Jiatang Cake, also known as Yin Cake, is a well-known local cuisine in Shangyu, which was professionally produced by Yao Tingxuan of Jiatang in the early years of the Republic of China, and has successively developed to the emergence of "Deyuan Pavilion", which has a history of more than 100 years and can be described as a household name. Pleasing to the eye, sweet in food, the big cake in the pond has both the ancient techniques and the subtlety of the fragrant, and there is a beautiful meaning. No matter how materially developed today, it is precisely the auspicious taste on the tip of this tongue, accumulating the sweetness of the years, and stringing together the strong friendship of generations in the torrent of time.
Pray to the birthday and marry, exuding a strong folk atmosphere
In Jiatang Village, Fenghui Town, there are several large cake shops. The light sun is slightly drunk, the breeze is just right, the street of the thousand-year-old town, the green brick and blue tile bluestone road. The taste of the old days is still there, waiting for the old lovers to taste the sweetness that has lasted for a hundred years. In the early years, the big cake was shouted by the sellers riding their bicycles through the streets, a coal stove, a stack of steamers, and several layers of wooden boxes. The first wooden box opens, steaming with smoke, seducing passers-by. Old and small customers gathered around the side of the car, using scissors to cut the rice dumpling leaves, you one piece, he two pieces, hot in the hand, is the favorite pastry of childhood.
In fact, this big cake also exudes a strong folk atmosphere. Locally, during the Dragon Boat Festival, a "hairy-footed son-in-law" who is engaged but not yet married must pick a large cake to the father-in-law's house, called "Looking at the Dragon Boat Festival". The big cakes picked by the "hairy-footed son-in-law" range from dozens of boxes to hundreds of boxes. The woman distributed these large cakes to relatives and friends, one is to show that the famous flowers have the master, and the other is to let everyone share the joy together. This custom is still in use today.
The freshly made cake is full of aroma and fullness, but it is wrapped in a thin rice flour skin. Take a bite and the slowly gushing bean paste blends in with the outer layer of rice noodles. The rice noodles are soft and non-sticky, the filling is smooth and dense, and what flows between the lips and teeth is a just right feeling of crispness. Most importantly, the taste reaches the heart and lungs, sweet but not greasy, suitable for all ages.
The shape of the big cake is square, which always gives people a decent ancient charm. The snow-white skin is printed with edible traditional auspicious words: "Wishing you prosperity", "auspicious and ruyi", "Fulu Shouxi"... The big cake is red and white, and the color is bright, which not only adds beauty, but also increases the appetite. Because the words "cake" and "high" are harmonious, the meaning is rising step by step, representing people's hopes and wanting to please a good head. Whenever there is a New Year's festival and a birthday wedding, the jiatang cake, which symbolizes the red fire and sweetness, is also a seasonal pastry gifted by relatives and friends, which is popular at the time. Now, according to the changes of the times, the taste of the big cake is more and more abundant, and there are more modern patterns and words, which are full of new vitality.
Ancient steaming, production skills passed down from generation to generation
Jiatang cake has spread thousands of miles because of its delicious taste, so that many people have begun to know and understand this traditional cuisine. Its main ingredients are locally produced japonica rice and glutinous rice, and the filling is black cowpea, sesame seeds, and brown sugar. Simple materials can make large cakes, but the handicraft of "knocking cakes" has been passed down from generation to generation in Jiatang Village.
Guo Zhigen is the inheritor of the craftsmanship of jiatang cake making. It is said that during the Xuan reunification period, a Yuyao man named Guo Kunrui came to Jiatang Old Street and opened a snack bar called "Deyuanguan". Today, there is a big cake shop called "Xindeyuan" in Jiatang, which was opened by Guo Kunrui's grandson Guo Zhigen. Since the age of 10, he has followed his father to learn to make large cakes.
The production of large cakes includes sieving powder, carving holes, adding filling, covering powder, adding printing, cutting cakes, steaming, adding green baskets and other steps. The whole process is quite exquisite, and there is no negligence. First, 60% japonica rice and 40% glutinous rice are used to make cake flour. Japonica rice and glutinous rice are soaked in water and crushed into a fine powder. The hands are tightly shaken and the rice noodles are sifted into the large cake mold like snowflakes, emitting a faint rice fragrance.
Scrape the excess rice flour in the mold, take a small bamboo rake to carve the air, dig out a uniform square pit, fill in the filling, and then sift the rice flour to cover the filling and scrape flat. Knocking on the printing plate mold with red powder, pieces of cutely shaped cakes fell in response. Finally, use a special knife to cut the whole large cake into sixteen pieces. At this point, the big cake embryo is considered to be complete. After steaming, the large cake is removed in a steaming pot and then inserted with a raisin, which is sweet and oily.
From 1991, when the store was first opened, each piece of cake was 4 cents, and now it can sell 500 boxes a day, and the net income in three months can reach more than 200,000 yuan, Guo Zhigen relies on the big cake in the pond and lives a prosperous little life. From February to the Dragon Boat Festival, the busiest time for the family, wives, sons, daughters-in-law, and the whole family come together, often "knocking on cakes" from night to dawn.
The antique mold emits a warm light, filters out the dust of memory, and awakens the temperature of delicious deep hiding. For Guo Zhigen, Jiatang Cake is not only food, but also a symbol left by traditional taste. Year after year, he had a ruler of his own, born in his hands and grown in his heart. The ruler in his hand is just right to hold the scale of each large cake, and the ruler in his heart is strictly waiting for the inheritance of his ancestors. He is a traditional taste of the craftsman, but also a "shou artist", carefully paying respect for the inheritance, through the fingertips, in the jiatang cake.