Chapter 201 My Wife's Tofu
The swollen soybeans turned into snow-white slurry under the action of the stone mill and flowed out. Along with a slight hissing sound, a lot of white foam appeared, like white clouds.
"Dad, what is this?"
While Lin Heng and Xiulan were not paying attention, Xiaoxia picked up a lot of white foam with her little hands and played with it curiously.
"This is delicious. I'll give it to you when it's ready." Lin Heng looked at her and answered, then carried her away.
In Lin Heng's arms, Xiaoxia playfully smeared foam on his face. Lin Heng touched his little face helplessly and said, "Just stay here obediently. There will be delicious food later."
Xiaoxia was quite well behaved. She played with the foam on her hands and didn't come to make trouble again. After a while, Lin Heng and Xiulan finished grinding the soybeans.
Fifty kilograms of soybeans were ground into five buckets of coarse pulp. After washing away all the residue on the stone mill, Lin Heng looked at his mother and said with a smile: "How is it, Mom? Isn't it much faster than grinding by yourself?"
Mother Lin raised her chin and said, "The ones ground by cows are not as delicious as the ones ground by hands."
This made Lin Heng laugh: "Okay, you can just grind it slowly by hand next time."
Her mother is simply an early soul-eater.
After saying that, he carried two buckets of ground pulp and walked back. Xiulan took Xiaoxia back to boil water.
Next, you need to boil water to dilute the crude slurry and blanch it. Finally, remove the foam and filter out the bean dregs with a cloth bag. What is left is soy milk.
There were only two big pots in his room and they definitely couldn't make 50 kilograms of tofu.
But Lin Heng also had a plan to deal with it. He simply took out a large wooden basin with a diameter of two meters and a height of fifty centimeters, poured clean water into it and boiled it directly with a hot water pot.
While the water was boiling, Xiulan prepared some gypsum for tofu and cut the wormwood into thin strips to make wormwood tofu.
Lin Hengze put some dried chilies and garlic in a small stone mortar and crushed them into garlic chili sauce to prepare for the tofu pudding he would eat later.
After finishing, Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and asked, "Do you still want to eat ordinary cabbage and tofu?"
Lin Heng looked at the pot of chopped mugwort, smiled and shook his head, saying, "No need, mugwort tofu is delicious. If you want, you can make some."
Ordinary vegetable tofu is made from cabbage leaves and tastes pretty good.
"Then let's make some. The water isn't boiling yet anyway." Xiulan thought for a moment, picked some cabbage leaves and chopped them up, preparing to make tofu later.
After waiting for more than half an hour, the water in the wooden basin finally became hot. Lin Heng and Xiulan immediately stood up and poured the ground pulp into it. After stirring it evenly, it was time to filter it.
Place the wooden rack on top of the pot, and then place a small square basket on top, with a cloth bag in the basket.
Filtering tofu is a very physically demanding job, so Lin Heng naturally took on this job at home.
Xiulan rolled up Lin Heng's sleeves and said with a smile, "Take your time. If you get burned, just cool it in the water."
"good."
Lin Heng nodded, opened the white cloth bag, and Xiulan scooped the diluted pulp into it.
The gaps in the cloth bag were very small and required constant pressure to squeeze the soy milk out. The coarse milk was hot, so Lin Heng had to stop and touch some cold water after pressing a few times.
It took them twenty minutes to filter out a pot of soy milk. Looking at the remaining coarse milk in the wooden barrel, Lin Heng felt a little overwhelmed, so he could filter at least three more pots.
The two pots in his house are both large iron pots with a diameter of one meter, but even so, it takes four pots to filter everything.
Xiulan looked at his red hands and suggested, "How about we take a break and then do it again?"
Lin Heng shook his head and pointed to another big pot and said, "Make another one. We can't leave this pot empty."
Moreover, the temperature of the coarse pulp has dropped a lot, so the soy milk that Lin Heng squeezes and filters is not so hot anymore.
It took another half an hour to filter out the other pot of soy milk.
Xiulan wiped the sweat off his face and said with a smile, "Just sit there and take a rest. Leave the rest to me."
"Okay." Lin Heng took Xiaoxia to sit aside.
Xiaoxia curiously asked Lin Heng what he was cooking. When she found out that it was sweet, her little mouth opened and she swallowed her saliva.
…
"Dad, when can I drink?"
Every once in a while, Xiaoxia would ask like this in a baby voice.
"It's already healed."
Lin Heng said with a smile.
The soy milk was originally half-boiled, and after Xiulan added fire and boiled it for a while, it boiled.
"Here you go. Wait for it to cool down before drinking."
Xiulan served a bowl to Lin Heng and Xiaoxia and put a lot of sugar in it.
When it cooled down a little, Xiaoxia couldn't wait to take a sip.
This was her first time drinking soy milk. The rich bean flavor and sweetness after taking a sip made her stunned, and then she started drinking it in big gulps.
"Mom, more~"
She finished her small bowl in one breath, then ran to Xiulan with the bowl and asked for it in a baby voice.
But Xiulan didn't give it to her. Instead, she said, "There will be something more delicious later."
Being rejected by her mother, she turned her head and looked at Lin Heng who had not finished drinking yet. She looked at him eagerly and whispered, "Dad, I want to drink more."
Lin Heng poured her a little bit, and then drank the rest in one gulp in front of her.
Xiaoxia seemed to know that she had run out of drink, so she took the spoon and drank it one spoonful at a time.
Xiulan turned down the heat a little and started ordering tofu.
The first pot of tofu is not used for cooking. It is all made into tofu and is prepared to be used to make dried tofu or fermented tofu.
They use gypsum to make tofu here, and some use brine, but the tofu made with brine is too hard and not as soft as the one made with gypsum.
As gypsum water is added little by little, you can gradually see the tofu pudding appear. Keep doing this until the tofu is completely formed and the water turns into a clear yellow color.
This process sounds simple, but the amount of water in the gypsum is a test of one's experience. Too much of it is bad for people, and too little of it will make the tofu unclear.
However, Xiulan used to make and sell tofu, so ordering tofu was a piece of cake for her and she rarely made any mistakes.
After ordering, take out the tofu mold and let the tofu be formed. Lin Heng’s family uses a square mold made of wood, and there are also ones woven with bamboo.
There are small drainage holes on the bottom and around the mold. You can put tofu cloth inside and scoop out the tofu pudding and pour it in. Two pots of tofu pudding can just fill this tofu mold with a side length of 40 cm.
Wrap the tofu with cloth, cover it with a lid and press it tightly with a 50-jin stone. Wait for an hour or two and the tofu will be formed.
After finishing, Xiulan took Lin Heng's hand and looked at the time. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon.
She looked up at Lin Heng and said, "Let's get started. We'll try to finish it before dark."
"good."
Lin Heng naturally had no objection to this. He added a little hot water to the cold pulp in the wooden basin, stirred it evenly, and then filtered it with boiling water.
Half an hour later, Lin Heng looked at the wooden basin and saw that there was still a lot of pulp left. He said, "This is more than we expected. It can't even fit in two pots."
The remaining rough paste is about half a pot, which is more troublesome.
Xiulan looked at Lin Heng and said, "It's okay. I'll make these into tofu skin later. Do you want to eat tofu skin or oil skin?"
Tofu skin is made by adding gypsum to soy milk and then placing it in a mold, then pouring it layer by layer and covering it with gauze. This process is repeated over and over again. It is essentially a very thin tofu.
There is no need to clear the oil skin. Put the soy milk in a pot and heat it. A thin layer of skin will naturally condense on the surface of the soy milk. Pick it out and let it cool to make the oil skin.
Oil skin is much thinner than bean skin, and the taste of the two is also different.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "Can we have some of them? We'll have hot pot in a few days."
Xiulan blinked: "Of course, just accompany me."
"That's fine."
Lin Heng patted his chest and assured.
Then they started making tofu again. After the soy milk boiled, Xiulan put the chopped wormwood directly into the pot, stirred it evenly, and started to make tofu.
As the tofu curd solidifies, the wormwood becomes the backbone and solidifies into each piece of tofu curd.
"I'll go out and call some people." Lin Heng said, and went to call his parents, older brother and others.
Tofu was a very precious thing in rural areas at that time. It was usually only made during the Chinese New Year. During this time, the whole family would gather together to drink soy milk and eat tofu pudding.
"Mom, Dad, and elder brother are here to eat tofu pudding." Lin Heng walked over and said with a smile.
"I want to eat. I'll go first." Caiyun had just come back, and when she heard it was tofu pudding, she was the first to run over.
"Okay, I'll be right there!"
No one else refused either. Everyone knew that they didn't need this little thing right now. Besides, Lin Heng didn't like his family members being polite to each other. It was too boring.
On the way back, I called my sister-in-law and three sons.
Lin Wei was doing his homework. When he heard about eating tofu pudding, he got up and ran away with Lin Heng. His mother couldn't stop him even if she called him.
After a while, a total of 11 people gathered in the main hall of Lin Heng's house, and their laughter could be heard from far away.
Lin Heng looked at everyone and asked with a smile: "Do you eat tofu pudding with mugwort or without mugwort?"
"I want mugwort with chili peppers," said Father Lin.
"I want some mugwort too." Lin Yue said with a smile.
Almost all adults choose Artemisia tofu pudding, and they want it salty with garlic and chili.
Lin Wei looked at Lin Heng and said loudly: "I want something sweet!"
Everyone looked at him in unison, feeling as if they were looking at an alien.
"What's wrong?" Lin Wei asked weakly.
"No, it's good." Lin Heng smiled slightly, went in and scooped tofu pudding for everyone with Xiulan.
Xiaoxia also got a bowl of sweet tofu pudding and lay there eating it with Lin Wei and Lin Tao.
Lin Heng's bowl contained a bowl of Artemisia annua and tofu pudding. The Artemisia annua and tofu were blended very evenly. Adding the salty garlic and chili, he felt completely satisfied after taking one bite.
The tofu is soft and tender, full of bean fragrance, and has the taste and texture of wormwood, which makes it soft and chewy.
Coupled with the rich aroma of chili and garlic, this wonderful taste and aroma can make people cry, especially in this era of extreme scarcity of material resources.
Everyone ate in silence, with happy smiles on their faces. From time to time someone would say the food was delicious, and then continue eating.
“It feels so good!”
After blowing it, Lin Heng sighed and said that although it was very spicy, it was really delicious.
The garlic chili was a bit spicy, and Xiulan was sucking it, her cheeks turning red.
"tasty!"
Xiaoxia had finished the food in her bowl and looked up at Lin Heng and Xiulan, indicating that she wanted more.
Lin Heng thought for a moment and said, "Then let's get her some more. It's still early for bedtime anyway."
"Okay." Xiulan nodded and scooped some more for Xiaoxia.
After scooping some for Xiaoxia, Xiulan looked at her parents and said, "Mom, Dad, big brother, and sister-in-law, would you like some more too?"
Father Lin shook his head: "No, a little is enough for me to eat. I still have to make tofu."
"Yes, that's enough." Lin Yue also said.
As they talked, they washed the bowls. Xiulan had to scoop some for Lin Wei and the other children, and the rest was made into tofu.
The box of tofu that was made earlier was successful. Xiulan took it out and placed it on the chopping board, then scooped the new tofu pudding into it.
The mugwort tofu was made in a tofu box that I got from Lin’s father.
After all this was done, it was already dark, and Lin's father and his friends left one after another. When Lin's mother heard that Lin Heng was going to feed the bean dregs to the musk deer and horses, she asked for some to make steamed buns for herself.
Lin Heng was helpless. His mother was too frugal, but this habit had been formed for forty years and he had no way to change it. He could only give her some bean dregs back.
This habit can only be changed slowly in the years to come.
After they left, Xiulan started making tofu skin. She first made thirty sheets of oil skin, and then made more than ten sheets of tofu skin with the tofu. Unlike pressing tofu, the tofu skin has to be pressed very heavy.
Lin Heng placed a wooden basin directly on it, and when filled with water it weighed more than two hundred pounds.
"Finally finished, I'm so tired."
Xiulan took a deep breath and looked at the three boxes of tofu, which weighed more than 130 kilograms in total.
Generally speaking, one pound of soybeans can produce two to three pounds of tofu, and four to five pounds of fat-free tofu.
Tofu contains a lot of water, but this amount is not too much.
Lin Heng hugged his daughter and said with a smile: "What do you want to eat? I will make it for you."
Xiulan shook her head: "Let me do it. You are very tired. Let's go and rest after we eat the noodles."
"That's fine." Lin Heng nodded.
It was already past nine o'clock when they finished dinner, and it was almost ten o'clock when Lin Heng finished reading a book and telling a story to Xiaoxia.
After going to bed, I lay down peacefully, staring at the dancing flames in the fireplace.
Xiulan hugged Lin Heng, and they both fell asleep while in a daze.
Lin Heng had a nightmare at night. In the dream, he went hunting with his elder brother. While walking in the mountains, suddenly there were dense swarms of poisonous snakes all around them, and they could not kill them all.
Not only were there poisonous snakes, but a giant snake also appeared and swallowed the two exhausted people directly into its stomach.
Lin Heng was awakened in the middle of the night. He took several deep breaths, and when he felt Xiulan was beside him, his heart gradually calmed down.
"Why would I suddenly have such a dream in the middle of the night?"
Lin Heng didn't understand, he had never thought about anything like this.
He hugged Xiulan tightly, and the feeling gradually disappeared, but he could no longer sleep.
"What's wrong?"
Xiulan felt Lin Heng's movements and woke up in a daze.
"Nothing, just a nightmare. I'll go add some wood to the fireplace."
Lin Heng shook his head, got up and added some firewood to the fireplace, then went to the toilet using the chamber pot.
Looking at the time, it was only four o'clock in the morning. Lin Heng breathed a sigh of relief and continued to rest.
"It's okay, I'm here." Xiulan hugged Lin Heng tightly, patted his back and said softly.
"Um!"
Feeling my wife's warm embrace, the horror of the dream just now gradually disappeared.
It was so nice to have someone to accompany him. He couldn't help but recall the feeling of waking up alone from a nightmare.
Finally, chapter 200.
(End of this chapter)
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