Chapter 6 Shrimp, Spinach, and Salted Egg Yolk Soup (Completed)
Chapter 006 Shrimp, Spinach, and Salted Egg Yolk Soup
The next morning, Wang Sumo was awakened by the sound of waves crashing on the river.
That feeling was wonderful.
The person was still in bed, the boat was drifting on the river, and the sound of waves rhythmically lapped against the boat, rising and falling, sometimes visible and sometimes not.
It is both clear and not so clear.
It's like a lullaby, making people feel exceptionally relaxed.
This is because Wang Sumo doesn't get seasick, which is why she feels so comfortable.
When I got up, I opened the latch on the window and looked out at the river. The blue waves were sparkling, a sight completely different from what I had seen last night.
After getting ready, Wang Sumo boarded the deck.
Merchant ships of this size have very spacious decks.
The dock has been packed these past few days, with many goods unable to leave in time and being shared with other ships. A corner of the deck is also piled with goods that were temporarily squeezed on, but it does not affect the wide view.
The wind was a bit strong on the deck in the morning.
Wang Sumo pulled her clothes tighter to make them less drafty, but the river breeze still ruffled her cheeks and some of her dark hair at her temples, so she had to reach up and tuck it behind her ears.
Later, I simply gave up and gradually got used to the feeling of being surrounded by the river breeze on the deck, gazing into the distance from the railing.
The world is vast, and now she travels all over it in her Eight Treasures Pavilion, searching for the rare spices recorded in the "Records of Delicacies." She also gathers novel spices mentioned by different people along the way.
From south to north, from west to east.
The trip was very fulfilling, and she met many people, heard many stories, cooked many dishes, and tasted many dishes.
But the world is vast, and perhaps one day, she can take her Bazhenlou restaurant, brave the winds and waves, and sail along rivers and seas to even more distant places...
At that time, Lao Qu will definitely keep complaining, "Who told you to bring me out here!"
There should be another dog.
Although she hasn't decided what kind of dog to get yet, she has already chosen a name.
— Great Wisdom
Her dog must be intelligent.
It must be in the name!
*
Wang Sumo couldn't stay on the deck for long in the morning. Even though he had made ample preparations, he still got a headache after a while.
When they came down, they met other people from Qingyun Manor. They said that He Lin was in the room two rooms away from hers and was so seasick that he was suffering terribly every moment. He wished he could get off the boat immediately and even said he would jump into the river. He simply couldn't get out of bed.
He also said that he was fine when he came, but suddenly had a severe reaction on his way back.
Everyone on the ship said it was normal.
That's just how weird it is on riverboats; you might not get seasick this time, but you might next time, unless you're someone who never gets seasick.
The people on the ship brought some seasickness medicine, which He Lin has already taken. They told him to lie down for a while, but he couldn't do anything about it. Right now, his boss is taking care of him in the room. He'll see if he feels better by noon.
Wang Sumo recalled the scene from the night before last where He Lin was being chased by a rooster with a knife by the stream, and now she was seasick and wanted to jump into the river...
Wang Sumo recalled the old man's sarcastic remark, "Dumb and silly sword."
"Give him my regards, I won't go for now." She was afraid that she, who was not usually seasick, might suddenly become seasick after seeing He Lin vomiting so badly.
"I'll go check the kitchen," Wang Sumo asked. "Which floor is the kitchen on?"
"Go down one more floor."
Wang Sumo was, after all, a young woman, and there shouldn't be many women on this merchant ship. When Wang Sumo went to the kitchen, the guards from Qingyun Manor followed her.
The merchant ship was large, but there weren't many stairs connecting the different decks, and each room and cargo hold looked very similar. Although there were signs on them, it was still easy to get lost.
Fortunately, the guards from Qingyun Manor were with us, otherwise we would have been quite scared.
However, such places are also extremely easy to hide in.
When she mentioned going to the kitchen, He Ping privately advised her that there were definitely more than just them traveling on such a cargo ship, but it was unknown who else was on board. He suggested that wherever they passed, they should avoid looking around or probing, and head straight for the kitchen.
Wang Sumo's mind is as clear as a mirror.
He Ping was from Qingyun Manor and knew the rules of the martial arts world.
Merchant ships have their own rules.
Soon, they arrived at the kitchen, a crucial area.
The entire ship's food supply was concentrated in the kitchen area on this floor.
The kitchen area alone is larger than many restaurants, with large and small pots and pans, and a bustling atmosphere.
When a young woman comes to visit, some places will simply draw the curtains and prevent her from entering.
In the sweltering summer heat, there were plenty of shirtless cooks on the merchant ship, where pots of food were being cooked one after another.
Manager Liu from the kitchen stepped forward. Someone had already given instructions, so Manager Liu knew what to do. Since they were from Qingyun Manor, Manager Liu was quite enthusiastic. "Miss, this is where the vegetables are kept. Please feel free to look around and take whatever you need."
According to Manager Liu, how much stuff can she take?
This is such a huge merchant ship, it must supply food and drink for so many people, how much she takes is just a drop in the ocean, not worth mentioning.
The kitchen was busy, and Manager Liu was already being polite by simply coming over to say hello. He then instructed Manager Yang in charge of the storage area to take care of things and give Miss Wang whatever she wanted. He also whispered that she didn't need to worry about what she took, as he had already given instructions from above.
Manager Yang in the stockpiling area is out of the question.
Wang Sumo glanced around casually. Such a large merchant ship indeed had a lot of things in the storage area, but most of them were very rough.
There were some green vegetables, but many of them were drooping and didn't look very fresh.
Other types of mushrooms, especially pickled ones, are much better.
As Wang Sumo walked around, she looked around but couldn't find anything suitable. Just as she was thinking that she should probably go back and make some live fish soup, someone brought over two boxes of tender green vegetables. Manager Yang quickly went to take them, and Wang Sumo saw them too. Humph, they were spinach.
Moreover, it's really fresh spinach!
"Master, where did this come from?" Wang Sumo asked curiously.
Not only was the spinach fresh, but in her memory, spinach was usually available for two seasons.
Spinach planted in the spring will be harvested by May at the latest.
However, spinach planted in the fall will not be available until September to November.
It's July now, a time when food is scarce and in short supply...
Anyone who cooks is curious about these things, but what made Wang Sumo even happier than discovering the spinach was where it came from.
The deliveryman rarely saw a woman in the kitchen, and since he was the one who brought the basket of vegetables, he quickly replied when asked, "I just bought these at the nearby dock this morning. I thought they were fresh. The old man told me that there's a severe drought in the west this year, but plenty of rain and cool weather in the east. Spinach doesn't grow well in the summer heat, but it's still in season now that the sun is cool, so I bought a lot."
"I see," Wang Sumo said, picking out a bunch of spinach. "Master, may I take a bunch of spinach with me?"
Manager Yang quickly replied, "Of course, the young lady can take as much as she wants."
Spinach isn't worth much.
It was just something new and rare at this time of year, so people got excited about it on a whim.
Wang Sumo carefully selected the spinach, making sure to pick out three parts of it.
If the roots are too dry or dark black, they are not fresh; look for light red ones.
No need to discuss the leaves; discard any rotten or yellow leaves, only bright green ones. The leaves in this basket of spinach are all of good quality.
Next is the texture; it shouldn't be too soft, but rather have a certain chewiness.
As Wang Sumo was picking out spinach, the deliveryman continued, "The old man chatted with me for a while, saying that spinach isn't worth much, but if you protect it with oil paper and straw mats to make paper windows and paper sheds, and keep it out of the harsh winter, maybe you can even grow spinach in winter..."
The deliveryman was just joking, and Wang Sumo's fingertips, which were selecting items, paused slightly.
Oiled paper and straw mats provided shelter from the harsh winter...
However, Wang Sumo found it interesting, and thought that maybe she could try it on the road someday.
Taking care of a large patch of spinach might be difficult, but taking care of one or two pots should be manageable.
Soon, the spinach she wanted was picked out. Wang Sumo thanked him, and Manager Yang said cheerfully, "It was just a small favor. Would you like anything else, miss?"
"Do you have salted duck eggs?" Wang Sumo asked.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Manager Yang said eagerly. "This stuff can be stored for a long time, and we always keep some on board. You can have as much as you need, Miss. I'll have someone go and get it for you. Miss, would you like to see if there's anything else you need?"
Wang Sumo then asked for some basic seasonings, followed by tofu, smoked meat, garlic, and ginger.
Meat that has been marinated and smoked can be stored for a relatively long time and also absorbs the flavors better.
Tofu is common, but she wasn't sure if merchant ships would carry it.
Soon, Manager Yang returned with the things Wang Sumo had requested: smoked meat, garlic, and seasonings!
But the tofu is indeed gone.
Manager Yang apologized and handed another bamboo basket to Wang Sumo, saying with a smile, "Miss Wang, I'm really sorry, the tofu was just used up in the kitchen. It's the rule on merchant ships that perishable ingredients should be used first. We can still eat tofu on the first day, but the upper class won't be able to taste it on the second day. Our Manager Liu said that since we're out of tofu, how about these shrimp, Miss?"
It was still fresh shrimp. Wang Sumo glanced at it. It wasn't easy to get these on a merchant ship. The other party was giving Qingyun Manor a lot of face.
"Please thank Manager Liu for me," Wang Sumo said.
Wang Sumo was originally planning to make live fish soup, but the ingredients suddenly became more abundant, and he also became interested.
Let's not cook the old crucian carp for now; let them live a couple more days.
While the shrimp are still alive and we also got some fresh spinach, we made a salted egg yolk shrimp and spinach soup with diced smoked meat.
The broth is rich and flavorful, with a delicious taste.
Salted egg yolk mixed with diced smoked meat, shrimp cooked in boiling water to create a milky aroma, and spinach added a refreshing touch to the soup base—it's a simple, homey dish that's easy to make and satisfying when you're craving something delicious, yet it leaves a lasting impression.
Back on the first deck of the ship, Wang Sumo began to tinker.
Although there is only one large kitchen on a merchant ship, there are people on every deck and cargo hold, and where there are people, there will be a need to boil water for drinking.
Although the kitchens are concentrated in one area, each floor has a place to boil water, heat up food, and stir-fry.
Manager Liu gave the order, and Wang Sumo borrowed the temporary fire area on the first floor of the merchant ship.
I'm used to my own tools, and they're easier to use than they were in Ping'an Town.
First, make the salted egg yolk sauce.
Salted duck eggs are a common household item, widely enjoyed and loved by the people.
In the Lingnan region, there are specially pickled salted egg yolks, but in most places, whole salted eggs are used.
The kitchen staff also gave her salted eggs.
Remove the salted egg yolks and crush them into a fine, small piece. This will improve the texture when added to the soup.
Add a little rapeseed oil to the pot. Ordinary families mostly use homemade pork fat, which is simple and cheap. On the contrary, rapeseed oil needs to be made in workshops, which ordinary families cannot make themselves and can only buy. However, it is easy to borrow it from merchant ships.
Heat the rapeseed oil, then add the crushed egg yolks over low heat, along with a spoonful of salt and two spoonfuls of sugar to enhance the flavor.
Generally speaking, salted egg yolks are divided into two types: drier and wetter.
If you're making a condiment and don't need complicated cooking, you can add more oil here to make a moister salted egg yolk sauce; but if you're going to make shrimp and spinach salted egg yolk soup later, then you'll only need about the right amount of oil.
Crush, blend, and sprinkle a few drops of wine to remove any fishy smell, and you have a bowl of fresh and fragrant salted egg yolk sauce!
It had been so long since Wang Sumo had made salted egg yolk sauce that even the smell itself seemed tempting.
Set the sauce aside and let it cool for a while. You can use this time to prepare other dishes.
Wang Sumo glanced at the spinach and realized she had taken a little too much today.
The weather is hot, especially in places like merchant ships, where washed spinach is difficult to preserve, and it would be a shame to waste the fresh spinach that is still available at this time of year.
We have soup, but we're still missing a main dish.
It doesn't necessarily have to be rice or noodles...
Eggs, Wang Sumo had a sudden inspiration.
Eggs are always a common sight in the kitchen.
Wang Sumo's guards at Qingyun Manor should make another trip to see if they can borrow a few more eggs from the kitchen.
The guard had been drooling as he watched Wang Sumo stir-fry salted egg yolk sauce. He could almost picture the fragrant salted egg yolk sauce in the soup, along with shrimp, diced smoked meat, and spinach. He imagined the aroma of that one bite!
The guard subconsciously swallowed, and when he heard Wang Sumo say he wanted eggs, he didn't ask any more questions and ran away.
Wang Sumo's salted egg yolk sauce is so fragrant that it has attracted the attention of many people.
Someone had gone to the kitchen earlier to let them know.
When the guard went to get the eggs, Steward Yang gave them to him without thinking and whispered, "Is Miss Wang making salted egg yolk sauce?"
The guard nodded, and Steward Yang seemed to notice him nodding as he secretly swallowed.
Although the work of preparing the side dishes was finished, the remaining task was to work in the kitchen. Manager Yang was also craving something, but he couldn't leave his post without permission, in case the kitchen needed something more.
He wanted to slack off and go to the cabin with the guards to watch Miss Wang cook, but he regretfully gave up the idea.
The ingredients were all very ordinary, except for that basket of fresh shrimp which stood out a bit. He never expected that ordinary salted duck eggs would have such a big impact.
"Wonderful!"
Manager Yang found it increasingly intriguing.
When the guards from Qingyun Manor returned with the eggs, Wang Sumo was already picking spinach, washing it, chopping garlic, and dicing smoked meat.
The diced smoked meat is only marinated and smoked on the surface, but the meat inside is raw and cannot be eaten directly.
If used for regular stir-frying or steaming, this smoked meat should first be boiled in water for about 15 minutes to remove the salt from the meat, so that it won't taste too salty and greasy when stir-fried.
Today, Wang Sumo is making a thick soup, and the meat is cut into small cubes, so it doesn't have to be cooked.
The flavor of the diced smoked meat will infuse into the broth.
However, Wang Sumo didn't want the rich flavor of the smoked meat to overpower the freshness of the salted egg yolk and shrimp, so she simply blanched them.
The cooking time is just shorter; halve the 15-minute time, then take it out, let it cool, and prepare to cut it.
During this spare time, I removed the shrimp heads and shells, then used a toothpick to remove the long, black vein. The shrimp's internal organs are all along this vein; once removed, it can be added to soup and eaten directly.
However, there are some tricks to removing the shrimp vein.
To maintain the appearance of fresh shrimp, the shrimp meat should not be broken apart.
The best method is to use a toothpick to pry the shrimp out at an angle from the second or third joint of the tail. By controlling the force and position, it can be easily pulled out.
Once all these ingredients and seasonings are ready.
Wang Sumo boiled half a pot of water again, and once it boiled, he simply added some salt and rapeseed oil.
I used rapeseed oil when making salted egg yolks, and at that time, rapeseed oil was mainly used to process spinach.
Normally, spinach should not be stir-fried directly in a pan. It is best to do it like this: wait until the water boils, add salt and rapeseed oil, and then put the washed and picked spinach into the water to blanch it.
To ensure the spinach retains its vibrant green color and tender texture after cooking, this step is essential.
Simply blanching spinach with salt and rapeseed oil will not only prevent it from turning black, but also remove any inedible parts of the spinach, which can then be flushed away with the blanching water.
Salt and oil can also serve as pre-seasoning, allowing them to penetrate the spinach during cooking. However, it's important to note that the blanching process should not be too long.
After blanching the spinach, remove it from the water and place it on a plate for later use.
A skilled cook can scrub the pot with fluid, effortless movements, without any unnecessary actions, all in one smooth motion.
Once the pot boils, place the pork fat in the iron pan and slowly fry it until the oil is hot and fragrant. At this point, add the diced garlic and fry it to release its garlic flavor.
Garlic pieces are easily burnt when stir-fried over high heat, so you should pay special attention to controlling the stir-frying time and heat when adding garlic pieces.
This is where the advantage of having familiar equipment becomes apparent.
After stir-frying briefly twice, the aroma of garlic fills the air. Before it turns mushy, immediately add the diced smoked meat and shrimp to the pan.
The garlic won't burn, and the smoked meat and shrimp will be infused with the rich garlic aroma by the oil, without any burnt bits at the bottom of the pan.
It's just right.
Then, use a large spoon to scoop a large spoonful of the prepared mayonnaise and add it to the diced smoked meat and shrimp. Stir-fry over low heat until it bubbles, then add boiling water.
The secret to getting a milky white soup is to add boiling water!
If it is ordinary warm water, the soup will not be milky white.
The same applies to making mutton soup. If you want the soup to have an appealing milky white color, you must make sure that you add boiling water.
The boiling water sizzles and blends together with the mayonnaise, smoked meat cubes, and shrimp in the iron pan.
Then you can add salt, the actual seasoning for the soup base, according to your preference.
Some people prefer it bland, while others prefer it salty; it's always been impossible to please everyone. But the key to this soup lies in the milky flavor of the salted egg yolk, which should not overpower the other flavors. Saltiness is secondary.
But most chefs would rather have less than more.
Start with a small amount of salt at first, and add more when you feel it's not enough before taking the food off the heat. This way, the flavor won't be affected and you can avoid adding too much at the beginning, which would ruin the whole pot of ingredients.
Wang Sumo was the same.
Since its introduction, pepper has become a popular condiment on dining tables across China.
However, for ease of preservation, they are all stored in the form of peppercorns, and because there is no better way to seal them to prevent the ground pepper powder from getting damp.
Therefore, before adding the peppercorns to the soup, the chefs need to grind the peppercorns into pepper powder in advance.
Merchant ships typically cook in large pots, and mortars and pestles are shared. They don't prepare a separate mortar and pestle for pepper, as improper cleaning would cause the flavors to mix.
Wang Sumo didn't carry a mortar and pestle with him, but there were guards from Qingyun Manor nearby.
"Excuse me," Wang Sumo called out, and the other person finally snapped out of their reverie, who had been staring intently at the milky white broth mixed with pale yellow in the pot.
Through a piece of gauze, with enough pure force, it can be sharpened with the handle of a knife.
Sprinkle the pepper powder from the gauze into the pot, then add a few goji berries.
The creamy yellow broth, infused with the aroma of fresh shrimp, diced smoked meat, and salted egg yolk, filled the air with fragrance when Wang Sumo picked up the iron pot.
The area around this cabin was filled with an indescribable, rich aroma of soup.
The spinach that had just been stir-fried was neatly arranged in the soup bowl, and the creamy yellow broth from the iron pot was poured into the soup bowl, instead of being poured over the spinach, it was now fully soaked in it.
The green spinach, the slightly golden shrimp and diced smoked meat, and the milky white broth, topped with a few bright red goji berries.
The color, aroma, and taste alone are enough to make the eyes tell the brain that they want to eat.
And then there's that enticing aroma; I wonder how delicious this soup will be!
And the vibrant green spinach nourished by the broth, with its delicate fragrance amidst the milky aroma, must be absolutely wonderful!
The journey on the river was already quite dull.
Having grown accustomed to the rough and coarse food served on merchant ships, the sight of this simple yet exquisite shrimp, spinach, and salted egg yolk soup evoked a sense of homesickness and longing for home in everyone on the journey.
Whether the food is good or not depends not only on the chef's familiarity with the characteristics of each ingredient, the changes in taste when ingredients are combined at different temperatures, the amount and order of each seasoning, the coordination with the heat, the use of cookware, but also on the season.
The seasonality of the ingredients, and whether the dish is eaten in season.
More importantly, a good chef will consider whether the dish is suitable for the diners who come to try it.
The most precious thing on a merchant ship isn't the delicacies of land and sea, but the familiar taste of home that one misses most when adrift at sea...
There wasn't much food, just enough for each of the people from Qingyun Manor who were traveling with them. As Wang Sumo turned around, preparing to use the eggs and the remaining spinach to make a spinach and egg roll, a soft sound, like small stones being thrown through a partition, came from the nearby cabin again.
It was very soft, but Wang Sumo could hear it just in time.
The place where the water is boiled is in an inconspicuous spot. Although people come and go to get hot water, no one lingers.
But soon, Wang Sumo realized that the rhythmic and targeted sounds belonged to someone.
And it was deliberately thrown to her to listen to.
She could just reach out and push open the half-partition.
She turned around and saw that the guards of Qingyun Manor were not far behind her, giving her enough time to shout.
Wang Sumo has the courage to set out on the road with Bazhenlou to find seasonings.
She slowly reached out and gently pushed open the half-partition.
Behind the partition is the cargo hold, and between the cargo hold and the water heater is a large water tank for backup.
It was the figure hiding behind the water vat that threw the small stones at her, deliberately trying to get her attention.
"You?" Wang Sumo was surprised.
[Author's Note]
It's complete now! It's a super long chapter, so there won't be any updates tonight. Actually, this chapter was added last night to complete the update.
See you tomorrow! [Purple Sugar][Purple Sugar][Purple Sugar]
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