Everyone was preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner, but Lin Linyou was still sleeping soundly.
Lin Long is also a good cook at home. She has been cooking on the stove on a small stool since she was seven years old. Whenever her parents went to work in the fields or worked in the houses of gentry, she cooked all the meals at home. of.
It's just that for poor people, cooking is simple. They may just boil it in water and add a little coarse salt. On weekdays, I mostly drink wild vegetable porridge.
It is only during the Chinese New Year that I am willing to buy some fish, and it is rare to put a few more grains of salt in the dishes.
According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty in Jiangnan, the New Year's Eve dinner must include four cold, four hot and eight dishes. A slightly wealthy family will also add a hot pot.
Among the vegetarian dishes, a bowl of stir-fried green vegetables or glutinous vegetables is indispensable. Tai vegetables are also a specialty of the hometown of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. They are known as "ton vegetables compete with mutton under the snow".
A bowl of green vegetables or vegetables is green and green, and people at that time called it "Chang Geng vegetables".
At this moment, Lin Long and Yue Rong volunteered to wash vegetables and other vegetables in cold water. The other two girls were afraid of the cold.
Although Ren Ran has a rough temper, is she still afraid of the cold? You have to boil hot water to wash yourself. Before Yu Miaolan came to Jiaofangsi, she was a lady, and she never touched Yangchun Shui. Unfortunately, after she became Jiaofangsi, she was ordered by the old madam to make a few dumplings, but this time I have never done cold water work before.
As for the two grown men, Zhang Bi and Yang Fang, they can do this kind of detailed work, but the girls dislike them because they can't wash them cleanly - the girls have seen them wash vegetables, whether it's radish, eggplant or greens and amaranth. Soak, soak, rinse and shake in clean water, then cut it and put it in the pot...
So one of them, Yang Fang, was sent to chop firewood, while Zhang Ben stayed in the kitchen, chopping bones, stuffing and cutting open fish.
Lin Long was washing the dishes while muttering: "My brother can really sleep! It's already noon and he still can't get up..."
"How can any sister speak ill of elder brother behind his back?" He said that Cao Cao arrived, and Lin Linyou appeared at the door of the kitchen wearing a beautiful new dress.
Sure enough, you can’t talk to people during the day!
"Brother..." Lin Long smiled sheepishly.
"No matter how big my brother is, he can't sleep as well as you can!" Lin Lin said, "If you get married in the future, you won't know if your husband sneaks out in the middle of the night while sleeping next to you." He was referring to the fact that it is naturally easier to sneak away in the middle of the night. Something about going out.
"Brother, can you stop talking about getting married all the time?" Lin Long flattened his lips unhappily, "You like getting married so much, just get married!"
"My little sister is right!" Zhang Bi put the chopped stuffing into a bowl and looked at Lin Linyou: "Why are you wearing new clothes?"
"What are you talking about? If I don't wear new clothes in the New Year, then why should I buy them?" Lin Linyou shook his sleeves, "How about it? Are you handsome?"
"Handsome Mao! Didn't you see everyone was busy?" Zhang Bi said, "Go, change your clothes quickly and come over to help!"
Lin Linyou looked around and felt that there was no job that he wanted to do. He quickly slipped out of the kitchen and said, "I'd better help my third brother chop wood!"
…
All the vegetables had been washed, Zhang Ben's fish and meat had been cut, and Yang Fang and Lin Linyou walked in sweating profusely with a large pile of firewood.
Zhang Bi said: "I suggest that we have a New Year's Eve dinner today. How about each of us cooking a few special dishes?"
For seven people, one dish per person means seven dishes. Zhang Bi said that we don’t care, and each person can cook a few more dishes.
"Okay, okay!" Lin Long clapped his hands and jumped with a smile.
"Little sister, if you do well, Brother Zhang, I will reward you with a big red envelope!" Zhang Bi said to Lin Long.
"A gentleman's words!" Lin Long tilted his head and smiled.
"How's it going? No one objects, right?" Zhang Bi asked everyone again, "How about we decide on the most delicious and the most unpalatable. Tasty ones will be rewarded, and unpalatable ones will be punished."
Lin Lin said: "Brother, who dares to object to your words? By the way, brother, you also want to cook, right?"
Zhang Bi said: "Of course."
Lin Linyou smiled and said: "Then I can rest assured! No matter how unpalatable my cooking is, it's still not as unpalatable as your cooking, big brother!"
Zhang Ben looked at Lin Linyou provocatively: "Then let's just watch!"
Lin Linyou: "Brother, you are so confident. What are you going to cook? It won't be an old man eating... No, it's full..." Then I thought about it, bah! The slaves haven’t even entered the customs yet! As soon as these words came out, it was completely treasonous.
"What old man is eating? I'll give it to the old man... you don't care what I cook." Zhang Ben said, "Come on, let's draw lots and decide the order of cooking! If there is something missing, we will buy it." "
The results of the lottery came out, and Yuerong came first.
"Rong'er, what are you cooking?" Lin Linyou leaned over and asked with a smile.
"Rong'er?" Lin Long frowned and pouted, questioning his eldest brother with sharp eyes, but the eldest brother didn't care about her, and only focused on his Rong'er.
"I'm going to make egg dumplings and fat-headed fish." It seems that Yue Rong has already thought about it!
For the generation in Suzhou and Hangzhou, which is close to the capital, egg dumplings are an indispensable part of the New Year's Eve dinner, symbolizing "gold and silver ingots". It is a delicacy made with fresh shrimp, pork or beef and mutton as fillings and wrapped in egg skin.
Yue Rong is from a county under the jurisdiction of Suzhou Prefecture, so naturally he wants to make specialties from his hometown. Usually the specialty dishes are dishes from home.
"I'll light a fire for you!" Lin Linyou was active. He used a fork to drive out the sleeping civet cat in the stove and lit a fire.
The key to making egg dumplings is the egg skin. Making the egg skin is not very difficult, but it requires skill. Yuerong stretched out his hand to check the temperature of the iron pot. When he felt it was almost ready, he poured the stirred egg liquid into the pot. With a "sting" sound, a smell of egg fragrance immediately filled everyone's nose.
"Mr. Lin Qi, the fire should not be too strong, this is enough." Yuerong said, "I still need to trap, you can chop the stuffing for me!"
"Okay... Okay, brother, didn't you chop so much?" Lin Linyou lifted his buttocks from the bench in front of the stove.
"Chop some more shrimp stuffing for me, thank you." Yuerong said.
"Okay! No problem." Lin Linyou said with a smile. It seems that this girl wants to take first place! "Rong'er, if you do a good job, I will also give you a big red envelope."
"Hurry up and chop the stuffing! There's so much nonsense." Zhang Bi couldn't stand Lin Linyou's flattering look, so he swept his leg towards the crook of his knee.
Skills cannot be learned, only practice can make you perfect. It seems that Yueyong has made this egg dumpling many times. It also seems that her family is not poor and can at least eat eggs a few times.
After a while, a large and medium-thick egg pancake spread out...
Since I had to make egg dumplings, I left the fat-headed fish behind.
Next, Lin Long made stir-fried shredded bamboo shoots with pork and fried eggplant with soy sauce.
Stir-fried shredded bamboo shoots with meat is not called stir-fried shredded bamboo shoots with meat, but "Sisi Qi Qi", which means that everything goes well and everything is ready; and basil is also a must-have in vegetarian dishes, especially in Wudi, Jiangnan, because of Wu Yin "Luo" and "乐" are homophonic. When Zhu Yuanzhang became king, the country was named "Wu", and he must have considered himself a Wu person. Therefore, Luosu's status has always been very high on the dining table of Mingren in the capital.
Yu Miaolan made the dumplings, stuffed a coin into them, and then hurriedly cooked a pot of soup - spinach and egg drop soup. She doesn't know how to cook, but she is good at making soup. Isn't it just adding all the ingredients to the water in order?
However, no matter whether you know how to cook or not, and whether it tastes good or not, no one will laugh at you.
Ren Ran made a dish of clams first, which looked very good.
What Yang Fang made was a "Sunflower Chopped Meat", which is a lion's head.
"Third brother, you are a cruel person! How dare you challenge this dish." Zhang Bi said.
"Brother, don't laugh at others, at least third brother has the courage." Lin Lin said, "You do the next one, what are you going to do?"
"What's the rush? What are you going to do?" Zhang Bi asked.
"There are so many dishes, I think I won't cook them! No way!" Lin Lin said, "I give up."
"How can we admit defeat during the Chinese New Year?" Zhang Bi firmly objected, "We must fix it!"
Lin Linyou: "No way!"
Zhang Bi: "Mr. Lin Qi, you don't want to lose face in front of Miss Rong'er, right?"
