It was the first time anyone had ever seen such a big fish. When Ruan Meng was butchering and processing it, the Song and Fan family sisters-in-law all took the initiative to come and learn.
The eldest sister-in-law originally wanted to come and help, but Ruan Meng was worried that her eldest brother would be overworked and unwell, so she asked her sister-in-law to stay with him.
Ruan Meng cut off the fish head. There were still a few pieces of tofu left at home. "Let's stew the tofu with the fish head!"
Cut off the fish tail, "to braise it!"
Cut the part between the fish tail and belly into chunks and pan-fry!
She cut off two thick pieces of fish fin, but unfortunately there was no chopped chili. Ruan Meng thought to herself, "I need to get started on the condiment and pickled vegetable business as soon as possible!"
This way, you can make even more delicious food.
"Stew it with small red chilies!"
Cut off two pieces of fish belly, divide them into small pieces, and explain:
"Half of this can be used as soy sauce; the other half can be deep-fried!"
The crowd was already dazzled just by hearing it.
Xiao Kai and A Yuan squeezed in, and upon hearing this, they both widened their eyes. Xiao Kai was just disappointed that there wasn't enough time to go back to the restaurant and invite the chefs to come and learn.
Ruan Meng seemed to read his mind, pointed to the paper in the old man's hand, and said to A Yuan:
"It's alright, let my second brother make a copy, you can keep it to take back!"
Xiao Kai smiled broadly and thanked Ruan Meng.
After the third brother looked at it once, Ruan Meng asked him to cut the second fish himself.
Sister-in-law Song volunteered to help cook, while Sister-in-law Fan cleaned and chopped the fish and tidied up the area.
A Yuan, Xiao Kai, and the others filled several basins with the fish they caught, waiting to start preparing them in the afternoon!
When Ruan Meng had a free moment, A Yuan winked at her, gesturing for her to look into the wooden basin.
Ruan Meng chuckled, "Six ways to eat it, and that's not enough?"
A Yuan blinked and remained silent.
Ruan Meng thought of the sea bean sprouts she had saved yesterday, "Stir-fried sea bean sprouts?"
A Yuan's eyes flickered; she was somewhat tempted.
He wouldn't be so shameless with anyone else, but because he was familiar with Ruan Meng and treated her like family, he started to act a little shamelessly.
Seeing that he seemed a little unsatisfied, Ruan Meng asked, "What else would you like to eat?"
A-Yuan's gaze drifted, almost imperceptibly, to the overturned basket in the backyard.
Several geese were quacking happily in the basket.
Ruan Meng: "A goose?"
"Stewed goose?"
At this moment, A Yuan's demeanor was just like that of a young girl who talked about other things and acted coy.
If it weren't for the fact that A Yuan had caught so many jujubes, Ruan Meng would have loved to dump the basket on his head.
Finally unable to bear it any longer, he roared:
"Let's talk this out!"
Ah Yuan became honest and asked, "Miss, could you make crispy roast goose? Young Master likes to eat it."
“In the past, the young master would eat half of it every time he went back, but the last few times he went back, he was in a rush and didn’t get to eat it.”
Ruan Meng walked toward the basket, her words not very pleasant:
"Half a? That probably won't be enough!"
There were only a few in total, and they hadn't been willing to eat them yet!
At most, he'll get one goose leg.
Ruan Meng caught two large geese and asked A Yuan to find a craftsman to build a roasting oven out of stones. "We don't have a proper roasting oven, so this will have to do!"
Ah Yuan beamed with joy, looking forward to it:
"It's alright, it's made by a girl, it can't taste bad!"
After the fish was cut up, Ruan Meng handed the goose to her third brother and removed the goose feathers.
The goose feathers were washed clean by Sister-in-law Fan and hung to dry on a winnowing basket.
While the third brother was cleaning the goose feathers, Ruan Meng started stewing the fish head, and in another pot, she was braising the fish tail.
After cleaning the goose feathers, the second son took the initiative to take notes with paper and pen, while Sister-in-law Song and the third son learned from him.
Ruan Meng removed the goose's internal organs from under its belly, and asked Du Xiaocan to find medicinal herbs such as dried tangerine peel. They then added oyster sauce, white sugar, and other seasonings to make a sauce. The sauce was then used to clean the inside of the goose, and the goose was cut and tied up with bamboo skewers.
A small incision was made in the goose's neck, and Ruan Meng had her third brother get close and blow air into the goose's belly.
After the goose's belly expands, it is thrown into a boiling pot to scald the skin, and then quickly placed in cold water to make the skin firm up.
Find a hemp rope, hang the goose up, prepare the broth, pour it over the whole goose, and put it into the oven that the craftsmen built with stones.
Because there are no iron hooks, and there is a risk that the hemp rope will burn, the goose needs to be constantly watched and turned by hand to ensure that its surface is heated evenly.
Ruan Meng left the roast goose to A Yuan to watch over, and went back to stew the fish fins, make fish belly soy sauce, and fry the fish belly pieces.
Once the fish was cooked, the roast goose's skin was crispy and golden brown—a great success! (Image of crispy roast goose from the internet.) The artisans stood by, not saying much, but their eyes revealed their longing!
Ruan Meng kept an eye on their movements, worried that before the mission even started, the group might be unable to suppress their homesickness and wouldn't stay long.
A Yuan, through observation, replied to Ruan Meng:
"Girl, you can rest assured!"
"They did feel a little unwell on their first day, but once they tasted your cooking, they completely forgot about their homesickness!"
"Consider what they might be thinking, how to borrow family members!"
"Really?"
Ruan Meng responded, only to realize it was unrealistic as soon as she spoke.
Now, Fengjia Village is still destitute. When family members come to visit, life is inconvenient in many ways, and even the issue of children's education cannot be met.
But think about it, even if it's just food, as long as it can retain talent, it's good!
Seeing the longing in the artisans' eyes, Ruan Meng smiled with satisfaction.
Completely unaware of the tall figure behind them.
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