Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 274 Hakka Rice Dumplings

On the next day, Mr. Joe came to the store, and they started preparing the ingredients for noon as usual.

Of course, Mr. Qiao knew exactly what ingredients were used for cooking yesterday. After all, the ingredients in the entire kitchen had to pass through his hands, so what was left yesterday and what is still there now are very clear and bright.

Beef Tenderloin, Mushroom and Fungus...

"Did you make beef tenderloin yesterday?" Mr. Qiao asked while putting the ingredients into the pot to prepare the soup.

"Yes, shopkeeper Joe, yesterday I made a dish of beef tenderloin with oyster sauce, but it didn't taste very good."

Shopkeeper Qiao nodded after hearing this: "You have just started to learn how to cook. It's normal for you to not master the taste well. It will be fine when you get used to it. From now on, I will leave some dishes for you every night for you to cook by yourself. Take it for practice, anyway, you young people are in good health and consume a lot of energy, so the dishes you make should be eaten as a midnight snack."

"Thank you, Shopkeeper Joe."

Unexpectedly, shopkeeper Qiao waved his hand: "You're welcome, thank me for what? You are supposed to give you some wages as a clerk here, and the ones I gave you before are at most pocket money, so you can buy them yourself." Shopping for clothes and daily necessities."

After hearing this, Chen Nian quickly said: "It's okay, I don't need wages, it would be great if shopkeeper Qiao could leave some ingredients for me at night, I won't go out anyway, so asking for money is useless."

Shopkeeper Qiao looked at Chen Nian appreciatively after listening, thinking that this young man looked more and more pleasing to the eye, and the words he said made people sound very comfortable.

But even if Chen Nian said no wages, Qiao and Yong still planned to give Chen Nian some money every month.

After all, now that Chen Nian has grown up, he is no longer the kid-like boy he used to be. No matter what, it is always good to have a little money in hand. In the past, he would take the initiative to give Chen Nian some money during festivals, and let him Go shopping for new clothes or something.

Or let Chen Nian go out to buy some medicinal materials, fruit and so on, and let Chen Nian pretend to be the rest of the change.

But at noon, Ah Cai came again.

Just like yesterday, this time she still came to eat alone.

After ordering the dishes, A Cai looked at the kitchen again. Although the kitchen has a separate room, it is connected to this side, and you can see the outside from the inside, and you can also see in from the outside. go inside.

After A Cai sat down, she put a bag of fruit in her hand on the table by the way: "Mr. Qiao, I came here this time to thank your little guy. If it wasn't for him yesterday, I would have lost a lot of money." Where's the money!"

Chen Nian froze when he heard these words, and immediately knew what A Cai was talking about at the moment.

But Mr. Qiao didn't know. After hearing this, although he looked down on people like A Cai, but after all, he was so old and had seen all kinds of turbulent waves. Naturally, he would not let these emotions appear on the surface. .

But hearing what A Cai said, she couldn't help asking curiously: "Who on this street has the ability to make Miss A Cai lose money? What happened last night?"

After asking, Mr. Qiao turned his head and looked at Chen Nian again: "Why didn't I know that this kid still has such a great ability? I used to think that he was just working in the kitchen, but I didn't expect to be able to help him." Cai girl."

"Mr. Qiao, you don't know that. Didn't we have a new girl in our store yesterday, but she was a bit stubborn. I didn't think there was anything wrong at first. Many girls just came here like this. When I make money, I will know that I, A Cai, will never harm them.

But she is different, last night that little girl actually jumped over the wall and ran away. I didn't know that girl was so capable, but I don't know what that girl was thinking. After she ran out, she ran straight to you In the restaurant, Ah Nian happened to be here at the time, and I don’t know what they said, anyway, the girl went back to me by herself after a while.

Do you think you should thank Ah Nian for this?If the girl really ran away, let alone ran to the pier and boarded someone's boat, or accidentally ran into the police in the middle, and was shot, my heart hurts to death. "

What kind of business A Cai was doing, Master Qiao naturally knew very well. At this moment, he was also a little curious about what Chen Nian said to that girl, which could make a person change his mind so much and go back to that kind of place willingly.

But this is not the time to inquire. If you want to ask, you have to ask after all the guests have left, and then ask in private.

At this time, he just replied to A Cai's words: "How much did you spend?"

"A full $300!"

"That's indeed quite expensive, but since Miss A Cai is willing to pay such a high price, it must be that this girl has something extraordinary."

"That's true. This girl looks even better than I did back then. With such a personality, which man can hold her own when she sees her, and who doesn't want to go up and conquer her?"

"Indeed, the old man here wants to congratulate Miss A Cai for adding another general to her subordinates!"

"Where is it, how can Mr. Qiao see my small business? But this time, it's fine to thank Ah Nian."

Chen Nian didn't say anything during the whole process.

To be honest, I was really uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do about it. If this were placed in China in the 21st century, Chen Nian would definitely take the girl to the police station to find the police uncle immediately without saying a word.

But now in America!

And it was still in the United States of the last century. If you went to the police, wouldn't it be a sheep in the mouth of a tiger?

After that, the number of customers gradually increased, and Chen Nian began to be busy for a while...

Mr. Qiao is only responsible for serving the rice, and then putting it on the bar and collecting money. As for the rest of serving dishes, clearing the plates, cleaning the table, and assisting Mr. Joe to serve the rice and soup, they are old jobs.

Yesterday, Chen Nian ate jelly chicken. Today, Chen Nian turned his attention to the salted egg patty on the other side. This dish looks very simple, that is, there is a salted egg on top of the patty.

However, Chen Nian knew that this salted egg was also Mr. Qiao's unique skill. It might be found in other places, but it probably wouldn't taste as good as Mr. Qiao's.

As for the meatloaf below…

Chen Nian knows that there will be a hamburger meat on the recipes of some countries. In fact, it is also a meat pie, but there are still some differences from this meat pie.

And the meatloaf in Cantonese cuisine is actually steamed.

After getting himself a salted egg patty and a bowl of rice, Chen Nian went to serve soup again.

Today's soup is made with horseshoe and pork ribs, but there are still some yams in it. Want to find out the fragrance.

Horseshoe is a less expensive fruit, but it is still a bit troublesome to eat. It needs to be peeled off. Unlike other fruits with skins, horseshoe peeling requires tools to peel off the outer skin, which is a bit Like potatoes.

However, all the horseshoes used for cooking soup today, except for the few that Mr. Qiao shaved at the beginning, are all old.

At the beginning, Chen Nian was not familiar with this work. After all, although it was not the first time to eat this thing, it was the first time to peel it by himself.

Although the peeling is not unclean, it is slow and it is easy to peel off large pieces of pulp.

It's just that as time goes by, Chen Nian is becoming more and more familiar with this work. First, peel off the middle and bottom skins, and then peel off all the surrounding skins bit by bit, even peeling off the skin. The skins that are peeled off after aging can form a hollow horseshoe if they make do.

"Ah Nian, what happened yesterday?" Mr. Qiao asked suddenly after putting all the food on the table, and when Chen Nian also sat in his seat.

"Shopkeeper Qiao, didn't you go home first yesterday? I was going to cook in the kitchen by myself, but before I started cooking, a girl ran in, that is, the one A Cai mentioned just now. The girl who came out.

But I can't help her, I can only tell her the location of the pier, and by the way, tell her that the streets here are actually very dangerous.

But later, when I was cooking, she didn't leave, so I had to chat with her again when I finished cooking and put the dishes on the table, and probably told her about A Cai's life, but after she finished listening After asking a few more questions, she finally said she wanted to go back. She also said that she was sold by her parents, and even if she went back, she would have nothing to rely on, so she might as well just stay here..."

But at this moment, Mr. Qiao didn't quite understand why Chen Nian did this: "Then why didn't you keep her? Even if you hid her in the room, I wouldn't know about it, and you kept her, ah Even if Cai dares to ask for someone from me, but if I don't give it to her, she has nothing to do."

"Master Qiao, I can't cause trouble to the store. It's not easy for you to take me in, and I really didn't have the conditions to help her at that time."

After that, Qiao and Yong didn't say anything more.

Chen Nian didn't speak anymore, but savored today's meal and soup carefully.

Although this dish is called salted egg patties, the salted eggs are not as salty as the salted duck eggs you bought, but the yolk has a little rustle, presumably because it was steamed in the pot.

In addition, the meatloaf is also made very delicate, and it was pressed very hard before, so it is not too soft to eat, and it needs to be cut with a spoon to get a piece.

But when I was eating it, I felt that the taste was a bit bland. When I turned around, I saw chili sauce on the table, so I took a small spoonful of chili sauce, spread it evenly on it, and then cut it off with a spoon to eat. It was right for my appetite.

But in fact, this is the same as yesterday's jelly chicken. Although it is Cantonese cuisine, it is not so light.

Although the salted egg patties don't have so many seasonings, they are probably just the seasonings that are put in the meat filling when making the patties, but the patties still taste a bit greasy.

This has nothing to do with the method and the level of Mr. Qiao's cooking, but with the old man's own taste.

But Mr. Qiao obviously likes to eat a little bit of this dish, probably because it has meat and eggs, and the taste is not hard, so it doesn't take much effort.

However, compared with this salted egg steamed meat pie, Chen Nian still feels that the soup surprises him more.

Rib stewed soup will always have some fat floating on it anyway. Sometimes it tastes delicious at first when you drink only ribs soup, but you will get a little greasy after drinking it, and you will feel that the more you drink the soup, the stronger the taste .

Because as the soup is left longer, all the seasonings will accumulate in the bottom of the soup, and the taste in the mouth will continue to increase.

But this bowl of horseshoe pork ribs soup does not have such a feeling. The horseshoe is added to the original pork ribs soup, which cleverly resolves the common problem of the broth, and it also contains the sweetness of the horseshoe itself.

After drinking it, I felt much refreshed, as if I was walking on the street in the hot summer, but suddenly there was a fast horse galloping past, and the cool wind brought by it blew on my body, not to mention how comfortable it was now.

Now Chen Nian finally understands why Cantonese people eat Fujianese in the first place.

If you think about it abstractly, I feel that this image is quite appropriate.

……

The following days just passed day after day. Although Chen Nian's daily work remained the same, from Chen Nian's point of view, it was not boring at all, on the contrary, he enjoyed it.

And Mr. Qiao, as he said before, would leave some ingredients for Chen Nian every night for Chen Nian to make supper by himself, sometimes beef, sometimes chicken, and sometimes just some vegetables. What is left basically depends only on what is left over from cooking during the day.

Moreover, the ingredients delivered to Guangrong Restaurant are not fixed every day, and sometimes there are even some seafood and river delicacies.

And Chen Nian took this opportunity to cook all the dishes that Jin Dachuan taught him before.

Although none of them have been perfect so far, I already know how to improve the aging.

In addition to cooking, Chen Nian also learned that Wang Chaoyun is already very famous in A Cai's place. Whenever Wang Chaoyun comes out every day, many people will come to cheer him on. If there are no conditions, I can take a look at it from a distance and be satisfied.

But I just heard about these Chen Nian. After all, the Guangrong Hotel is very close to that alley, and people who come to eat every day sometimes talk about it, but Chen Nian himself has never visited it once.

He just felt a little sad...

But whether Wang Chaoyun is sad or he is sad, or this era and this society is sad... Chen Nian himself can't say for sure.

The days passed day by day, and soon came the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Of course, the Dragon Boat Festival is to eat zongzi.

However, since the boss, Mr. Qiao, is a Hakka, the materials used to make the dumplings are somewhat different from what Chen Nian knows, and they are not the same as some areas in Guangdong.

Because Chen Nian knows that meat dumplings are eaten in Guangdong, so sometimes barbecued pork, salted egg yolk and the like are used.

But the zongzi ingredients prepared by Mr. Qiao in advance include pork belly, peanuts, mushrooms, mung beans, glutinous rice, preserved radish, etc.

He specially entrusted someone to bring the zong leaves back from China, and he brought several boxes in total, but obviously they couldn't finish them by themselves, so after keeping what they needed, the rest were sold to others at a very low price. The surrounding neighbors.

This is also what Mr. Qiao does every year. When the neighbors make dumplings and cook them, they will bring some to the Guangrong Restaurant on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.

This can be regarded as a coming and going. Although Mr. Qiao took the money, it was only a symbolic meaning. Otherwise, they would be just ordinary people here, and there would be no way to buy zong leaves.

In order to make zongzi today, Mr. Qiao soaked peanuts, mung beans and glutinous rice in water yesterday.

And he also told Chen Nian to watch out, not to be eaten by mice or other animals, and make these ingredients dirty.

When the next day came, Mr. Qiao soaked the shiitake mushrooms again, and also chopped the preserved vegetables and soaked them in water. According to Mr. Qiao, doing so would not make the taste too salty.

Preserved radish is naturally the same as preserved fruit, but in order to prevent spoilage, a lot of salt is usually put on it.

Today at noon, Guangrong Restaurant does not sell other dishes except rice dumplings, but even so, soup is a must.

After cooking the soup, Mr. Qiao started to marinate the pork. After adding various seasonings, he soaked it aside.

Afterwards, let the shiitake mushrooms be chopped and drained, and the processed shiitake mushrooms are taken into the pot and fried in oil.

After the fragrance is fried out, add chopped preserved radish inside, and start to stir-fry over high heat.

Then put all the remaining ingredients into the pot, then put some five-spice powder, salt and oil and start stirring.

In the end, there is a big pot full of fillings alone.

Chen Nian looked at the various and various ingredients inside, and couldn't figure out what it tasted like for a while.

After all, Chen Nian has also eaten meat dumplings, but the meat dumplings I eat are so mixed. At most, they are sauced meat or barbecued pork with salted egg yolk, and at most a little shiitake mushrooms.

But at the moment, among the dumplings made by Mr. Qiao, in addition to the above materials, there are actually mung beans and peanuts, and the proportion of mung beans is quite large.

"Shopkeeper Qiao, how did the Hakka people come here? I always feel that there are Hakka people everywhere, not only in Guangdong, but also in other places."

Chen Nian is really confused about this point, because he used to have classmates in Guangxi who said he was a Hakka, and there seemed to be Hakka in Guangdong, but it seemed that there seemed to be Hakka in other places besides Guangdong and Guangxi.

"The Hakka people are ubiquitous in essence, because the Hakka people originally started fighting in ancient times, and they were constantly migrating because of the war. According to our ancestors, we are actually pure-blooded Han people, but later they were scattered. Everywhere, but because our Hakka ancestors ran around, they were not welcomed by the locals, and they were even excluded, so they gradually began to develop in the deep mountains.

It was only later that they arrived in Meizhou. After settling down here, they continued to develop and migrate outwards with Meizhou as their base camp. "

"But, I think everyone is a descendant of Chinese people, and I prefer the concept that Hakka people should be a culture rather than a concept of blood. Compared with blood, culture has a greater influence."

At first, Chen Nian thought that Mr. Qiao was going to say the same thing as what their former classmates said, for example, the Hakka people are pure Han Chinese, while the northerners are all Huns.

I didn't expect Mr. Qiao to be so open-minded.

You must know that Chen Nian used to have a very headache when communicating with that classmate.

While talking, the stuffing was ready.

Chen Nian naturally knows how to make zongzi. He was born in a chef's family. From a young age, he can make dumplings, wontons, glutinous rice balls, buns, and zongzi.

Then there are a lot of zong leaves, and Mr. Qiao left quite a lot. There are still two big pots full of zong leaves soaking. In addition to the pot that has been fried, the stuffing is probably more There are two or three pots to fry.

Chen Nianguang made a rough estimate, and today he has to make hundreds of zongzi.

Because in addition to selling in the store and eating by yourself, you also need to take some out for Master Qiao's son to give away.

After all, although the president of the Chamber of Commerce has a very prominent status in this Chinatown, it is still nothing to go outside, so it is necessary to manage up and down during the holidays.

If not, how could he sit so securely as president.

And with the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, how can these Tang people live and work here in peace?
Regardless of whether it is goods shipped from overseas or goods to be exported, these also need to be managed up and down, and congressmen need to speak in Congress.

Otherwise, the official people would come over every three days to beat the autumn wind, and no one would be able to stand it.

In the beginning, Mr. Qiao and Chen Nian were still wrapping here, but Mr. Qiao’s body couldn’t bear the wrapping, and his back hurt a little. Chen Nian quickly asked the other party to rest first. After the wrapping, Mr. Qiao only needed to cook it. Enough.

After wrapping the whole morning like this, Chen Nian only made more than 100 dumplings.

My hands are already sore.

Now that a dollar is dropped outside the restaurant, Chen Nian may not bother to bend down to pick it up, but it's not because he doesn't like the dollar.

One is because the hands are so sore that they are already stiff and unable to hold it, and the other is that it is impossible to bend down at all.

Fortunately, only rice dumplings are sold at noon, and the payment and serving are free.

Customers want a few rice dumplings, they can hold them with chopsticks, and then put the money in the box on the side, they just need to look at it.

After resting for more than an hour, Chen Nian felt that he was slowly recovering. Although it still hurts when he moved his arm, he was able to untie the rope binding the rice dumplings, and then eat them with a spoon.

The taste is not bad, but in comparison, Chen Nian still feels that he prefers to eat the northern zongzi, that is, the kind with red dates or candied dates wrapped in glutinous rice and dipped in sugar when eating.

In terms of these special delicacies, Chen Nian feels like a combination of contradictions. He likes to eat sweet rice dumplings from the north and Sichuan oily and spicy tofu nao, but he also likes to eat the southern kind of kneading noodles, which are delicious when added with sugar. Sweet buns.

There are a lot of customers who come to eat rice dumplings at noon, mainly because the price here is cheap and the taste is authentic. Although some people are not Hakka, but come from Chaoshan, Shantou, or Shanwei, or even Guangzhou and Hong Kong, but Anyway, this taste is from their Guangdong side.

Everyone is very happy to eat, and at this price, you can buy zongzi with meat inside, which is a great value.

Chen Nian felt that Mr. Qiao probably did not sell zongzi to make money, and the selling price was about the same as the cost plus a little bit, but seeing the joyful look on Mr. Qiao's face, he obviously enjoyed this feeling very much.

After all, it is also a festival, and the excitement will always make people feel comfortable.

Although the Dragon Boat Festival is a day to commemorate Qu Yuan, everyone gradually regards this festival as a lively day just like the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But in fact, there are many other activities during the Dragon Boat Festival, such as hanging Zhongkui, guiding ghost boats, pasting midnight blessings, hanging calamus and wormwood, dragon boat racing, hitting balls, drinking realgar wine and so on.

But after all, this is overseas, and there are not many things, so I can only do what I have, and keep everything simple.

"Do you know Li Lianying?"

"Li Lianying? Is that the father-in-law next to the Empress Dowager Cixi?"

"That's right, it's him."

Suddenly, the conversation between the two people in the store caught Chen Nian's attention, and the two of them were not prepared at all, so what they said was heard by other people. After hearing this, the Guangrong Hotel, which was still noisy at first, suddenly became quiet , everyone was looking at the two people who spoke just now.

"Liangzi, tell me again, what's wrong with Li Lianying?"

"Yes, we have been out for more than ten years, and we can only hear domestic news a few times a year. If you know something, please tell the big guys."

"Boss, take two wine glasses, I still have wine here."

When Chen Nian heard about it, he quickly took two wine glasses and put them in front of the two people just now, and then someone came over to pour wine for them, wanting them to tell more news about the country.

And the man was quite flattered at the moment, but seeing other people poured wine for him, he couldn't help but feel courageous, took a sip and grinned, and then continued: "That Li Lianying, I am also today I just got the news in the morning, I was moving the cargo at the port, and when I was moving the cargo, I heard someone on the ship say that Li Lianying died a few months ago, and now it seems that the Qing Dynasty is over."

"What? The Qing Dynasty is over?"

"Yeah, the Qing Dynasty is gone, and now it seems to be the Republic of China or something. At first, Sun Wen was the president, but later he resigned and abdicated. Now Yuan Shikai is the interim president."

"it is good!"

I don't know who shouted first when I heard this.

Afterwards, applause came one after another in the restaurant. At this moment, Chen Nian turned his head to look at Mr. Qiao and his son, Qiao Heyong. He saw neither sadness nor joy on his face, and he didn't show any expression.

"Actually seven or eight years ago, Mr. Sun came to San Francisco to raise funds for the revolution. I remember that it was winter and it was very cold, but everyone in Chinatown went there. Some people stood far away, and some Standing close, I could really hear Mr. Sun's voice."

"Go outside Chinatown now and see that the sign "The world is for the public" written on the archway is Mr. Sun's own handwriting. Later, people from the Hongmen hung this plaque on it."

"Hongmen..."

It was the first time Chen Nian heard this name in Chinatown, but thinking about it, Hongmen seemed to be a very famous Chinese organization in this period, and the main purpose was to call on overseas Chinese to contribute to the domestic revolutionary cause. contribute.

"Hongmen is not too far from us. It is located in the Wuzhou Zhigong General Hall at No. 36 Xinluzon Lane. Besides, there are some workers' groups. In short, although everyone is seeking life overseas, their hearts are still toward China. "

Chen Nian nodded. When it comes to Zhigongtang, Chen Nian has a little impression, as if this is also the Zhigong Party, one of the eight major democratic parties in China.

But the man didn't have any other news. After all, he heard it from the pier. He didn't hear all of it. You can't just stand there and do nothing when you move goods on the pier. Just listen to other people's stories. ?
But when everyone was chatting enthusiastically, Chen Nian suddenly saw a familiar figure walking in from the door, it was Wang Chaoyun.

This is the first time that Chen Nian has seen Wang Chaoyun since the last time, but now that he met him before, Wang Chaoyun's clothes are much more gorgeous, and he seems to be approaching Ah Cai faintly, and his face is also heavily rouged Gouache.

After approaching, Chen Nian could even smell the perfume from the other party.

Walking from the door all the way to the counter, people could not help lowering the volume of their speech subconsciously wherever they passed, and looked at Wang Chaoyun involuntarily, but Wang Chaoyun didn't seem to see it, and went straight to the counter. This side of the counter.

"Shopkeeper Qiao, Sister Ah Cai sent me to buy 50 rice dumplings."

"A Cai sent you here?" Qiao Heyong looked at the girl, "Are you the one who sneaked out a few months ago?"

He saw through the other party's identity at a glance.

"Shopkeeper Qiao laughed at me. It was me. I was new here and I was scared, so I ran away. But now sister Ah Cai treats me very well."

Qiao and Yong nodded, apparently not paying attention to what Wang Chaoyun said, he just wanted to confirm the other party's identity.

"Ah Nian, go and get it. Fifty is a bit heavy. By the way, help her take it back. It's not far away anyway."

Chen Nian nodded, then found a big basin, and began to count and put zongzi in it, 50 in total.

It was piled up so high that if Wang Chaoyun were to pick it up by himself, he would definitely not be able to lift it.

But this is a trivial matter for Chen Nian.

Grasping the sides of the basin with both hands, he picked up the basin containing 50 rice dumplings with a little force, and walked towards the door.

And Wang Chaoyun quickly put down the money, and followed Chen Nian...

All the way to the entrance of the alley, Chen Nian didn't hear Wang Chaoyun's words. He thought that the other party would become like the other party's personality after being with A Cai for so long, but he didn't expect that he was even more taciturn than before.

"How are you doing recently?" Chen Nian didn't like silence, so he took the initiative to ask, but as soon as he asked, he felt that he shouldn't have said that.

But the other party obviously didn't think so much. After hearing Chen Nian asking himself, he quickly replied: "It's pretty good, and I saved a lot of money. I'll give you the money for that day's meal in a while."

She was still a little cautious when she spoke, for fear that Chen Nian would dislike her. If other people saw her like this, she would probably be shocked.

This young girl who has only been here for a few months and has been called Sister Yun by everyone, has been following behind in Chen Nian's place, like a little follower, and she speaks cautiously.

But Chen Nian didn't care about the identity of the other party at all: "No, I told you that day that I invited you."

But while speaking, the smell of the perfume on Wang Chaoyun's body penetrated into the tip of Chen Nian's nose again, which made Chen Nian frowned and shrugged his nose.

"Is this perfume on your body?" Chen Nian asked.

"Yeah, doesn't it smell good?" Wang Chaoyun heard that Chen Nian's tone didn't seem to be appreciative.

"It's a bit choking." Chen Nian said truthfully.

(End of this chapter)