Chapter 298 After Winter
She placed the winnowing basket she brought back in the space inside the brick wall outside, which contained semi-finished pickled mustard greens that were drying in the yard.
Mu Xi asked this because in addition to pickled plums, there were also a lot of dried bamboo shoots drying outside.
The dried bamboo shoots were made at the beginning of last spring and placed in the cupboard in a plastic bag that was not hung on the wall. As expected, they became a little moldy.
The two threw away all the moldy ones. There was a bag that was not moldy yet, but had a stale smell. They took it out again, washed it, dried it, and put it in the yard to dry.
Zhao Yeqing replied, "I took the pickled mustard greens. The bamboo shoots still have some smell. They need to be dried for another two days."
When the mustard greens are dried to about 60% to 70%, they are collected, cleaned, sprinkled with salt, and pickled in a jar. They are taken out after about a month.
To make it into pickled mustard greens, they have to be steamed again and then dried in the sun. This step has to be repeated three times. After the pickled mustard greens become a little crispy after two days of drying, repeat the steps again.
Only after three steaming and three drying can the green mustard greens be turned into black pickled mustard greens.
Now is the time to steam and dry the dishes. Zhao Yeqing has to wait until Mu Xi finishes cooking the rice before bringing the collected vegetables in to continue steaming.
The hot pot chicken I had in Sichuan and Chongqing before was cooked in hot pot soup base. This time, Mu Xi only used a small amount of base material, filtered out the spice residue, and used the red hot pot butter to stir-fry the chicken pieces.
Fry the chicken skin until golden brown, then add two spoons of sweet wine to enhance the flavor. Then fry the sweet wine until it absorbs the flavor and is dried up.
A lot of side dishes such as lettuce and tofu skin are also added, and the dish is sprinkled with coriander and sesame seeds when served.
As soon as Mu Xi finished cooking the dishes, Zhao Yeqing put up the steamer for steaming pickled mustard greens. After the pickled mustard greens were steamed, they had to be kept in the steamer until they were completely cooled before they could be taken out and dried for the second time.
He quickly steamed the pickled mustard greens, then sat down at the table and picked up his bowl of rice.
Compared to soup pot, the crispy and fragrant dry pot is more to her liking. The two of them ate a chicken cleanly. The golden onions fried at the bottom of the pot tasted better than the meat.
The weather is cold now. After dinner, the semi-finished pickled mustard greens in the steamer have cooled down. It would be better to keep them in the steamer for another day, but the weather is too cold now and we are afraid it will snow at any time, so we have to dry them as soon as possible.
Zhao Yeqing's plan could not keep up with the changes. When the pickled mustard greens were drying for three days, snow finally began to fall from the sky.
She could only bring the pickled mustard greens into the house and place them next to the fireplace.
The lowest temperature at noon finally broke through minus ten degrees Celsius. Mu Xi opened the ash pit of the fireplace and lit the stove underneath.
Once the floor heating is started today, it will most likely not stop throughout the winter.
It would take several hours for the floor heating to start up, so the two of them had to prepare today's ingredients and cook in the house.
All the frozen foods in the refrigerator were taken out and placed in the kitchen with the door locked. The indoor temperature of the kitchen is around minus three degrees Celsius, so there is no problem keeping them fresh for the time being.
But if you want to preserve it for a long time, it is better to put it outdoors and make a freezer like we did last year.
Mu Xi made the mold a few days ago when it didn't snow. With last year's experience, he made the mold without hesitation this year, and now three sides have been frozen.
Zhao Yeqing put on gloves, put on his coat and walked out the door. The wind outside had stopped and white snowflakes were falling from the sky, soft and fluffy.
There was already a thin layer of white snow on the meadow, and there was also a small amount of snow in the yard. Zhao Yeqing swept out a small path, walked to the arranged molds, took out the ice that had frozen inside yesterday, and filled it with water.
The sky is covered with clouds, but it doesn't look dark. It's just white clouds, and it doesn't feel oppressive at all. It seems that the sun is behind the clouds, and the light shining through the clouds looks especially bright.
It takes some time to wait for the ice to freeze. When Zhao Yeqing returned to the room, there was not much difference. He didn't feel warmer, but just not as cold.
The light outside was good at this time, so she opened the curtains to let the light shine through the window into the room. This way she could turn off the lights in the house for a while, saving as much as possible.
The two of them weren't doing any particularly delicate work in the house at the moment, so the light was more than enough.
Mu Xi prepared some ingredients and cooked in the room with the floor heating on the first night. The two planned to cook a soup pot.
There was not only water in the soup pot, but also soup made from large bones left over from slaughtering the pig. After slaughtering the pig, the two of them stewed most of the bones over high heat until the soup turned milky white.
Put it in the refrigerator and freeze it into blocks. When you need it, just take out a block and put it in the pot and cook until it melts.
The dishes needed for soup pot are also very simple, clean vegetables and cut meat slices. The frozen meat is very easy to cut, and the thickness is even, so it is cooked once blanched.
The meat has been cut. The thin slices of meat will easily melt and become soft in the room with floor heating. The sliced meat is placed at the door to freeze before going to pick the vegetables.
Mu Xi went down to the planting basement. Zhao Yeqing looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky and was a little worried that the snowfall would be too heavy and would collapse the PC board covering the planting basement.
Now the PC board will not be opened until the weather warms up in spring, so just cover it with something.
Zhao Yeqing put on his coat, put on a raincoat outside, put on his hat and went out.
There are a lot of leftover wood from the demolition of old houses stored in the yard. Those that can be used are reused for construction, and those that are not in good condition are put aside for the time being. If they cannot be used, they are used as firewood.
Zhao Yeqing found a few wooden boards and strips here, and placed the long wooden strips on the ground at both ends of the PC board covered with soil as load-bearing supports, and then covered it with wooden boards.
This way the falling snow will not press onto the PC board.
Mu Xi was picking vegetables downstairs when he heard the noise above his head. He came out with the basket of vegetables he had picked. He saw Zhao Yeqing moving the planks upwards, so he put down the basket and went over to help.
Zhao Yeqing saw this and hurriedly stopped him: "Go in and wash the vegetables first. These vegetables are very juicy. If you leave them like this for a while, they will freeze hard. I'm wearing thick clothes so it's fine."
Seeing that she was indeed fully armed and there were only a few wooden boards left, Mu Xi nodded and hurried into the house.
Zhao Yeqing put the boards together. His hands, even with their gloves, were so cold that he hurried into the house.
The temperature difference is now quite large. As soon as I entered the house, I felt a noticeable warmth hitting me, and for a moment the air felt a little thin.
He shook off the snowflakes on his raincoat at the door, then closed the door and moved his coat.
You don’t need to wear shoes when you walk to an area with floor heating. The floor under your feet is covered with a thin layer of straw mat and is warm.
Zhao Yeqing sat directly on the rocking chair and let out a comfortable sigh.
There is nothing more comfortable in winter than staying in this house with floor heating.
Now the vegetables are ready, and we can start eating as soon as the soup in the pot starts to boil.
But at this time, there was some problem with the floor heating.
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