The custom of old rice wine

Macheng has a folk song that has been circulating for many years: "Old rice wine is bitter fire, except for the emperor, it is me." Vividly tells the happy life scene of local people in winter. The latitude here is not high, which is a good place for summer vacation and leisure, but it is cold in winter. In fact, the winter temperature here is around 0℃, and the lowest temperature will not exceed MINUS 10℃. But it's extremely cold here. This kind of cold is different from that at high latitudes. Probably because of years of abundant rain and high air humidity, the cold here is particularly cold and biting. In order to keep out the cold, the mountain people made a fire pit in the kitchen hall. In winter, people burn a big fire in the fireplace to keep warm. The fuel for the fire is mainly pine branches and tree shrews. Making a fireplace is very particular. The location of the fire pit must be selected in a corner of the house to occupy as little space as possible; At the same time, don't be too close to the wall and sit around people as much as possible; It can also be considered to be placed under the beam to facilitate the installation of hooks for hanging kettles and pots. After selecting a good point, dig a round pit with a diameter of one meter and a depth of about two centimeters from the ground, and then use blue bricks as the pit edge, so that a fire pit is completed. Keep warm by the fire. Because the fireplace is in the corner of the house, avoiding the surrounding cold wind, and the fireplace is slightly lower than the ground, the utilization efficiency of heat energy is greatly improved. With the improvement of living standards, bungalows covered with adobe have basically disappeared, and people have lived in buildings built of reinforced concrete. However, in mountainous areas, there is a bungalow next to the building of almost every household, and a fireplace is reserved specially. The fire pit is connected with the hanging pot. Where there is a fire pit, there is a hanging pot, which should be used as a fire pit. The hanging pot is actually a iron pot with ears, but iron pot has two iron buckles fixed on his ears, and iron pot can hang on the hook through the iron buckles. The hook is very skillful. It makes good use of the mechanical principle and can move up and down and be fixed. Actually, the workmanship is not complicated. It's just a combination of a chain and a long-handled hook. Just tie a ring at the upper end of the chain so that it can cover the hook handle, tie a small wooden board or iron plate at the end of the chain, cut a round hole at the end where the small board just passes through the hook handle, and then pass the hook handle up through the round hole of the small board until it passes through the collar at the upper end. This makes a pair of hooks. Usually the fire is accompanied by boiling water, and the pot is hung when eating. This is a hanging pot. Speaking of hanging pots, there are two kinds of flavor dishes, that is, bacon and fried tofu. Bacon is a necessity for farmers in mountainous areas. After winter, people slaughtered the old pigs early, pickled the pork and hung it above the fire pit for fumigation. Smoked bacon is bright red and fat white, and its shelf life can be as long as three years. After cooking, there is a faint rosin in the meat fragrance, which greatly increases the appetite. What is particularly commendable is that fat meat is more delicious than vegetarian meat, fat but not greasy, smooth and refreshing, which really makes people enjoy the pleasure of gluttony. Fried tofu is another flavor. The fried tofu here is to fry the whole piece of tofu in an oil pan, then pickle it in a vegetable jar for later use, take it out of the jar when eating, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and then eat it directly in a pot with bacon. This kind of fried tofu is crisp outside and tender inside, fragrant and sour, and has a unique flavor. Mountain people are not good at making many tricks, and like to cook all kinds of dishes in one pot. Prepare bacon before meals, cut the fried tofu and pour everything into the hanging pot. Sometimes dried bamboo shoots, dried radishes, dried bracken, dried fish and vegetables are added to the hanging pot, and the hanging pot is hung on the hook on the fire pit to cook. When eating, everyone sits around the fireplace, holding a pair of chopsticks in one hand, warming themselves, chatting while eating, and enjoying themselves. If there are guests, the host family must take out aged rice wine. Old rice wine is brewed by the villagers themselves with glutinous rice. Generally, every year, people take out three or two hundred kilograms of glutinous rice to brew old rice wine. After the wine is brewed, it should be sealed in the jar for a period of time, and it can only be drunk after all the glutinous rice is turned into wine. Warm the aged rice wine before drinking. Good old rice wine is clear and transparent, slightly chrysanthemum yellow, and it has a strong sticky feeling when twisted by hand. Locally called "Proton Wine", it only needs to be heated before drinking without boiling. Because of the high alcohol content, boiling is easy to burn and catch fire; At the same time, there is no need to add sugar, it is very sweet. According to the medical records in Wan Mi Zhai, old rice wine has the functions of relaxing muscles and activating collaterals, invigorating lung and spleen, eliminating dampness and cold, warming middle warmer and benefiting qi. Drinking old rice wine often is beneficial and harmless, but don't be too greedy. People often say that drinking three cups of old rice wine will not make you drunk, and you will not wake up after being drunk for three days. It can be seen that although the old rice wine is delicious, it is also very powerful if you drink too much. Sitting by the fireplace, baking a blazing fire, eating bacon hanging pots, drinking glutinous rice and old wine, chatting about daily chores, getting as drunk as a fiddler, and being attached to Shu Tai all over, the cold in winter was dispersed to the outside of the cloud nine, and the room was full of warm and harmonious atmosphere. It was really a day for immortals to live.