Chapter 87 Zongzi
Xu Qingmeng wiped the earthenware jar, and asked Xinting to bring a clean large basin. She poured the high-proof liquor she had bought into it, and then rolled the duck eggs in the liquor to ensure that each duck egg was coated with the liquor. She then put the duck eggs covered with liquor into the earthenware jar.
There are many different methods for pickling duck eggs in modern times, including salt water pickling, wine lees pickling, soy sauce pickling, and of course pickling with wood ash and yellow mud.
Xu Qingmeng uses the simplest saturated salt water pickling method. Although this method is simple, the duck eggs pickled in this way can easily produce oil. The duck eggs pickled in this way are very fragrant.
Xinting had already boiled the water in advance. Xu Qingmeng slowly added salt into the pot and then kept stirring it until the salt no longer dissolved and sediment appeared at the bottom of the pot. The saturated salt water was ready.
Then pour saturated brine into the clay jar containing the duck eggs, making sure the duck eggs are completely submerged in the brine, then pour in a little white wine and finally seal the lid. The salted duck eggs are now ready. After a month, you can start eating them.
Several people moved the clay jar to a cool place.
"Aunt, are the salted duck eggs ready? They look simple."
"Yes, it's ready. Keep it in a cool place and it will be ready to eat in about a month."
"It seems to have taken a long time, but since it was made by my aunt, it must be correct."
"If you eat this salted duck egg like this, it will probably be very salty. This is more suitable for eating with porridge."
As the two were talking, He came in and saw the earthenware jar in the corner and said:
"Meng Niang, have you two finished memorizing it?"
"Well, this pickling is very simple and does not take much time."
"After what you did to me, I'm curious about what it tastes like."
"You can eat it in a month."
Now that there are enough people, Xu Qingmeng only needs to season the braised food in the evening, and she is no longer needed to sell it.
Mrs. Huang was still recruiting people for the pastry shop, so Xu Qingmeng naturally had some free time. However, in order to make Western-style pastries in the future, she had to have someone build a baking kiln, or bread kiln, first. But the first thing was to draw a rough blueprint.
As well as the general direction of the renovation, once that is decided, the workers can start work.
The weather was getting warmer and the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching. Xu Qingmeng planned to make some rice dumplings and sell them in the shop. He had never had any objection to her words, so she asked Shen Jinwen to send two bags of glutinous rice and rice leaves suitable for making rice dumplings.
Shen Jinwen's grocery store has everything. Basically, whatever you want, his store has it. The rice dumplings leaves are tied up in bundles.
The leaves used for making rice dumplings in the south are generally bamboo leaves, chopstick leaves, and cinnamon bamboo leaves. Yan County also belongs to the southern region, but its actual geographical location is relatively northerly, so the leaves used for making rice dumplings are mostly bamboo leaves and reed leaves.
Bamboo leaves are usually dry and yellowish in color, while reed leaves are fresh green and have a fragrant flavor.
In Shen's grocery store, there are both types. Bamboo leaves are short and wide, and reed leaves are long and thin. There are several bundles of both types, which were delivered by Shen Jinwen himself.
"Boss Shen, how come you have time to come here today?" Shen Jinwen is usually very busy and never comes to visit someone without a reason. If he comes, it must be for something.
Shen Jinwen walked into the kitchen and said with a smile: "First, the mushroom meat sauce made later is very popular with wealthy families, and the amount will probably be increased later. Secondly, didn't you hear that Madam Gu was planning to make zongzi, so you came to take a look."
Xu Qingmeng smiled. The two families were now very familiar with each other, and she also knew Shen Jinwen. He was indeed a real foodie.
Gu Yunyi and He were also in the kitchen at this moment. Mrs. Tang and Aunt Li went back to wash their sleeves after washing the braised food. Xinting and the eldest sister-in-law of the Xu family had worked hard in the morning and afternoon, and were still resting in the house.
He smiled and said, "It's a festival now, so we eat zongzi to have some fun. We used to eat sweet zongzi, and we've never heard of salty zongzi. Boss Shen is very knowledgeable, has he heard of it?"
Most of the time, He ate plain rice dumplings dipped in sugar, or rice dumplings with candied dates. But Xu Qingmeng was different. She prepared red bean rice dumplings. He could understand the sweet taste, but she had never heard of the salty taste.
But Xu Qingmeng had also marinated a large pot of meat, preparing to make salty meat dumplings.
Shen Jinwen's taste for food is really comparable to Xu Qingmeng's, except that he only knows how to eat, not how to cook.
As soon as He said this, Shen Jinwen immediately became energetic and said with a smile: "Aunt, you finally asked the right person. Maybe here, the sound of meat dumplings is not very reliable, but if you eat it once, the taste will definitely make you want to eat another one after eating one."
After Shen Jinwen said this, He and others had high expectations for this so-called meat rice dumpling.
"Mrs. Gu, I just wonder if you can wrap the egg yolk?"
"Boss Shen also knows about egg yolk dumplings?"
"I was lucky enough to have tasted it once, the taste was so good~"
"Yes, it is. It's just the egg yolk. I just pickled the salted duck egg. I don't have any ingredients?"
"I have salted duck eggs in my store. I just got them from a friend. Not many people here know how to pickle salted duck eggs? I didn't expect that Madam Gu also has this skill?"
"What about the price of the salted duck eggs?"
"Don't worry, Madam Gu, if you want it, I can pay you the original price. I just don't know if the salted duck eggs will be ready after they are pickled..."
Before Shen Jinwen finished speaking, Xu Qingmeng already understood what he wanted to say and nodded.
Smart people understand everyone’s purpose without having to say it out loud.
Shen Jinwen went back and asked the waiter to deliver the salted duck eggs to Xu Qingmeng.
However, the rice dumplings cannot be made right away. The glutinous rice and rice leaves need to be soaked in water, and the meat also needs to be marinated. As for the salted duck eggs brought by the waiter, only the yolks were taken, which made He feel like a waste.
Even if Shen Jinwen gave the original price, it would still be very expensive!
"Meng Niang, this is too wasteful, isn't it? How expensive would this zongzi be?"
"No, Mom, there are many ways to eat egg whites. You can use them in cooking, steaming eggs, making soup, and even making pancakes. They won't be wasted."
That night, Xu Qingmeng prepared a whole table full of dishes, all of which were mainly made with salted duck egg whites.
Xu Qingmeng cooked white porridge at night, which was a perfect match with the egg white.
Gu Yunyi and others also praised the salted duck egg. However, Xu Qingmeng felt that the salted duck egg was not pickled well enough.
The glutinous rice was soaked overnight and in the morning. Only after the busy lunch market was over did Xu Qingmeng and others have time to start making rice dumplings.
(End of this chapter)
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