Bō bo, Modern Chinese Dictionary explains:
〈Party〉 1. Pastry. 2. Steamed buns or other pasta, also refers to chunky foods made of multigrain noodles: stick noodles; paste dumplings.
Seeing this explanation, I smiled unconsciously, and I can only say that the people who wrote the dictionary have never been to Jiaodong, let alone eaten the big food of Jiaodong. First of all, let everyone have a perceptual understanding.
"Twenty-eight noodles", today is the day when every household in the past made steamed noodles. Nowadays, few people in the city steam their own big food, generally in advance to the manufacturer to order or buy in the market. But most people in the countryside still do it themselves, and the family gathers around to knead the dough, shape it, make it into a bun, and then steam it in a magnifying pot.
When the steaming bread comes out of the pot, the sweet smell irons every cell in the body, comfortable and intoxicating. Taking advantage of the opening of the memory floodgates, let's talk about the big food in my hometown that I haven't eaten for a long time.
The flour used to make the big dumplings must be first-class
In the past, the flour eaten in the hometown was ground by the village mill itself, and a bag of wheat was sent to the mill, and it was necessary to pack it in four bags, the first po (sound) noodles, the second po noodles, the black noodles, and the bran.
Erpo noodles are used to roll out noodles, wrap buns, fried noodles and fish; black noodles are close to bran, have a poor taste, and can be flapjacked and cabbage horns; bran is chicken feed.
Toipo noodles are now called wheat core flour, which is specially left to make new year's dumplings and other exquisite pasta. The Modern Chinese Dictionary explains that rao is "a lumpy food made of mixed grain noodles", and its material and shape are very different.
The key process in making big dumplings is "searching for noodles"
To search for dough is to knead the dough. Big food, as the name suggests, is a big head of the food, generally about two pounds of one, in order to be consistent in size, when doing it is to weigh it.
The second feature of the big dumpling is hard, hard noodles have a good taste, but also in order to steam out without deformation, the noodles should be harder. To steam a good food, you must have excellent face search skills.
One year, I was back home just in time for my sister-in-law's steaming, and two neighbor sisters-in-law were helping. They are a "mutual aid group", this one today, tomorrow's family, the number of people is powerful. My husband and I also joined the search, and my husband was praised. The sister-in-law said that the face searcher should be hot and hard, and the palm should be as vertical as possible. The noodles that people found were delicate and soft, and the ones I found were much worse, hard and not smooth.
The big jujube is also called the big jujube, and the red dates should be inserted on the dumplings, washed with red dates, cored with scissors, and cut in half. The dough is searched, the group is in a perfect circle, and two small fingers are used in the middle to pick out a hole to put a piece of jujube, and four dates are placed at the same distance around. There are also two and three in each of the four directions.
Flowering is a natural crack with sugar added to the flour, the taste is good, and it has the meaning of "smiling and opening", so I will also make some.
The big flowers have the artistic beauty of painting and sculpture
Jiaodong is also the hometown of face sculpture, children over the "100 years old (Day)", young people get married, the elderly celebrate birthday, etc. there are various colors of face sculpture to add a festive atmosphere.
During the Spring Festival, some colorful dumplings will also be made as a handy gift for stringing relatives.
During the Spring Festival, according to traditional folklore, it is necessary to hang up the family tree, lay out the offering, and there are flowers and flowers in the offerings.
On the confession in my hometown there is also a statue of a "leftover worm" with a red crown, a coin in its mouth, big black eyes, a red mouth, and scales on its body, and a coiled dragon sitting on a lotus seat. I will not show it here, for fear that the system will bring discomfort to people.
The meaning of "leftover worms" will bring about a good year in the new year, and there is a surplus of grain. Also called "Holy Worm", it blesses the wind and rain and the abundance of grain.
In the distance came the sound of firecrackers, and the year was slowly approaching. As if smelling the sweet smell of the big food again, ironing every cell in the body, comfortable and intoxicating.