Bamboo steamer steamed out of the sweet fragrance, is the old Wuhan street childhood morning light

I am Yang Jianguo, and my friends call me Lao Yang. I am 52 years old this year. I am a native of Liudu Bridge in Hankou. I have been writing about old Wuhan street snacks in howcooks for nearly five years. I am not a gourmet, and I don't know how to arrange dishes and carve flowers. I just remember the fireworks floating from the stalls at the corner of the street in those years, and I want to tell the sweet taste of old Wuhan to my friends all over the world. In our old city of Hankou, the figure of the steamer cake is always indispensable in the morning of autumn and winter. As soon as the small bamboo steamer is uncovered, the hot air wrapped in rice fragrance and brown sugar sweetness goes straight into my nose. It is the warmth I most look forward to on my way to school, and it is also the taste of childhood engraved in my bones. I always say that in Wuhan's premature culture, retort cake is not a big dish of ostentation and extravagance, but it is the most down-to-earth street sweet. One bite will warm the hands, sweet the heart and remember the morning light of the old city.

In Liudu Bridge in the 1980 s, as soon as the buttonwood trees at the entrance of the alley had lost their leaves, Master Yang's retort cake stall was set up. A painted 28 bicycle has a wooden box tied to the back seat. The box is embedded with a 16.67cm-high bamboo retort. The bottom of the retort is covered with a layer of white gauze. Next to it is a coarse porcelain basin containing finely ground glutinous rice flour and a small crock jar containing thick red syrup. Old master yang always wears a Tibetan green tunic suit, his sleeve is rolled to his forearm, and his hands are stained with some rice noodles. when he sees us carrying schoolbags, he smiles and shouts, "wait a minute, just steamed, hot mouth!"

at that time, school was early, and as soon as it was light, there was a small line at the corner, all waiting to buy retort cakes. Old Master Yang's movements were very sharp. As soon as the lid of the bamboo steamer was uncovered, the white hot air came out, with a clear and moist rice fragrance. First, scoop a spoonful of glutinous rice flour and spread it on the bottom of the steamer, then gently scrape it with bamboo slices, and then pour a spoonful of red syrup. The red syrup was boiled by Old Master Yang himself. The color of the red syrup was deep amber, thick amber, so that could be pulled out, so thick, cover the bamboo cover and steam it on the honeycomb briquette stove for three minutes. During this period, you have to use long chopsticks to poke it gently to make the heat evenly.

I always like to stand in front of the stall and watch the bamboo steamer lid making a slight noise by the heat. I watch Old Master Yang listen to it from time to time, saying that this is listening to the sound of rice noodles "blooming. When he shouted "good" and opened the lid, the whole corner was fragrant-the snow-white rice noodles were red in circles with brown sugar, like rouge on a little girl's face. The hot air was wrapped with rice fragrance and brown sugar sweet, mixed with the smell of coal and smoke at the corner, and became the most seductive morning fragrance. Old master yang used bamboo slices to cut the retort cake into four pieces and put it in a small oil paper bag. when he handed it over, he was still steaming. it made me change hands, but I couldn't bear to let go.

The steamer cake is best eaten while it is hot. The hot air in the oil paper bag makes the fingertips warm. Take a bite. The rice flour on the outer layer is a little tough, but the red syrup in the middle is just hot. It is sweet but not greasy. It drips down the tip of the tongue. The rice fragrance is mixed with the caramel of brown sugar. It is refreshing and sweet. It is not human at all. The most unique is the steamed translucent rice flour skin, which sucks enough red sugar juice, has a dense entrance and a little elastic teeth, and the white sesame seeds are creaking in the mouth and fragrant. I always like to take a small bite first, wait for the red syrup to cool down before stuttering. Sometimes I eat too fast. The red sugar juice flows down the corners of my mouth to my chin. My classmates laugh at me as "Xiaohua Mall" and only lick the sweetness of the corners of my mouth.

At that time, the retort cake cost only two cents a piece, but it was the most luxurious breakfast for us. In the winter morning, with the change given by my mother, I bought a piece of retort cake and put it in my pocket. I walked to the school gate and ate it while walking. The warmth of glutinous rice spread out in my stomach and my hands and feet were not cold. Sometimes when old master yang saw me coming early, he would pour an extra spoonful of red syrup and say, "yea, eat more sweet and read with spirit." Now that I think about it, where is the red syrup, it is clearly the reality and warmth of the old Wuhan neighborhood.

Later, I went to work in other places and never saw such bamboo steamer cake again. The rice cakes sold in supermarkets are so sweet that they are greasy. The steamed cakes in chain stores are missing the fragrance of bamboo steamer, and they always feel that there is something missing. A few years ago, when I returned to Liudu Bridge, Master Yang's stall was long gone, the buttonwood tree was cut down, and the alley turned into a convenience store. I stood there for a long time, as if I could still smell the familiar rice fragrance and see Master Yang's smiling face when he uncovered the cover.

I began to write about the street taste of these old Wuhan in howcooks, not telling the exact number of grams, not teaching complicated steps, only talking about the childhood morning light hidden in the bamboo steamer. I didn't expect to attract a lot of resonance from Wuhan Ya. Some people said that they thought of the retort cake bought by grandma. Some people said that they could only see it occasionally in the suburban bazaar. The most moving taste was always in the fireworks on the streets and lanes. In the childhood that I can never go back. To me, Zier Cake is not just a sweet cake, it is the morning light of Liudu Bridge, the smile of Old Master Yang, the youth time carrying a schoolbag, the sweetness warms the stomach, warms the stomach, and hooks homesickness.

When the autumn and winter are cool in the morning, if you come across a steamer cake stall at the entrance of any old street, you may as well buy a piece to taste while it is hot and feel the sweet fragrance of the old Wuhan hidden in the bamboo steamer. This sweet and warm, hides the morning light of the old city, hides the warmth of the neighborhood, and hides the most caressing taste of childhood.