Author Ding Yiran
Xiao Jinlu (Xiao Yong) and Zhao Xiaoshen of Zhongzuo Village, Chengyouzi Township, Anping County, are famous for their birds. In the past, people ate wontons, most of which were directly pressed into the pot and cooked, while the birds made by the Xiao couple were made with a rolling mill, which was not only fresh, but also easy to carry, sell, and more convenient to store (refrigerated and preserved), so their wontons were quite popular in the area of Chengyouzi Township.
Anping County people are known for the trend of coarse grain fines, according to the "Anping County Chronicle" recorded that "people in the coarse grain fines to do tricks, such as sorghum noodles mixed with elm skin noodles can be wrapped dumplings, you can also make noodles, pressed dumplings." ”
Wonton belongs to the soup noodles of the ordinary farmhouse rice, in the past mostly used sorghum noodles, yam noodles, buckwheat noodles and other coarse grains as raw materials, when making the wonton bed placed on the pot table, mixed with elm skin noodles (sticky easy to form the dumplings are not scattered) and into a soft dough, put into the wonton bed (wooden or iron household tools for making wontons, there are many round holes in the bottom) directly pressed into the boiling water pot to cook, with brine soup, vinegar, garlic and other edible. The anping people called it "poor.". Poor coarse grains are made in detail, and the family eats them to warm the heart and nourish the stomach. Treat friends and family, among which the family and friendship are better than the taste of the bird itself, and the simplicity reflects the hospitable and kind nature of Anping people.
Xiao Yong and Zhao Xiaoshen have been making dumplings for more than ten years, and every time they get up early in the morning at the village market, they are busy rolling dumplings, miscellaneous noodles, and noodles, and using fresh noodles and dumplings on three horses to go everywhere to catch the market for sale. As people's awareness of returning to nature increases, traditional snacks have received attention.
In the mid-1990s, the couple worked to improve the production method of the bird to meet the market demand. In their words, they didn't know how to do it at first, and the proportions of various flours were even more difficult to match. The two of them learned and worked, and invited the old people in the village to give guidance. After many trials and continuous improvements, the trial production was finally successfully put on sale in the market. Improving traditional craftsmanship is a remarkable thing, and the new way that ancient traditional snacks have come to people's tables marks a historic turning point in the market for home-cooked food as a commodity.
Reform and opening up for more than ten years, people who have eaten fine grains for more than ten years, have a special feeling for the coarse grains in their hometown, whether from the perspective of nostalgia, or fresh eyes, see the improved buckwheat dumplings on the market, that kind feeling seems to recall people's distant memories, suddenly attracted a lot of eyeballs, wontons sold particularly fast, their production technology is becoming more and more mature.
When rolling the dough with a rolling mill, the soba noodles, yam noodles, and white noodles are mixed in a certain proportion, plus a certain amount of water, and the noodles are required not to be clumped, they are crushed, and the rolling machine is rolled into pieces, so three or four times, and in the process of molding, the time of the dumplings is added, and the soft and hard wontons are moderate, and the taste is the best. Sprinkle corn grits to prevent the dough from sticking, roll them on the roller, change the knife to cut the strips, and then sprinkle the corn grits again, and roll out a roll (to make it similar to the round strips of wontons pressed out of the bird bed), plate into a ball, and the dumpling strips are ready.
During the operation, the two people cooperate and complement each other, one person looks at the machine out of the strip and breaks the bird strip according to a certain length; the other person folds the strip and the wire strip, the action should be fast, otherwise the bird strip will stick together.
The way to eat wontons is similar to that of noodles. There is no certain rule for brine, the so-called radish cabbage has its own love, eggplant, garlic moss, pork, lamb can be flavored, want to eat what brine to do what brine is not limited. However, the most important thing about the dumplings is to make the brine. As the demand for the market increased, the surrounding restaurants also began to ask them to make dumplings. Anping Yimen Hotel's special staple food dumpling noodles are Xiao Yong's dumplings. The owner of Yimen Hotel, Men Yongjin, made this staple food very delicious, using fresh shredded pork, tender green garlic moss, freshly sprouted soybean spout to make a brine soup, cooked dumplings poured on the brine soup, full of color and flavor, we must eat a large bowl every time we go to dinner. Buckwheat contains a variety of amino acids and vitamins, and its unique buckwheat bio-amaranthone has the effect of enhancing the body's immune function. When summer comes, cooked birds are mixed with cucumber shreds and other vegetables, and condiments suitable for your taste can be eaten as cold noodles or as small cold dishes.
It is also known as a river leak. Wang Zhen, an agronomist of the Yuan Dynasty, said in the book "Nongshu Baigu Genealogy Collection, Buckwheat": "After the northern mountains, there are many kinds of counties, the skin is removed, and the noodles are ground... Or make soup cakes, called river leaks, thick as powder, less than wheat noodles, customs, for regular food. "Yuan Dynasty miscellaneous dramas have "Grits noodles (buckwheat noodles) river drops with green onions and leeks." "This is the name of the river fall again. Therefore, the book "History of Social Life in the Yuan Dynasty" believes that "judging from the various different writings of this word, it is possible that it is not a Chinese word. And most of us here call it "Yu La" (饸啦). I think all kinds of out-of-character writing are due to dialects. This shows that bird was a popular snack as early as the Yuan Dynasty.
Nakasa Village is an ancient village with a long history. The book "Compilation of Anping Place-Name Data" records: "During the Yuan Dynasty, there were three zos in this area: Dongzuo, Xizuo, and Zhongzuo. "Later, due to the flood, only Nakasa remained." In the second year of Ming Yongle (1404), Xiao Xinxiang was ordered to move from Dahuaishu Village, Hongdong County, Xiaoxing Prefecture, Shanxi, to Zhongzuo Village, which was directly subordinate to Anyi, and was still called Zhongzuo. "The surname Xiao is commonly known as Xiao. It is estimated that Xiao Yong's ancestors have settled in Anping for more than 600 years.
Whether the Zhongzuo Bird was brought from Shanxi by the ancestors of the Xiao family is impossible to know, but it was indeed improved by Xiao Yong and then brought to the market. Xiao Yong's family is a glorious home, a house of art. Xiao Yong's grandfather, Xiao Xiezhong, was the director of the Armed Forces Committee, an anti-Japanese organization under the leadership of the Communist Party, who died for the country during the May Day anti-sweeping campaign in 1942 at the age of 29. The second grandfather, Xiao Deyin, is a Peking Opera artist who once performed on the same stage with Master Mei Lanfang and filmed the Peking Opera movie "Life and Death Hate".
Xiao Deyin was cordially received by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and was praised as a "living Jiao praise." In the early 1950s, he returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, and the people in his hometown were the artists who entertained farmers with dumplings and miscellaneous noodles and porridge. Xiao Yong's father, Xiao Fumin, went out early to apprentice after his grandfather's sacrifice and learned to make noodles (hollow noodles). Xiao Yong also made hollow noodles, learned from his father, until two years after marriage, he switched to using machine rolling noodles, and later added to make dumplings, miscellaneous noodles, noodles and so on.
Zhongzuo dumplings are famous and delicious, and I hope that Xiao Yong's birds will not be restricted by geography, and further, hardcover listing, and go to a broader market.