Text/Foreword
The smell of fireworks in the world, the farmhouse firewood stove. Firewood stoves, a must-have for home in rural areas of the hometown, are "huge" and sturdy, "permanent" and practical, and are often fixed "stoves" created by the local prestigious "stove masters".
Creating a "stove", "playing a stove" is a unique skill, even if it is a mason who builds a house, the stove that is played out is either useless or burned for a long time. Wood stove, the main body is made of brick and earth, and the outer wall is made of lime or cement paint. Pay attention to some of the tiles on the stove surface, clean and beautiful, easy to erase. The stove is at the waist of the hostess, about one meter or so, and the stove is circular and curved, which is convenient to operate. The stove is two mouths, one in front of the other, one small and one large iron pot, and the small pot is burned on weekdays, and the people come and burn the cauldron every New Year's Festival. To the right of the stove, place spices such as oil tanks, salt tanks and homemade tempeh. A high chimney stands against the wall at the corner of the stove, protruding out of the roof to emit kitchen smoke. The stove door is of moderate size, three-dimensional rectangular, and a cooking pot of cooking water is hanging above the stove door, starting from the province of firewood and labor, the fire is cooked, and the water is also opened.
A fence ash chamber is built under the stove door to store unburned embers and ground ash (grass and wood ash) for fire safety, and the ash chamber is equipped with fire tongs, blowing torches, fire sticks, and mopping rakes. As the saying goes, people should be humble, fire should be hollow, fire tongs should be filled with firewood, fire sticks should be hollowed out to draw fire, torches should be blown to make fires, and rakes out the ashes of the stove, and the fire will burn vigorously. Place a fixed low stone pier or small bench in front of the gray chamber, and the stone pier is cool in the summer, and a cotton pad is warm in the winter.
The fuel of the wood stove is all crop straw, dead leaves and branches, and local materials are used to turn waste into treasure. Cook over a small fire, cook porridge over a large fire, fire can be big or small, if it is big, it will be small. Wheatgrass, straw, leaves ignite fire, cotton stems, bean stems, hemp stems, sorghum stems, dead branches, chopping wood is the main fuel of the best, really respond to the saying: please a fat woman, burn a big fire.
As the saying goes, a woman's kitchen, a man's water tank. My family has a big mouth, old and small, although the family has living money, but the field lacks labor, 11 people who open their mouths to eat, not to mention the cost of eating and wearing, one more person has more water, cold water to be picked, hot water to be boiled, water is more than other homes. Grandma and mother are the owners of the kitchen, the mother works during the day, rushes to replace the grandmother, and then the sister has a helper when she is older, washing vegetables, adding firewood and fire, brushing pots and washing dishes, grandpa and I do the errand of carrying water, my father has been working outside for many years, and he comes home every three to five to help. Although the urging is not to urge food, and the farmers are busy with work, the old and the young go into battle, work together, can not pinch the stomach hungry, only to fill the stomach first.
Wood stove, large pot big stove, cooking fire, boiling water boiled porridge, steamed steamed steamed buns, kang rice dumplings, boiling sugar syrup, stir-frying pot, steaming, stir-frying, stewing, boiling, frying, frying, brine, everything is applicable, all kinds of applications. The bottom fire can boil water, cook food, heat, keep warm, and after the chopping wood fire is extinguished, it can also be used as a charcoal stove and stew hot pot. The stove fire "illuminates the fire", which can be illuminated at night and washed, and can be roasted and warmed in winter.
The stove is high, a one foot two high earth stove, a one foot two large iron pot, a wooden pot lid, a spatula, a pot spoon, a pot stick, a kitchen knife, a cutting board, a rag, a water scoop, a bucket, a water tank, a rice tank, a sauce pot, a teapot, a pickle altar, everything is available. As the saying goes, the pot is facing the sky, the bowl is facing the ground. A pair of open door cupboards (cabinets) are placed on the wall next to the stove, the upper layer of the cabinet stores leftovers, the lower layer of the cabinet is covered with bowls, plates, plutonium, and pots, and a chopstick basket is hung above the outside of the cabinet, chopsticks, spoons, spoons, small small kitchens, small stoves, but also packed up with boards and eyes, orderly, clean, and well-behaved.
The smell of fireworks in the world is the most soothing to the hearts of mortals. Where there are villages, there are cooking tobacco, and where there are chimneys, there are homes. People work at sunrise, rest at sunset, eat three meals a day, and do not neglect. At dawn, the chickens call the birds three times to the noisy forest, and the cooking smoke rises, and they must "prematurely" go to the ground; in the middle of the day, the chickens and birds forage for food, the cooking smoke rises, and they have to go home to "invite the middle" to rest; when the sun sets, the birds return to the forest chickens, and the cooking smoke rises, and it is time to finish the "supper". Rural people work a lot of physical strength, a mouthful is not full, it is not good, people are iron rice is steel, three meals a day, nine bowls of rice, a meal does not eat panic.
Fish live a pool of water, people live a mouth. Although the kitchen is low and narrow, smoky and fiery, it is also cordial and full of food and clothing, and the soul is haunted. One person is blessed, driving a full house, a family has a vegetable fragrance, a unit with "sharing", once whoever has a kang fish wrap, fried peanut rice, fried fish, fried meat or brine, the smell of vegetables overflows, and the delicious taste that cannot be hidden penetrates into the neighbors, and even a table can smell it. When the smoke rises, it is the time when the family is surrounded, the place where the smoke rises is the place where the pulse is warm and flowing, the adults are busy around the pot, the children are happy around the stove, warm and thick, and the music is harmonious.
Only life and food can not be disappointed. Nowadays, people's dietary concepts keep pace with the times, very exquisite, the pursuit of ecological agriculture, healthy food, yearning for and locking in green food, organic vegetables, this is the return to nature of mass food culture, back to basics. Although liquefied gas, natural gas and electricity have long been used for cooking on fire, there are still many people who do not give up firewood stoves and love the smell of fireworks. Earth stove iron pot wood fire, home dish earthy taste fresh goods. Farmhouse dishes are both grounded and high-grade, attracting the attention and taste buds of urban people. As a result, merchants have played the banner of "local restaurant" and "public meal" to create a farmhouse brand of "farmhouse rice" and "home cooking".
"Liu Ying's family cooks tobacco". Oh, the farmhouse firewood stove, the unforgettable smell of fireworks, the hometown dishes that do not give up, the local atmosphere that haunts time and space, and the hometown feelings that haunt the soul.
2021/10/15 on the banks of the Zhouzi River