Pingliang people's love for food is not only reflected in three meals a day, but also brought to the road that needs to be traveled. In Pingliang, the pot helmet as big as the lid of the pot is the noodle that people often like to carry when they go out to walk, and it has become the "hometown in the rucksack" of many Pingliang people.
The Jingning pot helmet was large and thick, weighing four pounds. After roasting, it is tender and yellow in color and crispy on the outside. Although the bread is thick, the inside is soft and mellow. Photography / Zhang Lutang
<h1>The origin of the pot helmet</h1>
The origin of the name of the pot helmet is various, the popular saying is that the army marches to fight the war to make a flatbread, because there is no cooking utensils, borrowed from the helmet worn on the head, because it resembles a pot lid and is named "pot helmet". When the name of the pot helmet came to be, it is difficult to verify. However, according to historical records, at least during the Qing Dynasty, many people in Jingning County in the Pingliang area made pot helmets as a profession.
Although pot helmets seem to be available everywhere, people who have seen the pan helmets must be impressed by it. Unlike all kinds of pasta, it is difficult to distinguish the type by looking at the shape alone, the flat and cool pot helmet plate is as large as the lid of the pot, and the thickness is up to two inches, which is enough for people to distinguish at a glance. The weight of the pot helmet can not be underestimated, the large one weighs five or six pounds, and the small one also has four pounds. When baked, this large, thick pot is tender yellow in color, crisp on the outside, but soft and mellow on the inside. In Jingning, pot helmets and roast chicken are very common combinations, and many elderly people are loyal fans.
<h1>The pan is hard</h1>
In Pingliang, the pot helmet is most famous in addition to Jingning, there is also a pingliang pot helmet in the Kuntong district, the latter is larger and thicker than the former, but the practice is similar. A five-pound pot helmet, the dough is not small, hand kneading is very laborious. The usual practice is to put it on a large board and apply some clear oil, use a large wooden bar embedded in the wall as a rolling pin, and repeatedly crush it. Baking is also very exquisite, because the dough cake is thick, improper heat is very easy to cause the surface to burn, the inside of the sandwich situation. Behind every delicious pot helmet is the cooking skills of the fire.
<h1>The flavor of walking is cool</h1>
After baking, the pot helmet has less moisture, often does not spoil for a long time, is not easy to mildew, and is suitable for carrying out. In the late Qing Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang's march into Xinjiang, Yu Youren's carry-on bags during the Republic of China, and the food list of the liberation of Lanzhou and Tibet all had the figure of pot helmets. In fact, in Pingliang, there are many dry food-type pasta such as pot helmets, in addition to crisp steamed buns, stove-toothed buns, dry food cakes, and Jingchuan's unique canned steamed buns are also extremely famous. This kind of hand-kneaded steamed bun is shaped like a large and small altar jar, which not only has a soft taste, but also has the characteristics of not being moldy for a long time. If the steamed bun stored for a long time is too dry, it is soaked in boiling water and the flavor is not reduced, so it is often used as food for the journey by locals and passers-by.
Handmade pot helmet
Thanks to the special position at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, these portable dry foods can be called the foods that Pingliang has gone the farthest. Historically, as an important city on the ancient Silk Road, the stations on this passage, together with the steamed steamed buns of Jingchuan, the pot helmets, crisp steamed buns, and the large cakes of Jingning, accepted thousands of merchants from the west to the east, and also accompanied the tourists to the western region and even farther.
Today, transportation networks are more accessible than ever, and food boundaries between regions are weakening. But for the Pingliang people in the travel, these noodles made of white noodles are still irreplaceable dry food, and they are also the long-term comfort given by the yellow land in the life of leaving the hometown.
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Wen 丨 Gabe
Edit | Hu Yin
The original text is taken from "Authentic Wind Objects , Pingliang" with additions, subtractions and changes
Book "Authentic Wind Objects, Pingliang"
The unsigned pictures in this article are from "IC photo" or "Figureworm Creative", and any website, newspaper, television station, company, organization, or individual may not be used in part or in whole without the permission of IC photo or Figureworm Creative.