Crispy horns
Approaching the New Year, the new year goods in the supermarket are dazzling, and whenever I see the beautiful packaging of crispy corners, I always have a little emotion.
After the 80s, we did not worry about eating and drinking in childhood, but only limited to full food, and the extra food added during the New Year's Festival brought happiness to us was definitely deeper than the current online shopping of a large box of snacks. At that time, most of the New Year goods were made at home, rice dumplings, fried rice cakes, egg powder, cicadas... My favorite thing is crispy horns.
As long as I can remember, my family has made crispy horns every year, which is the most symbolic ceremony to welcome the Spring Festival. At the end of the year, my mother was always very busy, and when she was almost busy, she prepared the materials and tools for making the crispy corners, and on one of the most suitable days, the family gathered around the table and began the hot activity of making puff pastry.
Every time she made crispy horns, her mother always mentioned her year: in fact, in the previous New Year's Day, she did not eat crispy horns, until Zhiqing went to the mountains and went to the countryside, went to Guangzhou Zhiqing to join the team in the village, and when it came to the New Year, she taught the locals to make crispy horns. Locals learned, it has become a habit, the New Year feels that there are crispy horns to have a New Year's flavor. At that time, I always silently thanked those intellectuals in my heart, not only for bringing my mother a beautiful past, but also bringing us delicious crispy horn making methods, and continuing the beauty from generation to generation.
Making puff pastry is a technical job, and the hardest part is the noodles. Of course, the difficult old mother personally went to battle, she always said while talking to the noodles: put the water slowly, and it will be thin in a hurry. But when she also missed her hand, she comforted herself and said: Eat the girl and the thin powder! It means that the gluttonous girl, in order to eat more, will give more water, the noodles are thin, you have to add flour to continue and the dough will become bigger and bigger. A few of our sisters will smile willingly, and we should all have the same sentence in our hearts: There are many reasons to do not do well!
When my mother finished the noodle project, our sisters and brothers rolled up their sleeves and began to do a big job. Sprinkle a thin layer of powder on the dining table to prevent sticking, break a small and small noodle, rip open some, flat down, use a thin glass bottle, press on it, the strength should be evenly made to the surroundings, concentrated in one place on this thin and thick, when the pressure is almost symmetrical, the noodle block is reversed, and then pressed. This is the most laborious work, the technical requirements are not high, generally the two elders and three are responsible, one is tired of the other relay, who told them that they always feel that I have no strength to suppress for a long time and not thin? I was responsible for printing the modules one by one with the torch head cover that had been screwed down.
My best hand is twisted flowers, which is still commented by my mother, she said that I am fast, angular, three-dimensional even after frying still maintain a few points. The second elder sighed at this and gave up the twisting flowers after a few years and concentrated on pressing the noodles. The third is not convinced, insists on practicing every year, and the progress does exist, and it is impossible to talk about surpassing. Brother, in the first few years, he was still young, only responsible for eating, waiting until he was older, and also joined our team, but he would only press the skin. So I naturally take on the responsibility of twisting flowers, light but technically good!
The most anticipated thing is the last link, the oil pan under the crispy corner. At this time, we are very willing to be responsible for burning the fire, but to learn to control the fire, the burning can only be grass, because the fire is smooth, and easy to control, but do not dare to burn the grass, the fire is extinguished in an instant, this fire is not suitable for frying crispy horns. But only one person was needed to burn the fire, and the others moved a small stool and sat in front of the stove and waited, staring blankly. The fire in the stove is continuous, and the fire smoke, heat and aroma in the kitchen are full of heat, warm and fragrant. At this time, no matter whether there is cold rain outside the house, whether there is a cold wind, our kitchen must be warm and dry, and our hearts are sweet. At this time, the old mother hummed again: there is a "Lin tight uncle" on the stove, and the sweet potato and taro are ripe... I couldn't understand this at the time, but it took many years to understand that the so-called "Uncle Lin" refers to people who are anxious and want to eat quickly.
After a while, the crispy horn came out of the pot, the incense, there is a saying that the crispy horn that just came out of the pot is not on fire, eat more is not hot, I am really grateful to the person who proposed this statement. So that we naturally let go of our bellies and ate one after another, and the old mother just smiled at this time, looking at her children who had not eaten enough for a year, not dissuaded, not to blame. At this time, Dad came home very coincidentally, "Dad is so good at eating God!" "We all shouted, in fact, we all knew that Dad had pinched the time to go home."
In the New Year, except for a dish on the altar, the other crispy corners were hidden in a candy jar by the mother, and then placed on the top of the high cabinet, no one could reach it, so that they could keep it and eat slowly. What my mother didn't know was that a few of our sisters and brothers wanted to eat, and they would get together, take a big stool, put a middle stool on it, add a small stool, two people supported, one person stood up, carefully, took down the jar, each of them grabbed a few and put them in their pants pockets, the excitement and fun of stealing food, you can still feel it.
Unconsciously, we have all grown up, and I don't know from what year, we have never made our own crispy horns again. I don't want to buy the puff pastry in the supermarket, even if others make it, the edges are so clear, better than what I make, but I don't want to eat it, maybe to avoid destroying the beauty of the crispy horn in my memory.
"At that time, only the Tao was ordinary", when to relive the beautiful ordinary? It would be nice if the time were a little slower...
Source: Yunfu Daily
Author: Su Caining
Editor-in-charge: Lai Xiumei
Duty Director: Zhao Jun eel
Chief Editor-in-Chief: Lullivan
Submission email: [email protected]