After the Huang family brothers and sisters left, He Mu stayed here, and he still had to help make rice cakes. Although the www.biquge.info of what happened just now was very angry, with Xiao Han's intentional adjustment and the cooperation of the spring equinox, everyone quickly forgot about it and began to happily prepare to beat rice crackers.

At this time, Zhang's also came over with sugar, peanuts, sesame seeds and other things, and together with Chen, he was ready to boil sugar water.

The sugar used to boil the syrup can be white sugar or brown sugar, depending on each person's preference. Boiling sugar water is a technical job, you can't put too much water, you can't put too little, put too much, it can't form a sugar shred, put less, it will be burnt. If the juice is too thin, the rice crackers will stick to the mold and will not be shaken, and if the sugar juice is too thick, the rice crackers will not be able to be squeezed into shape. This Xiao Han couldn't intervene, just took a small stool next to him and sat and watched, occasionally helping to hand over something.

When the sugar water is boiled to the point where it can be pumped into shredded sugar, it is ready to go.

After the sugar water cooled slightly, Chen took out a large chopping board, washed it and dried it with a cloth, scooped two bowls of rice noodles with a bowl and poured them on the chopping board, making a nest in the middle of the noodles, and then scooped up a spoonful of sugar water and poured it into it, stirring it quickly with both hands. This step should be fast, if it is slow, the juice will flow out. After stirring well, the rice noodles are grabbed by hand and formed into a ball, and the rice crackers can be beaten.

Zhang also fried the peanuts at this time, and then crushed the peanuts, stirred them with brown sugar and black sesame seeds and put them in a small basin to prepare for rice cake filling.

Next is the rice crackers. To beat rice cakes, you need to have a cake mold, which is a long wooden block with various shapes on it. It is usually round, and there are patterns engraved inside, some are engraved with the words "Fu", "Shou", etc., and some are carved into shape patterns such as chickens, ducks, and fish.

Before putting rice noodles into the cake mold, Chen asked Xiao Han to wipe the cake mold with oil to prevent the rice cake from sticking and not being able to break down when the rice cake was put later.

Chan first showed everyone how to fill the rice crackers: first put half of the rice noodles into the mold, then put some filling, then fill the rice noodles with the mold, press it with your hands, and then put a small scoop (spoon) stained with peanut oil on the back and rub it vigorously on the cake until the back of the cake is smooth.

Then use a knife to scrape the rice flour around the cake mold, and then gently tap the back of the cake mold with a stick, the rice cake will be taken out of the mold, fall to the sieve set up in advance, and finally the rice cake is neatly arranged.

This is why it is called "beating rice crackers" instead of "making rice crackers", because after the rice crackers are finally formed, the rice crackers need to be gently knocked out of the mold with a wooden stick. The word "type" vividly reflects the process of making rice crackers, and also contains the joy of people welcoming the New Year.

Xiao Han felt that it was not difficult to see it, and rolled up his sleeves and prepared to make rice crackers. So Chen and Zhang were responsible for stirring rice noodles, Xiao Han and Chun Equinox filled rice cakes, Lixia wiped rice cakes, and He Mu knocked rice cakes.

Several people moved quickly, and during this time, Chen also pinched some rice noodles for several children to eat to relieve their hunger.

Soon, the four sieves were about to be filled, and Lin Jincai had already filled the cauldron with water, boiled it over high heat, and prepared to steam the rice crackers.

Put a few sticks of firewood in a large pot horizontally and vertically, then put a sieve on top and steam it, and after about ten minutes, it will be cooked, and then steam the next pot. The steamed rice crackers are ready to eat after a little drying. Xiao Han picked one up and took a bite, it felt very sweet, soft and glutinous, and fragrant.

After eating two in a row, Xiao Han still felt unsatisfied, but he also knew that it was not appropriate to eat more. Lixia and the three boys ate a lot of food, and they all ate three, while the Chen adults only tasted one and then stopped eating.

Eating the rice crackers made by myself, I felt much sweeter than the ones I bought. Here, during the Chinese New Year, every household makes rice crackers, and the children in the village always have rice crackers in their pockets.

And when relatives pay New Year's greetings, you also send me a bag of rice crackers, and I will also give you a bag of rice crackers in return.

Rice crackers have become a bond to maintain family affection and a bridge to share happiness.

After putting the steamed rice crackers into a cloth bag, the Chen family continued to beat the rice crackers, and after a busy afternoon, they finally finished beating the rice crackers.

The mother and son of the He family stayed at the Lin family for dinner, because after dinner, they had to evaporate the cake.

There is an interesting legend about the origin of the cake: it is said that one day, a farmer's daughter-in-law accidentally knocked over a bowl of sake lees resting on the stove when she was mixing flour and steamed cakes, and saw that the sake lees flowed into the rice noodles, and the little daughter-in-law was so anxious that she wanted to cry, but she did not dare to make a noise, for fear of being scolded by her in-laws, so she had to mix the rice noodles stained with sake lees and put them in the steamer to steam. Who knows that due to the fermentation of sake lees, this rice cake is steamed very soft and delicious, and there is a slight aroma of wine. As a result, the famous hair cake spread, which is also a beautiful mistake.

There are two kinds of hair cakes that Chen want to steam, one is corn cake and the other is white flour cake.

Corn cake is made by mixing cornmeal, millet flour, flour with sugar and dry yeast, then pouring water into a batter with moderate thickness. Then apply a thin layer of oil to the inside of the round mold to prevent staining.

Then pour the batter half the height into the mold and let it rise in a warm place. After about forty minutes, the batter was 90% full.

Then put some washed red dates and raisins soaked in warm water on the surface, and finally put them in a steamer and steam them for about 40 minutes to cook.

White flour cake is to beat a few eggs, mix with flour, sugar and water, add yeast in the process of stirring, and the rest of the process is the same as corn cake.

Both types of cakes were steamed in two pots each. After steaming, it was too late, and it was too late to make zongzi, so I had to wait until tomorrow night. Zhang's mother and son said goodbye and went home with the hair cake.

This day is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and everyone gets up early, because today is a lot of life and will be very busy. After a simple breakfast, it's time to kill the chickens.

This time, Xiao Han didn't have to witness the bloody and violent chicken killing scene anymore, she boiled water in the kitchen, and Chen and Lixia were responsible for killing the chickens. Lin Jincai went to the house of the pig killer in the village to buy pork, saving him from having to go to the town to buy it, and his own pig was planned to be saved for next year when he built a house.

The village began to be lively, the sound of chickens flying and dogs jumping, the screams of pigs, and the noise of children, the sound of which was in the ears, set off the happy and peaceful scene of the village for the New Year.

After killing the chickens, they have to shed their feathers, and the spring equinox also actively comes to help - he is a good and diligent boy, and he can't just watch his father and brother and sister busy, and sit and wait to eat.

After several people plucked out the chicken feathers, Chen was responsible for cleaning up the chicken internal organs.

After Xiao Han took some flour and boiled it into a paste with water, he took a bowl and put it at the gate, and began to paste spring couplets to the gate with the beginning of summer and the spring equinox.

Xiao Han dipped a small brush in the paste and brushed it to the door, and then Lixia took the couplet and pasted it up, and the spring equinox commanded behind: "The top is crooked, a little to the left, a little to the left." Oops, it's over, a little to the right, okay, okay, just right. ”

When you paste the horizontal batch, you have to stand on the stool, Xiaohan can't reach it, so she holds the stool by herself, lets Lixia stand on it, and then pastes it after brushing the paste. The same cry came out of the mouth of the equinox, and his voice was particularly loud and his expression was particularly serious, like a real commander.

After pasting the couplet, the three siblings stood at the door, admiring it with satisfaction. The upper link is: Xiangyangmen is always in the spring; the lower link is: the good people are more than happy; the horizontal batch: the people and the wealth are prosperous.

The Spring Festival couplets were written in Lixia, and although the handwriting was immature, it had already shown its style and bones - the person who wrote was a person with a tough character.

The content is what Xiao Han thinks, but it is an interesting story between Su Shi and Buddha Yin in the Song Dynasty: although Buddha Yin is a monk, he does not abstain from alcohol and meat, has a dissolute temperament / debauchery, and his words are witty and humorous. Once Su Shi went to visit Foyin, when Foyin steamed a fish, saw Su Dongpo coming, wanted to joke with him, and wanted to hide, but couldn't find a suitable thing to hide for a while, so he hid it next to him, but was seen by Dongpo.

After Dongpo came in, he pretended not to know, and said: "I have something to ask: I want to write a subcouplet, but I know that I have written the upper couplet, and the lower couplet can't think of a good sentence for a while." ”

Buddha Yin asked, "I don't know what Shanglian is?"

Su Dongpo replied: "Shanglian is 'Xiangyangmen's first spring is always there'. ”

Foyin didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Su Dongpo's gourd, so he replied almost without thinking: "Xialian is 'accumulating good people's celebrations'." ”

After hearing this, Su Dongpo pretended to be amazed: "Gao Cai, Gao Cai! It turns out that you have fish (Yu) in your Xuan (Qing)! Then quickly take it out and share it together." ”

Buddha Yin suddenly realized that he knew Su Dongpo's "dang".

Xiao Han told this allusion to the beginning of summer and the spring equinox, and the two called "wonderful", the allusion of this couplet is too interesting, and the couplet is also very appropriate: their family is "Xiangyang Mendi", and it is also a "good family".

The couplet was pasted, and then the statue of the god of the stove was pasted. Paste a rectangular piece of red paper cut into palm-width strips in front of the doors of other rooms. Toilets and kitchens should also be pasted. The pigsty and chicken coop are labeled with the words "six animals are prosperous".

After pasting, Lin Jincai also bought pork and came back, it was two pieces of pork belly, a total of ten catties, and some ribs and big bones. It's really the most extravagant year ever.

Because he made money this year, Lin Jincai thought that he had suffered the children all these years, and he was a father who felt sorry for his children, so he gritted his teeth and bought ten catties of meat. Among the villagers who went to buy meat, he was the one who bought the most, and when he came back with a large pile of meat, he attracted attention all the way, and he felt very happy in his heart, and he couldn't help but want to whistle, but he couldn't help it.

When he got home, he finally didn't have to endure it anymore, so he greeted his children and daughter-in-law in a loud voice. The family gathered around, talking and laughing, praising and thanking him, and his mouth grinned wide to the base of his ears. A sense of pride that he had never felt before filled his body, and he only felt comfortable.

Xiao Han began to boil water, stew chicken, stew meat, and stew bones. The sacrificial chicken is required to be a rooster, and it is to be stewed whole. In order to look good during the sacrifice, when stewing, the chicken feet should be bent up and put into the stomach, and the neck should be bent and placed under the stomach.

After the stew is cooked, take it out, put it on a large plate, and put it in a bamboo basket. The head of the chicken is leaning on the back in the shape of a cry in the sky, and there is a piece of chicken blood under the head of the chicken, and the mouth of the chicken is broken open, holding a complete chicken intestine.

Serve a plate of pork next to the chicken, and a bowl with cakes, sugar, and apples. There is also a small flask with three shot glasses, as well as a small teacup with tea leaves. And the things to be sacrificed were all ready.

The sacrifice can only be carried by the male of the family, so Lin Jincai carried the basket, took the paper money, incense and candles on the spring equinox, and Lixia took the firecrackers to the ancestral hall in the village to worship.

Xiao Han couldn't go in person, feeling regretful in his heart, so when Lin Jincai returned, he carefully asked him about the details of the sacrifice: it turned out that the Spring Festival sacrifice was the most important sacrifice activity for the locals, and every family would sacrifice on the night of the thirtieth night of the Chinese New Year's Eve. First, go to the ancestral hall in the village to worship the ancestors, and the sacrifices include: a whole rooster, a plate of meat, candy and biscuits, tea and wine, firecrackers, and coins. This sacrifice is required for one's own children, especially boys. During the sacrifice, you should kneel down and bow three times, and insert incense once for each worship to pray for the blessing of your ancestors. After returning to their own home, they will sacrifice their own vesta gods and heavenly gods, and take a few more pairs of bowls and chopsticks during the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, and invite our ancestors to eat with us.

Chinese New Year's Eve is generally not lunched, because there is no time, hungry to eat a few pieces of cake and cake cushion to cushion the stomach, so dinner will be eaten early, usually at three or four o'clock in the afternoon will eat Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.

Before eating Chinese New Year's Eve, Chen had already boiled water for a few children to bathe first, while the two adults had to finish eating and were busy before bathing. Because from the first day to the third day of the Lunar New Year, you are not allowed to bathe, and you are not allowed to wash clothes.

When Lin Jincai returned from the sacrifice and several children had finished bathing, the Chen family had already prepared the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner and was ready to eat.

The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is mainly white-cut chicken, but it is not the rooster that was sacrificed just now, and the rooster has to be sacrificed on the first day of the new year. Tonight it was a hen that was eaten, and the chicken was chopped into pieces, and the head, neck, body, and feet were arranged in order.

Add two more soy sauce dishes: chop the shallots and coriander, add soy sauce and chili powder and mix well. Dip the chicken when eating it for more flavor.

Another main course is the "square brick", which is braised pork. It got its name from the fact that the pork is cut into squares like bricks. The practice of "square bricks" is: stew the pork first, then cut it into pieces, heat the oil in the pot, pour in the meat and stir-fry, then pour soy sauce and bean curd, put salt on it, and simmer for a while, when it comes out of the pot, there is the fragrance of bean curd, which makes people salivate.

Xiao Han knew that in his previous life, many families had to have fish for Chinese New Year's Eve dinners, which meant that there was more than enough every year. But there is no fish for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner here, Xiao Han asked Chen, she couldn't say why, but the custom was like this.

Then there are braised pork ribs, chicken offal soup, and green vegetable soup.

The vernal equinox and Xiaohan are the youngest, so the sisters and brothers nibble on one chicken leg each during the meal. Chen nibbled on chicken heads, chicken feet, and chicken wings, while Lin Jincai and Lixia ate chicken breasts. After gnawing the meat on the chicken thighs on the spring equinox, he put the remaining chicken bones in front of Chen, Xiao Han was inexplicable, but he was accustomed to seeing the expressions of his brother and father.

I saw Chen grab the chicken bones and gnaw them carefully, even biting off the bones on the joints and sucking the bone marrow inside. Xiao Han's eyes were a little hot, so he sandwiched a few pieces of chicken for her, and nibbled on the bones like her.

Chen was very surprised, and his father smiled and said, "Your mother loves to gnaw bones, and she eats our chicken heads, chicken feet, and chicken wings." ”

Xiao Han knew in his heart that in that era of lack of meat, no one did not like to eat meat, and he especially loved to gnaw bones. Because there is so little meat, a virtuous wife has to keep it for her husband and children. It's a love lie that has become a habit over the years, and everyone else believes it.

But Xiao Han, who is a person in two lives, won't, she sandwiched a few pieces of meat for Chen, put the chicken feet into her bowl, and said with a smile: "I also love to gnaw chicken feet and chicken wings, mother, don't rob me." But I don't like to eat chicken heads and necks, so I'll leave it to you. Come, eat some meat for me, and leave those chicken feet for me. ”

Chen believed it and had no choice but to rely on her.

After eating Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, put away all the pots and pans and chopsticks that are stained with meat, and replace them with clean dishes and chopsticks. Because you have to be vegetarian on the morning of the first day of the new year.

Moreover, a pot of rice must be cooked in advance on Chinese New Year's Eve, and the custom here is that you cannot cook rice from the first to the third day of the new year, and you can only eat the cooked rice on Chinese New Year's Eve. All kinds of dishes should also be prepared at home, probably because at the beginning of the new year, you have to relax, you have to play, you can't work, otherwise you will have to work all year round.

After doing all this, it is also dark, and it is time to make zongzi. The He family has a small population, and they said before that they would not make zongzi, but the Chen family said that when the time comes, they will wrap it and give her a few, which will be enough to eat. Zhang felt embarrassed by Bai Na, so he asked He Mu to come over to help, and He Mu was in the middle of it and readily agreed.

The zongzi of the Chinese New Year package is not the triangle of the Dragon Boat Festival bag, but the square zongzi, about fifteen centimeters long and eight centimeters wide.

The zongzi leaves used to wrap zongzi are generally basket leaves, and the zongzi rope is a rice stalk. Zongye and Zongzi rope should be soaked overnight in advance, then scalded with boiling water, dried and set aside.

The rice used to wrap zongzi is glutinous rice, filled with pork skin, red beans, and sesame seeds. The glutinous rice should be soaked overnight in advance, so that the dumplings are sticky and have a better taste.

Chen also showed everyone how to wrap zongzi: she first arranged the three ropes evenly, then staggered the three zongzi leaves in turn, scooped half a bowl of rice and spread it evenly on the zongzi leaves, put the pre-cut dried pork skin, red beans, and sesame seeds in the middle, and then scooped half a bowl of rice and covered it evenly. Then put two leaves on it, then fold the zongzi front and back, left and right, tie it with a rope at the head, tail and middle, take scissors to cut off the excess zongzi leaves and rope, and a flat four-corner zongzi will become.

The last step is the most difficult, if the wrap is not good and tight, the rice will leak out. Therefore, this cutting step was handed over to the experienced Chen and the careful Xiaohan, and the previous steps were taken care of by He Mu and Lixia, and the spring equinox looked at everyone with blank eyes: what should he do?

Chen knew his youngest son's thoughts, and hurriedly said that he would give him the task of pruning the final zongzi, and the spring equinox happily agreed.

The zongzi wrapped by Chen's are boxy at both ends, and the middle is slightly convex like a belly, which is very beautiful. Xiao Han is clever and learns quickly, and after a while, the wrapped zongzi is as beautiful as Chen's.