After three bowls of wine, Zhou Dazhu started chatting: "Uncle, big brother, do you want to try the stewed vegetables made by the goose? This year, the goose will have a good competition. If you beat them, you can grab a seat in front of the ancestral grave!"

The 'they' he was talking about were naturally the people from the family of Grandpa Zhou Yi and Grandpa Second. Now Grandpa Zhou Yi is gone, but Grandpa Second is still alive. The boys from these two families have all learned the art of braised vegetables from Grandpa Second.

Zhou Dazhu was unconvinced for a long time because his skills were superior to those of the whole village.

The Zhou family worships their ancestors once every three years, using small animals of chickens, ducks, and geese; and once every ten years, they use large animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep. Before the big sacrifice, people from all families will make stewed vegetables.

The public election of villagers surnamed Zhou has the flavor of primitive democracy. Zhou Dazhu's father did not follow Zhou Yi's grandfather to leave the Zhoujia store due to health reasons, and he has been squeezed out. This is a form of 'class hatred and ethnic hatred'. Zhou Dazhu

I have long thought about repaying it.

"Well, the stewed meat is quite rotten and has a good flavor. It's not bad."

Zhou Maotong picked up a piece of pork head and put it into his mouth. He chewed and nodded, but his comments were somewhat insincere.

Zhou Yi smiled slightly and said nothing.

He didn't even need to eat it. He knew as soon as he smelled it that Brother Dazhu was really good at making braised vegetables. If he could sell it to Chudu, he could rely on this skill to make a living and support his family. But if he wanted to make a fortune by setting up a sign, I'm afraid it wouldn't be possible.

No, it still lacks the heat.

"Uncle, if what Goose has done is not enough, you can give me more advice. What Goose lacks now is the direct descendants of the Zhou family."

Dazhu was a simple-minded man with a clever mind. He knew that the old man was an authentic bloodline of the Zhou family. The craftsmanship was passed down from his ancestors, so he wanted to take the opportunity to learn how to do it, even if he couldn't use it when worshiping his ancestors.

Craftsmanship will not worry about food and drink in the future, right? Nowadays, many people in the city are good at eating, and everyone would rather eat a bite of fresh peaches than half a basket of rotten apricots. As long as the craftsmanship is good, making money will be a matter of minutes.

The old man has so much experience, how can he still not understand his thoughts? It’s not that he doesn’t want to teach, but there is a saying that ‘keep your fists in your hands and your music in your mouth’. When cooking, it pays more attention to the control of heat. He learned how to make stewed vegetables from his father back then.

But after decades, let alone the juniors, I haven’t even stewed a pig’s mouth. Those things I learned have been returned to the ancestors long ago. What can he teach them?

Now the old man is a pure foodie. When it comes to appreciating food, he still has a good way. But when it comes to making it by himself, he is out of the crowd. So after listening to Dazhu's words, he just laughed and said: "Xiao Yi.

"How are you eating? Tell me..." He decisively kicked the ball to his son.

The old man knew that his son was a good cook, otherwise how could he make the foie gras steamed dumplings and egg fried rice so delicious when he was in France? He insisted on using the egg fried rice to prop up the "Zhou Group".

Braised vegetables are a small specialty that cannot be difficult for my son.

"Yes, brother, please tell me..."

Zhou Dazhu was thoughtful but kind. Seeing that the old uncle didn't say anything, he looked at Zhou Yi.

"You really want me to tell you?"

Zhou Yi took a piece of pig head meat and ate it. Although he knew what the problem was when he smelled it, he still had to give him the respect he deserved: "Your braised pork is so fragrant. It's so fragrant!"

"Really?"

"Isn't it true? It's just that your braised meat is so fragrant that I can't even taste the meat..." Zhou Yi said with a smile.

"Well, the goose has heard it. Big brother is not eating well. Brother, just say it straight, don't be afraid that the goose looks ugly." Zhou Dazhu heard it. Zhou Yi was not praising him, but criticizing him.

"Haha, Brother Dazhu put a lot of effort into preparing the marinade. At least he studied the formula..."

Zhou Yi smiled and said: "This is red brine. Well...it is prepared with star anise, cinnamon, tangerine peel, cloves, kaempferol, pepper...and green onion and ginger. Right?"

"Brother is really an expert, yes, yes, you are right." Zhou Dazhu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and even Zhou Chunsheng, who had been immersed in eating meat, stopped his chopsticks and waited for Zhou Yi to continue.

"Brother Dazhu probably wanted to win too much, so he put some poppy shells in the meat, right?"

Zhou Yi shook his head and said: "This kind of thing can produce a strange fragrance, and many unscrupulous merchants are using it. But you should not use it in the future. It is not that it will harm the body or anything. The fragrance of poppy is too strong and monotonous.

, it’s good to eat it once in a while, but if you eat it too often, it will destroy people’s taste system and destroy the natural flavor of the ingredients. Brother Dazhu, think about it, braised pork is still meat-based after all.

Shouldn’t it be the aroma of the meat itself that attracts people?”

"And even if you put aside the problem of poppies, Brother Dazhu, you have used too much marinade. Marinade is the soul of braised vegetables. Without marinade, braised pork becomes stew; but the marinade is too strong.

If it is too thick and turbid, it will take away the flavor of the meat. For example, Brother Dazhu, this dish is not inedible. If it is sold in the city, there will definitely be many buyers, but it is not considered to be of high quality. At best, it is

A craft to make a living..."

Zhou Yi chuckled and said, "I just said it casually, brother Dazhu, don't you take it off?"

"No, no, brother, you are absolutely right. Goose also went to the county to sell braised pork. Just like what you said, big brother, the business is okay, but not too prosperous. So the problem lies here.

..."

Zhou Dazhu followed the good advice and nodded repeatedly: "Brother, tell me how to make this marinade so that the stewed vegetables can be delicious."

Zhou Maotong also looked at his old son, secretly amazed and wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Let's do this. After dinner, I'll make the marinade and braise the meat. Brother Dazhu, you can watch from the side and I'll teach you this skill. But..."

Zhou Yi glanced at Zhou Chunsheng: "After you learn this craft, you have to let Chunsheng go to school. It is not good for the child to waste his studies."

"Why......"

Zhou Dazhu looked at his son and nodded.

If the family had not many children and was too poor, would he be willing to let Chunsheng waste his studies? There was no way. If he could really learn the art of braised pork passed down from the old Zhou family, would it still be a problem for his children to go to school? But he didn’t know that although Zhou Yi’s craftsmanship

It's not a family heirloom, but it's better than a family heirloom. This is his destiny.

After lunch, Zhou Yi told Zhou Dazhu to prepare the materials, stoves, firewood and other things needed for making stewed vegetables. These things were already available at home, but some of them were specially requested by Zhou Yi, such as those for preparing the stewed vegetables.

Zhou Yi asked him to go to Tongzhi Tang in Dayuan City to buy the required Chinese medicinal materials; as well as firewood, Zhou Yi also asked him to find some pine wood as much as possible; the iron pot at home was not enough, Zhou Yi wanted cylindrical stainless steel.

Although iron pots are good, they are not suitable for cooking large quantities of braised vegetables, so you must use this kind of stainless steel pot.

Zhou Dazhu went straight to Dayuan City without saying anything. He Xiuxiu ran to the town to buy this kind of stainless steel pot. Zhou Yi followed his parents to visit the blood relatives of the eldest uncle and the second uncle's family, but the result was the same as Zhou Dazhu expected.

, people were very indifferent to them. Zhou Yi's second grandfather especially dropped the words, saying that the third brother had left home long ago, and the descendants could come back to pay homage to their ancestors and sweep their graves. But they had to wait until they had finished paying homage and left before they could come forward.

It’s no different from the branches of the Zhou family. If you want to occupy a position among the direct descendants, just follow the rules of worshiping ancestors once every ten years, let the stewed vegetables speak, and let the pig’s head, cow’s head, and sheep’s head speak!

Well done, my ancestors loved it, and you will be in the front row!

Zhou Maotong turned blue after hearing this. He couldn't say anything at the second uncle's house, but when he arrived at the first uncle's house, the old man was no longer there. He and several cousins ​​almost got into a fight. It was Zhou Yi who was still tight with his mother.

With persuasion, I just did it.

On the way back, Zhou Maotong, who had not spoken for a long time, said to his son: "Xiao Yi, you can show me as much skill as you want. If you can't make stewed vegetables this time that will surpass Zhou's shop, I won't recognize you."

Your son!"

Zhou Yi nodded: "Dad, don't worry. Your son and I have been living in Yunshui Village for more than half a year and have done nothing but tinkering and eating. We will definitely win!"

When he returned to Zhou Dazhu's house, Zhou Dazhu hadn't come back yet, but He Xiuxiu bought a cylindrical stainless steel pot about half the height of a person and prepared a lot of pine firewood. Zhou Yi first burned most of the pot of hot water. This is called a hot pot;

After initially removing the smell of steel, I boiled half a pot of lard in my home iron pot, poured the stainless steel pot all over, rinsed it and boiled it with hot water. I did this three times before the new pot was cooked.

', completely eliminating the smell of steel.

After cooking the pot, Zhou Yi burned some charcoal with pine wood and piled it in the kitchen for later use.

After he finished these things, Zhou Dazhu also came back. Zhou Yi took the traditional Chinese medicine and condiments he bought, smelled them, nodded and said: "Yes, the people of Sanqin are simple and honest, 'Tongzhitang' is a time-honored brand after all, and the quality of these traditional Chinese medicines is good.

Brother Dazhu, thank you for your hard work, it will be my business later, just watch from the sidelines..."

When making braised vegetables, the first step is to blanch the meat. The so-called blanch the meat is to blanch the blood in the meat with warm water, otherwise the carefully prepared marinade will be destroyed and the braised pork will have a fishy smell.

Everyone who makes stewed vegetables knows this process, but few people can do it perfectly. This is because butchers have different skills. Some people already have blood bruises when they kill pigs and sheep, and they will still get bruises no matter how hard they are blanched.

It’s fishy, ​​so buy all the ingredients without congestion? That’s impossible, the cost is too high. So you can only use onion and ginger cooking wine to suppress it. For example, Zhou Dazhu made the sauce thick and turbid, and even used opium poppy.

That's the reason.

Zhou Yi cooked pig heads and pig offal, but his way of blanching the meat was different. He poured warm water into a stainless steel pot, put a little bit of green onion and ginger, and when the water boiled, the meat started to cook. Then he poured the water into the pot.

Just pour it and you're done.

Zhou Dazhu was puzzled: "Brother, you don't use cooking wine and star anise, just blanch the meat like this? Will it make the meat smell fishy?"

"Really?"

Zhou Yi smiled slightly: "What is fishy? You blanch the meat three or four times. Unfortunately, you don't dare to add marinade when blanching. You just use various seasonings to suppress it. After you blanch it several times, the meat will be ripe.

, the blood congestion in the meat has turned into a fishy smell. I don’t blanch it so many times, just to remove the dirt, but the meat is still completely raw. Since it is raw, of course it has a fishy smell, as long as I cook it thoroughly.

Isn’t it enough to remove the fishy smell? Who said you have to do it when blanching the meat? Haha, this is not how you braise the meat..."

"Goose... Goose still doesn't understand..." Zhou Dazhu scratched his head. This was Zhou Yi's first step, which subverted his previous understanding.
Chapter completed!