Taishan Pancake

Brief Biography of @bring—Old Wu, or 老吴 in Chinese:
Old Wu, male, born on Dec. 12, 1968, Chinese nationality, is a good man and has been studying English for over 30 years. He teaches himself English, and he does not believe in fate, so he keeps working hard. Humorous and optimistic, he will become your good friend.

First, Mount Tai and Taian City

As a Chinese, you may not know Taian, but you definitely hear of Mount Tai. In the program “Chinese attractions that foreigners are interested in ", Mount Tai ranks the second place after the Great Wall.

Mount Tai is located in the territory of Taian City, Shandong province. It is the world's natural and cultural heritage, one of the ten famous mountains of China, the World Geopark and the national 5A tourist attractions. The name of Taian derives from the sentence: "The country is prosperous and the people are at peace”. Taian is the National Health City, the National Historical and Cultural City, the National Forest City, and has won the Chinese Habitat Environment Award.

By the way, the earliest Taian Railway Station is probably built by the Germans and then renamed the Taishan Railway Station; and the station at Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is the Tai'an station. Therefore, the outsiders to Tai'an must pay attention: Taishan Station and Taian Station are not the same place.

Second, Taishan Pancake

Located in the North Temperate Zone, Taian has a semi-moist warm temperate continental monsoon climate, characterized by four distinct seasons, rain and heat in the same quarter, cold and dry over the same period, adequate lighting, and concentrated rainfall. Sunshine, air temperature and precipitation of Taian City are very beneficial to the growth and development of crops and forest fruits. The main crops are wheat, corn, vegetables, silkworms, fruit trees and peanuts.

Growing a lot of corn, Taian has its food product: Taishan Pancake. With a history of over 1000 years, Taishan Pancak, made of corn, millet as raw material, is a famous traditional food product which is thin, crisp, ans shelf-stable. Pancake roll stuffed with scallions is a local cuisine.

Growing up by eating pancakes, I have a special feeling for pancakes. In Shandong the people of Linyi also eat pancakes, but Linyi pancakes are not the same as Tai'an pancakes. It looks like that Linyi pancakes are thick and wet, and Tai'an pancakes are thin and dry.

When I was a child, my father and other miners went to visit West Lake, bring some pancakes with them, and the people of the South were unable to understand: "Look, they are eating paper."

Although pancakes look like paper, if you are the first time to eat pancakes, your tooth will suffer. I had studied for four years in a secondary school in Weifang City, where people don’t eat pancakes. When I came back home to eat pancakes, I found it a hard thing.

Third, Process of Making Pancakes

a. Select the corn particle to remove the bad;
b. Put corn in a bucket with water, usually for a night;
c. Use stone mill to grind the corn into thick paste;
d. Put the corn paste for a period of time to let it ferment, the degree of fermentation can determine the sweet and sour of the pancake；
e. Wipe the griddle with soybean, put the corn paste on the heated griddle with a spoon;
f. Extend the paste evenly on the griddle, slowly making circles to make it mature;
g. Lift the pancake
h. Stack and store.

The freshly made pancakes are the best to eat, and if they are stuffed with salted fish or shallots or sauces, that's more delicious.

The pancakes are delicious, but making them is the most laborious.

Burn up and smoked, the maker suffers a lot, even in summer. It would cost at least three or four hours to finish a big pot of corn paste. I still remember when I was a child, my mother got up to make pancakes with the first cockcrew. Mother did not have the breakfast until she finished the work.

Now, even the pancake production is also mechanized, which is no longer so tiring. However people always feel that the hand-made pancakes are good to eat. It is said that on the top of Mt.Tai, a piece of pancake, stuffed with a shallot and a bit of sauce, is worth several yuan, or is it 10 yuan, and I'm not sure.

The pancakes bear the culture, and the memories of my childhood, where I can find happiness and the sweat and hardship of my mother.

When I pick up the pancakes, as if I am chewing the hard times, I seem to see my mother keeping making pancakes in smoke, backhunched…