Chapter 94 Stewed Badger
Sheng Xiping's group caught more than ten badgers, which immediately stunned the other two groups.
Everyone stared in disbelief at the huge pile of badgers on the ground, at a loss for words.
"Hey, can someone go home and get a pot?"
"Let's skin these badgers, render the oil, and stew a pot for lunch," Sheng Xiping asked, glancing at the people around him.
It's too much trouble to take so many badgers back to the forest farm.
Why not just skin and extract the oil on the spot, and let the female educated youth watch as she renders the oil?
Let's stew some badger meat and radishes for lunch and have everyone eat together.
Badgers spend all their time underground, so their meat has an earthy smell that nothing else can mask.
It only tastes good when stewed with radishes and seasoned with more spices.
These dozen or so badgers, even after removing the fat, still have quite a bit of meat left. The big guys don't get much oil or fat every day, so they're all pretty hungry.
They were, after all, a team of educated youth. Sheng Xiping didn't get along with Sun Yunpeng and his group, but he got along quite well with the people in Guo Yongping's group.
At this point, let's not worry about anything else. Let's just stew a big pot, buy some pancakes from the cafeteria at noon, and have a hearty meal together.
Sheng Xiping's group reaped huge rewards, and it would be a lie to say that the other two groups weren't envious.
On the day of the group assignments, everyone agreed that whichever group caught a badger would eat it, and the group that didn't would just watch.
So, although Guo Yongping's group was envious, they didn't say anything.
Upon hearing Sheng Xiping's words, someone immediately jumped up.
"My family has a 10-inch pot, enough to scald even a hair's breadth of dirt, that's definitely enough."
"Okay, then I'll go back and get it."
Qinglan, Fengying, and Hongxia, could you please go back and get some basins, jars, knives, chopping boards, and the like?
I'd appreciate it if you could all prepare something for lunch today.
Sheng Xiping smiled and looked at Zhou Qinglan and the other female educated youths. Cooking was still a task that women had to do.
“Once badger oil is rendered, we should share some with everyone. That stuff is great for treating burns, scalds, and frostbite.”
With so many badgers, you could easily render at least twenty pounds of oil.
This stuff is rarely eaten; it's mostly saved for future use. Each family gets a small bottle, and it lasts a long time.
Sheng Xiping wasn't being recklessly generous; even if he didn't say anything now, people would definitely come asking for it later once they found out.
It would be better to just sell it off cleanly and avoid all the trouble.
Several female educated youths were quite happy to hear this. Tang Fengying and a few others whose families lived in the forest farm immediately went home to get their things.
Sheng Xiping and the others left last night and hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, so they took the opportunity to go home and have a meal.
By the way, I also took the two dogs home for food.
After a while, everyone who had eaten returned, and all the pots, pans, and utensils were ready.
Sheng Xiping and the others quickly skinned and fattened the badgers. Someone set up a temporary stove, fetched water, washed the pot clean, and started a fire.
The badger oil was extracted and thrown into a basin, where several female educated youths readily cut it into large chunks.
Then pour it into a large pot, add a little water, and start rendering the oil.
Once the badger oil is rendered, pour it into several enamel basins.
Then the female educated youth went to the field and picked a lot of big radishes, washed them and cut them into pieces. They also chopped the badger meat into pieces, which they would stew later.
Now, the courtyard of the collective household became lively. The male educated youth were busy tidying up the house, while the female educated youth were busy cooking.
The badger meat was boiled three times to remove most of the earthy smell before being stewed with seasonings.
After listening to Sheng Xiping's words, Zhou Qinglan added more seasoning.
Tang Fengying even went to the forest and cut two sections of Schisandra chinensis vine to put in the pot.
In this way, the earthy smell was suppressed, and the whole yard was filled with the aroma of stewed meat.
Once the meat is tender, add the washed and chopped radish pieces and simmer for a while longer.
At this stage, the radishes aren't quite ready to be eaten raw; they're not crisp enough.
In local parlance, it means it hasn't been cooked yet; it tastes better when eaten raw after a while.
However, it's perfectly fine for stewing.
At noon, some people went home to get flatbread and pancakes, while others went to the canteen to buy flatbread.
Then each person filled their lunchbox with meat and radish, found a place to sit down and eat.
Badger meat is very tender, and when stewed with radishes, it has a unique flavor.
Everyone ate a good meal, and their mouths were all glistening with oil.
After lunch, everyone was so full they were burping and wished they could find a place to take a nap.
"Oh dear, let's hurry up and get the house ready so that we'll have a place to lie down after we finish our work. Life will be so comfortable."
Someone leaned against a tree stump and said lazily.
In the afternoon, Zhou Qinglan and the others poured the cooled badger oil into several bottles.
People these days are very careful with their money; they don't want to throw away any kind of glass bottle, they keep it.
This is just what I needed. I filled it with some badger oil, covered the bottle opening with a cloth, and then secured it with a rubber band from my braid. It fit perfectly.
In the evening, most people took some badger oil home, and when their families found out, they couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Look at Sheng Xiping, how amazing he is, catching so many badgers in one night.
Badger oil is a valuable commodity, and everyone carefully stores it away.
It is important to know that winter is the golden season for timber production. In the Changbai Mountain area, the winters are extremely cold, and even with the best labor protection, it is still difficult to avoid frostbite.
Apply badger oil to the chilblains and warm them over a fire; the chilblains will heal after a few applications. It's a good product, but hard to find.
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