1986: Old Stories in Northeast China

The weather in Northeast China is different from that in the later times. The wind and snow really come with the dark clouds.

Before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the fine snowflakes fell, and in less than half an hour, they turned into heavy snow.

"Brother Lianshan, let's stop here today. Our equipment is not afraid of snow. After we stop, we can finish the work and then put the roof on." Chen Tiezhu greeted.

"That's right. I plan to finish all the odd jobs today." Qi Lianshan nodded.

"But it will be quick to put the roof on. Uncle Dong and Uncle Nan have already made the racks. Just install it when you put it on. Did you choose a date?"

"Yes, we still have time. At most, it will be two days later. I'm not in a hurry. It takes spring to grow mushrooms properly. After harvesting corn, send the corn cavities to me." Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

Everyone started to rejoice.

Tiezhu is now thinking about the corn husks the most. He never thought that the corn husks would become a treasure.

"Go home and wash them, and then come back to my house." Chen Tiezhu said.

"Forget about it today. Let's talk about it on the day of the roof beam." Qi Lianshan said.

"These days, I have been eating at your house every day. Your sister-in-law says that I am not at home. Take advantage of this snowy day to have a good rest at home. You don't have to worry about the rest of the odd jobs. We will do them when we have time."

"Yes, Tiezhu, don't eat anymore. I am a little afraid of eating with you. How can we eat meat every meal?"

"Tiezhu, we are all fellow villagers. There is no need to be so polite."

"It's like the New Year is over. You are all greedy. How can we live in the future?"

...

The rest of the villagers also started to talk.

What he said was all true. Eating at Chen Tiezhu's house was really scary.

When people cook during the Chinese New Year, they don't put so much meat in it, right?

Rice and rice with so much meat in it every meal. Tiezhu is kind and righteous, so you can't take it for granted.

"That's fine. Let's all go home and eat today." Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

"But it's nothing. When our mushrooms are grown in the future, we can eat meat as much as we want. It's not a big deal."

In his heart, he still had more of the thinking of the later generations. He felt that everyone came to help him, so he had to prepare good meals.

Even though the cost of food now exceeded the wages by a large margin, he still felt it was worth it.

"What are you cooking today? Do you need to buy more shrimps? At least one shrimp per person, right?"

After he returned to the house, Han Xiuying asked.

"Everyone is tired of eating meat in our house these days, so they all went home to eat today." Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

"We have indeed eaten a lot of meat during this period." Han Xiuying nodded with a wry smile.

"Haha, we have to eat what we should eat. How about seafood tonight? How about shrimps and braised hairtail?" Chen Tiezhu asked.

"Dad, dad, why do we have to eat shrimps together?" Doudou asked after rolling with his friends on the kang.

"Haha, it's not the way to eat, but the way to cook. Wait until dad is done, and you will know what's going on." Chen Tiezhu said happily.

Doudou frowned, climbed down the kang, and followed Chen Tiezhu to see how to cook.

Put the shrimps in cold water to slow down, and pick up two hairtails and start to clean them up.

"Dad, why is this fish so long? Its belly is broken?" Doudou, who was squatting on the side, asked in confusion.

"Because it lives in the deep sea, the air pressure changed after it was caught, so its belly broke." Chen Tiezhu said.

"This fish has no bones, and it tastes delicious. My eldest daughter must eat more tonight, so that she can grow taller."

"Yeah, Doudou, eat more, Doudou needs to grow taller. Is there any meat?" Doudou nodded his head and asked again.

"We have eaten so much meat at noon, so we will eat shrimp and fish at night." Chen Tiezhu said helplessly.

Doudou didn't care, anyway, it was just a casual question. It's better if there is, but it doesn't matter if there is no.

The three-finger-wide hairtail is also good enough. Even if there are only two, it is a large plate.

After cleaning, marinate it with seasoning first, which can remove the fishy smell and make it more flavorful.

The next step is to process these prawns, picking out the shrimp thread, removing the sand sac, chopping the shrimp legs, and cutting the shrimp claws.

Looking at the processed prawns placed on the plate, Doudou sipped his lips greedily again.

Others usually squeeze out the shrimp brains and boil them into shrimp paste.Oil, so that the soup will color quickly and naturally come out of the pot quickly.

But Chen Tiezhu's usual method is not like this, but to slowly "lean" with a low fire.

Heat the wok and scoop a spoonful of oil into it. When the oil temperature in the pot rises, pour the chopped scallion and ginger directly into it and stir-fry quickly.

The aroma of the wok naturally floats out, and Doudou sniffs it hard.

Pour some cooking wine as a base, in order to increase the freshness and remove the fishy smell. A plate of prawns is also slid directly into the pot.

This is a serious Kung Fu dish, and now is the time to test Kung Fu.

The fire on the stove is not very strong, in order to make the prawns heated evenly, he also keeps patting them gently with a spoon. While patting, he will also lift the wok and shake it gently.

The prawns in the wok are happily lined up and circled along the wall of the pot.

The heat on this side is almost ready, and he flips the wok quickly. Chen Tiezhu nodded in satisfaction. The shrimps were pink and the soup did not fly out of the pot.

In terms of heat control and spoon skills, he was pretty good.

When this side was fried to pink, he scooped some space water into the pot, and then added salt and sugar.

The rest was left to time. You need to keep shaking the spoon and turning the sides so that the prawns can be heated evenly.

Doudou's eyes widened, "Dad, why is it so red?"

"Hahaha, shrimps are like this. They will turn red when cooked, and Dad also took out the shrimp oil from the shrimp heads, so the color is even redder." Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

"That's almost it, add a small spoonful of sesame oil. This smell, ah, jumped out all of a sudden. Let me ask you, is it fragrant?"

"Fragrant."

Doudou nodded his head without hesitation and swallowed his saliva.

When arranging the dishes in restaurants, they would pick out the shredded green onions, ginger, etc. But since we were eating at home, there was no need to do that.

After arranging the dishes, Chen Tiezhu also picked out two and gave them to Doudou and Han Xiuying.

Han Xiuying was a little embarrassed at first. After all, she was an adult. How could she guard the stove like Doudou?

But you are unreasonable with this big shrimp.

Why is it so red?

Why is it so fragrant?

Why is it so tempting?

…

Doudou at the side was not as entangled as her and put it in her mouth directly.

Seeing that there was more soup on the shrimp head, she licked it with her tongue, and then she was stunned, her eyes wide open.