The most familiar thing about living in the countryside is the earth stove, and I grew up eating this kind of farmhouse dish. The earth stove is simple. It's a furnace made of rammed earth. The stoves are square or round and are basically similar in shape. You can sit on the iron pot and cook. Later, with the improvement of people's living standards, they used green bricks and red bricks to build bricks, and now they will paste a layer of tiles, which is more beautiful and generous, and it is easy to take care of.
For rural areas, earth stoves are essential cooking utensils for every household. Although it looks a bit simple and heavy, it is very particular when it comes to building furnaces. The stoves are built in the corners of the kitchen, saving space and facilitating the design of the flue. Please go to the village bricklayer master, first compare the size of the pot, and then make an earthen stove in a circle. Reserve the furnace door, furnace chamber, air outlet, and finally paste a layer of yellow mud inside, which is more resistant to fire. A good earth stove needs to conserve firewood, concentrate on cooking quickly, and don't pour smoke.
There is a saying in the countryside, "Open a new stove, buy a new pot, eat fish." After the new stove is built, worship the god of vesta first. This is a tradition of the old people in the past, but it is now rare. Finally, make a "thank you meal" with an earthen stove, and even if you have trouble, you have to make something fishy and festive. First check that the earthen stove works, thank the bricklayers, and then, expect a good omen at home. In addition, if you use a new pot, you also need to have a fishy smell to lift the pot, so that it can be used for a long time.
Having lived in the countryside for so many years, I have seen many different kinds of earth stoves, of which the most common one is the stove with bellows, and even slightly damp firewood can cook. To save firewood, there is a small stove behind the big stove for cooking. Some stoves will also be connected to the flue, such an earthen stove will not be used until winter, and cooking will also be warmed. Some people will also make a small stove in the yard alone, called the "apricot stove" in the old house, and use it alone for cooking.
Cooking in an earthen stove is a technical job, and the hardest thing to master when burning firewood is the temperature. In addition to the fire, you also have to take care of the pot, which makes cooking more difficult. Compared with today's rice cookers, gas is a lot of trouble, and of course, the food made in the earth stove is more delicious. Favorite food is food made from clay stoves. Although it is not much different from other methods, the food made from dates is still very fragrant.
Rural people have different feelings about earth stoves. Every day, watching the earthen stove continue to rise, the smoke in the chimney is extremely full. In people's minds, the earth stove is the most important place in the home, and an earth stove represents this home. When the children grow up and start a family, they will fall apart. Rural people call the breakup "another stove." A new earthen stove is placed on the plate, and a variety of home-made meals mark the birth of a new family.
Now the countryside is changing, so there are fewer and fewer soil stoves, and they are gradually replaced by convenient and efficient gas stoves and induction cookers. However, earth stoves are usually only used during the New Year, and the technology and tradition of cooking earth stoves is gradually disappearing from our lives.