During the Tang Dynasty, southern Anhui belonged to Henan Province and Huainan Province. Every year from the 13th day of the first lunar month to the second day of the second lunar month, dragon lantern gatherings were held to commemorate the birthday of the old dragon in Jinghe River. This is the Dragon Lantern Festival.
During the Dragon Lantern Festival, people eat a cake made of glutinous rice and other raw materials, called "Lamp Shower Pancake", to express the people's love for the Dragon King and their hope for good weather in the coming year.
"What...what?" Zhang Hua dug his ears, as if he didn't hear clearly, "Yu Yatou, what are you talking about?"
It's not what he thought...
Yu Jian looked at his expression and knew that he must be thinking wrongly, so he quickly explained: "This is an ancient food in southern Anhui. It was popular during the Tang Dynasty, but I haven't heard of it much now."
Zhang Hua pondered for a long time and spread his hands: "As for the food in the capital, I can give it a try. Since this is from southern Anhui and is an ancient pastry, I don't know how to do it." He refused very simply.
The manager became angry again: "Master Zhang, please help me! Mr. Zhou said that if you can do it, he will give you a big red envelope——"
Zhang Hua waved his hand: "It's not about money. I won't do anything I'm not familiar with..."
"But……"
Yu Jian quietly grabbed Zhang Hua's sleeve and whispered to him secretly: "Master Zhang, if you trust me, I can make the lamp dada."
"Really?" Zhang Hua's eyes lit up, and he quickly lowered his voice and told her, "If you can really do it, I will agree to it? Then you will win and I will win!"
If you don't make money, you are a fool.
Yu Jian suppressed a smile and nodded fiercely: "I can do it."
That's okay——
"Hey!" Zhang Hua stopped the dejected manager who was about to walk out. He raised his eyebrows and showed his white teeth, "Go tell Mr. Zhou that I will accept this pastry!"
The manager, as if he had been granted amnesty, returned home with great joy.
Making lantern cake is actually not difficult. Yu Jian put on her chef uniform and started to prepare the ingredients. Glutinous rice flour, mustard greens, turnips, salted pork, and shrimps. One of the more important ingredients is soy sauce dried beans.
It happened that the masters of Hong'an were pickling it, so Yu Jian took it out and smelled it, and it was this salty smell.
Stir-fry the glutinous rice flour in a dry pan until the color becomes lighter yellow, add boiling water, mix well and cool, then knead into a dough and ferment. Blanch the mustard greens and turnips, wash and drain, and chop into fine pieces.
Heat the lard in the pot, stir-fry the chopped pork cubes and dried tofu cubes, add a small amount of water and bring to a boil, add the shrimp cubes and stir-fry until cooked.
The task of mixing the stuffing is much simpler. You only need to add onions, garlic, chopped mustard greens, and minced turnips to the fried meat and stir evenly.
Roll the dough into a long strip, scoop out small pieces, shape it into a nest shape with your hands, wrap it with fillings and seal it, add sesame seeds and press it into a round cake, then wrap it with a layer of sesame seeds, and bake it in the oven over low heat.
Yu Jian is accustomed to using a charcoal oven to make pancakes. This is a habit left over from her previous life. The pancakes slowly baked over a charcoal fire can not only completely lock in the flavor of the fillings, but also make the crust crispier and chewier.
The second child touched the stunned Zhang Hua with his elbow and said: "It's useless for you to call yourself a member of the White Case family in Beijing. You have never heard of things that everyone knows about. Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Zhang Hua rolled his eyes at him angrily: "It sounds like you have heard it before."
The second child, Shen Doudou: "Isn't it normal that I haven't heard of a red case?"
Zhang Hua suddenly felt as if he had eaten a piece of cake, and his heart was filled with confusion. He looked at the little girl who was carefully adjusting the heat with some confusion.
This girl Yu Jian gave him too many surprises. He had just used Du Niang to search the cake secretly, and it clearly said: Lost.
Where did she, a little girl, hear such lost things?
"Okay!" While he was thinking about it, the little girl shouted again. Zhang Huashun looked up and saw that the cakes she took out were all as white as mochi, with a baked golden color on the surface. With a smile on his eyes, Zhang Hua couldn't help but feel soft in his heart, and complained to himself in annoyance, this is Wu Guoliang's apprentice!
It was brought out by a great god, and the future will also be a great one!
…
To be honest, Li Xueqian had no expectations for the pastries he requested. He had traveled north and south for many years, and wherever he went, he would make requests to the most famous local Bai An chef.
But these people either rejected him or used random things to fool him.
As time went by, although he still got used to mentioning it, he also knew that he would probably never be able to eat the pastries in his memory.
And the white-haired old man who disappeared overnight will eventually be forgotten in his mind as the years go by.
The banquet hall manager personally went to the back kitchen to serve the pastries. When serving the dishes, he also imitated what Yu Jian said in the back kitchen: "At a dragon lantern party, this lantern cake is indispensable -"
Li Xuequian looked stern, and immediately held his wrist and asked in a deep voice: "How do you know this statement?"
Look at the round cakes served on the porcelain plate, half the size of a palm, interlaced with gold and white, and exuding a special aroma of vegetable oil.
His eyes suddenly widened, and his hand slowly lowered itself while trembling unconsciously, stroking the edge of the porcelain plate as if seeing his long-lost old father.
The manager was startled by him and said calmly: "It was the little girl in the kitchen who made this. She said it was tradition."
Li Xuequan stopped talking and stared at the plate of cookies. After a long time, he finally picked up a small piece and took a bite.
"Click."
The teeth collided and made a crisp sound, like the sound of dry wood cracking, echoing in the quiet hall.
The crust is pixelated, the filling is tender, salty and fragrant.
These twelve words slowly drifted past his eyes, and they unconsciously took him back to more than fifty years ago, when he was still a seven or eight-year-old child.
In the countryside of southern Anhui, apart from the muddy land, there are endless reed swamps.
He walked barefoot among the fields, dragging his body covered in wounds from the fight.
Not far away, an old man waved to him and called out: "Young man, are you hungry?"
The sun had set in the west. He was about to refuse, but was stopped by a clear and long cry. He stubbornly raised his head and glared at the old man, but the old man didn't care at all. He waved again and turned around to enter the thatched house behind him. .
He didn't know where this old man came from, and there was no time when he appeared in his memory. He only listened to his grandmother's advice to stay away from the reed swamp. The old man didn't look like a good person.
Doesn't look like a good person.
But he is a good man.
That day, he ate a delicacy he had never tasted before - lantern cake.
Later, he would always go to the thatched house to have a meal every now and then. The old man seemed to be omnipotent. In his hands, the most ordinary wild vegetables could be turned into delicious delicacies that would make people's mouths dazzle.
Later, he never saw the old man again.
It was like he suddenly appeared.
And disappeared inexplicably.
The thatched house was empty, and there was no trace of warmth.
Li Xueqian opened and closed his eyes as he savored the delicious food, his eyes gleaming with scorching light, and he said, "I want to meet the chef who makes the lantern cakes."