67 Strange-tasting tofu
◎Sun Ning was injured...◎
Speaking of this, Madam Cuihua sighed. She knew that her skills were not as good as those of the tofu shops in the city, so she set the price very cheaply. However, she never expected that only a few poor families would be willing to buy a few pieces.
The tofu I made yesterday was basically sent back intact.
To be honest, Madam Cuihua felt quite regretful. If she had known this would happen, she would never have bought the stone mill and the cart... If she had followed County Magistrate Ye to learn how to grow mushrooms, she wouldn't have all these troubles now!
Seeing her gloomy expression, Ye Yunzhao naturally guessed the answer and said, "I think the alkaline taste is a bit obvious. What do you think?"
Madam Cuihua nodded dejectedly, muttering, "It feels the same to me, and it feels the same to Dazhuang... But Master! I've tried using less wood ash water, but it makes it hard for the tofu to solidify..."
As she spoke, she pointed to the tofu that had been made yesterday. Most of it was still pressed in the mold and had not been turned out. Ye Yunzhao walked over to take a look. It was indeed not easy to solidify, but it did look a bit like tender tofu.
Ye Yunzhao asked curiously, "Since using wood ash and water to make pulp doesn't work, why not try another method?"
"A different method? Using brine? Brine is expensive, I..."
Ye Yunzhao said: "There's more than that."
Now it was Cuihua's turn to be curious: "Is there another way to make tofu?"
"Of course," Ye Yunzhao said with a smile. "Wood ash water can be used to make pulp, brine can be used to make pulp, vinegar can be used to make pulp, and even salt can be used to make pulp."
"Vinegar? Salt?" Madam Cuihua said in disbelief.
She looked puzzled. Ye Yunzhao was afraid she was still thinking about the sad thing about not being able to sell tofu a few days ago, so he deliberately smiled and said, "Of course. Do you want me to tell you about it?"
"want!"
Ye Yunzhao smiled as he walked to the stove and looked at the clay pot filled with seasonings. The pot contained brown-red aged vinegar, so he asked, "Is this the only kind of vinegar you have at home? Do you have white vinegar?"
Madam Cuihua said, "Yes, I'll get it."
Most ordinary people have common aged vinegar in their homes, and white vinegar is mostly rice vinegar, which is a bit expensive. Fortunately, Liu Dazhuang likes vinegar. Seeing that he is working hard, Madam Cuihua bought him an extra can of white vinegar. She never thought that she would need it now.
Madam Cuihua handed the white vinegar to Ye Yunzhao and asked curiously, "Master, are aged vinegar and white vinegar different?"
Ye Yunzhao smiled and said, "Mature vinegar is brown-red. If you use it to make the paste, the tofu will be stained. It won't look as good as bean yellow."
She nodded in understanding and praised sincerely, "Master, you know so much."
Madam Cuihua looked at Ye Yunzhao with admiration as she spoke. Perhaps this was the benefit of reading. When she left home and took care of the child, she would definitely let her learn to read and write.
Ye Yunzhao was busy pouring out the white vinegar and didn't notice what she was thinking.
Ye Yunzhao dipped a wooden chopstick into the white vinegar and smacked it twice in her mouth. She couldn't help but make faces and said in disbelief, "Why—why is it so sour!"
Madam Cuihua was startled by her appearance, then realized what was happening and scooped a bowl of water with a smile, saying, "Master, I bought the best white vinegar, it's a little sour."
some?
Ye Yunzhao quickly drank some water and looked at the white vinegar in the bowl in disbelief. The vinegar looked like clear water and said, "It's good to be sour. Just use a little bit."
Cuihua couldn't understand what she did next. She first poured some salt into the empty ceramic bowl, then a little bit of white vinegar, and finally added half a bowl of water, stirring it a few times with chopsticks.
"Is it done?" Madam Cuihua looked at the ceramic bowl on the stove in disbelief and asked suspiciously.
"Okay." Ye Yunzhao nodded, "Do you have any ground soy milk at home?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Cuihua hurriedly brought over a large wooden barrel from the corner. When she opened it, she found that it was filled with half a barrel of filtered raw soy milk.
"Pour it into the pot?" asked Madam Cuihua.
Ye Yunzhao thought for a moment and said, "No rush."
She bent down and carefully looked at the size of the wooden barrel and the height of the soy milk, then added some white vinegar, salt and half a bowl of water to the "homemade brine bowl".
Then the two of them worked together to pour the raw soy milk into the big iron pot.
Ye Yunzhao stuffed firewood into the stove, and Madam Cuihua tried hard to push the raw soy milk in the pot with a large wooden spoon to prevent it from sticking.
"Let's switch." Ye Yunzhao suggested after observing her movements, "You light the fire and I'll stir it."
Madam Cuihua squatted down without saying a word, while Ye Yunzhao stirred it and skimmed the foam into the empty bucket.
Although Madam Cuihua didn't understand her actions, she didn't object much. However, Ye Yunzhao still took the initiative to explain: "Too much foam will affect the quality of the tofu, so it's best to skim it off."
The raw soy milk in the pot gradually boiled, and the bean fragrance in the air became stronger and stronger.
However, the soy milk will boil temporarily. You must not turn off the heat when it just starts to boil. You need to increase the heat to make the soy milk really boil in order to cook away the raw taste of the beans.
After waiting for a while, Ye Yunzhao asked her to turn off the engine.
Although the fire was out, Ye Yunzhao did not stop moving her hands. After about another pot of water's time, she took out the big wooden spoon.
"All that's left is to wait."
Ye Yunzhao noticed the tension between Madam Cuihua's brows and smiled, "Don't worry, it will definitely work."
She didn't finish her words: This is a very powerful tofu secret recipe in modern society!
After the temperature of the soy milk in the pot drops, a layer of milky yellow bean skin solidifies on the hot soy milk. This bean skin is the raw material for making yuba.
Ye Yunzhao stirred the homemade brine and winked at Madam Cuihua. She immediately picked out the bean curd skins and quickly stirred the soy milk in the pot with a large wooden spoon.
As she stirred, Ye Yunzhao poured the homemade brine into the pot little by little.
As Madam Cuihua stirred quickly, the soy milk in the pot gradually formed clumps, and the milky white tofu pudding gradually separated from the yellow transparent soup.
"It's done! It's done!" Madam Cuihua stirred vigorously, looking at the tofu pudding gradually taking shape in the pot with surprise, and excitedly said to Ye Yunzhao, "Master, it really worked!"
Ye Yunzhao also laughed. After the tofu pudding was completely formed, she asked Madam Cuihua to press the tofu into the wooden mold.
Speaking of the mold, Cuihua, who was grinning just now, lowered her head. There was still the tofu made yesterday in the mold!
"Master..." Madam Cuihua moved the pressure stone down, looked at the tofu in the mold, then looked at Ye Yunzhao, and sighed softly, "We can only keep these for eating..."
Ye Yunzhao raised his eyebrows: "Who said that?"
"What?" Madam Cuihua looked at her suddenly.
"Cut out a piece of tofu and I'll make you something delicious."
Madam Cuihua suddenly ran into her arms, sobbing, "Master, I'm lucky to have you. If it weren't for you... wuwuwu..."
Although these tofus have a distinct alkaline taste, there are many poor families in Lingnan County, so if they are sold at a low price, there is a high probability that they can still be sold.
Madam Cuihua cut off a piece of tofu and handed it to Ye Yunzhao. She thought she was going to make something ordinary, so she asked, "Master, would you like it with wild onions? Or some vegetables?"
Ye Yunzhao shook his head mysteriously: "None, go burn some ashes first."
"Wood ash?" Madam Cuihua didn't understand what it meant. Wouldn't it be even weirder if tofu with strange taste was added with wood ash?
Ye Yunzhao reminded: "Exactly, it has to be clean wood ash."
Every household in Lingnan County has a clay fire cup. The clay fire cup in Cuihua's home is specially used to burn wood ash. She selected some clean straw, put it in the clay fire cup, lit it, and then kept an eye on it. After half a minute, the result was clean wood ash.
As for the dirty ones, there is no need to burn them extra. Everything in the stove counts. It is usually used to clean pig offal, which is very convenient.
By the time Madam Cuihua brought the wood ash water over, Ye Yunzhao had already cut the tofu.
I saw her adding a lot of clean water into a large ceramic basin, sprinkled a little salt and lime water into it, stirred it, and actually put all the cut tofu in it.
Madam Cuihua hurried to stop him: "Master, what are you doing!"
The two knew that if they put the tofu into water, it would probably taste even weirder.
Ye Yunzhao saw the worry in her eyes and said soothingly, "Don't worry, it will definitely taste good."
To be honest, Madam Cuihua was a little skeptical, but she had seen Ye Yunzhao's talents, so she felt relieved and nodded.
The thin tofu slices were soaked in the water. Ye Yunzhao placed a bamboo basket upside down on the pottery basin and said, "It will take about three hours. I have something to discuss with Carpenter Sun. I'll come back in three hours."
Three hours?
Madam Cuihua looked up at the time. She was afraid that after three hours it would be dark and difficult to travel.
"Master, how about I take out this tofu in three hours and make it tomorrow?"
Ye Yunzhao understood, but said, "You can make it tomorrow, but don't take out the tofu. Let it soak until tomorrow and I'll do it."
"Soak until tomorrow?"
Madam Cuihua looked surprised, but after seeing her expression, she had no choice but to agree to all of them.
*
Ye Yunzhao left Madam Cuihua and walked quickly towards Sun Ning's house.
She had been busy growing mushrooms these days and had no time for anything else. It was not until today when Ye Yunzhao was checking the mycelium in a commoner's home that she learned that Sun Ning was injured.
When Ye Yunzhao arrived at Sun Ning's house, the young apprentice he had met before was also there. The young man had a shy expression and looked like he was secretly in love with her, while Sun Ning, who was sitting opposite him, had a frown on his face and a cold look in his eyes.
I don’t know what Sun Ning said, but the boy’s face changed slightly and he ran out in a daze. After making eye contact with Ye Yunzhao, he ran away without saying a word.
Although Ye Yunzhao was born single, he had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run. If he still didn't understand, then all the Green River novels he read in his spare time in his previous life were in vain.
The two of them often met in the county school a few days ago and had already become friends who could talk about anything.
Ye Yunzhao walked into the room with a smile and asked teasingly, "What was going on just now?"
When Sun Ning saw that it was her, he let down his guard and sighed, "Don't mention it..."
Ye Yunzhao raised his eyebrows and changed the subject. He looked at Sun Ning's left ankle wrapped in gauze, squatted down to examine it, and asked:
"Why didn't you send anyone to tell me you were injured? How did you get hurt?"
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