Appreciation of Memory Prose on the Stove

At the invitation of a friend, I went to a rural restaurant in the depths of Taihang, a formal farmhouse. There is a row of farm stoves in the southwest corner of the yard, and the fish just caught from the reservoir is stewed in the iron pot of the stove. Of course, these are all supplied according to the needs of customers.

To tell the truth, I'm not interested in the fishy smell in the pot, but I'm kind to the wooden lid on the iron pot. I haven't seen a wooden cover for years. The so-called farm stove is to build pots and pans with bricks on the indoor or outdoor ground, put a big iron pot on it, put wood or firewood under it, and cook fish in the pot. The smell of fish and the fresh smell of burning wood pervaded the surroundings. According to the restaurant owner, the fish cooked with firewood will taste better because of the wooden pot cover.

Of course I know a little about this, because when I was a child, there were two pots at home, one for cooking and the other for cooking or boiling water. They are all made of wood. The best material for wooden pot cover is Pinus massoniana. First of all, the weight of the pot cover is much lighter, and then there is the loose fragrance emitted by the pot cover, which is very appetizing when mixed with the smell of food. The wooden pot cover has been used for a long time, and once it is heated in the pot, it can still emit light rosin.

The peasant family in their hometown will only eat one meal of meat unless there is a happy event. Anyone who cooks a pot of pork stew vermicelli can smell the fragrance in half of Zhuangzi. Of course, this is inseparable from the role of the wooden pot cover. I like fish stickers best. Mother washed the small fish I fished out of the ditch outside and put them in a pot for stewing. A circle of tortillas was put around and covered with a wooden pot cover. Generally, like other children, standing by the fire, greedily breathing this rare delicious food. When the yellow tortillas are full of fishy smell, our brothers have been eyeing it like hungry wolves. When the adults are at the wooden table, the mother puts tortillas and fish on the table, and the children all look at the adults and wait for their meal orders. Once father says "eat". Our brother will stop taking care of the fish in the basin. The only thing left for parents is to order fish soup in the basin. My dad usually dips the cake in fish soup and drinks some Hengshui Laobaigan.

Later, a kind of aluminum pot cover with light weight and strict cover appeared in the market, and there were fewer masters who made wooden pot covers, and the wooden pot covers gradually withdrew from the farm stove. Of course, my mother can also make small fish paste cakes, but I always feel that the taste is not covered with a wooden lid, and it tastes fragrant.