Chapter 185 Steamed Buns with Boiled Jackal Meat

Eleven jackals were killed, and the jackal king was also dead. The jackals were now completely scattered and no longer posed a threat.

Therefore, Sheng Xiping and the others no longer needed to come to the farm for night shifts. They each took their money, meat, and hides and went home.

Sheng Liancheng and Zhang Shuzhen were worried at home, concerned that the jackal was difficult to fight and that Sheng Xiping and the jackal might be in danger.

When Sheng Xiping brought in the hides and meat, Sheng Liancheng and Zhang Shuzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"So this is jackal fur? The color is quite similar to that of a fox, but it's not as soft as fox fur."

"How many jackals did you kill? How come you brought back so many?"

Zhang Shuzhen noticed that her son had brought back four pieces of leather and found it strange, so she asked him a question.

"We killed eleven jackals in total, but we didn't take much meat. I remember Master saying that jackal meat doesn't taste very good."

Today on the mountain, I fed two dogs jackal meat, but neither of them ate it.

I took four jackal skins because I wanted to make a rug, and some of them took one skin because they wanted to make hats.

The purchasing station doesn't seem to accept this stuff, and nobody really cares who gets more or less.

The number of jackals is not large to begin with, and hunters rarely hunt them, so they are not a regular acquisition target.

I doubt I'd get much money even if I sold it, so I might as well keep it for home use.

Anyway, the forest farm gave me a bonus, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

"By the way, Mom, both dogs are injured. Black General was bitten by the leopard. Don't let them stay outside for the next few days, keep them indoors."

Sheng Xiping gave the skin, meat, and money to his family, said goodbye to Zhang Shuzhen, and then turned and went out again.

They went outside and found two burlap sacks, brought them inside and spread them on the floor of the west room. Then they got Erlang Shen and Black General, the two dogs, to lie down on the burlap sacks.

Black General is badly injured, and the wound will heal slowly in this cold weather. If it's warmer inside, the dog will suffer less.

Anyway, both dogs are very well-behaved; they know to go outside to pee and poop, so there's not much of a smell.

Erlang Shen and the Black General were indeed obedient; they stayed lying on the sack and didn't run around.

They had spent most of the day fighting with jackals and then encountering a leopard, leaving them exhausted and injured.

The room was warm, and the two dogs lay on the burlap sack, fast asleep.

Sheng Xiping took the opportunity to go to the clinic and bought some iodine and painkillers.

When I got home, I cleaned the wound on Black General's neck with iodine, then crushed the painkiller with a rolling pin, sprinkled it on the wound, and wrapped it with gauze again.

Hunting dogs are often injured, and they know that their owner is doing it for their own good, so no matter how much Sheng Xiping messes with them, Black General obediently cooperates.

It's already the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, and with the Lunar New Year just around the corner, every household is busy with something.

The Sheng family was no exception; Zhang Shuzhen had prepared a lot of dough, intending to steam buns.

Now that our son has brought back the jackal meat, let's not worry about whether it tastes good or not, just throw it in the pot and boil it.

Just then, Zhang Shuzhen kneaded the dough and left it to rest on the board. She then went out to boil water, chopped up the jackal's meat, and threw it into the pot, stirring it twice.

Remove the blood and foam, then add scallions, ginger, garlic, peppercorns, and star anise to stew.

"No wonder my son said the jackal meat didn't taste good. When I was boiling water to cook the meat, I smelled a sour and stinky odor."

Oh dear, I don't know what vegetables to stew with it to mask the taste.

If the smell can't be masked, I doubt you guys will like it.

After the meat was cooked in the pot, Zhang Shuzhen went back to the house to knead the dough, cut it into pieces, and steam the buns, all the while talking to Sheng Liancheng.

"Really? Then you'd better not put anything in there."

Once it's cooked through, cut it up, dip it in garlic sauce, or stir-fry it with chili peppers and see if it's edible.

"If I put other vegetables in it, and it doesn't taste good, then all the other vegetables will have been wasted."

Sheng Liancheng sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), took a puff of his cigarette, and said.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Anyway, we need to light a fire for the kang (heated brick bed) in the west room, so I'll just use the stewed meat as fuel for the kang."

If the meat isn't tasty, you can just add some scallions, ginger, and garlic, but don't put anything else in it.

As Zhang Shuzhen spoke, she cut the jujubes open with a knife and then made three light cuts on the kneaded steamed bun.

Poke two little fingers into the steamed bun, then lift it up to reveal a "nose". Put a chopped half of a date through that "nose" to make a steamed date bun.

Chinese New Year is different from ordinary days, so it has to be festive to look good.

If this were back in my hometown, we'd steam jujube buns for the New Year, and some wives would even make jujube mounds on top of them; they looked so beautiful after steaming.

When I arrived in Northeast China, I found that jujubes are not produced here, and it was not easy to buy them.

The Sheng family had sent two jin of dates to Zhang Shuzhen's family in the fall. Zhang Shuzhen usually couldn't bear to use them, but now she took them out, cut the dates in half, and used them to make date buns.

Zhang Shuzhen didn't need anyone else to do this job; she had to do it herself.

Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei were both standing nearby, watching with longing and envy, but Zhang Shuzhen refused to let her daughter do it no matter what.

As for Sheng Xitai, he wasn't interested in the skill of making the jujube steamed buns; he was craving the jujubes on top.

Sheng Xitai didn't dare ask his mother for dates, and kept muttering to himself, "There are worms in them, there are worms in them."

Jujubes can also get infested with insects. The insects will stick to the pit and eat the flesh inside the jujube, leaving behind fine, sand-like insect droppings.

Dates that have been eaten by insects should not be used to make date buns, but they are still safe for people to eat if they are washed clean.

As in previous years, when Zhang Shuzhen steamed jujube buns, she would pick out the jujubes that had been gnawed by insects and give them to the children as a treat.

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