When Liang Shengdi came out after changing her clothes, she heard Chen Chunhua teaching the second child to stay away from water. She curled her lips and
"You can't always keep them from touching the water. There are rivers everywhere we go. Can they not leave the house?"
"You can wait until you are older before learning to swim..."
"Things like swimming should be learned when one is young. Look at Guoqing, he's so old now, can he swim?" Liang Shengdi pointed to her own son as an example, without reflecting on who taught the child how to swim.
Lin Guoqing blushed, feeling a little ashamed of his status as a landlubber.
Chen Chunhua: "...Guoqing and I don't know how to do it, and there's no one to teach us. We can only wait until we're older..."
"Why don't I teach him?" Liang Shengdi looked at Chen Chunhua strangely, and the meaning in her eyes was probably, I can do it, I can teach him.
Chen Chunhua & Lin Guoqing: ...They know, so they are worried!
Liang Shengdi touched Lin Shugan's head. She had never taken care of the children in the family before, so she was not close to them. However, Lin Shugan had been kind and gentle since he was a child. Even though he was not close to his grandmother, he would try his best to take care of the old lady when they were at home during the day.
Recently, the two of them have been working together every day, and they have really developed some feelings for each other. Liang Shengdi has also started to remember to take care of her grandson.
"They're expected to spawn in a week. The river's been full of silver carp lately, swimming in huge schools. It's easy to catch one. We can wait a while before learning to swim. In the meantime, just wait on the shore while I catch you. Fish is good to have on days when you don't have meat to eat!"
Speaking of eating, Liang Shengdi started to get excited again.
"Steamed silver carp, silver carp with scallion oil, and braised silver carp are all delicious. If you catch them small, you can coat them in batter and deep-fry them. If it's winter, you can even chop up some white radish and make vinegar-fried silver carp!"
The food has probably gotten really good recently. Liang Shengdi can even tell you the recipes for fried food. Lin Shu, who is sitting next to her, is drooling as she talks about it.
"Hey, Chunhua, I remember you can make fish balls. If you're tired of eating a whole fish, we can make fish balls in clear soup!"
"Fish balls?" Chen Chunhua raised her eyebrows.
Liang Shengdi's eyes sparkled, "Yes, fish balls!"
"Yeah! Fish balls! Why didn't I think of that!"
Lin Guoqing was suddenly slapped on the arm by Chen Chunhua, who was standing next to him. He grimaced in pain. "What's wrong with the fish balls?"
"I can make fish balls and sell them!" Chen Chunhua shouted excitedly to Lin Guoqing.
The last word "sell" was so soft that it was almost inaudible, but Lin Guoqing still received the signal from his wife and began to feel happy.
"Yeah, people are buying Lao Wang's salted fish, so fresh fish balls are definitely better than the ones he sells."
It was like someone was offering a pillow right when they were dozing off. Chen Chunhua and Lin Guoqing were both grinning from ear to ear. Lin Shugan was also happy because of his parents' happiness. The only person who was unhappy was Mrs. Liang.
When Liang Shengdi heard that they were going to sell fish balls, her lips started to pout.
"...I spent all this time fishing, and you're going to sell it? Is there anything left to eat at home?"
"Yes, yes, yes, how can I miss yours!" Chen Chunhua now regarded Liang Shengdi as a treasure. Even if she specifically asked for three fresh delicacies today, Chen Chunhua would have to prepare it for her.
"Mom, when I make enough money, I'll not only stew chicken for you, but I'll also save the chicken soup, buy some meat to make meatballs, catch some fish to make fishballs, and then make you a pot of three delicacies together. How about that?"
"Really?" Liang Shengdi stood up quickly, extremely excited.
"That can't be fake! It's just that you might have to catch two more fish every day..."
"It's easy to go fishing! There are fish all over the way back. I fill it up every day and come back... I'll go in a moment!"
"...Second brother, keep him away from the river. He's still young!"
"I know, I know!"
…
Lin Guoqing was almost laughed to death by his own mother. His wife used a chicken to fish for her mother until now. She went up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots and went to the river to catch fish, but she still had not eaten a single piece of the chicken neck. However, she had eaten a lot of eggs.
Chen Chunhua didn't even take her nap. She grabbed the basin containing the fish and went to the yard to kill the fish and make fish balls.
In water towns, fish has a status similar to that of sweet potatoes. They can be caught easily and are available everywhere. When you are not full but not starving, and there are no other dishes, you can only eat fish.
In an era when oil and salt are precious, eating too much steamed or boiled fish will make you sick of it, so you can only find ways to eat it in different ways.
That’s how fish balls came about.
Kill the fish, clean it, and split it in half along the spine from the tail. Remove the head, split the spine and belly, and then wash the fish. Secure the fish to the cutting board with a nail at the tail. Use a knife to scrape the fish paste and place it on the fresh skin. Chop the fish paste until it becomes sticky.
Place the fish paste in an aluminum basin, add a cup of water, and stir. Add salt and continue stirring in the same direction until it becomes sticky. Add another cup of water and stir until small bubbles form. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Finally, add half a cup of water and continue stirring until evenly combined. Add MSG and ginger juice and mix well.
At this time, it would be better to put it in the refrigerator for a while, but there is no refrigerator. Chen Chunhua felt that the temperature was okay, so she just put it in for a while and then moved on to the next step.
Find a large pot, scoop half a pot of cold water into it, use your hands to squeeze the fish paste into fish balls like big walnuts, then scrape it with a spoon, put it into cold water, and heat it gradually over medium-low heat until the water boils.
Fish balls are easy to become old and fragile, so just keep the water in the pot in a state that is almost boiling.
Chen Chunhua spent the whole afternoon cleaning two fish and made only 50 fish balls. She kept 10 for home and would see if Liang Shengdi caught any more fish in the afternoon. If she did, she would make them together and bring them all to sell in the evening.
In this place, there is a signature dish that has been passed down for a hundred years - Shaoxing Sanxian
It is said to have originated in the Southern Song Dynasty, created by the chef of the wealthy local official. He made meatballs with free-range pork from Jishan Mountain, stewed local Yue chicken in soup, and made fishballs with fish caught early in the morning from Jianhu Lake. He also added various freshly harvested vegetables from the fields, as well as bamboo shoots, river shrimp, ham, and other ingredients to the steamed dish.
After tasting it, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou exclaimed "How fresh and wonderful". After learning that the ingredients of this dish gathered the essence of Jishan, Jianshui and fields in Yuezhou, he personally named it "Shao Sanxian".
Of course, these are all legends. We can only ask Song Gaozong himself what the specific history is.
But the people of Yuezhou have always maintained the highest respect for the Three Fresh Soup.
Even more than forty years later, when delicacies from land and sea are commonplace, the last dish at weddings and funerals is still Shaoxing Three Fresh, a status that even lobster and abalone cannot match.
But at that time, everyone was still very poor and it was difficult to even have meat, let alone the three fresh dishes with meatballs, chicken soup and ham, which were the main dishes during the Chinese New Year.
Normally, just satisfy your craving with fish balls in clear soup.
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