Zhou Sui only learned about this the next day at noon, by which time Li Qiuju had already gone out to buy groceries.
She had no objections. Zhou Dayong had worked at the brick factory for more than half a year and had developed some friendships with the workers there, which was only natural.
"Dad, are you going to drink alcohol with dinner later?" This was the only question Zhou Sui cared about.
Faced with his daughter's bright eyes, Zhou Dayong quickly shook his head, "Didn't Dad promise you that I wouldn't drink?"
Zhou Sui was finally satisfied. "Okay, you can entertain your friends tonight, and Mom and I will cook."
When buying groceries, Li Qiuju was not stingy. She bought a piece of pork belly and a piece of pork leg, and also asked Zhou Dayong to kill a chicken.
Zhou Dayong was almost reluctant to eat the chicken; apart from Chinese New Year, when had his family ever eaten so much meat at once?
"Don't kill the chicken, two meat dishes are enough."
Li Qiuju glanced at him and said, "My daughter said that our family is not short of money for meat. Just kill it if you're told to."
"Our Sui Sui hasn't had chicken in a long time. This chicken is mainly for family consumption. After it's cooked, we'll also send some over to Mom and my younger brother and sister-in-law."
The Zhou family has always been like this: whichever branch of the family makes something delicious will share it with the other branch, and Old Mrs. Zhou will also send some over.
All things considered, Li Qiuju didn't buy much meat or chicken.
Zhou Dayong quickly bled the chicken with a swift stroke of his knife. "If Sui Sui likes it, we'll save it for her. Xu will be back tonight, so she can have some too."
Time flies, and it's almost the weekend. Zhou Xu is a boarding student and goes home every Friday.
Thinking that his son and daughter could eat chicken, Zhou Dayong no longer felt bad about the cost.
Li Qiuju didn't want her daughter to cook, but Zhou Sui insisted on doing it, so Li Qiuju could only help out from the sidelines.
The pork belly is used to make braised pork, which takes a long time to stew. Zhou Sui blanched it and then started to render the fat.
At this time, the pigs were all domesticated, fed little by little with pig feed and grain, and their meat was very fatty. As soon as they were fried, the oil would sizzle and ooze out.
Considering that there were many men eating today and that the food was oily, she didn't fry the meat too dry. After scooping out the excess lard, Zhou Sui brought over the sugar jar.
Li Qiuju, who was adding fuel to the fire, hurriedly stopped her, "Sui Sui, that's sugar, not salt."
Zhou Sui scooped a spoonful of sugar into the pot and stirred it quickly. "Mom, that's what you need to add sugar. I'm making the sugar caramel."
Li Qiuju looked at the sugar and meat mixed together in the pot, her expression somewhat bewildered. "Then isn't this meat sweet?"
She has been cooking for decades and has never added sugar when stir-frying meat.
Zhou Sui poured the prepared spices, ginger, scallions, and garlic into the pot before explaining to Li Qiuju, "It's not sweet. The sugar is just to enhance the flavor. You can taste it after it's cooked and see if it's sweet."
She learned the saying "less sugar, less salt to enhance flavor" from her past life when she worked as a nanny at her biological parents' house, and the dishes she made were indeed delicious.
Li Qiuju was skeptical, but in the end she sat back down on the stool and continued tending the fire.
After frying the spices until fragrant, Zhou Sui added soy sauce for color, and finally poured in boiling water. The aroma was released by the hot water and filled the kitchen.
Li Qiuju sniffed. "It smells nice."
Zhou Sui cooks differently from her. When she makes braised pork, she doesn't stir-fry it after blanching it. She just adds the seasonings and starts stewing it. This extra step makes it smell different.
Other dishes were to be stir-fried on top of the large pot, so Zhou Sui found a small earthenware pot, poured in the braised pork, and placed it on the honeycomb briquette fire to simmer slowly.
Next, the chicken needs to be processed. This chicken is quite fat, and even after bleeding it and removing its internal organs, it still weighs four or five pounds. Zhou Sui decided to stew half of it into chicken soup and stir-fry the other half.
There's only one big stove and one small brazier in the house, which isn't enough.
"I'll go to your grandma's house and bring the small stove over." Just as Li Qiuju was about to get up, Zhou Sui had already opened her mouth and called out to the outside.
"Dad, we don't have enough fire at home. Let's go to Grandma's house and borrow a stove."
Zhou Dayong wasn't good at kitchen work, but he could run errands without any problem.
This small stove has a low heat output, which is perfect for stewing chicken soup. The cleaned chicken was put directly into the pot. Since there wasn't much else at home to stew, Zhou Sui added some scallions and ginger.
Sometimes, the simpler the cooking method, the more authentic the flavor of the food.
Zhou Sui plans to stir-fry the remaining half with potatoes and mushrooms, which will make a small bowlful.
There's also a piece of hind leg meat that can be used to make twice-cooked pork. While the twice-cooked pork is cooking, you can start preparing the side dishes.
Zhou Dayong's coworkers arrived around five o'clock. There were three of them, and they all lived in the same room.
They were all carrying things, and Zhou Sui only glanced at them through the window, not knowing what was inside.
Zhou Dayong welcomed them into the main room, and Li Qiuju brought over the prepared tea.
It took Li Qiuju a while to come back. "Your dad's coworkers are too kind. They've come all this way, so just buy them something. There's fruit and candy."
“You always prepare a lot of food for Dad when he goes back to the brick factory, and there must be some for them too. They remember that and they will never come empty-handed.”
Zhou Sui felt that this was a two-way street, and that her family was genuinely treating them well.
When the guests arrived, Zhou Sui quickened her pace, slicing the hind leg meat into thin slices, the fat almost transparent. Li Qiuju was amazed by Zhou Sui's knife skills.
"I've never seen you cut this well before. It seems like you've improved all of a sudden."
Zhou Sui smiled but didn't say anything. This knife skill was something she had honed in her previous life, but now she finally had the chance to show it to Li Qiuju.
Cooking over a stove is quick. Zhou Sui first stir-fried the chicken, and Li Qiuju put three portions on a plate. One portion was given to Zhang Cui, another smaller portion was kept for Zhou Xu, and the larger portion was to be served later.
“Your grandma will be coming over to eat later, so there’s no need to pack any more dishes for her,” Li Qiuju explained when she saw her daughter’s confusion.
Zhou Sui didn't say anything, washed the pot and continued to cook. Next, she cooked Mapo Tofu and Hot and Sour Shredded Potatoes. Both of these dishes were extremely appetizing. Just looking at them on the plate made people's mouths water.
"While these dishes are still hot, I'll take them to your second aunt and call your grandma over for dinner." Li Qiuju carried the chicken and braised pork out.
The last piece of garlic-flavored greens in Zhou Sui's pot was ready, and Zhou Dayong in the main room had already set the dining table.
"Sui Sui, Dad's bringing out the dishes?" Several dishes were already laid out on the stove.
"Okay, you can serve it now." Zhou Sui had been watching them chat and was thinking of serving all the dishes at once, otherwise people would be eating while the kitchen staff were still busy.
Zhou Dayong carried two plates of food over first, and Zhou Sui put out the fire and carried them over before following him.
As soon as I reached the window, I heard a rough voice say...
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