Li Xiangdong jumped off the bed, grabbed Li Jiabao who was wailing, spun him around, and laughed heartily.
Luo Yonggang, who had run to the door, was relieved to see Li Xiangdong jumping around so energetically.
Liu Jiangsu also heard Li Jiabao crying and scolded, "Xiangdong is so naughty, look how scared Jiabao is!"
Once Li Jiabao confirmed that his second brother was alright, he went from crying to laughing, and hugged Li Xiangdong and kissed him.
In his previous life, his relationship with Li Jiabao was closer to the traditional way brothers in China get along: if there's something to say, say it; if there's nothing to say, don't joke around.
Li Xiangdong was unsure how to feel after being kissed by his younger brother.
I felt a little bittersweet, and a little embarrassed, but also a soft feeling in my heart...
Today's lunch included a dish of stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork, which immediately attracted the attention of Li Jiabao, He Chaochao, and Li Xiangdong. The three of them devoured the bamboo shoots in no time.
The soup made with baby pheasants was especially delicious; after each person ate a bowl, they felt warm all over.
Li Jiabao ate a bunch of pheasant meat, let out a satisfied burp, and then smiled sheepishly.
He scratched his head. "Grandma, these bamboo shoots are so fresh! Grandpa, this pheasant chick meat is delicious too!"
Luo Hongkai chuckled, "Eat as much as you like! I'll go get two more later!"
Speaking of bamboo shoots, Li Xiangdong really came up with a plan; he wanted to order a batch of dried bamboo shoots to sell.
When it comes to making dried bamboo shoots, Liu Jiangsu is an expert.
"In winter, very little part of the bamboo shoots is edible; half of them are husks and old roots. You're lucky if you can get four ounces of bamboo shoot flesh from a pound of winter bamboo shoots!"
"If you want to dry bamboo shoots, you still have to use bamboo shoots dug around Qingming Festival! Now is the perfect time, the bamboo shoots are thick and don't have much fiber, so they taste fresh, tender and substantial."
"We have to go dig them up in the next few days. If we wait any longer, the bamboo shoots will start to grow taller and we won't be able to eat them."
"If you want to buy dried bamboo shoots, you should hurry up and tell the team leader so he can call everyone to dig for bamboo shoots!"
Liu Jiangsu is a capable person, and he kept urging his grandson on.
Actually, Li Xiangdong didn't need to go. Luo Yonggang found out the acquisition price and went to find Kong Dezhu himself.
So while the men went up the mountain to hunt wild boars, the women and children also got busy, getting up early and working late every day to pick bamboo shoots and mushrooms.
Liu Jiangsu and Luo Hongkai also took their families up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots.
Western Sichuan has abundant bamboo resources of many varieties, and the bamboo forests of Liangpo Brigade cover the mountains and plains.
There are water bamboo shoots, arrow bamboo shoots, thorny bamboo shoots, moso bamboo shoots, thunder bamboo shoots, and hemp bamboo shoots...
Unlike digging for winter bamboo shoots, which are hidden in the soil and difficult to find, this requires an experienced person to follow the direction of the bamboo rhizome to find a crack in the ground. Then, use a hoe to dig around the bamboo shoot, being careful not to break it.
This is one of the reasons why winter bamboo shoots are relatively expensive.
Spring bamboo shoots are much better; they've all sprouted above the ground. You can grab the root and snap it off with a crisp "snap."
Water bamboo shoots are quite thin. When Liu Jiangsu was breaking water bamboo shoots, he would break and twist them, and the outer shell would come off, and a tender yellow bamboo shoot would be thrown into the bamboo basket.
Liu Jiangsu's hands were so fast that Li Jiabao was dazzled and forgot to peel the bamboo shoots.
He Chaochao was a little worried, "If we pull up all the bamboo shoots, will bamboo still grow next year?"
Luo Yonggang laughed, "You think bamboo is a big tree? Bamboo is just tall grass. Even if you pull up all the bamboo shoots this year, there will still be a bamboo grove next year!"
Only then did He Chaochao feel relieved and continue pulling bamboo shoots.
At the end of the day, when the weight of the bamboo shoots in each person's bamboo basket was weighed, He Chaochao actually ranked first!
Li Xiangdong worked hard all day, but his weight wasn't even half of He Chaochao's. He gave his older cousin a thumbs up, "Amazing!"
He Chaochao scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Hey, just something I did casually."
Li Xiangdong: I reached a level I could never achieve with just a casual effort.
Luo Hongkai went to make dinner, while Liu Jiangsu directed Luo Yonggang and He Chaochao to make dried bamboo shoots.
She originally wanted to do it herself, but Li Xiangdong pressed her down in a chair and only let her use her mouth, not her hands.
Making dried bamboo shoots is actually quite simple.
Boil a large pot of water in a large iron pot, put in the peeled and cleaned bamboo shoots, fill the pot with fresh bamboo shoots, cover it, and cook over high heat for two hours.
Once the bamboo shoots are in boiling water, their color changes from light green to dark yellow. Two hours later, the dark yellow bamboo shoots are taken out of the iron pot and cooled in clean water.
For thinner bamboo shoots, Luo Yonggang used a bamboo skewer to poke from the top of the shoot to the tip. For thicker shoots, he split them in half or into quarters to make it easier to press the shoots the next day.
Soaking bamboo shoots in clean water overnight helps remove bitterness and astringency.
The next day, the bamboo shoots had completely cooled down. Luo Yonggang took the bamboo shoots out and put them in a clamp made of two wooden boards to press out all the water from them.
Next comes the drying process. The bamboo shoots, after being squeezed dry, are spread out on bamboo trays and turned over to dry in the sun around noon until they are completely dry.
Liu Jiangsu also picked a lot of bamboo leaves, washed them clean, and then wrapped them into bamboo leaf and brown sugar cakes.
Once the brown sugar cakes are steamed, the lush green bamboo leaves turn grayish-yellow, exuding a refreshing fragrance.
In short, Li Jiabao and He Chaochao quickly adapted to and fell in love with the mountain life in western Sichuan, which was leisurely, carefree, and interesting.
They were quite content and forgot about Zhao.
A few days later, the number of wild boars in the brigade's enclosure had grown to forty or fifty.
Fortunately, the stone walls of the pigsty were thick enough, otherwise they would have been knocked down by the wild boars running around.
These days, the weather is sunny and the sun is shining brightly, so the first batch of bamboo shoots was dried quickly.
"So this is what dried bamboo shoots look like!"
It's both black and yellow, it doesn't look good at all!
Luo Yonggang gave his nephew a suggestion: "If you want to make them whiter, you can use sulfur to fumigate them. I saw that the bamboo shoots that the supply and marketing cooperative bought were all fumigated, and they were white and insect-proof! It's just that the dried bamboo shoots don't have a fresh fragrance anymore, and they smell strange."
That's a good method, and people in later generations have basically done it this way.
However, let's just eat green, healthy, and organic food. As for whether it looks good or not, we can't have our cake and eat it too.
That evening, I soaked a bundle of dried bamboo shoots and bought a few pounds of fresh pork belly to make braised pork belly with dried bamboo shoots.
The freshly cooked pork belly has three layers of flesh, with a rosy skin and translucent white meat. Pick up a trembling piece, put it in your mouth and chew it. The savory aroma of the meat is mixed with the fragrance of bamboo, all of which explode on your taste buds.
However, dried bamboo shoots are still the most popular.
Dried bamboo shoots have lost the moisture of fresh bamboo shoots, making them more tender and chewy. They also absorb the aroma of meat, making them even tastier than meat, with a richer and more complex flavor!
Finally, mix the rice with the broth, and the taste is absolutely amazing!
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