Author: Blue School Bag
No matter what time of spring, summer, autumn or winter, as long as you enter Xihe County of Longnan City, you can always meet the figure of the cauldron helmet in the streets and alleys. If it is the first time to go to Xihe, you will definitely be stunned by this kind of pot helmet: There is such a big pot helmet, can this be cooked? Hey, don't worry, not only cooked, but also taste excellent.
The pot helmet is shaped like a moon silver plate, with a diameter of more than a foot, a thickness of four inches square, weighing about 5 pounds, and is durable, and can generally be stored for about half a month. Nishiwa pot helmet has always been known for smelling incense, eating crisp, and being easy to carry outside. It is both a unique flavor food and a gift for friends and family.
Pot helmets are essential food
For Xihe people, whether they are in the county seat or living in the countryside, pot helmets are basically an indispensable food in life. People in the city have to drink tea every morning, and so do people in the countryside. Therefore, as long as rural people go to the city, even if they don't buy other things, they must buy two pots and pans to go home.
Most Xihe people have a common habit of getting up in the morning, washing their faces, and the first thing they do is to prepare a tea set and boil cans of tea. The so-called pot tea is to use a black clay pot about seven or eight centimeters high and three or four centimeters in diameter, place the tea leaves in it, and cook them on the fire. When drinking tea, the best choice is to eat pot helmets. When the surface turns golden brown, it is the best refreshment to drink tea when the pot helmet that has been bought is crisp and sweet.
Therefore, throughout Xihe County, the sales of pot helmets are very impressive. This kind of cauldron helmet looks amazing at first glance, the surface is golden yellow, I think how hard, but I touched it with my hand to find that it was soft, and after cutting it with a knife, there were small eyes everywhere inside, soft like a sponge, and a faint smell of wheat came to the nose.
Around the Dragon Boat Festival, pot helmets are the most prevalent
The Dragon Boat Festival is a big festival for every Chinese, and for Xihe people, it is even more solemn. Many people may not know that on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Xihe people not only have to plant willows in front of the door, but also go to the wild to collect wormwood. There is also a pot helmet made by the family, known as "flower steamed bun", which is given back and forth between relatives and friends, like walking relatives in the New Year.
In recent years, with the development of the economy, many families are not willing to make their own "flower steamed buns", but choose to buy, which also invisibly accelerates the sales of pot helmets. In fact, before the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival, the pot helmet workshop will work overtime to process and try to meet the needs of consumers.
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, if you carefully observe the country roads, whether it is a motorcycle, a bicycle, or a walking person, you must carry one or several pot helmets on your back.
Legends hide Symbols of Qin culture
According to legend, when Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, he fought wars all year round, and the grain and grass were easily interrupted. Thousands of soldiers and soldiers could not eat food, and their strength was not enough. Helplessly, a sergeant unintentionally pressed the noodles into the helmet, put it on the fire, baked a little, and baked it into a cake, which was actually crispy and delicious! This bread is thin, thick-hearted, superficial, hungry, and able to endure for a long time, favored and appreciated by all. Because it resembles a helmet, it is called "pot helmet". The pot helmet continues to this day!
According to legend, Zhuge Liang triumphantly returned to Xinye and ordered Guan Yunchang to garrison the camp. The climate was dry, the fields were dry for a long time, and the horses were poor and lacking. Grain and grass first! What to do? In order to stabilize the hearts of the army, Zhuge Liang brushed his beard, bowed his head for a moment, and then counted his eyebrows. Immediately wrote a letter: "Use more dry noodles, mix a little water, and into hard pieces, a large pot of kang dry, food as a feed (helmet), to feed the sergeant." Guan Yu followed the plan, and indeed survived the difficulties and made a great contribution. Since then, the pot helmet has become an essential military food.
According to historical records, the production of pot helmets can be traced back to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and pot helmets were carried forward and popularized in the Qin Dynasty. The pot helmet made by the Qin people is large, thick and porcelain. It is said that the pot helmet was not originally called a pot helmet, but was called a pier cake because its shape resembled the cross-section of a tree stump. At that time, the pier cakes distributed by soldiers during the Qin army's march were each weighing five or six pounds.
The production method is extremely exquisite
The production of pot helmets is extremely technical, and its equipment is to rely on the hanging stove that is evenly heated on the upper and lower sides to bake and burn, so the operation, which is characterized by the overall heating and uniform heating effect. Even if the inside is ripe, the outside will not be scorched, and the fire color is heavy, and the yellow is brownish red; the fire color is light, and the white is milky yellow. A knife cut, flexible and snow-white, the degree of crispness is like a sponge with good elasticity, fragrant and delicious, beautiful and generous.
Someone divided the pan into three layers. The top is called "turtle cover", the middle is called "fire cover", and the bottom is called "stirrup". There is a "baking pan" next to it, and an iron mesh is built into the mouth of the baking pot. Before branding, put the three-layer pot on the pot ring, create some "incense ballast charcoal fire" in the hearth, and when the charcoal fire reaches 70% or 80%, use the clip to clip the large charcoal fire on the "fire cover", the medium charcoal is sandwiched into the "baking pot" pot, the broken charcoal is left under the "stirrup", and finally the three-layer pot is put in place again, that is, it can be burned. At this time, it is also necessary to pay attention to the diligent turning, commonly known as "three times two turns", burned to the fire color uniformly, the skin surface is slightly drummed, and the leather bottom is golden when it is ripe.
Dear friends, when you see this, do you have the desire to taste a bite? Next time if you go, be sure to buy one to try.