flstandardbreds Chapter 112 Steamed Mandarin Fish
Chapter 112 Steamed Mandarin Fish
The Spring Equinox is here, it is another good time of the year, with peach blossoms, flowing water and fat mandarin fish.
Li Erli caught two mandarin fish and gave one to Lin Jingzhe.
Lin Xiaoman saw wild mandarin fish for the first time.
Mandarin fish, also known as peach blossom mandarin fish, is named after the time when peach blossoms are in full bloom around the Qingming Festival every year, which is the season when mandarin fish are at their fattest.
Mandarin fish has few bones and tender meat, and is best suited for steaming.
That night, Lin Xiaoman made a steamed mandarin fish and finally poured smoking hot oil on it. With a "sizzling" sound, the aroma filled the air.
This was the first time the Lin family had steamed fish. In the past, Lin Xiaoman either braised it or sliced it into pieces to make pickled fish.
I am used to eating strong-flavored fish, but suddenly I took a mouthful of delicious steamed mandarin fish. The meat was firm and tender, and the fish meat melted on the tip of my tongue like snowflakes.
The last mandarin fish was not enough for the whole family.
Lin Jingzhe was still not satisfied and planned to go fishing in the river with Erli after returning from studying at Xie Ci'an's place tomorrow.
Lin Xiaoman has figured out that her brother is the only real foodie in the family.
Whenever he wants to eat, he will find a way to get the ingredients.
-
The chickens caught last year have started laying eggs. Now that the family has some money in savings, Li Taohua has no plans to sell the eggs.
They all stayed at home, and Lin Xiaoman made poached eggs and egg custard from time to time.
Last year, Lin Xiaoman made a lot of sausages, so she wrapped them in oil paper and gave six each to her uncle's family, Shopkeeper Tong, and Mr. Gu.
It’s not a lot, just a taste.
If the response is good, Lin Xiaoman plans to make sausages to sell this winter.
Shopkeeper Tong was good-tempered and steamed some sausages and sent them to the young master.
This gift brought out the young master's business acumen.
He came to Ruyi Restaurant in person and asked Lin Xiaoman how many sausages were left.
When he found out that there wasn't much money left at home, he asked if it was still possible to make sausages in this weather.
The answer was naturally no, which made the young master beat his chest and stamp his feet, saying that he had missed a good deal.
The young master saw unlimited business opportunities in sausages, a delicacy that can only be made in winter, so he wanted to sign a contract with the Lin family in spring, which made Lin Dajiang frown frequently.
Isn’t it just one of the many delicious foods made by Xiaoman?
As for being so anxious?
Lin Xiaoman knew what the young master was thinking.
After being dried in the shade, the sausage is easy to preserve and transport. It can not only be transported to Lin'an Prefecture, but also to other prefectures for sale.
The young master doesn't just want to sell it in Ruyi Restaurant, but wants to sell it in large quantities to all over the place.
After cooperating with Ruyilou for so long, I have come to understand the young master's temperament a bit.
This time, Lin Xiaoman does not plan to sell his son directly.
However, I still need to think about how to sell it specifically.
The young master was an impatient person and spent money to buy most of the sausages from Lin Xiaoman's family.
The young master was generous and gave ten taels of silver directly.
Lin Xiaoman gave Li Taohua eight taels of silver, and she had a use for the remaining silver.
The hen at home lays one egg every day, which means there are seven or eight eggs in a day.
She had long wanted to buy more chickens and ducks. Once she had enough, her family would pay to buy a piece of land at the foot of the mountain to raise chickens and ducks.
The chicken eggs can be sold, and the duck eggs can be made into salted duck eggs and preserved eggs.
So Lin Xiaoman asked his third uncle Li Shi to buy twenty chickens and thirty ducks, ninety of which were female, from a farmer in Shadi Village who specialized in selling chickens and ducks.
When Li Shi brought the furry chickens and ducks to her, Li Taohua was immediately shocked.
"Xiao Man, why did you buy so many chickens and ducks?"
Lin Guyu flew up happily because her team of chicks had expanded. In addition to chickens, there were also many little yellow ducks.
Chirp chirp.
Scary, scary.
It’s not lively.
Miaomiao and Lin Guyu from next door happened to be playing together, so they immediately ran home and pestered Aunt Li to buy chicks and ducklings as well.
Aunt Li was at a loss as to what to do, so she asked Li Erli and others to go with Li Shi to Shadi Village and buy ten chickens and ten ducks.
Miaomiao stopped making trouble now and started chatting with Lin Guyu about her experience in raising chickens.
Li Shi looked at Lin Guyu and said with a smile: "Hahaha, Taohua, your kids, except for Lidong, are all very useful."
"Third brother, please stop making fun of me."
Although Li Taohua is very busy now, she is the one who makes all the decisions.
Her husband listens to her, the child is smart and eats well. Compared to last year, he is like a different person, five or six years younger.
"Brother, my nieces are growing up, and I think you should raise some chickens and ducks. Shadi Village is close to the mountains, and there are a lot of grass and insects at the foot of the mountain. Let the chickens and ducks peck at the grass and eat the insects. In the future, you can sell the chickens and duck eggs in the town and earn some money."
Xiaoman said she wanted to make preserved eggs, although she didn't know what they were and didn't know if they could be sold.
But no matter what, even if you can’t make preserved eggs, the eggs laid by chickens and ducks can be sold for money.
Otherwise, why would my mother regard the two old hens as more important than her granddaughters when we were in the old house?
Li Shi nodded. "Okay, I'll talk to my parents when I get home. It's a good opportunity for Xiao He and Xiao Mei to bring my Xiao Lian and my fourth brother's Zi Sheng to feed the chickens and ducks."
Speaking of chickens and ducks, Li Shi thought of the rabbits at home.
"Oh, Taohua, the rabbits at home have all given birth, and the original rabbit hutch is no longer useful. These two days, Dad and my eldest and second brothers are going to fence off the backyard and build another rabbit hutch."
When talking about rabbits, Li Shi's face was full of smiles.
In just over ten days, the five female rabbits gave birth to more than twenty baby rabbits.
When you raise them in autumn, you can sell them.
Li Taohua couldn't stop being happy when she heard that life at her mother's home was getting better.
Thinking back to when her parents and brothers were having a hard time, they would often bring her some salted meat.
Now the hardship has finally paid off.
-
There was a lot of things to do at home, so Li Shi said a few words and then left.
Li Erli followed Li Shi towards Shadi Village.
They met villagers on the way and they all greeted them.
"Brother Taohua, are you here to see Taohua again?"
"Erli, why are you going out with Brother Taohua? What are you doing?"
Li Shi and Li Erli smiled and said nothing. They just said they were going to the town to do some business, and walked away quickly after leaving the village.
The villagers passing by felt something was wrong. The two men were in a hurry and it was obvious that they were on important business.
Lin Dajiang used to be a lazy guy who was disliked by cats and dogs. After his family was divided, he changed his ways and got involved with Ruyi Tower in the town.
He also became the adoptive father of the son of a wealthy businessman in Lin'an City.
During every ten-day holiday, Young Master Gu would come here in his donkey cart just after noon.
No, last year I made at least one or two taels of silver by growing vegetables with the Lin family.
Those who followed the Lin family to catch fish could earn about one or two taels of silver a month.
What is the Lin family going to do this time?
The villagers stood still and watched the two people walk away.
Everything related to the Lin family is a big deal.
The eight villagers looked at each other, without thinking about anything else, and rushed to the headman's house in a crowd.
"Uncle Lizheng, you should come up with an idea!"
"Brother Dazhu, Dajiang's wife's third brother and Erli, who lives next door to Dajiang, hurried out of the village. When asked what they were doing, they didn't respond. They must have found some new way to make money."
"Uncle Lizheng, you have to help us find out. At least talk to Lin Dajiang. If there is any good news, take us with you."
......
The villagers were talking at once, and the head of the village wished he could cover his ears.
"Isn't your current fishing business arranged by Dajiang?"
The village head looked at the villagers and asked again: "When the Lin family had not yet split up, how did you criticize Lin Dajiang behind his back? Have you forgotten? Now that Dajiang is willing to lead the villagers to do some small business, it means that he is open-minded and kind. You should open your eyes and be contented as soon as possible!"
"Uncle, that's what I said, but..."
The village head blew his beard and glared: "But what? If you want to say it, go ahead and say it yourself. I'm an old man and I don't have the face to do that."
The villagers were unwilling to give up, so they left the headman's house and the eight of them came up with an idea.
They took turns guarding the entrance of the village to see what Li Erli would bring back.
-
After the Shen hour, Lin Jingzhe put down the Thousand Character Classic and arranged it carefully.
"Ci'an, the mandarin fish in the river are fat. A few days ago, Xiaoman made a steamed mandarin fish dish. It tasted - so delicious!"
A year later, Xie Ci'an was only fourteen years old.
When I heard Lin Jingzhe talking about mandarin fish, I suddenly felt my stomach rumbling.
He touched his hungry stomach calmly and quickly brushed it off.
I remember that he used to jump up and down with his brothers, climbing up the roof and tearing off the tiles. His grandfather doted on him. After his father got off work, he would walk past the house without entering it and go straight to the neighborhood ten miles away, just to treat him to a meal of fried pork with bamboo shoots.
Hunger overcame reason, and he agreed without thinking.
"Come on, I'll take you home to get the net." Lin Jingzhe prided himself on being a good fisherman, and he had never failed with a net in hand.
The two of them went out in a hurry.
On the way, he ran into the old servant of the Xie family, "Master, what are you doing..."
"Uncle Zhang, I'll be back soon. Let mother and father eat first."
After saying that, he hurried away, leaving a piece of his clothes behind.
Lin Jingzhe brought Xie Ci'an to the riverside, where it was already a lively scene.
"The Jingzhe is coming?"
The friends who used to play well together in the village all greeted each other.
After they saw clearly that there was someone following Lin Jingzhe, they ran away in a hurry.
The Xie family has blue bricks and tiles, and Young Master Xie is noble. If he is as weak as Young Master Gu, he won’t be able to afford the compensation if he gets bumped into something.
In March, the river water is still bitingly cold.
The two teenagers took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and went into the river...
When Xie Ci'an returned carrying a mandarin fish, the old servant Zhang Bo had already lit the oil lamp.
Unfortunately, he didn't know how to kill fish. When Zhang Bo was processing the mandarin fish, he squatted beside him and didn't look like a scholar at all.
It took a quarter of an hour before the steamed mandarin fish came out of the pot.
Mr. Xie stared at the mud on his son's trouser legs without saying anything. When everyone was present, he sat at the table to eat.
Xie Ci'an ate the mandarin fish that he caught and cooked himself and felt that it tasted better than any other fish.
Mr. Xie left the table without eating much.
Xie Ci'an saw his mother's hands under the table, clutching a handkerchief tighter and tighter.
"Mom, isn't mandarin fish delicious?"
"delicious."
Wang Wan smiled with tears in her eyes and ate half of her food with gritted teeth.
Seeing her son integrating into the countryside, she felt both distressed and relieved.
Ci'an was copying books and digging bamboo shoots. Now, in order to eat, he went to the river to catch fish like the boys in the village.
Unlike her, who only knows how to do some embroidery to supplement the family income.
Xie Ci'an lowered his head to eat the fish, pretending not to see the tears in his mother's eyes.
"Mom, Dad's side——"
"Don't worry about your father, let him figure it out on his own." Wang Wan felt sorry for her son. Her husband was depressed every day and didn't care about the family's livelihood.
If it weren't for the money given by her parents, they wouldn't even have a house to shelter from the wind and rain.
At such a young age, Ci'an not only had to study hard but also had to consider the livelihood of his family, which was really difficult for him.
The meal ended up being tasteless.
No matter how fresh the mandarin fish is, it cannot alleviate the disappointment in my heart.
-
In a blink of an eye, Qingming Festival is approaching.
Lin Xiaoman began to study Qingming rice cake.
There is a large patch of mugwort halfway up the mountain, and the villagers of Shanglin Village come here to cut some every few days.
Mugwort is a good thing, growing everywhere in the mountains. Maybe there is too much mugwort in this area, so the pharmacy in the town does not sell mugwort.
Lin Xiaoman and Lin Jingzhe cut the fruits in handfuls and put them in baskets to carry them down.
Li Taohua was used to it, but she was still curious, "Xiaoman, why did you pick so much mugwort?"
“Make Qingming rice cake.”
"That doesn't require so much mugwort, does it?"
"In addition to making Qingming rice cakes, the remaining mugwort can be dried and used to make mugwort fumigation, which can be used to fumigate mosquitoes and flies."
"You are such a restless kid."
Li Taohua smiled and joked, but stopped her needlework to help Lin Xiaoman process the mugwort.
The fresh tips of mugwort are picked and the remaining mugwort leaves are collected and dried.
The tips of the mugwort are fresh and tender. When you put it close to your nose, you can smell the fresh fragrance of the mugwort.
Blanch the fresh mugwort tips in water, then take them out and grind them into a paste in a stone mortar. Add glutinous rice flour and flour to the dark green mugwort paste. Mix the powder and mugwort fibers together and stir until it becomes a soft dough. Place it in a bowl and set aside.
The next step is to make the filling for the Qingming rice cake.
There are bamboo shoots all over the mountains. Now every household, young and old, has started to go up the mountain to dig them.
The two adults and two half-grown members of the Lin family went out to dig up only two bags.
Wash the fresh bamboo shoots and cut them into dices. Wash the sauerkraut made last year and cut it into pickled vegetable pieces.
Finally, Lin Jingzhe was recruited by Lin Xiaoman to be a strong man. He wielded a knife in each hand and used both hands at the same time.
Bang bang bang.
The sound of chopping meat is really wonderful.
The last step is to stir-fry the fillings. Add oil to the pan, pour the chopped meat into the pan and stir-fry to release the oil, then add cooking wine to enhance the flavor.
After stir-frying for a while, add the blanched bamboo shoots and chopped pickles, add appropriate amount of salt and sauce and continue to stir-fry until fragrant.
Lin Xiaoman pinched out half of the dough and put it in the pot to steam it. She endured the heat and kneaded the hot dough just out of the pot with the raw dough.
The mixture of raw and cooked dough can make the Qingming rice cake crust chewier.
The last step is to make the Qingming rice cake in a similar way to making dumplings. Pinch the dough into small pieces, roll them into thin slices with a rolling pin, add fillings, and wrap them into dumpling-shaped Qingming rice cakes.
Steam it for a quarter of an hour, and the fragrance of mugwort slowly overflows from the steamer.
"It's done!" Lin Xiaoman couldn't wait to take out the steamer and continue steaming the next pot.
Open the steamer, and the cooked Qingming dumplings are green and appetizing.
Guyu, who had never eaten Qingming steamed buns, watched eagerly.
Even Li Taohua had never tasted the salty Qingming steamed buns.
That was when she was still unmarried. One day, her family exchanged wild boar meat for glutinous rice flour, sesame seeds and brown sugar.
Her mother took her and her two sisters-in-law to make Qingming steamed buns.
I didn’t do much, just gave each of them one to taste and satisfy their sweetness.
The Qingming rice cake cannot be eaten immediately after it comes out of the pot. It needs to be left for a while to cool down a little so that it won’t be sticky.
The weather is still cool at the end of March, so the Qingming steamed buns will not be so hot after being left for a while.
Lin Xiaoman looked at the two greedy cats and said with a smile: "Xiao Guyu, take Lidong to wash his hands!"
"okay!"
Guyu responded, picked up the water ladle, and ran to the yard with Lidong like a gust of wind.
After a while, he came back and spread his hands, "Sister, I'm done."
Seeing this, Lidong followed suit and said in a soft and cute voice: "Sister, your hands are white!"