Chapter 30 Chapter 30 “I…
"I see you're itching for more. You haven't even finished eating your own food yet and you're already thinking about other people's. Are you going to eat it or not?"
Su Tao was glared at by Chen, and finally she shrank her neck and calmed down.
The three of them then headed out of the city. When they passed by West Street, an old man selling fish in the alley caught their attention.
"Selling fish, selling fish, selling them cheap, closing the stall after selling them..."
"Big sister, would you like to buy some fish? They're cheap, 5 cents a piece, and there are only 10 left. I just caught some snakehead fish this morning, so they're still fresh! Hey, they're not dead yet. Look, they've just been drying in the sun!"
"Five cents, I'll give it to you if you want."
Chen's heart moved. She had heard that black fish was a very nourishing food for the injured. She thought of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Wu's injured foot. After thinking for a moment, she stepped forward and said, "Can this black fish be cheaper?"
Old Man Xu, who had just lost a customer, immediately cheered up when he saw someone coming. "It's already very cheap. How about this, if you want two, it'll be 8 cents."
Two for eight cents? Chen looked at the half-dead black fish in the wooden basin, almost turning upside down, and hesitated. "Should we kill it?"
"Here." Old man Xu replied.
Chen then stepped forward, squatted down, picked out the two largest ones, and said, "Then let's take these two."
Seeing this, Old Man Xu was not ambiguous. He reached out and caught the two black fish that Chen wanted. He placed them on the oil paper beside him and hit them with a mallet. The poor black fish, which was already on the verge of death, finally died. The old man muttered to himself, "Fish, fish, don't blame me. Blame yourself for being born a dish."
He quickly gutted the fish, and it was obvious from his speed that he was used to killing fish. In just a few seconds, blood and foam flew everywhere. In just a few minutes, he had processed the two fish, even cleaning the gills.
Su Li was stunned by what she saw, but when she looked at the fish, she suddenly remembered something. People nowadays don't seem to like eating fish very much. Such a big black fish, weighing at least three or four pounds, was only sold for 5 cents. Although it was afternoon and the fish was not very fresh, Su Li was still shocked by the price. You know, in the modern market, a pound of black fish costs about 20 yuan, so a fish weighing three or four pounds would cost at least 60.70 yuan!
Unexpectedly, in this dynasty, it was only 5 wen per piece. Oh, that's wrong. Her mother bought it for only 4 wen per piece. Su Li felt that she could add pickled fish to the dishes she sold. After all, if she only sold stir-fried pork intestines every day, people would get tired of it one day. Meat and vegetables had to be changed to keep them fresh. Moreover, Su Li was not satisfied with just setting up a small stall at the dock. When she had money in the future, she would definitely move to the county town to open a small restaurant. The first step was to earn more money!
Silently noting down the address that the old man had just mentioned to his mother Chen, Su Li decided to go home later to discuss the matter with her mother Chen.
However, based on Su Li's understanding of Chen during this period, she probably wouldn't agree easily, and it would probably take some time to convince her.
"Big sister, take your fish. Come back if you like it."
Chen took the fish strung with the hemp rope and hung it in the empty wooden barrel. Then she called Su Li and Su Tao to go home.
.
The August sun was scorching, unbearably hot. With no means of transportation, the three of them had to rely on ham. It was almost evening when they got home. If hiking had been a hobby before, it had become a tormenting torture now. Why was Xiaoxi Village so far from the county seat?
Not only do you have to cross mountains and rivers, but you also have to wade through rivers. There are leeches along the way. If you walk a little slower, the leeches will jump on you and start sucking your blood, making it hard to defend yourself.
Su Li's face turned pale at that moment, and she could only keep her head down and walk forward.
Fortunately, the mountain leeches seemed to have not come out to do evil because the sun was strong recently.
However, the people Su Li admired the most were Chen and Su Tao. Their indifferent attitude made her seem a little overwhelmed.
Su Li could only brainwash herself, thinking that when she had money in the future, she would rent a donkey cart, no, an ox cart, or a horse cart... A horse cart was the fastest, and it was also fast on the official road.
But Su Li thought again and again, why could she only rent? Couldn't she buy? And why couldn't she just go to the county town and buy a house? Why did she have to continue living in Xiaoxi Village...
In a short period of time, Su Li found that she was becoming less and less ambitious...
After returning home, Su Jia, Su Li and the other two drank several large bowls of cold boiled water. Then they slowly recovered and started to prepare dinner.
Because of the hard work during the day, mother Chen no longer insisted on eating only two meals a day, but changed to three meals a day. The three of them simply divided the work: Su Tao cooked, Su Tao washed clothes, and Chen cut grass, fed the chickens and rabbits.
As the sun sets, Su Li takes advantage of the daylight to fetch water from the yard and carefully clean the two fish inside and out. One thing worth noting is that the black film in the fish's belly must be washed clean, otherwise it will taste bitter when eaten.
Originally, Chen wanted to leave one fish alive and wait until the next morning to make soup so that it would be fresh. However, all the fish the old man sold were half dead, and she estimated that if she didn't kill them and took them home, they wouldn't live long, so she asked him to kill them all.
Su Li had no choice but to put one of them in the well temporarily to freeze it. The temperature in the well was low, so it was fine to leave it there overnight. After all, there was no refrigerator, so she had to make do with it.
After freezing the fish, Su Li took it to the kitchen. Passing by the eaves, she saw tonight's meal simmering on the stove in the corridor. The water was boiling, pushing the lid of the clay pot up and down, overflowing with a rich rice aroma. Su Li moved the lid slightly to the side, leaving a gap, and then continued to carry the fish to the kitchen.
To make pickled fish delicious, good knife skills are essential. The fish meat must be sliced into crystal clear slices. It is called good. Just blanch it for a few seconds and then pick it up. Then pour hot oil, pepper and chili on it to bring out the aroma. Combined with the sourness of the pickled cabbage, it is sour, spicy and appetizing. Su Li can eat several bowls of rice with it.
Thinking of the taste of pickled fish, Su Li did not hesitate. She put the fish on the chopping board, turned the knife a little, and started slicing the fish at an angle. The knife had just been sharpened in the morning and was already very sharp. Su Li sliced the fish quickly and steadily. When she first started learning to cook, she practiced the basic skills of cutting vegetables for three years. The master did not teach her anything, but only let her practice cutting things every day. In the end, she was considered qualified when she could cut tofu into chrysanthemums and cut potatoes into hair-like shreds.
This includes practicing various knife skills, such as how to fillet fish, how to cut into strips, and how to cut meat. Cutting lamb and pork are different, and the knife techniques for cutting various vegetables are also different. They have to be adjusted according to the ingredients. As the saying goes, "A kitchen knife weighs two and a half pounds." This means that the apprentices are so familiar with kitchen knives that it has been engraved in their bones.
Fillet the fish, add salt, wine, onion and ginger water, mix and marinate to remove the fishy smell. Su Li then took out a large head of sauerkraut from the jar and chopped it up, then lit the fire and started to prepare the sauerkraut fish.
The method of making sauerkraut fish is very simple. You just need to stir-fry the sauerkraut, pour in an appropriate amount of water and the fish bones and fish heads that have just been removed from the fish meat, and boil them together. When the water boils, add the fish fillets. You must cook quickly at this time. When the fish fillets curl up slightly, you need to use a colander to scoop them all up. Because the fish fillets are thin, some people don’t even use boiling water to cook them, but directly blanch them with oil, which tastes more tender and smooth.
The whole process did not take long. Finally, pour oil on the chili peppers and peppercorns, and the dish is completely done. The hot oil fully stimulates the aroma of the seasoning. With a sizzling sound, like the sound of all things growing, a domineering and strong aroma is stimulated, spreading to the village with the wind from the kitchen as the center.
Some villagers who had just finished dinner smelled the fragrance and suddenly felt hungry again.
"Do you smell it?"
The author has something to say:
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Next book: Guozijian Snack Stall (Delicious Food), the author's inner thoughts (winking, little cuties understand): I hope you open your eyes and add 10086 [shy][shy][shy] to collect it.
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