The first step is ingredients: the raw materials for making rice cakes are mainly glutinous rice and late japonica rice, which are collectively called "rice cakes". The taste and storage time of rice cakes have a great relationship with the proportion of rice cakes. First, the rice cakes should be mixed together in a certain proportion, and the two kinds of rice should be mixed as evenly as possible. The ratio of glutinous rice to late japonica rice is usually 3:7, so the rice cake made with this ratio is not sticky, delicious and has a long storage time. Some are made according to the ratio of 4: 6, but the rice cakes made in this way are often too glutinous and easy to stick. And the storage time is not long. In addition to glutinous rice cakes, there are millet cakes and corn cakes, but these are usually made by families with difficulties and food shortages.

The second step is rice washing: the next step is to wash the mixed rice cake, which is called "rice washing". Taomi is the key link, so we should master moderation. Rice soaked in water for too long, which easily leads to too long "head". Rice with too long "water head" is easy to stick to the stomach when it is ground, and it will also stick to the mortar when making rice cakes. The rice cakes made from it are not stored for a long time and are easy to deteriorate. This process is generally completed by two people, one of whom pours rice into a bucket or water tank and soaks it for about 10 minutes, and then stirs it with hands or other tools to make the rice fully absorb water; Another person washes the rice cake soaked in water with river water or pond water, removes impurities, and pours it into the prepared foot basket to dry itself.

The third step is grinding: the tool used for grinding is a stone mill, which consists of two round stones, and the matching surface is chiseled with teeth. The lower fan is fixed on the grinder, and the upper fan can move in a circle around the grinding center in the middle of the lower fan. Grinding rice cake powder is a very hard work. In the past, because there were few mills and time was tight, it was necessary to work overtime day and night to grind the rice noodles of dozens of families in a few days. Therefore, every time the flour is ground, farmers often ask a few helpers to start grinding all night. It takes at least four people to open a pair of mills, one for grinding (also called feed mill) and three for pushing in turn. The pulverizer stands in front of the stone mill, constantly adding rice grains from the feed inlet, and controlling the thickness of the powder by adjusting the amount of rice grains added from the feed inlet. The other three people took turns to hold the grinding handle and push the stone mill to do circular motion clockwise to complete the grinding process. Flour should not be too coarse or too fine. If it is too fine, it will "close the steaming" when steaming the flour (that is, the rice flour sticks to the steamer, and the hot air does not come up, so the rice flour is not easy to steam through). If it is too thick, it will affect the taste of rice cakes.

The fourth step is steaming: the ground rice flour is poured into a steaming bucket for cooking to make it mature. This is a process with the highest technical requirements and the most prone to problems in the process of making rice cakes. It is usually completed by experienced experts in this field, and people usually call it "steaming people". Steam housekeeping must master the operation sequence skillfully, master the temperature of steam at any time, and perceive the raw and cooked degree of rice noodles in time. The process of steaming rice noodles is to put rice noodles into wooden or plastic boxes, add cold water and stir them into dough with a diameter of about 1-2 cm. The amount of water added is determined according to the content ratio of two kinds of rice in rice cake powder. If there is less glutinous rice, add more water, otherwise add less water. Next, spread the dough slowly on the steamer in the steamer. Putting a piece of gauze or grass "steamed rice handkerchief" on the steamer in advance and sprinkling a handful of salt at the same time can prevent rice noodles from leaking into the pot and prolong the storage time of rice cakes. When the dough is covered with steamed rice, slowly and gently pour the remaining powder into the steamer. In general, it takes 7-8 minutes to steam a bucket of powder.

Step 5: Making cakes: When all the rice noodles in the steaming bucket are steamed (so-called "round steaming"), they can be put into a stone mortar to make rice cakes. This is the last process of making rice cakes, and it is also the most labor-intensive process, which needs the cooperation of many people to complete. Generally, there are six or seven people in a team, two people take turns steaming and others take turns making cakes. The so-called steaming is that a person sits in front of a stone mortar and keeps turning the cake dough in the stone mortar. Because the freshly made dough is very hot, it is easy to stick to the mortar and can't be pulled up, so the steamer should be quick. The hammer for making rice cakes is made of sandalwood or ham, weighing 40 Jin, so the people involved in making rice cakes require greater strength. When the steamed rice noodles are upside down in the stone mortar, sprinkle some salt in the stone mortar to prevent them from sticking. First, gently flatten the cooked flour with a hammer (splash-proof), and then start beating the cake hard. When the hammer was lifted, the steamer quickly leaned down and pulled a handful of dough in the mortar with both hands, filling the nest made by the hammer. Beat it again and again, and keep putting some water on the dough until the rice cake is beaten thoroughly and toughly. The time for steaming rice cakes is synchronized with the time for steaming powder, which usually takes seven or eight minutes. When the rice cake is about to come out of the mortar, the steamed rice cake will be made into mushroom shape. When the steamed rice cake is called "round steaming", it will be immediately taken out of the mortar and placed on the cake-making board. Press the rice cake into a big gong shape with both hands, with a diameter of about 50 cm and a thickness of about 3 cm. After the rice cake is pressed and shaped, put some cooking oil to make the surface smoother and more delicate. The first piece of rice cake should be written in red with a brush, which means "round and round".

Step 6: Cut the bubble cake: After the rice cake is made, it is necessary to cut the bubble cake. The rice cake to be spread and cooled in the mat is completely

You can cut the cake after cooling. Cutting rice cakes is also very particular. First, you have to cut the one that says "Yuan". In the "Yuan" rice cake, you have to cut two square rice cakes about 12x 12cm for the Chinese New Year, and cut the rest into strips. Frozen rice cakes will affect the storage time and are easy to deteriorate and taste, so it is necessary to arrange and pile up the cut rice cakes and cover them with thin sheets, old clothes or hemp fibers to prevent freezing. Rice cakes can be put into a jar, dried in the shade for about a week and then put into water for preservation. The water for soaking rice cakes is also very particular. You must soak rice cakes in winter. The water in winter, that is, the water before beginning of spring, is used to soak rice cakes in winter, which is not easy to deteriorate and lasts for a long time, while the spring water after beginning of spring does not last long. Therefore, when making rice cakes, it is necessary to arrange the time to let them go into the water before the spring. The surface of the jar soaked in rice cakes should be covered with bamboo boards to prevent sundries and pests from falling into it. When the rice cake is stored in the jar for a long time, a layer of white foam will appear on the water surface, and some sediments will accumulate around the jar. At this time, it is necessary to change the water in the rice cake jar to keep the water clean.