Northerners like to make their own buns when they eat jiaozi. In the past, Bao jiaozi was a program for people to celebrate festivals. It can be seen that northerners are skilled in making pasta. Practice makes perfect, because northerners love to eat too much and often make pasta.
There is a famous saying about jiaozi in the north: "Nothing tastes better than jiaozi." It's kind of like ranking it first in the world. At least in the north, no one opposes this statement, which is close to the accepted truth. In fact, Renye Fang people like to eat jiaozi, but they are not good at making jiaozi. Even if it is difficult to make, it is unfamiliar and rough. In contrast, northerners can be called sculptors. So southerners often eat out when looking for jiaozi. Restaurants selling jiaozi also put up signs: "jiaozi in the North" to publicize its authenticity. Jiaozi will become a patent in the north.
Even a Suzhou girl who can embroider meticulous flowers and birds on silk may not wrap jiaozi well. Northerners, on the other hand, can make jiaozi perfect, with style and style. Pressing it with an iron generally represents the auspiciousness of jiaozi. On the one hand, it is very important, because its shape is similar to the ancient "hard currency" ingot. Eating jiaozi is similar to a ritual, symbolizing "getting rich". On the other hand, it borrows the homonym of jiaozi and takes the meaning of alternating old and new, so as to "grow old together."
China people believe that jiaozi can bring wealth and good luck. If this is a superstition, it is also a beautiful and positive superstition. There must always be a little spiritual sustenance in the joys and sorrows of life. If it brings you double enjoyment of mouth and stomach, it may not be a bad thing. People also introduce the custom of drawing lots into their diet. When wrapping jiaozi, small mascots such as copper coins, silver coins, precious stones and pearls were buried in the stuffing to show their respective destinies. The process of eating jiaozi is as exciting as the lottery. See who can win the lottery? Make a more popular diet more romantic. This is the best condiment.
During the Qing Dynasty and even the Republic of China, jiaozi was also called "Cooking Cakes". "Summer has passed, autumn has passed, and I have to wait on my mother-in-law during the New Year. I finished the cake in no time. The skin is thin and stuffed, the mother-in-law laughs, and the daughter-in-law pays. " This is a folk song included in Li Guangting's book Xiang Yan Jie Yi in Qing Dynasty. It seems that Bao jiaozi helps to integrate the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Smile!
There is also a proverb in the north: "Eat jiaozi for 30 nights, and there are no outsiders." To show intimacy. It can be seen that jiaozi is a necessary thing for a family to celebrate their reunion on New Year's Eve. My friend Isa wrote a "cool comment" on CCTV Spring Festival Evening: How did jiaozi cook this pot? He compared his previous Spring Festival Gala to a pot of "cultural jiaozi". Is it new? Look at the stuffing in the bag.
Northerners who don't eat jiaozi at night will feel that there is no atmosphere for Chinese New Year. Just like people in China now, it must be empty not to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
In the slow-paced era, it is a very interesting collective labor for a family to wrap jiaozi around a table and chat and cater to it. It seems that bagging is more enjoyable than eating. Especially during the Spring Festival, the whole family is here and happy; The absence of any one person will make everyone feel sad and miss the "disappearance of one person after another." Guys, be sure to go home for a bowl of jiaozi before the New Year bell rings. This custom is very human. If you can abide by it, you must.
Not only ordinary people, Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty also regarded Bao jiaozi's thirty nights as an unavoidable etiquette. Ye Yimin also wrote about the Chinese New Year in the late Qing Dynasty, recalling the past of the previous dynasty.
"Twelve o'clock on New Year's Eve will be over, and the Queen Mother will order everyone to come to the temple. After a long case, all kinds of vegetarian dishes prepared in advance will be served in the kitchen, and vegetarian stuffing will be made, so the hall will be lively immediately. Chop it and give it to the Empress Dowager. Empress, concubines, big princess and others will mix the stuffing. The taste is salty and light, which is decided by the queen mother. It's dawn, and jiaozi is all wrapped up. The queen mother ordered them to go back and change clothes and comb their hair again. Soon, they returned to the temple. The queen mother sat at the table, and the queen and others stood at the table. Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the maids to make cakes. Empress Dowager Cixi said that this is the beginning of the new year, the new moon, a new day and a new moment. When we are old, we can't forget the present. Today, we can eat a bowl of calm rice. This is the blessing of Buddha and the protection of ancestors. Say that finish, life everyone to eat. Everyone kowtowed to the queen mother. It will light up after eating and cooking. "
When Empress Dowager Cixi ate jiaozi, she was really pious: thank God, thank the earth and thank the ancestors. I'm afraid she didn't expect that in the Qing Empire, this big "jiaozi" built for more than 200 years stretched very short and would soon "leak the stuffing". Once the filler leaks, it can't be remedied.
Few people can package jiaozi by themselves now. Everything can be produced by machines, and people no longer spend time doing it. However, this machine, Jiaozi, lacks the feeling and warmth of home after all. But now, who cares? With the development of society, the human touch has faded.