After returning home, Lu Ze went back to the seaside to return the boat to the family compound and register the boat loan for the next day.
We'll collect the branches when the tide goes out tomorrow.
Yu Yao led Wu Huaiqing to the cooking squad to borrow a scale for weighing pigs, and weighed all four bags and two baskets of squid twice after peeling them.
They collected over 200 kilograms of squid.
According to the purchase price at the dock this morning, a pound of squid can sell for 27 cents. Not counting the odd change, 240 pounds of squid can sell for 64.8 yuan.
Sixty-four yuan may not seem like much, but it represents the result of more than an hour of hard work for them, and it's equivalent to two months' wages for an average worker.
That's equivalent to getting over sixty yuan for free.
Everyone had smiles on their faces as Wu Huaiqing and Cui Zhizhou moved the squid into the kitchen.
Looking at the squid scattered all over the floor, Yu Yao was incredibly glad that she had expanded the kitchen.
After moving here, Lu Ze knew that Yu Yao liked to cook. The original kitchen was not very big, so when he found someone to bring in spring water, he also found someone to renovate the kitchen and the bathroom.
Yu Yao's kitchen is now twice the size of the original kitchen, and it's the only one like it in the entire residential compound.
When the quartermaster came to visit last time, he joked that her family could run a state-run restaurant.
Furthermore, Lu Ze laid stone floors in the kitchen and bathroom, so no matter how much water was on the ground, it wouldn't become a mud puddle.
We need to get rid of these squid as soon as possible, otherwise they'll lose their freshness.
Yu Yao suggested processing the squid according to a factory assembly line.
“Lu Ze is good with a knife, so he’ll be in charge of handling the internal organs and the head. Brother, you’ll be in charge of skinning. Dad, rinse off the mud and blood… Mom and I will be in charge of threading and drying.”
Wu Wanying and the others had no objections, "Let's do as Zhizhi says."
After the arrangements were made, everyone got busy.
They only picked fresh, intact, and large squid, which are particularly suitable for processing into dried squid.
Dried squid, also known as dried squid in some places, can be prepared in four main ways: lightly dried, salted dried, smoked, or braised and then sun-dried.
The simplest and most convenient method is sun-drying, which involves cleaning the squid and then air-drying it directly.
This processing method not only preserves the original flavor of the squid well, but also eliminates the need to worry about it being too salty after soaking because it doesn't contain much salt, saving the trouble of soaking it multiple times.
Yu Yao plans to dry all the squid in the sun, and collect the rest tomorrow at low tide to use other processing methods, aiming for a comprehensive approach.
In the world of foodies, everyone tries their best to cater to everyone's tastes whenever possible.
Yu Yao went inside to get a hemp rope, while Wu Wanying went to the woodshed to get bamboo strips and mats that were drying.
Previously, Yu Yao had specially exchanged industrial coupons with villagers from nearby production teams to dry oysters, and now it couldn't be more convenient to use them to dry squid.
The sun is strong and the temperature is high now, so things dry quickly.
Yesterday, Yu Yao touched the dried oysters she had dried, and they were almost dry, so she put them in an empty rice bag.
Nearly one and a half buckets of oyster meat, after being dried, weighed only five or six pounds, a significant reduction in size. A ten-pound rice bag was only half full.
Dried oysters are cooked and then sun-dried. They can be eaten directly after drying. Yu Yao picked one up and tried the taste, and her eyes lit up.
Dried oysters are plump, fresh, and chewy, with a sweet aftertaste.
This quality of dried oysters is absolutely top-grade.
To prevent the dried oysters from getting damp, Yu Yao went to the stove entrance, put some wood ash in a small cloth bag, and placed it inside the dried oysters.
Of the 240-plus kilograms of squid, aside from the portion set aside to give to friends, the remaining 200 kilograms were all used to dry in the sun.
A 2.2-meter by 2.2-meter bamboo mat was covered with the cleaned squid. Since the mat couldn't be dried completely, the squid were laid out to dry on bamboo strips. Once the strips were full, they were tied together with hemp rope and hung to dry.
There's no need to use bamboo skewers to stretch it out; the sun is strong now, so it won't not dry properly.
Two hundred pounds of squid were drying all over the yard.
During the peak squid season a while ago, many members of production teams near the sea would go to the beach to collect squid to sell.
But military compounds aren't near the sea, so at most people would just pick up some food to improve their lives; very few people would be lucky enough to encounter so many squid.
Fortunately, their yard was secluded and not many people came by on weekdays, otherwise they would have been quite surprised.
Wu Wanying looked at the squid and nodded in satisfaction, "You've chosen a good courtyard."
Yu Yao and Lu Ze exchanged a smile. "We also think this courtyard is a great choice."
Lu Ze accompanied Yu Yao to deliver some of the remaining squid to Sun Yu's family and Su Meihua.
When the two families saw so many squid, they assumed that Yu Yao had bought them. At first, they declined, but after they found out that she had picked them up, they didn't stand on ceremony with Yu Yao anymore.
We collected so many squid today, so we'll have squid for dinner: stir-fried squid with soy sauce, squid and pork rib soup, cold squid salad, and stir-fried squid with chili peppers...
Yu Yao said that Wu Wanying made ten different squid dishes.
After a satisfying meal, the five of them took chairs and sat down in the courtyard to rest. On a bamboo table nearby were seasonal fruits such as passion fruit, mango, and lychee.
Wu Wanying also made a fruit-based dessert soup.
On a hot summer evening, a bowl of refreshing dessert soup is one of life's greatest pleasures, but it would be a bit of a torment to only be able to look at it and not eat it.
Yu Yao looked at Lu Ze pitifully, "Lu Ze, I want to eat."
Wu Wanying glared at her, "Don't even think about it. Dr. Cai said you can only eat ice after you've fully recovered."
"Just a little bit isn't enough. I won't eat much, just let me have a taste."
Wu Wanying coldly refused.
Yu Yao knew that begging her mother was useless, so she could only look at Lu Ze.
Lu Ze couldn't bear to refuse her. "Mom, Dr. Cai said it's okay to eat a small amount, so let her have a bite."
Yu Yao looked at Wu Wanying pitifully, "Just one bite, isn't one bite enough?"
Cui Zhizhou and Wu Huaiqing also pleaded for Yu Yao.
Seeing her like this, Wu Wanying softened. "It's a promise, you can't eat more than one bite. That's all."
Lu Ze handed over his ceramic spoon.
Yu Yao glanced at it and refused, "I don't need your spoon, I want mine."
After saying that, he went inside. Not long after, Yu Yao came out with a soup spoon. "I'll use this spoon."
Although it was a soup spoon, Yu Yao was holding the smallest one, which was only slightly larger than their spoons.
Wu Wanying didn't say anything.
When Yu Yao saw that she had agreed, she smiled and moved closer to Lu Ze, took a spoonful of Qingbuliang (a type of sweet soup), put it in her bowl, and ate it slowly and with great relish.
By the afternoon of the second day, the squid had dried completely after a morning and an afternoon of drying.
Yu Yao directed Lu Ze to pack all the dried squid into clean fertilizer bags. The two then closed the door and went to the purchasing station to sell the squid.
The purchasing station was not far from the supply and marketing cooperative and was also close to the dock.
When Yu Yao and her group arrived, there were other people selling dried squid. They waited in line for a few minutes before it was their turn.
As soon as she arrived at the front, Yu Yao saw today's purchase price displayed on a small blackboard.
Squid prices have gone up.
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