Snacks are actually a window into a place’s local customs. Snacks are also one of the most popular ways of eating. The various regional cultures and the temperament of the local people are fully exposed through the window of snacks.

For thousands of years, on the unobstructed plains of southwestern Shandong, the combination of the tradition of agricultural society and the Confucian concept of emphasizing Taoism over utensils has given rise to numerous handmade snacks with different flavors. I have always been fond of hometown snacks since I was a child.

When I returned to Jinan a few days ago, I actually ate Heze’s Lijia hanging stove biscuits at the food stall near the civil air defense! This hanging stove biscuit is usually not baked in a furnace, but a pan is turned upside down on the stove, and the mixed dough is placed on the surface of the pan and baked through charcoal fire. The baked biscuits are crispy on the outside and milky yellow in color; soft on the inside and taste salty. Young people with good teeth can also bake the sesame cakes on a low fire to evaporate all the moisture inside and outside to become "dried banger", which can be broken into pieces by clapping it with your hands. It tastes crispy and crispy, and has a unique flavor, and the sesame cakes are also delicious. Big and thick, one sesame seed cake can make your stomach half full. When eating, you have to hold it with both hands to prevent the sesame seeds from falling to the ground. You may not know that there is almost no Heze person who has not eaten sesame cakes, and almost no Heze person does not have a sesame cake complex. The round sesame cakes, exuding the aroma of sesame, have influenced generations of local people. "Water Margin" tells the story of Wu Dalang, who hawked "cooked cakes" (similar to today's sesame cakes) along the street. "Water Margin" is actually a history of snack culture in southwestern Shandong. If someone who doesn’t climb the Great Wall is not a hero, then the Heze people whose teeth can’t tear through frozen beef tendons and whose tongue can’t stir the dried sesame cake tops aren’t the descendants of heroes either.

In ancient times, cakes were a general term for foods made from grains and flour. Pancakes are a big family in the snack industry, including steamed pancakes, white pancakes, soup pancakes, meat pancakes, oil cakes, etc. Among them, raw dough or yeast dough is used as pancakes to bake them, which are called sesame pancakes.

You may not know what is going on, and say that sesame biscuits are the same as huoshao. In fact, the biggest difference is that sesame biscuits are baked under fire, while huoshao is baked on fire, so sesame biscuits are also called hanging furnace biscuits. This means that the biscuits are baked upside down on the pan. Let me tell you about the cake recipe that everyone in Heze knows: two pounds of white flour, half a pound of sesame oil, half a pound of salt, one pound of good pepper peel, half a pound of fennel, three points as the rate, one point of pure oil, pepper, salt, and fennel mixed with flour For the sake of cooking, it is especially good to add coarse sesame seeds. Put a piece of cake into each cake, thin it out and put it into the oven. It can be seen that hanging furnace biscuits have a long history.

I don’t know if this is a genuine hanging furnace biscuit, or when it came to Shanfu. But no matter what, I wish Lijia Shaobing all the best!

I wonder if you like Jinan’s casserole? ! Anyway, I like it very much, especially the tofu casserole! Don’t you know that this dish was first produced in Heze’s “Laojia Tofu Casserole”! This dish is prepared with unique ingenuity. First, steam the tofu over high heat to form a honeycomb shape, then cool it down a little to filter out the water, then put it into a casserole with chicken soup with vermicelli, ham, mushrooms, diced winter bamboo shoots, etc., bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, and then use Adjust the taste with refined salt and MSG. After the tofu is fragrant, pour hot oil and take out a ladle. The soup is fresh and refreshing. Although it is named "Lao Jia", it is really "tender".

There are great things in a small casserole. In a "casserole" shop, every time impatient diners pound the table and ask why the casserole hasn't been served yet, the chefs always smile and say: "Don't worry. Don’t be impatient, it’s only when you stew it slowly that it tastes delicious.” As is the case with casseroles, so is life.

Chinese people have always liked to use casseroles to make soup and stew meat. This is because casseroles are made of pottery and can maintain the original color, aroma and taste of food. And casseroles are known to be simmered slowly, so chefs with rough hands and feet can't make good casseroles, and diners who are as anxious as pigs can't taste the true taste of casseroles. The master who cooks the casserole must be in the mood to cook Chinese medicine. Eating the casserole is the second most important event for diners after tasting tea. To drink tea, you need to sit upright and soothe your mind, but you can scream when eating casserole, and you can use your hands to fan your hot tongue to cool down. Sipping tea is an elegant thing for idle clouds and wild cranes, while casserole is a popular anti-hunger thing, attracting the attention of the public. People who sell pulp in cars can eat it until their stomachs are bloated and they fart loudly, and bourgeois girls can also eat it until their faces are full of peach blossoms and they burp.

In Jinan, Caoxian roast beef can be found in larger supermarkets! If you like eating meat, why not buy some and try this craft handed down from the Qing Dynasty! Since the Qing Dynasty, Caoxian roast beef has been a famous dish for drinking with people. Take good beef, wash it, put in aniseed ingredients, stew it in a pot until it is tender. It is an excellent delicacy for the generous Shandong people to eat large pieces of meat.

In Dongguan, Cao County, there are no less than 20 stalls or workshops with the sign of "Mijia Braised Beef". The only difference is that among them, Mi Jinyuan's beef shop has the word "old brand" . "Old brand Mijia roast beef" costs 16 yuan per pound, "not a penny less, but not a penny more."

Not long ago, Mi Guangzhou, an individual businessman in Jinan who sells meat products, registered the trademark "Mijia Braised Beef", which means that the roast beef business run by Mi Jiajun in Cao County belongs to "Infringement". Caoxian Mijia Beef, which has lost its "ID card" this time, will face a catastrophe. In a market economy that pays attention to laws and rules, losing a trademark means that a business will die prematurely or even go bankrupt. However, Mi Jinyuan was very calm about this, thinking, "What does the trademark have to do with me? I cook the beef well, and others will buy it naturally." Since the parties involved have said so, it is superfluous for us to lament his misfortune and hate him. ! Then eat meat well and be worthy of other people’s craftsmanship!

In fact, sometimes I think, fortunately, Heze snack artists do not understand the overall situation, do not follow the trend, and cannot simply replace manual labor with mechanized production and streamlined operations, which makes us clearly realize that, It is these masters who are skilled in skills, adhere to business principles, and understand the tastes of Heze people who guard the last homeland of regional food culture.