Chapter 36: Chef Yu is online
Silver carp is cheap and is farmed in the reservoir. Yu Hui chose a big one, weighing ten pounds. Because it was belly up, after some bargaining with Qian Lan, she bought it for one cent per pound, and she didn't even need a ticket.
Ducks have more bones than meat, and are two cents cheaper than chickens, at fifty cents per pound. Qian Lan chose the fattest one, which weighed six pounds.
The big rooster, which had been raised for two years, weighed seven pounds. After some bargaining by Qian Lan, she bought it for 60 cents per pound.
Qian Lan chose a piece of not-so-good pork belly, which was 20 cents cheaper, at 50 cents per pound. She bought four pounds and also bought a pound of pork belly to stir-fry with shredded potatoes.
These days no one likes to buy lean meat, as fatty meat is more oily, so pork belly is cheaper, only fifty cents per pound.
It cost less than eleven dollars to buy all the meat, but it was cheaper to buy the side dishes and tofu, which cost less than one dollar in total.
The total cost of all the dishes is about twelve yuan.
Even so, Qian Lan felt that being able to save three dollars and still have someone eat well was pretty good.
When I went to the cafeteria to eat, there were only ten dishes for five yuan per table, and there weren't that many meat dishes.
The guests are all young men with big appetites. If the host sees that the dishes are not enough, he will definitely add more. I am afraid that they cannot finish the whole meal even with fifteen yuan.
She had eaten at the cafeteria before. It was when Yu Hui and Gu Huai got married that they went there. The price per table was five yuan. There were ten people sitting at the table, and ten dishes were not enough at the end. You had to eat quickly, otherwise they would be gone.
Besides, it costs another dollar to give cigarettes to the chef.
She saved more than just three dollars.
Yu Hui and Qian Lan were carrying bags of things home. When they passed by Wen Zhaodi's house, Wu Hongbing saw the candied haws in Gu Nan and Gu Xi's hands, so he ran home and asked his mother for them.
There was a string of candied haws and ten hawthorns. Gu Nan and Gu Xi licked them slowly and ate them. There were still three left when they got home.
When I meet children on the street, I will deliberately lick them and say, "It's so sweet and delicious."
They just want to show off. They feel happy when they see children looking at them with envy.
Yu Hui had seen through it long ago, but she didn't say it out loud.
When they got home, Qian Lan asked Yu Hui not to cook at noon and to eat together at her house.
She invited him so warmly that Yu Hui did not refuse.
At noon, Yu Hui took out the cured meat that she brought from her hometown during the Chinese New Year, fried it with chopped pickles, fried some cabbage, and steamed an egg custard. The eight people from two families had a simple meal together.
For Yu Hui, it was just a simple meal, but for Jianshe and Yu Lixin, it was almost like a holiday.
But he has never steamed eggs and fried bacon before.
Yu Hui likes this bacon very much, it is very fragrant. She thinks that when the Chinese New Year comes, no matter where she is, she will smoke some bacon to eat.
The children who were studying woke up from their nap and went to school, and Qian Lan and Yu Hui also started to get busy.
Whether it is a stir-fried dish, a stewed dish, or a roasted dish, wash it, cut it, and prepare all the ingredients first.
Then I started cooking one by one, and by the time all the dishes were ready, it was already half past three.
Yu Hui is the head chef, and Qian Lan is responsible for assisting.
Gu Nan and Gu Xi are responsible for taking care of the children.
After blanching the rooster, add ginger and peppercorns to a large iron pot and stir-fry. Add a little salt and boil in half a pot of water. When it boils, add the chrysanthemums and continue to cook in the pot. After half an hour, use a ladle to scoop the water into the pot at the back and simmer on low heat.
Next, make the konjac roast duck. Similarly, stir-fry it in a large pot, then transfer it to a small pot and simmer it on the stove for half an hour. Then add the side dishes and continue to simmer.
The same goes for braised pork. Because there was not enough stove, Yu Hui moved the stove and casserole from home.
While these main dishes were stewing, Yu Hui also mixed out the cold dishes.
The chopped peppers for green pepper and preserved eggs are roasted over high heat and then crushed in a stone mortar that is usually used to crush chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns.
Yu Hui used thread to cut a preserved egg into eight pieces, placed them on a plate, and placed the mashed and seasoned green pepper in the middle.
Qian Lan praised it, "It's beautiful. It's even better than the dishes in the restaurant."
Fried peanuts, crispy and delicious.
Cucumber with mashed garlic is sour, spicy and crispy.
Spicy dried tofu is spicy and chewy, the more you chew it, the more delicious it becomes.
These are the comments Qian Lan gave after tasting it.
Although the ingredients are very simple and common, the taste is really amazing.
While Yu Hui was mixing the cold dishes, Qian Lan also steamed the rice. Since there were many people today, she used a steamer to steam the rice.
While steaming the rice, he also went to Yu Hui's house and moved the table and benches from her house over.
She has two tables in her own home.
But there were not enough stools, so we borrowed a few from other neighbors.
By five o'clock, the rice had been steamed, the braised pork was so soft that it melted in the mouth, and the duck meat was so tender that it fell off the bone with just a bite.
Yu Hui and Qian Lan first put out the dishes and chopsticks, and placed three tables in the yard. Qian Lan's yard was big enough to accommodate them.
At five-fifteen, the children all went home.
Gu Dong put down his schoolbag and went straight to Yu's house.
Yu Jianshe and Yu Lixin first brought out four cold dishes, and when the people arrived, Yu Hui could start cooking.
Boiled fish is left to be cooked last. In that era, there was no detergent. After boiling the fish, even if you washed the pot and then fried other dishes, there would still be some fishy smell left, so it was cooked last.
Moreover, as long as the fire is big enough, the boiled fish will cook quickly.
At five twenty, Yu Qiang came back alone.
"Where are they?" Qian Lan asked when she saw that he was alone.
Yu Qiang said, "They insisted that I leave first, saying they knew the way and needed to go back to the dormitory to change clothes before coming back. But I agreed with them that the dinner would be ready at 5:30."
Qian Lan smiled and said, "I'm afraid he went to buy you a gift."
How could Yu Qiang not know this? He said helplessly, "I told you that you don't need to prepare anything, but these guys are still doing this."
Qian Lan smiled, shook her head, and went back into the kitchen.
Yu Qiang followed her into the kitchen and saw Yu Hui sitting in front of the stove with the dishes ready to be fried on the chopping board. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work today, sister-in-law."
Yu Hui smiled and waved her hand, "It's just a matter of lending a hand."
Yu Qiang just looked at the cold dishes on the table outside and the prepared dishes on the chopping board and thought they were great.
The dishes are numerous and rich, not inferior to those in the cafeteria.
Moreover, although the food simmering on the stove cannot be seen, it smells so delicious that it will surely make those guys dizzy.
Yu Qiang stayed in the kitchen for a while and then went out.
Wu Hai carried a bag of sugar and a bottle of wine and entered the military family compound with his comrades.
Yu Qiang invited the platoon leaders and squad leaders of his company to his birthday party this time. Coincidentally, Wu Hai was in Yu Qiang's company.
After they let Captain Yu go first, they went to the grocery store and each bought some candy, wine, cigarettes, and fruit.
Although the company commander said that we don’t need to prepare anything, who would have the nerve to go to someone’s house for a meal empty-handed these days?
What's more, today is the company commander's birthday, and it was they who instigated the celebration with the company commander, so they must bring something.
"It's just ahead, right?"
"That should be it. I can smell the fragrance."
"What a nice smell! This aroma must be coming from the company commander's house. We are in for a treat today."
Wu Hai also smelled the fragrance, but he was thinking that Captain Yu's house was next to the battalion commander's house, and he didn't know if he would run into his sister-in-law.
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