After hearing what Su Qingluan said, everyone put down their work one after another, but they were still reluctant to leave.
Su Qingluan half-jokingly said, "What? You think I'll give extra pay to those who work extra hard? No way. What I want is efficiency and quality. If you're just working yourself to death, even if I hire a doctor, it will delay the progress of the work. Please combine work and rest."
Because it was a big pot of rice, all the vegetables and meat were thrown in at once. To increase the feeling of fullness, Su Qingluan also added yam and squash, two foods with relatively high starch content.
Although it looked like a mess, it surprisingly tasted quite good. However, Liu Yunniang still leaned over to Su Qingluan and whispered in her ear, "I've had dishes you made before that were as delicious as those at a top-tier restaurant. If I hadn't been so determined, I'd probably cry if I had to eat something like this again."
Su Qingluan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Is it that exaggerated?"
Liu Yunniang smiled and stuck out her tongue: "You can't say it's a complete lie." The gap is certainly obvious, but Liu Yunniang has been learning the basic skills of martial arts since she was a child, and has been traveling around with her parents. Her determination and experience are not comparable to those of her peers.
Therefore, although she knew that this big pot meal could not be compared with Su Qingluan's cooking skills, she was not completely unable to eat it.
What's more, everyone usually lives a tight life. Although Su Qingluan's big pot meal with all kinds of things can't be served on the table in the Su family, for many families, having meat, starchy food, and whole grain steamed buns is already a treatment that can only be enjoyed during the New Year.
Therefore, many people sighed: Just for the standard of food, they all want to stay here as Su Qingluan's helper for the rest of their lives.
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "It's a pity. As I said before, this work will only take about ten days. If there are any subsequent opportunities, I will not forget to inform everyone."
This wasn't a compliment. After two days of screening, I could honestly say these people were much stronger than the original group in terms of execution and collaboration.
Su Qingluan decided that if anyone could stay until the end of her screening process, then no matter what work the Su family has in the future, they would give priority to hiring those who stayed until the end.
However, the only regret is that there are both men and women who remain at the end, but there are some jobs that women cannot do and some that men cannot do, which creates certain limitations.
But these are all follow-up matters. Now that everyone has finished their meal, Zhaodi and Liu Yunniang will go and wash the dishes.
"Oh my! Everyone ate all the food!" Zhaodi exclaimed. The food was quite substantial. Of course, Su Qingluan paid for the ingredients.
"We can only work after we're full." Liu Yunniang said with a smile, "Now there are no leftovers to deal with. Otherwise, we don't have chickens, ducks, geese, or pigs here to help us deal with them."
"That's true..."
Su Qingluan was not idle either. She watched the flattened fruits being blown by the night breeze for a while. In addition, the autumn air was a bit dry, so even though they were only spread out like this for about an hour, the water stains on the surface of the fruits due to the washing process disappeared.
"Now, those who have no work to do, light all four stoves and keep the vents at the minimum level necessary to keep them burning."
Most of the people who had been assigned tasks had already completed them, only those responsible for crushing the spices were still far from finishing their work.
Su Qingluan instructed the people in the "Spice Group": "Your process is not complicated, it just requires a lot of patience. However, if anyone is really annoyed, be sure to tell me and I will assign you other tasks." Otherwise, if someone is annoyed and irritable, others will just do the job perfunctorily, affecting the taste, which is not a fun thing.
Everyone nodded, but no one expressed impatience - after all, the truly impatient people had already been eliminated, and the remaining people were all able to be patient.
After the fire was lit, Su cleaned each stove and made sure that the heat was turned as low as possible. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart - at this time, he missed the gas stove in his previous life that he could freely control the size of the fire.
Su Qingluan pointed to a shelf on the first floor of the room. "There are several clay pots over there, all on the bottom layer. It doesn't matter what color or shape they are. Fill each pot about halfway with fruit—don't fill it too full, otherwise it will spill out when you turn it over later."
Several people worked in pairs and packed the fruits according to the quantity specified by Su Qingluan - of course, the dividing line of "half" did not need to be so accurate - but the fruits filled five large woven baskets, and they definitely could not fit all of them at once.
Su Qingluan waved her hand: "No need to put it all in at once. Anyway, there are so many pots, and they are processed in batches. Just mix them appropriately when the time comes."
Someone with more experience asked, "Isn't this like making jam? If you make it in batches, even if they can be mixed, there will still be flavor differences, right?"
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Don't worry. Although it seems that if we force ourselves to fill them up, these fruits can fill up three whole pots, but they will gradually become less in a while."
Anyone who has experience in cooking knows that even if you ignore the amount of water evaporation, raw food usually has a significantly larger volume than cooked food. This is largely because uncooked food has a firmer texture and larger gaps between foods, so it can occupy more space.
Well-cooked ingredients are often soft and cushiony, so the gaps between them are naturally greatly reduced, and the space they occupy is naturally different from that of their unprocessed state.
What's more, Su Qingluan also has to simmer the fruits slowly over low heat to remove most of the water in the fruits. In this way, the space occupied by these fruits will be further greatly reduced.
"It's considered successful only when the rice can be simmered until it can hold a flat layer without sliding down," Su Qingluan demonstrated with a spatula. "The most important thing is to stir the bottom constantly during the cooking process to prevent it from sticking. So, you should work in pairs, taking turns and supervising each other to prevent it from sticking. When stirring, start from the bottom and work your way up."
When the people from the "Spice Group" heard Su Qingluan say this, they couldn't help but joked, "That's great! We finally have someone to accompany us in doing these monotonous and boring tasks."
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Yes, it's very monotonous, but it's very important. Whether it's substandard spices or a failed jam, a portion of the overtime pay will be deducted, okay?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the effect was immediate. Everyone's perfunctory attitude just now completely disappeared in an instant.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
