Baked buns
Xiang Qinghao served the grilled skewers to the diners.
At this time, a middle-aged man in his 40s came with an old man who looked to be in his 60s.
You can tell from the looks of it that they are father and son.
The son's name is Zhao Pingzhi and the father's name is Zhao Guangxian.
Zhao Pingzhi was fine, his clothes were neat and simple, and his hairstyle was neat.
But Zhao Guangxian was different. He was dressed slovenly. His clothes and pants had not been washed for half a month. Both his shirt and pants were covered with stains of varying sizes and depths.
His hair is also a little longer than that of a normal old man, and combined with his clothes, it seems that he didn’t cut it when he should have.
His hand was held tightly by his son, and his face showed no trace of joy or relaxation that one should show when eating barbecue.
Instead, his face was stretched long, his facial expression was tense, and his lips were tightly closed into a line because of his unwillingness.
Faced with tables of delicious barbecue, he didn't even look at them and turned his head away in annoyance.
They were brought here by force.
Xiang Qinghao welcomed us warmly.
"Here you are, aren't you two?"
"Yes." Zhao Pingzhi smiled warmly and said to Xiang Qing.
"Then please sit here."
Xiang Qinghao found an empty seat for the father and son and took the initiative to introduce them.
"We have three kinds of skewers here: roast pork, beef, and lamb. Each skewer costs 20 gold coins. 100 gold coins will get you 6 skewers. 150 gold coins will get you 10 skewers. What do you want?"
After hearing this, Zhao Pingzhi said casually, "10 skewers of lamb," without thinking or asking his father.
10 lamb skewers!
Is this quantity enough?
Xiang Qinghao looked at the father and son.
As the boss, Xiang Qinghao certainly hopes that people buy as many skewers as possible, but she never has any negative emotions towards people who buy small quantities.
One skewer is also sold, and a customer who can buy one skewer of meat is also a customer.
How could she not know this truth after years of doing business?
But the problem is, even if the amount of meat on each skewer is not small, it is only 10 skewers of meat, not 10 kilograms of meat.
Not to mention two people, even one person may not be enough.
Xiang Qinghao kept all his thoughts in his mind, and his face didn't show any difference in expression.
"Okay, 10 kebabs will be here soon."
After saying that, Xiang Qinghao went to the iron barrel to grill lamb skewers.
The mutton is put on the barbecue grill and immediately emits the delicious flavor of mutton.
These were two new customers, so Xiang Qinghao baked the food with extra care.
I enjoyed it this time and will come again next time.
At this time, Zhao Pingzhi came over again and stood by the oven, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know how to start.
"It will be ready soon. I grill meat quickly and it will be on the table in a few minutes." While Xiang Qing was saying this, she quickened her pace to prove that the man could not wait for a few minutes.
"It's okay, I'm not anxious, it's just..." Zhao Pingzhi said slowly and paused halfway, not feeling embarrassed to continue.
"What's wrong? You can just tell me what you have to say."
Zhao Pingzhi saw that Qinghao was also cheerful, so he said directly: "Can you help me toast these two buns?"
After saying that, Zhao Pingzhi took out two steamed buns made of a mixture of cornmeal and white flour from his pocket.
Xiang Qinghao had felt that the atmosphere between this father and son was strange before, but she just didn't show it.
Now looking at a pair of steamed buns made of a mixture of cornmeal and white flour, he couldn't contain the surprise on his face.
In this era, is there still a way to bring your own ingredients to grill, and in the game at that?
Baking steamed buns was very common in Xiang Qinghao's world before he came across this.
However, in this era, most people eat meat, so who would want to eat toasted buns, especially those mixed with cornmeal?
No disdain, just surprise.
Zhao Pingzhi saw Xiang Qinghao's surprise, and also saw that she was not dissatisfied with his behavior, so he felt comfortable continuing to speak.
"The baked cornmeal buns were for my father to eat. When I was young, our family was poor and my father was the only one who earned money."
"In order to make the white flour at home last longer, my mother mixed corn flour and white flour together to make steamed buns. In order to make my father eat them more deliciously, she roasted the buns over the fire."
"He's old now, has a severe zinc deficiency, and has diabetes, so he's starting to have problems with his sense of taste."
"I asked someone to contact him with a famous doctor in the provincial capital, but he refused treatment, believing that he was too old and treatment would be useless. He thought that the longer he treated the disease, the more burden his family would suffer, so he should leave the money to us."
"We couldn't persuade him, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that his sense of taste hasn't completely lost its effect yet and let him have a bite of the cornmeal and flour steamed bread that my mom used to bake. I don't know how to bake, so I came to you."
Oh, so that’s how it is.
Moreover, this only mentions his father and not his mother. If his mother were still alive, he probably wouldn't come to her barbecue stall. I guess she is the only old person left in his family.
No wonder two people ordered 10 skewers of lamb, but they didn’t actually come here to eat skewers.
"no problem."
Xiang Qing took the steamed bun happily. Seeing Xiang Qing so happy, Zhao Pingzhi felt relieved.
"Please make it a bit stronger, with more soy sauce and chili peppers, or my dad won't be able to taste it."
This time Xiang Qinghao didn't respond so quickly, but Zhao Pingzhi didn't notice and went back to his stall after he finished speaking.
After Xiang Qinghao cut the steamed buns into slices, he did not put them on the skewers.
Instead, put four skewers on the grill and then place slices of steamed buns on the four skewers.
He picked up a large fan and fanned the fire gently.
After a while, the side facing the fire began to turn slightly brown, and the four edges of the steamed bun were also a little burnt.
Because there was no seasoning, the whole bun looked dry and hard, and there were even slight cracks in some places.
When Xiang Qing saw that one side of the steamed bun was baked, she turned it over again.
The aroma of a mixture of cornmeal and white flour wafts out gently.
Unlike the strong aroma of meat skewers, the aroma of roasted steamed buns is light. If you are not very close to it, you can hardly smell it.
This is a simple, rustic, and even a little monotonous fragrance.
After the two steamed buns were cooked, Xiang Qinghao brought them to the dining table of the father and son.
"The toasted buns are ready, take your time to eat."
Zhao Pingzhi couldn't smile when he saw the hard yellow steamed bun.
Didn’t I just tell Xiang Qing to put more ingredients? Why didn’t she put anything in?
Because I didn't buy the steamed buns from her, I didn't even want to add any seasoning. If that was the reason, I should have told her earlier and just given her gold coins.
Zhao Pingzhi's face was long.
But Zhao Guangxian was attracted by the faint fragrance.
This steamed bun was baked on a grill, and there are traces of four skewers on it.
The roast is done at just the right temperature, with the rich yellow and burnt brown complementing each other beautifully.
The whole steamed bun has cracks of various sizes. Because of the cornmeal, it is dry and hard like dry land that has not been watered by rain for a year.
Zhao Guangxian's rough fingers could also feel the mottled cracks on the steamed bun.
The fragrance drifted into the old man's nostrils, and his attitude began to change.
He used to look reluctant, but now he began to look carefully at the steamed bun in front of him.
Zhao Pingzhi was just about to call Xiang Qing to add some seasoning to the steamed buns.
Zhao Guangxian had already gently broken the steamed bun apart, and the steamed bun crumbs fell off. He took a small piece and put it in his mouth.
The rough burnt skin particles rubbed against the tongue and scratched the upper teeth in the mouth.
Without the moistness of the sauce, it takes a certain amount of strength in the throat to chew or swallow.
But it is this difficult process that allows the aroma of the toasted buns and the bitter aroma of the burnt parts to stay in the esophagus for a longer period of time, allowing the eater to enjoy this rough delicacy.
Well baked!
Very well baked!
The one baked is better than Xiao Cui’s.
Although Zhao Guangkuan couldn't taste anything in his mouth, his sense of smell was fine, and he could also feel the chewiness of the toasted steamed buns.
Xiao Cui didn't control the heat well when she was baking the steamed buns.
The big pot stove in the countryside cannot bake steamed buns like Xiang Qinghao’s barbecue grill.
Every time Xiao Cui baked buns for him, she would wait until the fire on the big stove was about to go out.
When the fire is not so strong, wrap the steamed buns in lotus leaves and throw them into the stove to bake.
In fact, many times, the steamed buns are not baked thoroughly because of the fire, or the fire is too strong and the whole bun and lotus leaf are half burnt.
Underbaked steamed buns are really choking, and half-burned steamed buns are even worse.
But Xiao Cui didn’t know that steamed buns tasted like this.
In order to allow herself and her children to have more cornmeal buns made with white flour, she never ate them herself.
The steamed buns I eat are made of pure cornmeal.
Zhao Guangxian broke off another piece of steamed bun, put it into his mouth and ate it slowly.
This toasted cornmeal steamed bun is delicious. If you chew it slowly and carefully, you can taste the sweetness of malt sugar.
The past events in my memory are also stirred with a faint sweet fragrance by the sweetness of malt sugar.
Zhao Guangxian's family was poor since he was young.
There is a saying that goes, when you are poor, the rats will cry and leave, the stove will grow grass, and the iron pot will be covered with rust.
This is exactly what I'm talking about: Zhao Guangxian's family.
There are six brothers and sisters in the family. They have nothing to eat and nothing to wear. Their clothes are patched up with patches and their pants are covered with threads.
The person with the best education in the family is Zhao Guangxian himself, who only graduated from junior high school.
After graduation, he helped his family with farming every day. Later, in order to let him have a job, his parents asked someone to find a master to teach him carpentry when he was 23 years old.
Three years later, 26-year-old Zhao Guangxian, tall and energetic, was the best-looking man in the village, but he just couldn't find a wife.
Don't say that there are good girls who are unwilling to marry her.
Even the girls from the neighboring village who had been unable to get married for many years would lower their heads and hide away when they saw the conditions of his family.
Although Zhao Guangxian's family was poor, he was a man of integrity.
Be responsible and take responsibility when doing things.
He is not worried about not being able to find a wife.
But he was worried because of poverty and suffering.
Especially the feeling of being inferior made Zhao Guangxian feel very upset. He worked hard to learn carpentry from his master day and night.
It’s just to live like a human being and have a good life in the future.
Therefore, he learned quickly from his master and did the best work.
God loves those who work hard.
Wang Xiaocui is the gift God gave to Zhao Guangxian.
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