melon sacrifices to the stove, New Year comes". The first food to enter the festival is honeydew melon, kwantung sugar and other snacks used for "offering sacrifices to the stove". It is made of colloidal maltose, and its sweetness is slightly sour. In an era when life is not very rich, it is an excellent food. Moreover, there are honeydew melons and Guandong sugar at home, which indicates that the Spring Festival is not far away. Of course, the "Kitchen God" doesn't eat fireworks, and this kind of "bribe" that hopes that the "Kitchen God" will speak well in heaven and keep safe in the underworld naturally becomes a thing in the mouth of children.
Old Beijingers pay special attention to "New Year", so they have: "Wife, don't be greedy. After Laba, it is the New Year, and Laba porridge will be drunk for a few days. Twenty-three, honeydew melons will stick, twenty-four, clean the house, twenty-five, stir-fry tofu, twenty-six, stew mutton, twenty-seven, kill male dogs, twenty-eight, make noodles, twenty-nine, steam steamed buns. Laba porridge, fried tofu, stewed mutton and so on listed in folk songs are all delicacies during the Spring Festival in old Beijing. Today, these are commonplace, but in the fifties and sixties, you can only feast your eyes on Chinese New Year.
There are only the above kinds of food during the Spring Festival, which is certainly not rich. For example, the cakes used in ancient times to worship the gods and ancestors-honey and saqima-are not only the food of Manchu, Mongolian and other ethnic minorities in Beijing, but also the necessary food in Beijing. Some wealthy Beijingers used to eat fish on New Year's Eve. Fish must be carp, originally in the name of offering sacrifices to gods, and later associated with the auspicious language of "more than good luck and celebration" Fish is both delicious and sacrificial.
As for jiaozi on New Year's Eve, jiaozi, a vegetarian, is used to worship God, while everyone eats meat. People who are not rich are stuffed with meat and vegetables. Even the poorest families will eat jiaozi's "program" during Chinese New Year. Besides jiaozi and rice cakes, people in "old Beijing" will try "bean paste"-a cold dish made of skin, dried bean curd, soybeans, green beans and watercress, which is amber in color and similar to "frozen meat". In addition, there is "Mustard Dun", which is a cold dish used to accompany wine and appetizer. People eat a lot of greasy food in festivals, which is easy to get angry and produce phlegm. These cold dishes can make up for this defect.
When all kinds of vegetarian dishes are ready, Beijingers will also prepare sweets, dried fruits, melon seeds and "miscellaneous fruits", which are today's assorted preserved fruits. At that time, these snacks were delicious food when people sat around the fire and died.
Nowadays, almost all the offerings and traditional foods in the name of offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods have been preserved, but they are not so conspicuous. As for today's Spring Festival, the dinner table can only be summarized by the word "abundance". What Sichuan and Shandong dishes and raw seafood will appear on the dinner table of the people's New Year's Eve? People who say "new school" will go to the grand hotel to "grab a meal" to welcome the Spring Festival!
Wine and folklore
In ancient China, wine was regarded as a sacred object, and its use was more solemn. It was not used for offering sacrifices to heaven, ancestral temples or entertaining guests. Form the customs and styles of ancient wine activities. With the general rise of the wine-making industry, wine has gradually become the object of people's daily life, and the activities of wine have also been extensive. Through people's ideological and cultural consciousness, it has been stylized and formed a relatively systematic wine custom. These customs involve many aspects of people's production and life, and their forms are vivid and diverse.
Wine is inseparable from folk customs. Such as agricultural festivals, weddings, funerals, birthdays, celebrations, welcoming guests and other folk activities, wine has become the central substance. If there is no wine in the worship ceremony of the agricultural festival, there will be no sustenance for the ancestors of Myanmar and the pursuit of bumper harvest and prosperity; There is no wine in marriage, and there is no oath in faithful love. There is no wine at the funeral, and the filial piety of future generations cannot be expressed; There is no wine in the banquet, and the ritual interest in life cannot be displayed; It's hard to say goodbye to a brave man who is gone forever. In short, no wine is not a gift, no wine is not a custom, and there is no support for folk activities without wine.
As early as Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, wine was closely related to people's living customs and etiquette, and was formulated and systematized. At that time, the use of tillers made the brewing industry develop unprecedentedly, and the phenomenon of heavy drinking in society became more and more serious. The activities of using alcohol reflected in customs and customs and agricultural production are very extensive.
During the Xia Dynasty, villagers held a drinking ceremony at the local school in October: "Wash the frost in September and wash the fields in October. My friends like to kill lambs every day. They are called "My husband" and "My husband". " (The Book of Songs July (Wind)) This poem depicts a genre painting of rural drinking in the pre-Qin period. After harvesting the sickle, cleaning the threshing floor and ending farming, the people who worked hard for a year slaughtered the lamb and came to the rural school. Everyone put two bottles of wine, invited friends to drink, held up the horn cup, and wished each other a long life, and of course wished each other a bumper harvest and a rich life in the coming year.
In the customs and etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty, there are eight kinds: crown, marriage, funeral, sacrifice, hometown, shooting, hiring and facing the court, and most of them are crowned with wine, which is colorful. For example, when a man reaches the age of 20, he will be crowned, indicating that he has reached adulthood. In the coronation ceremony, "the eldest son drinks wine, while the illegitimate son drinks wine" (the cultural history of China) celebrates his maturity. Here, whether it is jingjing's whole grains or spirits, it has become the holy water to bless life.
The marriage customs of Zhou Dynasty have been standardized and stylized, forming a system from marriage proposal to marriage. Each link has its own emphasis. If a man wants a woman, he must ask the media to propose. After the woman agrees, there are still processes such as accepting, asking for a name, and Naji. On the wedding day, "the father ordered to welcome him, the son ordered to go in, held the goose down, got out of the car, left the woman outside the door, led him back, and ate and drank with the prisoner." The newlyweds * * * eat the meat after the sacrifice, * * * drink the wedding banquet, and let their hair grow old by wine. Shooting ceremony prevailed in the Zhou Dynasty, although there were three passes, but "all were shot three times, and the first shot was triple; Re-shoot three couplings and many couplings; Shoot with music three times, and the winner doesn't drink. " Wine becomes the punishment for the loser in the shooting ceremony, which is full of fun.
The custom of drinking in rural areas in Zhou Dynasty was that rural doctors were the mainstay and Chu Shi sages were the guests. During the event, "each guest, 60 people sit and 50 people stand". Drinking, especially for the elderly. Three beans for sixty people, four beans for seventy people, five beans for eighty people and six beans for ninety people. Its folk custom of respecting the elderly is vividly displayed in the folk activities with wine as the main body.
As the traditional culture of China, the three generations of customs and etiquette system "integrates the achievements of past dynasties, and then reforms" ("China Cultural History"), connecting the preceding with the following, and many customs and phenomena are still preserved today. Wedding wine, funeral wine, rice wine, birthday wine, holiday wine, sacrificial wine, etc. What is popular in modern times can be found in the "Eight Rites" of the customs and culture of the Zhou Dynasty.
With the development of social politics, economy and culture, the content, form and even plot of folk activities have changed. However, only the phenomenon of using alcohol in folk activities has been used for several generations.
Birthday wine: Children will hold birthday wine for the elderly on their birthdays. There will be a big banquet, and relatives and neighbors will come uninvited and bring gifts to congratulate them. Folk artists (lantern artists) should be invited to perform rap in the banquet room. In northern Guizhou, lantern artists should dress up as the Eight Immortals, including,, Zhang and He Xiangu, and sing in turn. While singing, the birthday girl will be presented with homemade longevity crutches, longevity fans, longevity classics, longevity wine, longevity grass and other things. After the offering, respectfully offer a glass of wine, and the "immortals" will drink with the birthday girl.
Wedding wine: From marriage proposal to engagement, wine is a routine thing. Every time a matchmaker goes to a girl's house to talk, he always brings gifts, among which wine is essential. When the wedding date is set, the man's family has everything from wine, meat, noodles, eggs, sugar and snacks, and invites the girl's uncle, aunt, three relatives and four relatives. When getting married, the sedan chair is carried into the men's courtyard, and the first thing to do is to worship the ancestors of the men's family. There are also several boxes of shochu, pig heads and incense sticks. Couples are fragile, and the host mumbles. Finally, cut off the pig's head and slowly sprinkle the wine in front of the bride and groom. After that, they went to a big hall to worship heaven and earth. After that, the couple entered the bridal chamber, raised their glasses and drank, pinning their love on each other. After the wedding, the newlyweds will propose a toast to those who attend the wedding reception. At this time, boys will inevitably persuade newlyweds to cheer up, be a little presumptuous, be funny and joke. The wedding banquet is full of unique folk tastes.
Yuezi Rice Wine: A few days before delivery, women should cook rice wine 1 jar, one jar for the breast-feeding woman and one jar for the guests. Children need to drink rice wine at the full moon, ranging from 3 to 5 tables to 2 to 30 tables. There are enough shochu bottles on the banquet, and each person has a gift package of 1, which contains red eggs, soaked bars and so on.
Toast: covering a wide range, there are generally two kinds. One is to propose a toast when building a house, repairing a bridge and paving the way. Anyone who breaks ground will buy wine and food, and worship the mountain god and the land god in the place where construction is about to start. Luban is the first teacher of craftsmen. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project, he should worship Luban. The ceremony should be presided over by a prestigious craftsman, with money as food, wine as paper and worship as a blessing. In the project, all the beam doors have a grand ceremony, in which wine is the main body. Second, on holidays and disasters, we should hold a wine worship. On New Year's Eve, every household should prepare rich dining tables, burn incense and paper money, and invite ancestors and the deceased to come back for drinking on New Year's Eve. During this period, families kowtow in order of age, and then stand solemnly at the table. After three or five minutes, parents will combine the worship wine and sprinkle it around the meal statement. After the worship, the whole family can afford it with a spoon. In the folk, people think that they have offended their ancestors, so they will hold a series of activities to entertain the gods and beg for forgiveness. It is still in the form of buying water and dining tables. Mr. Wang (and the leaders of the Lantern Festival) are invited to sing at home and offer them with wine and food. The worship of wine is inherited from the worship of ancestors and gods in ancient times. In the traditional consciousness, it is believed that everything has a god, and if there is something that disturbs God, there will be no peace without worship. Some phenomena in Baijiu, because they belong to the dross category, have gradually disappeared among the people. )
The Development of Pastry in China
First, the origin of cakes
Pasta, that is, a small amount of food other than dinner, has a broad sense and a narrow sense. Pasta in a broad sense, including staple food, snacks, snacks and cakes; In a narrow sense, a relatively wide range of staple foods and some snacks are excluded. Judging from the evolution law of cakes, there are staple food, snacks, snacks and cakes first; It takes some time to develop from staple food to pastry.
China's staple food appeared very early. When the "ancients" or "newcomers" learn to bake wild plant seeds on thin slate with fire, it can be regarded as the beginning of staple food. Although this kind of food is very simple, it already has some attributes of pasta. After hundreds of thousands of years of exploration, in the Neolithic Age, the ancestors could peel, roast, explode, cook and steam the whole grain to make delicious rice, porridge, soup and glutinous rice (dried and mashed after cooking), which was the perfection and development of the staple food. A pottery jar with a diameter of 876 cm, a height of 344 cm and a capacity of 6250 cubic cm was found in Qujialing Cultural Site. According to textual research, it was a cooking utensil 5,000-4,600 years ago, and a pot could serve 50 people. It can be seen that the staple food production at that time was quite technical. But before Shang Dynasty, the variety of staple food was monotonous. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which appeared in the 2nd/kloc-0th century BC, no characters about fine pasta-cakes were found at present, so the material and technical conditions at that time could not meet the basic requirements of cake production.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the development of agricultural production, more abundant raw materials (such as five grains, five livestock, five vegetables, five fruits and five flavors) were provided. Due to the progress of handicraft production, production tools (such as Chu Jiu, stone mill, stone chips, steamer, pottery cake pot, blue uranium cutter, etc. ) is provided; Coupled with the needs of early sacrifices and banquets, a group of slaves specializing in kitchen work was born, and early cakes were born in the court.
According to the current historical data, there are about 20 kinds of cakes from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Warring States Period. Their materials are mainly rice and millet. It can be cooked whole, crushed and steamed, or made into paste. The fillings are meat, honey, wine and flowers, which are mostly round in shape and have attributes between cakes. Others are refined staple foods such as rice, porridge, soup and glutinous rice. Its varieties are "flour" (fried and ground barley), "rice" (rice flour cooked with meat sauce), "bait" (steamed cake or steamed cake), "marching dry food", "honey bait" (powder cake with honey) and "glutinous rice" (wine fermentation)
Second, the rapid changes in pastry technology.
During the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the appearance of vegetable oil, there were exquisite stone mills, large steamers filled with fire and soup, convenient cookstoves, once-molded animal molds and perforated bamboo spoons, and the methods of sour pulp fermentation and wine porridge fermentation were widely used. Then, with the introduction of "Hu cake" technology, the development of pastry technology has changed dramatically, forming the first climax in the history of pastry development in China. There are four main signs: First, the raw materials are mostly powder. Second, fermentation technology and mold forming are widely used, with dozens of varieties and different flavors. Third, noodles have always been a series, mostly in sheets, strips or rings, steamed, boiled and baked. Fourth, there are many innovative varieties. Steamed bread, flowering steamed bread, fermented products, dairy products, egg products, fruit products and lotus seed snacks have been introduced one after another, and their shapes are more exquisite than before.
The prosperity of cakes in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties is reflected in two aspects.
First, there are many ancient books describing cakes. Some of them are Collection of Nine Articles, Dialect, Explanation of Names, Cui Yan's Moon Order for Four People, Gao Cheng's The Origin of Things, The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, The Book of Jin, The Book of Qi, The Chronicle of Jingchu, etc. Among them, Jia Sixie's "Qi Yao Min Shu" systematically introduces the making methods of more than 20 kinds of cakes, such as white cakes and powder cakes, which is the first time to record the pastry spectrum in detail in the diet classics. Shu Xi's "Cake Fu" is the first literary work of eulogizing cakes in China, which depicts dolphin ears, dog tongues, thin and strong, prison pills and other 10 varieties. And introduce their color, fragrance, taste, shape and shape to the fullest.
Second, there are a variety of colors, including "Hu cake (similar to sesame cake)", "steamed cake" (the earliest steamed bread), "soup cake (boiled noodles)", "cut cake" (fried with beef and sheep milk and flour), "spring cake (the predecessor of modern spring rolls)", "Suo cake" (coarse wet noodles) and "pith cake (made of bone marrow, noodles, etc. "Sliced porridge (steamed dough in the shape of chess pieces and poured with broth)", "Zongzi (boiled with concentrated plant ash juice)" and "Miyi" (glutinous rice with honey and jujube, etc.).
Third, the refinement of pastry making.
The Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties is a new stage of the overall development of China cakes, which has five distinct characteristics.
First, the pastry production technology has been greatly improved, and the dough, stuffing, topping, molding and cooking methods are diversified. As far as dough is concerned, there are four kinds of fermented dough: fermented juice fermentation, fermented wine fermentation, fermented dough fermentation and fermented alkaline yeast. There are two kinds of dough mixed with water: cold water mixed with boiling water. Crispy noodles are getting more and more mature, as well as mung bean powder skin and dog egg dough. As for fillings, various kinds of meat stuffing, vegetable stuffing, miscellaneous stuffing, bean paste stuffing, crystal stuffing, candied fruit stuffing and nut stuffing were prepared. On the topping, meat and vegetables are used together, some are poured on the surface, and some are mixed with dough and middle. There are also chamomile cold washes and other treasures. In modeling, we can roll, leak, press, cut and carve, and pay attention to simulating the graphics of diving plants. Cooking, steaming, boiling, frying, frying, flipping, frying and stewing, as well as ancient methods such as stone buns and bamboo tube boards.
Second, there are large-scale pastry workshops and noodle shops. For example, Chang 'an in Sui and Tang Dynasties, Changxing Square sells (finished products), Fuxing Square sells Hu cakes, grants wonton, and Shengye Square sells steamed cakes, which have obvious professional tendencies and are famous pastry chefs who are "different" and "beautiful in their hands". Nanjing in the Five Dynasties introduced the "Seven Musts of Health Preservation". Spring cakes can be photographed and wonton can be blackened. By the Song Dynasty, there were dozens of professional cake shops in Bianjing and Lin 'an, some with more than 20 stoves or even more than 50 stoves.
Third, the diversity of colors is unprecedented. Improved varieties 100, such as honey cake, millet cake, sesame cake, social cake, new sample, full hemp, wide coke, etc. Innovative varieties include Mian (Zhui), Crispy, jiaozi, jiaozi, He Lou, Shuituan, Matuan, Moon Cake, Yuanxiao, Fishing, Steamed Dumplings, Five Blessingg Cake, Pancake, Fried Fruit, Bald Head and Wrapping. Among them are Baiwei Cake, Gu Lou Zi, Zhitu, Diaosu and Bafang Cold Food Cake.
Fourth, holiday snacks, banquet snacks and diet snacks are valued. In terms of holiday snacks, in addition to the spring cakes, zongzi and Chongyang cakes that existed in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, Nirvana Pocket on February 15th, Ruyi Circle on the 5th, Green Pouch on the 5th, Dream Orchid Cake in the Middle Yuan Dynasty and Hemerocallis Noodle on the 12th were added. In terms of snacks, there are many snacks and the other is small. Such as Song Emperor's Birthday Banquet, there are double hump horns, honey-floating crisp flowers, white meat and Hu cakes, Taiping (Bibi) (Luo Qi), etc. 10 yuan or above. Wei Juyuan's food list has many products, such as Guifeihong, Hangong Chess and Cards, Yuluyuan and Admiralty Roast 20. Dietotherapy snacks are mostly included in medical books, and there are more than 50 kinds of well-known snacks, such as fairy porridge, beef bone marrow paste, Schisandra soup, Jiang Rong wonton and so on.
Fifth, ethnic minorities spread quickly, and Chinese and foreign pastry exchanges. At this time, the rice cake of Qidan, the soft fat of gold, the flower cake of Xixia, the root-seeking of Mongolia, the Uygur smallpox steamed stuffed bun, Huierwei, and the Jurchen Koryo millet cake all spread in the Central Plains. At the same time, China cakes spread to Japan in the east, Italy in the west, Brahman in Southeast Asia and Tana in the western regions also spread to China, and the drinking market was quite active.
Fourthly, the formation of pastry system.
Pastry in China reached its third climax in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its first performance is the deepening of the production process. There are not only excellent "flying noodles" and flour, but also perfect fermentation methods and cakes, and special fillings such as aspic have been invented, and there are more than 30 molding methods, which are mixed and heated for ripening. Second, there are many kinds of designs and new products emerge one after another. On the one hand, the old varieties continue to expand their colors (like noodles, more than 40 colors such as Lamian Noodles, Daoxiao Noodles, spiced noodles, Bazhen noodles, Yifu noodles, Dandan Noodles noodles, oily noodles, goose noodles and fish noodles have been introduced), and they have been loaded into various notes or recipes; On the other hand, local snacks stand out and take the lead with their unique flavor (such as Jinling thin bag, Huaiyang Sandingbao, Suzhou-Hangzhou jiaozi, Fujian-Guangdong frozen bamboo shoots, Hunan-Hubei love bean curd, Ma Shu spicy oil jiaozi, Yunnan-Guizhou bait silk, Songhu Hunan Xiang steamed bread, Huizhou-Jiangxi bird rice ball, Hebei-Henan four deep-fried dough sticks, Ganning cannon oil cake, Beijing-Tianjin Goubuli steamed buns, Qin Jin mutton paomo, and Yuji IV). The third is the standardization of seasonal snacks and feast snacks. Festival, almost 24 festivals, dozens of moon cakes, Laba porridge varies from place to place; The heart of the banquet includes the sacrifice of the banquet, the joy of the wedding banquet, the longevity of the birthday banquet, the tea of the fruit and tea banquet, and a set of points of the Manchu-Han banquet, southeast and northwest, each in its own way; Especially in the national banquet, ethnic snacks are colorful and amorous feelings.
In this case, the pastry system in China was initially formed. There are three genres of cakes: Beijing flavor, Soviet flavor and Guangdong flavor. Snacks have many branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanxi, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guangdong and other places. There are famous series of dim sum, such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, Shanxi Folk Rites, Suzhou Sifen, Wuxi Taihu Boat, Yangzhou Fuchun Tea, Shanghai Nanxianghua, Guangzhou Morning Tea Essence, Hangzhou Lingyinzhai, Eid al-Fitr for Muslims, Manchu Sacrifice, Mongolian Mongolian Mongolian Mongolian Mongolian yurt milk, Tibetan standard flower crisp and so on.
V. Innovation in pastry making
After the Revolution of 1911, due to the rapid development of world food science and technology and the change of drinking trend, the traditional handmade cakes in China are facing challenges. In order to keep the advantage in the competition, the pastry production technology is constantly innovating. First, pay attention to the selection of new raw materials, such as coffee, egg slices, cheese, condensed milk, cream, syrup, as well as various wetting agents, flavoring agents, leavening agents, emulsifiers, thickeners and fortifiers, to improve the quality of dough and stuffing, and then adjust the formula according to the requirements of nutrition and hygiene, with low sugar, low salt, low fat, high protein, multiple vitamins and minerals; Vigorously develop bodybuilding pasta, nourishing pasta, diet pasta and special types of nutritious pasta. Third, actively use modern machines and tools (such as raw material processing machines and tools, molding machines and tools, curing machines and tools, packaging machines and tools, etc.). ) to improve the appearance and quality of finished products, reduce labor intensity and improve production efficiency. The fourth is to carry out scientific research, train technicians, publish cakes and periodicals, and actively realize scientific formula, reasonable nutrition, mechanized production, nationalization of flavor, storage, packaging and convenience of eating. In this way, the status and role of cakes in the diet are more prominent and more and more popular among the masses.
Why do you want to eat pig's head on February 2?
On the second day of the second lunar month, dragons rise, big warehouse is full, and small warehouses keep flowing. When the Spring Festival comes, in most parts of northern China, every family carries lanterns to fetch water from wells or rivers. After returning home, they light lamps to burn incense and offer offerings, which is called "attracting dragons". On this day, every household will eat noodles, fried cakes, popcorn and pig's head meat. Compared with "picking the dragon's head" and "eating gentian", golden beans will bloom, the dragon king will ascend to heaven, the clouds will disperse and the grains will be abundant to show good luck. Why do you want to eat pig's head meat on February 2?
In ancient times, pig heads were used to worship ancestors and heaven. Northerners cook pig's heads on February 2, when the dragon looks up, because the first and fifteenth days of the first lunar month have passed, and February 2 is the last festival of the Spring Festival. The average farmer worked hard for a year, killing pigs and sheep on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the first month, all the pork killed in the twelfth lunar month was basically eaten, and only one pig head was left to eat on February 2.
On February 2, the dragon raised its head, and everything on the earth began to revive, and all animals and plants began to raise their heads. We should make a good start in the new year and welcome good weather. The Dragon King is in charge of rainfall. When he goes to the Heavenly Palace, farmers will offer the best sacrifices to the Dragon King. It seems that the pig's head is a sacrifice to ancestors and heaven.
Qiu Chi's Notes in the Song Dynasty recorded a story: Wang Zhongling was hungry after pacifying Bashu, so he broke into a small village temple and met a monk who was drunk with cigarettes. Wang Zhongling was furious and wanted to cut it, but he didn't know that the monk was afraid. Wang Zhongling was very surprised and asked him for food. Soon the monk presented a plate of "steamed pig's head" and wrote poems for it. When steaming, the banana leaves have been wrapped, and when cooked, water them with apricot paddles. Red, fresh and elegant, called Jin panting, ripe and soft, really like jade. Wang Zhongling ate a delicious steamed pig's head and was very happy after listening to the humorous and unique "pig's head poem", so he named the monk "Master of Purple Clothes". As the saying goes, "You can't find a temple with a pig's head in your hand" is even more self-evident. Don't be discouraged if you don't meet your talents. Sooner or later, you will find someone who can understand and accept you. It seems that eating pig's head on February 2nd is an ancient tradition and a symbol of good luck.
So how to eat pig's head meat on February 2 nd now? Think about the steamed pig's head that Wang Zhongling ate and the pig's head poem that he tasted. That scene has become history. Nowadays, the "pork noodle" invented by Beijing Jinsanyuan Restaurant is unusual. They gave pig's head the highest treatment, gave it the most fashionable name of the times, and won the first patent for cooking in China.
"Roasted pig's face" is made by selecting materials, cleaning, spray-baking, soaking, making sauce and other processes 12, and it can be served on the table after more than ten hours of cultivation. There are three kinds of "roast pig faces" when eating Jin Sanyuan. One is to eat as you like; The second is to dip in the sauce; The third is to roll pancakes to eat. Every way of eating has a different taste. "February 2nd" eats modern "pork noodles" and recalls the dining history of 5,000 years, which is the perfect embodiment of the blending of contemporary and history. "Roasted pig's face" is fat but not greasy, the meat and bones are separated, and it tastes delicious, which brings beauty and brain-strengthening effects to modern people. What's more gratifying is that the combination of modern high technology and market allows consumers to taste delicious "pork noodles" at home without going to restaurants. This is exactly: On February 2nd, Spring Dragon Festival, the descendants of dragons passed through the Year of the Loong, and the Year of the Loong wanted to eat pig's head meat.
Dragon and China Food Culture
Dragons are very magical animals. The dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation. For thousands of years, the dragon's influence has extended to many fields of China culture, and it has been deeply integrated into the lives of people in China.
The dragon originated from the Neolithic Age in the primitive society of China. At present, some dragon-related cultural relics have been unearthed in the ruins of the late primitive society in Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shanxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, such as painted pottery pots with dragon patterns and painted Tao Pan with dragon patterns. But the image of the dragon at that time was far from the image of the dragon after Qin and Han Dynasties. Some have stout bodies, long noses and flat noses, like pigs; Some hold their heads high and bow their backs, with their eyes and noses protruding upward, taking pictures of crocodiles; Some bodies are curved and slender, without feet and claws, similar to snakes ... In the development of dragons, these dragons belong to the "pre-dragon" stage, that is, the image of dragons is in the origin period. There are great differences in the image of dragons between different regions, even within the same region.
More than 3,000 years ago, in Shang Dynasty, the image of dragon was initially standardized. The word "dragon" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions vividly depicts the image of the dragon in people's minds, and the dragon patterns on bronzes and jades are similar to the word "dragon" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. For example, a Shang Dynasty wine vessel unearthed in Funan, Anhui Province-"Dragon Tiger Bronze Zun" is different from any animal in nature. But from birds, animals, fish, insects and other animals to select a certain part, re-assembled into an organic whole. At that time, the images of dragons mainly included head, crown, horn, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, eyebrows, feet, scales (feathers), tail and body. We call it "truth"
Through the change of dragon image, we can trace the origin of dragon, and we can see that the origin of dragon is related to agricultural production. China is one of the important agricultural birthplaces in the world. As early as 1 10,000 years ago, China had primitive agriculture. Rice grains dating back to/kloc-0.0 million years were unearthed in Yuchanyan, Daoxian County, Hunan Province. As we all know, water is the lifeblood of agriculture. Primitive agriculture, without irrigation projects, can only rely on rain, but also afraid of river flooding, so ancestors are eager for the ability to control water. But it was really difficult for them to have this ability at that time, so they pinned their hopes on the mythical image of the dragon they created. Snakes, crocodiles, lizards and other reptiles in the pre-dragon stage were all related to water, and some even lived in water. People living on land feel mysterious when they see crocodiles that can dive into the water, water snakes that can swim quickly in the water, and snakes that can move freely without feet, and they are transformed from mystery to awe and deification. When people entered the real dragon period, they simply put the dragon in the water. People let dragons live in water in order to let them dominate the waters, so that when agriculture needs water, they ask the dragon king to raise clouds and rain.
In the eyes of ancestors, since dragons are sacred, they are of course conceptually associated with auspiciousness. People use dragons to compare beautiful things and things, and the image of dragons goes deep into all aspects of social life. There are many images of dragons in various works of art, languages and articles. In the field of "food", it has an indissoluble bond with dragons. Such as lobster, longan, Longli, Gracilaria lemaneiformis, Long Hudou, Longjing tea and Longxu Noodles. Some of these food names are similar in shape, while others are auspicious. For example, as early as the Yuan Dynasty, there was a record of "On February 2nd, the dragon looked up". In order to express the hope of a bumper harvest, pasta is popular in many places on this day. The noodles cooked on this day are called "Longxu Noodles", pancakes are called "Dragon Face" and jiaozi is called "Dragon Teeth". In the Qing Dynasty, on the day when the dragon looked up, people also used white ash to snake into the kitchen from the outside and walk around the water tank, which was called "painting the dragon back". Beijing people want to fry corn flour, jujube cake and wheat rice into food, which is called fumigation. In addition, people also have to dance dragon lanterns on the Lantern Festival and race dragon boats on the Duanyang Festival, which are all food and cultural activities related to dragons.
Among the drinks that people use.