After all the mushrooms were picked, Mrs. Ye had already started preparing to cook.
Today, the children of the Ye family are no longer those who would rather stick their heads into the pot just to get a bite of meat.
But when the aroma from the pot wafted out, every adult and child in the family couldn't help but start swallowing their saliva.
In the past, almost every household outside the Great Wall would go up the mountain to pick mushrooms.
This thing can be picked, dried and sold for money. Even if it cannot be sold, it is easy to store and can be saved for eating in winter when there is no vegetable.
But at that time, every household was not well off, so no one would be willing to use the chickens they had raised with great difficulty to stew dried mushrooms. They would just soak them in water and stew them together with cabbage and radishes.
Mrs. Ye has been hurt by eating this since she was a child.
So ever since she had a choice, she didn't want to eat dried mushrooms at all.
Every year I eat a few fresh ones in the autumn, and leave the dried ones for my family.
So today, seeing so many fresh pine mushrooms picked, Mrs. Ye also made good use of it.
The stewed chicken with pine mushrooms alone took up two large pots at home.
Mrs. Ye also made stir-fried mushroom sprouts with green peppers, deep-fried mushrooms with salt and pepper, mushroom soup, and steamed eggs with mushrooms... It was almost a pine mushroom feast.
Cui deboned the two ducks she caught and chopped them into small pieces.
I made a dish of dry-fried duck meat, shaving the bones and adding white radish and simmering them over low heat.
Nothing can be wasted.
As it grew dark, Mr. Zhan and several people who were busy working in the fields finally returned.
As soon as I entered the house, I was overwhelmed by the smell coming from the kitchen.
"Hey, what delicious food are you making today?"
When Mr. Zhan came, he still spoke in Beijing dialect. But after living in the Ye family for a while, even his accent was distorted by Mr. Ye.
Now that I’m old, I can smell the flavor of foreign countries when I open my mouth.
The key point is that Mr. Zhan himself doesn’t realize it, but people around him want to laugh when they hear him speak.
It was also the first time that Mrs. Ye heard Mr. Zhan's new accent, and she burst out laughing.
Mr. Zhan now knew why everyone laughed, but he really couldn't get angry at a young lady who was about the same age as his granddaughter-in-law.
He could only stare, puffing his beard, and called to Cui, who was standing beside him, and asked, "What did you cook tonight that smells so good?"
Cui smiled and said, "Old man, how could I have such ability?
"The eldest sister-in-law of the Ye family is cooking tonight, and I am just an assistant at best.
"Sister Ye came in third in the cooking competition and even cooked for the Emperor. Everyone is in for a treat tonight."
The few people sent by Prince Rui had also heard of Mrs. Ye's cooking skills. After all, Prince Rui's wife was abducted because she went to the restaurant opened by Mrs. Ye for dinner.
They had previously discussed that after the autumn harvest, when they had some free time, they would go back to the capital to have a meal at Youji Restaurant to see how delicious the food was.
Who knew that when luck comes, it cannot be stopped, and now I can enjoy it in advance.
Even though the food hasn't been eaten yet, the smell alone is enough to make one hungry.
After the sun completely set behind the mountain, the Ye family's meals were served one after another.
The chickens raised by the Ye family are not kept in cages, but are allowed to run freely in a fenced area at the foot of the mountain.
They usually dig for food in the soil, and with the feed provided by the Ye family, they grow fat and strong, with the fat in their stomachs turning yellow.
Mrs. Ye didn't even add any oil. She just poured the fattier parts into the pan and stir-fried them. After the oil came out, she added the chicken and mushrooms and stir-fried them together. The aroma and flavor were immediately brought out.
The stewed chicken and mushrooms are reddish-brown and shiny after being stewed and reduced in soup. Each piece of chicken is evenly covered with the salty, fragrant and bright soup.
The mushrooms have absorbed the oil and fragrance of the chicken, and taste plump and juicy. They are even more delicious than meat.
The flavor of stir-fried green peppers with mushroom sprouts is completely different from that of stewed chicken with mushrooms.
This dish looks very light, and there is not even any meat in it.
But the mushroom sprouts taste very crispy, with the fragrance of chili peppers and a little bit of spiciness. You can especially taste the original flavor of the mushrooms, and it tastes particularly fresh and refreshing.
This was originally cooked by Mrs. Ye for herself, as she loved it this way.
But when others saw that she didn't eat the chicken stewed with mushrooms but kept picking up this dish, they also became curious and wanted to try it.
Who knew that I couldn’t put my chopsticks down after tasting it.
Especially after eating heavy-flavored dishes such as stewed chicken and stir-fried duck, you really need to eat a few bites of stir-fried green peppers and mushroom sprouts to clear your mouth.
Another dish, steamed egg with mushrooms, is the favorite of Mrs. Ye and her children.
The fresh fragrance of mushrooms and the tenderness of steamed eggs were matched. Ye Changnian scooped a few spoonfuls and mixed them with rice. He didn't even need to pair it with other dishes and just finished it with a bowl of rice.
Fried mushrooms with salt and pepper are especially popular among children.
The crispy fried batter is wrapped with rich mushrooms. It is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It is paired with pepper and salt prepared by Mrs. Ye herself. It is so delicious that you want to swallow your tongue along with it.
Especially the children, they love to eat it.
Seeing how much they enjoyed it, the adults almost each took a piece to taste it and then stopped eating.
But the fried mushrooms were eaten up by the children soon after they were served.
During the meal, almost no one at the table spoke because there was no one to speak.
The few people who were originally just envious of Mrs. Ye's cooking skills were now completely impressed by her craftsmanship.
Seeing that everyone had almost finished their meals, Mrs. Ye went to the stove and brought out the white radish and duck bone soup and mushroom soup that had been simmering on low heat.
"After the beginning of autumn, the weather gets colder in the morning and evening, so everyone comes here to drink a bowl of hot soup to warm themselves up."
Ye Ersao and Cui stood up to help her serve soup to everyone.
Everyone was almost full from eating and drinking, and after a few more sips of hot soup, their entire body felt warm from mouth to stomach, and they all sighed with comfort.
Mr. Zhan turned to Ye Lao Er and said, "No wonder your family didn't just move to the capital, but built a house in the village.
“Life in this village is so comfortable!
"I'll go back and ask the village chief if there's any land left in your village. I'll buy a piece and build a house there, and then I can come here to live in my old age!"
Ye Laoer had just finished a bowl of mushroom soup and was staring at the milky white radish and duck bone soup, wondering whether he should have another bowl.
Hearing what Master Zhan said, he said without thinking, "Then you have to be able to find someone as capable as my sister-in-law to cook for you, otherwise you will live here alone and starve."
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