History of Lanzhou Casserole

The "Ugly Casserole" was once a tribute of Su Wang in the Ming Dynasty.

Lanzhou casserole is a kind of pottery, which belongs to coarse pottery and contains sand. It is made of coal gangue from Agan Town, a suburb of Lanzhou, which is rich in coal. Because of its good quality and low price, it was an indispensable daily necessities for Lanzhou people in the old days. In the past, Lanzhou casserole was widely used among Lanzhou people. Over the years, Lanzhou craftsmen have inherited and innovated the production skills of casserole, and the casserole made is unique. Mr. Deng Ming, an expert in Lanzhou local chronicles, said that Lanzhou casserole is a very practical utensil. Before 1970s, casserole was the main cooker for Lanzhou people because of the relative lack of iron and porcelain. Lanzhou casserole is ugly, simple in appearance and black and yellow in color. Not as delicate and glamorous as porcelain. Not only the people like it, but also the royal family likes it. According to legend, Gansu's famous specialty was presented to the court by King Su Fan every year in the Ming Dynasty, and it was named "Entering Eight Treasures". They are: Mi Xue (white honey in Minxian), Hui Qiong (distilled liquor in Huixian) and luminous cup (luminous cup) Lanzhou casserole, which is ugly, but can rank among the royal "eight treasures" and become a tribute together with other famous products in Gansu. It can be seen that Lanzhou casserole is indeed a kind of daily necessities with excellent texture. Before liberation, Li Haizhou, a famous artist in Lanzhou, wrote "Ballad of Casserole" and praised its advantages: "Lanzhou Casserole is famous in all counties; Durable, lightweight and convenient; No crack, explosion and trachoma; Cook quickly, stew will rot; Cook soup and stir-fry with the same color; Roll down the rice soup, which is fragrant and sweet; Scrambled eggs, tender and fresh; Making tea and decocting medicine is delicious. "

Casserole originated in Agan Town, Nanshan.

There is a classic lyric in the folk song Little Cowherd, which is widely circulated in Gansu and Ningxia provinces. It sang, "I went to Forrest Gump County, bought a big casserole, raised many children, rushed to eat, and broke the pot. There are many poor people in the world, which one is like me. " This folk song, which has been circulated for hundreds of years, shows the long history of Lanzhou casserole and proves that Agan Town is the main producing area of Lanzhou casserole. In the past, in the impression of people in Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai, Agan Town was synonymous with Lanzhou casserole. According to research, Lanzhou casserole was first made in Agan town, which is also the main producing area of Lanzhou casserole. The raw material for making casserole is mainly soft coal gangue mud produced in Agan Town. The ground soft coal gangue and slag powder are repeatedly stirred into mud, and hammered many times to make it soft and tough. Then put it on a mold and shape it with a board. Dry, glaze, and fire in a kiln. According to the written records in the Annals of Agan Town in Qilihe District, Yang Yingju of Xining Road recorded in the Annals of Saddle that Angelababy lived in Qingganlong for four years (1739) and went to Agan. Before liberation, Agan Town was a place where casserole workshops (called pot factories in Lanzhou dialect) were concentrated. After liberation, it became several big factories such as Lanzhou Refractory Factory, Qilihe District Refractory Factory, Agan Town Refractory Factory and Agan Village Refractory Factory. Casserole is just one of the products, and the main product is industrial refractory bricks. After 1970s, with the extensive use of iron pots and aluminum pot,

According to the historical records of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the pottery in Fenglinguan, Lanzhou, north of Agan and the Yellow River has reached a certain scale. Mu Shouqi's "A Brief History of Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai" in the late Qing Dynasty shows that Lanzhou casserole had been marketed in northwest provinces as early as the end of Ming Dynasty. According to Gansu Flavor Guide, at the beginning of 1960, 76-year-old Shen Zhongying recalled that his father, Shen, made casseroles in Hexi in the sixth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, and in the early years of the Republic of China, Gao, Chen, Wu and Li made casseroles in Lanzhou. At that time, it was all workshops in the front shop and backyard. In the early days of liberation, there were about 30 employees and the annual output was about 654.38+10,000 pieces. In the cooperative movement of 654.38+0956, two cooperatives producing casseroles were established, with 57 employees and 22 varieties, with the highest annual output of 654.38+03.9 thousand pieces and 654.38+095 respectively.

The return of the old casserole craftsman

Shi Zangjin, 85, is an old casserole maker who is still alive in Lanzhou. His family has been cooking casseroles in Agan Town for generations. /kloc-started working in casserole workshop at the age of 0/3, and worked in Qilihe refractory factory after liberation. He was engaged in casserole making for 40 years until 1980 retired. Shi Zangjin recalled that there were twenty or thirty pot factories in Agan Town at the earliest, among which Konka, Zhangjia, Shi Jia and Meng Jia were the larger ones. Casseroles have more than a dozen kinds of egg pots, such as big change number, change number and number one, as well as more than a dozen kinds of daily necessities such as medicine pots, casserole, casserole and simmer pot. The smallest egg pot is used to boil flax water. In the past, women didn't have good cosmetics, so they boiled flax water in an egg pot to maintain and set their hair. People called it sipping water at that time. There is also a small teapot, which is only about 2 inches high and 1 inch thick. It is used to make tea. Because of its small size and rapid temperature rise, it is called "destroyer". Boiled tea is as bitter as traditional Chinese medicine, mainly because coolies refresh themselves. At that time, most of the casserole workshops were intermittent production, and they stopped every time they were busy, and then started production during the slack season. Only two or three of them, such as Shi Jia Pot Factory, produce all the year round. A part of the casseroles produced in Agan Town are sold to Lanzhou and surrounding counties, and more casseroles are transported to Tao Min, Hezhou, Qinghai and other places for sale by foot households. Coal gangue can be divided into soft coal gangue and hard coal gangue, and all casseroles use soft coal gangue. The gangue holes for digging gangue are mainly at the top of Niangnianggou, Daguanggou and Jingshan Park, and the best soft gangue is Niangnianggou. The coal used for burning casserole is the best in Agan Town Shanzhai coal kiln.

Shi Zangjin said that before liberation, the pot factory was not very large, and only a few in Agan Town were relatively large. Agan town pot factory is relatively concentrated, and the overall scale is relatively large. In addition, there are pot factories in other parts of Lanzhou. At that time, Tanlei River at Shuimogoukou, Xinguan (Guangwumen) in the city and the north of the Yellow River all had canning factories. The gangue and coal used in these boiler plants come from Agan Town.

Infiltrate Lanzhou culture

As an ordinary cooker, casserole was widely used in the old society, and it has always been closely related to people's lives. After hundreds of years of precipitation, Lanzhou casserole has penetrated into Lanzhou folk culture, and allusions and words related to casserole are frequently used in Lanzhou. Now people have the shadow of Lanzhou casserole in their sayings. It can be seen that the old casserole is a kind of daily utensils that Lanzhou people can't live without, and the medicine jar that Lanzhou people boil Chinese medicine is also an extension product of casserole, which belongs to a category of casserole.

Before the 1970s and 1980s, Lanzhou people often used the word "Lanzhou casserole", which was a derogatory term for Lanzhou people and was often used when swearing. Mr. Deng Ming, an expert in Lanzhou literature and history, explained that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, some children of the Eight Banners didn't do their jobs well, and when their families were broken and their families died, they were parasitic under the crescent bridge outside Yuanmen (now the central square). They beg for food everywhere in the city with casserole during the day and sleep under the bridge at night. If the officials in the yamen go out, they will be issued with uniforms and let them travel with flags and brands. In the past, Lanzhou people took their children to Yuanmen, often pointing to beggars under the bridge and saying that if they didn't study hard since childhood, they would grow up to be Lanzhou casserole. As a result, "Lanzhou casserole" has become synonymous with beggars in Lanzhou. In the old days, there was a famous jingle describing the backwardness of Lanzhou. It was a proverb mentioned by Allegro in Lanzhou dialect a few years ago: "The old man sleeping on the kang is a potato egg cooked in a casserole." In the two-part allegorical sayings commonly used by Lanzhou people, there are many words about casserole, such as "breaking casserole-asking (tattooing) what the hell" and "mashing garlic in casserole-buying and selling with one hammer" and so on. Lanzhou's famous snacks "Hot Winter Fruit" and "Grey Bean" are cooked slowly in casserole.

exuberant vitality

As a cooker, Lanzhou casserole has many styles in the hands of local chefs. They use it to cook many exquisite dishes, such as "casserole tofu", "casserole meatballs" and "assorted casserole". The soup is delicious and economical, and it is a favorite food for people. "Lanzhou casserole" has become a well-known brand and is still loved by Lanzhou people. Lanzhou Casserole can be seen hanging in the streets and alleys of Lanzhou. There was a saying in Lanzhou in the old days: The casserole does not roll unless it rolls. In other words, the casserole is very suitable for stewing food, which can cook all the flavors of food, and at the same time, the seasoning also penetrates into the food to form a delicious soup. Nowadays, with the extensive use of new materials such as iron and aluminum, people basically don't use casseroles in their daily lives, but Lanzhou casseroles are unique in quality and flavor, and people can't completely abandon them. During the popularization period of various high-tech products, it is still very popular because of its high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, good stability, delicious taste and not easy to turn sour, and has been preserved as a unique cooker in Lanzhou.

Born thousands of years ago.

Mr. Deng Ming, an expert in Lanzhou local chronicles, said that it was impossible to verify when Lanzhou casserole was made. At present, the earliest record of Lanzhou casserole can be found in Ming and Qing dynasties. Li Tieyan, a cultural librarian of Lanzhou Museum, is good at studying pottery. He said that when Lanzhou casserole originated, there is no written proof, but according to the analysis of the characteristics of raw materials and utensils, casserole and Neolithic pottery come down in one continuous line and belong to a kind of pottery with sand. Sand pottery has high hardness and high temperature resistance, and is often suitable for cooking food. It is a common utensil for processing cooked food in ancient times. According to this, Lanzhou casserole has a history of at least 6000 to 10000 years. The production process of Lanzhou casserole is not very complicated, but it needs a lot of skills. Only skilled craftsmen can make exquisite casseroles. The raw materials used are mainly coal gangue, which is soft, tough and high in fire resistance, and the above is ground slag. They are evenly mixed with water to make mud, which is very flexible after repeated beating, then spread on a special mold, dried and glazed, and baked directly on an open flame to make a casserole.