Chapter 212 Crab Roe Brick
Qin Suisui rushed out without even having time to comb her hair, asking, "What's wrong, Uncle? What happened at the port?"
Madford glanced at her: "Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to dry squid and crab bricks from your aunt? The brigade's boat will be back soon, and some of this cargo can be shared among everyone. You'd better hurry up and catch up!"
Qin Suisui's eyes lit up: Dry squid! Make crab bricks!
Since the weather turned cold, Qin Suisui hadn't gone to the beach. In addition, various things had happened recently, and she hadn't had the time. She had almost forgotten about her promise to Medford. Fortunately, he remembered!
When Madford brought Qin Suisui to the port, there were already many people there, all waiting.
It's a rare treat that the fishing team gets a share of the fish they catch throughout the year, so naturally, no one wants to miss out.
According to Medford, this regulation only came into effect after the military region moved in; it didn't exist anywhere else. So everyone kept it a secret, afraid that if they publicized it, the organization would cancel this "benefit." This was also why Qin Suisui hadn't known about it even after being here for so long.
Before long, the fishing boats from both brigades returned.
Without any prompting from Mai Defu and Li Haisheng, the team members formed two lines with perfect understanding: the Guangmingding Brigade on the left and the Hongqiding Brigade on the right.
Qin Suisui followed Medford and surprisingly ended up at the front of the line.
After the fishing boat docked, everyone took turns going forward.
When it was Qin Suisui's turn, under Mai Defu's guidance, she ordered ten catties each of blue crabs and swimming crabs with more crab roe, eight catties of mackerel, 15 catties of small squid (Qin Suisui's favorite), and ten catties of small silver fish.
These were all things Qin Suisui had bought from Medford before, and she thought they were delicious.
Although the boat was full of fish, there were so many people to share it with, so even if Qin Suisui wanted something else, she was too embarrassed to ask again.
She thought she would retrieve some more crabs from her spatial storage when she got home later.
As she was paying and preparing to leave, someone suddenly called out to her from behind.
Qin Suisui turned around and saw that it was Wen Lian.
Wenlian looked like he had just come off the boat; his clothes were still damp.
This Wenlian, he just went to Sun Ruwen's house to deliver pork yesterday morning, when did he go out to sea again? How come he's like a superman?
He came over carrying two huge buckets, smiled at Qin Suisui, and said, "Comrade Qin, more than half of these two buckets are Ruwen's share. He didn't ask for any in previous years, so we gave him a larger share this year. He said he'd give them all to you because he has to go back to Guangzhou and doesn't need them. The remaining small portion is a gift from us. Shall I take it home for you?"
Without waiting for Qin Suisui's reply, he picked up the two huge buckets and walked towards the family compound.
Qin Suisui turned to look at Mai Defu, who nodded with a smile: "I'll go back first. Come to our house when you're done with your work."
Qin Suisui had a lot of things, so she definitely needed to go back and organize them first. She didn't stand on ceremony, nodded her thanks, and followed Wen Lian back.
Wenlian had other things to do, so he left quickly after putting his things down.
Pei Jiuyan came out to greet them, carried the bucket to the backyard, told Qin Suisui, and then went out as well. Although they didn't have to go to work, they still needed to cooperate with the organization's investigations from time to time. Qin Suisui knew this.
She sorted through the catch by herself, and even managed to smuggle some of it into the space, which made her quite content.
Wen Lian brought a lot of fish, the most eye-catching being two red fish, one weighing about two kilograms and the other about three kilograms. Qin Suisui knew that this kind of fish was rare. When she bought dried red fish from Medford before, he was very stingy and reluctant to part with it, saying that he wanted to save it for his youngest son's wedding.
This fish has thick flesh, few bones, and high protein content. Qin Suisui has tried it and found it to be very delicious! Moreover, because of its bright red color, dried fish symbolizes "good fortune and abundance every year," which is very auspicious. Indeed, many people will keep it as a gift for holidays or important family events.
The two fish that Wenlian sent are enough for her to dry a lot of salted fish!
Besides the two red fish, there were several kilograms of mackerel, about ten kilograms of blue crabs and prawns, and more than half a bucket of squid, all with heads, big and small. In addition, there were five ribbonfish and five kilograms of small bamboo fish.
The goods he delivered were definitely of high quality; they were probably selected in advance while still on the ship.
Qin Suisui smiled. She had cured him of the poison. Whenever he went out to sea, he would always send her some fish, no matter how much.
After packing everything up, Qin Suisui took some crabs to Mai Defu's house and asked Aunt Mai how to make crab bricks.
Other dried salted fish and dried squid are made in similar ways, so there's no need to learn how to make them, and it's inconvenient to carry so much stuff with you.
When she arrived at Madford's house, Aunt Madford was washing crabs. When she saw her, she waved and said, "Sui Sui, come quickly. Your uncle is already starting the fire. Let's finish washing the crabs and steam them. We need to steam the crabs first to make crab bricks."
Qin Suisui nodded and quickly joined the ranks of washing crabs.
Aunt Mai's sons and daughters-in-law also helped. With many hands making light work, they quickly finished washing the crabs and put them in the steamer.
Farmhouses use earthen stoves and large iron pots. Crabs are placed in steamers, which are then stacked high to steam them all in one pot.
After the crabs are steamed, the crab roe needs to be carefully extracted, and a small amount of salt should be added and stirred evenly. This serves to both season the crabs and may also help prevent spoilage and dehydrate them.
Next, the seasoned crab roe needs to be slowly stir-fried in a pot over low heat to evaporate most of the moisture, making it thick and dry. This process requires constant stirring to prevent burning.
Once it's dry and hard enough to hold its shape, remove it from the pan and press it firmly into a square mold made by Aunt Mai.
Aunt Mai was a meticulous person. She separated the crab roe and crab meat, making crab roe bricks and crab meat bricks respectively, and then mixed them together to make crab meat and crab roe bricks.
After working on these dozens of kilograms of crabs, it was already evening.
Although she hadn't done any strenuous work, Qin Suisui was still exhausted. If it took Aunt Mai's whole family so long to finish, wouldn't it take even longer for her and Pei Jiuyan to do it together?
Qin Suisui frowned, thought for a moment, and then said somewhat embarrassedly, "Auntie, this work is really too tedious. I still have so many crabs at home, and Ayan and I can't handle it together. How about I pay a little more and bring over some more crabs from home to exchange for some crab bricks?"
She blushed as soon as she finished speaking, feeling that she had been quite shameless.
To everyone's surprise, Aunt Mai readily agreed: "Sure! What's the problem? You young people have so much to do, and these things are indeed detailed and tedious. It's perfectly normal that you don't have time to work on them."
"We used about 30 catties of crabs to make this today, and you brought 10 catties of crabs. So, you can bring another 20 catties of crabs. You can take all the crab bricks we made today with you, okay?"
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