501 Nine Dishes
The two of them didn’t say anything and entered Xue Dagui’s courtyard. Then, they didn’t even look at Shao Shuting and went straight to the kitchen.
It was time to make lunch.
The chopping table was a little high, so Jiang Yue placed a small bench beside it. It was just right for her to stand on it.
“I’m going to make eight dishes for lunch,” Jiang Yue said to Xue Yan as she placed the pig’s heart she bought today on the chopping board and prepared to slice it into thin slices. “Squirrel fish, green pepper with spareribs, stir-fried pig’s heart, twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, cold cucumber salad, stir-fried vegetables, and minced meat with eggplant.”
There were many people in the family. There were ten people to feed including Shao Shuting.
Xue Dafu, Xue Yifu, Xue Erfu, and Xue Sanfu all had huge appetites. Shao Shuting also had a huge appetizer. These dishes had to be filled to the brim, or it wouldn’t be enough.
Sometimes, the person who delivered the ice was not at the stall at noon, but at home waiting to deliver the ice to town. He often had to eat with them.
“Let’s make soup too. There are winter melons here, so we can make it into soup.” Jiang Yue said.
“Okay.” Xue Yan had no opinion. Even though he had eaten everything else and knew about it, he didn’t know what squirrel fish was. Since she had bought grass carp, it must have been made from grass carp, so he didn’t ask.
She saw that he was also holding a vegetable knife and an anvil in front of him. He cut the things he thought he could cut well and handed them to her. For example, green onions.
He was slow in cutting the green onions, and was a little worried about cutting his hands.
Jiang Yue was much faster. She cut the pig’s heart into thin slices very quickly. Each slice was almost the same thickness. Xue Yan felt the difference in skill was too big.
The cut pigs heart was placed in a basin and soaked in water. The blood had to be let out before the pig hearts could be marinated.
Seeing that Xue Yan didn’t need to help her cut anything, she said to Xue Yan, “Heat up the pot.”
“Sure.” Xue Yan went to the stove to light the fire.
Dagui’s kitchen counter also had a big pot and a small pot that they could use. The two pots were clean and could be used at any time.
Xue Yan cooked in the small pot first, then cooked rice in the big pot.
There was also a small bench placed next to the cooking bench. Jiang Yue stood on it and poured a ladle of cold water into the small pot. Then, she put the whole piece of meat she bought into the pot, and added some ginger slices, scallions, and cooking wine.
She was going to make twice-cooked pork.
“Later, you can scrape the foam off the top and cook it until it’s 80 percent done. Then, you can take it out and let it cool.” Jiang Yue said as she covered the pot and reminded Xue Yan who was sitting by the stove. “If you don’t know what an eighty percent done dish looks like, then use your chopsticks to poke it in. It’ll be ready as long as you can poke it through.”
“Alright.” Xue Yan agreed again.
When Xue Yan started to remove the foam from the pot, Jiang Yue had already cut out a lot of things and placed them on the plate.
To be honest, this whole piece of meat was so thick that he really didn’t know how to tell when it was 80 percent done. Thus, he really took a chopstick and stuck it in, but didn’t go in.
Then, he continued to let it cook.
Only when he was able to stab it through did he fish out the rather large piece of meat from the pot and put it aside to let it cool down naturally.
Then, he washed the small pot clean.
When he turned around, he saw that Jiang Yue was already cleaning the grass carp.
She cut off the head of the grass carp, then removed the bones, leaving only the meat. The tail was not broken, and she could still skillfully cut the meat. The fish skin was not cut at all, and it was still connected.
