Oil grater is a grater made of more than a dozen layers of cloth, soaked in cooking oil, used to wipe the griddle to prevent pancakes from sticking to the griddle and becoming difficult to peel off.
As for spatulas, they did exist in this era. As the pancakes gradually turned yellow, you would use a spatula to gently scrape around the edge of the griddle. Once the edges of the pancakes curled up, you would grab one side of the pancake with both hands and lift it up with a "sizzle." A hot pancake was then successfully made.
Well, there's another very important preparation: making the paste.
The ground sweet potato flour, along with wheat flour or other flour, is soaked in water overnight. The next day, it is ground into a pancake batter. A suitable place to make pancakes is chosen, the griddle is set up, firewood is prepared, and you can sit on a cushion to start making pancakes.
"Mother, when did you make this? I've never seen it before. What's it for?"
Liu was incredibly curious about the griddle Yue Jiuyue had brought out. What on earth was this thing? An upside-down pot? What were those three upward-facing iron plates for? And this pot was so shallow, how could it even hold anything? Surprisingly, someone actually bought it! Was it some kind of... well...
Oh, the person who bought this pot is her mother-in-law. She can't say her mother-in-law is stupid; it's extremely unfilial for a daughter-in-law to scold her mother-in-law!
"This is a griddle, used for making pancakes."
Yue Jiuyue's explanation failed to dispel Liu's doubts, and she continued to ask with new questions in mind:
"Mom, what is a pancake? How do you make it? And why is it called an 'aozi' (鏊子)? Why not something like 'daokou guo' (倒扣锅)?"
Yue Jiuyue: ...
Let her off the hook! She's asking a million questions. She's not Baidu, don't ask her, she doesn't know anything!
Yue Jiuyue only answered the part she knew.
"I'll lay out two for you to see in a moment, then you'll know."
Liu nodded subconsciously, but then felt something was wrong. Her mother-in-law hadn't told her why this thing was called an "aozi" (a type of griddle), nor when her mother-in-law had made it. But her intuition told her that she couldn't ask any more questions.
So she nodded again and quietly listened to Yue Jiuyue's instructions, setting up the griddle and carrying firewood, until the preparations were finally complete.
Yue Jiuyue looked at the griddle with a few small stone slabs on it, the pancake batter on the left, and a pile of firewood on the right, and nodded with satisfaction.
To be honest, although Liu Shi turned into a "ten thousand whys" and made her feel quite annoyed, Liu Shi was really efficient when it came to work, and she didn't need to help at all.
"Watch closely. First, wipe the griddle with an oil slab to prevent the pancakes from sticking to the griddle when you're making them."
Place another spoonful of paste in the center of the griddle, and then use a rake to spread the paste evenly over the griddle in circles.
Use a scraper to scrape it a few more times. This will make the pancake thin, soft, and chewy. Don't be lazy about this step. If you skip those scrapings, the pancake will be thick, rough, and won't taste good.
Once the pancake turns golden brown, use a spatula to scramble around its edge, then lift your backside and reach in to scoop it up and place it on the steamer rack.
Yue Jiuyue wiped the griddle again with an oil slab, and while making the second pancake, she reminded Liu Shi:
"Actually, this first pancake wasn't very tasty, but we poor people don't have those kinds of tastes. We just make do with it to fill our stomachs."
Liu agreed with this completely. She nodded while keeping her eyes fixed on Yue Jiuyue's movements as she made the pancakes.
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