Mrs. Zheng is an expert in cooking, and everyone who has tasted her cooking is amazed.
Cao's sister-in-law and Shun Xi's mother also tried to learn from the experience and learned one or two special dishes.
The strange thing is that despite the same steps and the same ingredients, what Zheng makes tastes better than theirs.
Are you angry or not?
Zheng and Zhang were overjoyed when they heard the news that the Cao family had chosen the village chief.
As long as Ding Maoshan is not the village chief, they will be happy.
The Cao family's sister-in-law expressed her intention to come. Zheng asked Mrs. Lin for instructions and immediately agreed.
After lunch that day, Cao Ayao borrowed the Lin family's oxcart and took the two women to the town to buy ingredients.
When I came back, there were two large baskets full of fish and several big roosters with bright red combs tied up in the car.
Lin Laosan pulled his daughter-in-law aside: "The Cao family's family is not rich. Even though they want to invite the villagers to dinner, they can't empty their wealth. There are hundreds of families in the village."
Mrs. Zheng understood what her husband meant and comforted her: "Don't worry, I know it well. Regardless of how much I bought, I only spent one or two taels of silver in total."
"One or two cents? There are fish, meat, and a big rooster, right? When did the prices in the town become so cheap?"
"The rooster is paid for by our family. Mother said that the Cao family has a good relationship with our family. We should support the new official when he takes office. The meat comes from Pork Lee in the town. His eldest daughter married in our village. I heard that it was bought to the new village. The person who held the banquet always sold it to us at a purchased price, and we didn’t spend any money on the fish. Sister-in-law Cao went back to her parents’ house, and some of her brothers went down to the river to catch it.”
Lin Laosan nodded repeatedly after hearing this. His mother was thoughtful. He immediately went back to the house and picked up a bow and arrow. He planned to go to the back mountain to catch some game and bring it back. He thought it was a gift from his brother.
On the day of the banquet, the Cao family borrowed many tables, chairs, benches, pots and pans from various families.
The guests who came all came with gifts. Some brought eggs, some gave us pickles, some grew in the ground, and fished from the river... everything was available, and the kitchen was arranged so that there was no room to stand. .
Mrs. Zheng rolled up her sleeves and chopped meat on the chopping board. There was boiling water in the pot beside her.
Mrs. Zhang scooped up a basin, carried it to the courtyard, poured it on two fat roosters whose necks had been wiped, and then soaked them in cold water.
When he brought it up, he plucked out all the chicken feathers in a few clicks.
Send it to the kitchen, spread seasoning on it, wrap it in a thick layer of mud, and bake it in the stove.
Shun Xi Niang came in carrying two large plates of freshly baked tofu and sniffed at the smell.
"It smells so good! Sister Zheng, what new thing is this?"
"What's on the stove is beggar's chicken, and what's on hand is squirrel and mandarin fish."
Zheng kept working with the knife, and in a moment he had cleaned the fish bones and fish bones in his hands. The head and body were separated, the tail was connected, and the fish meat was attached to the body of the fish, and sliced into a uniform thin and thick shape.
Shun Xi Niang wanted to give her a round of applause: "You are very good at swordsmanship. If you don't know, you thought you were a heroine in the past."
Mrs. Zheng smiled modestly: "I usually spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I just think about it and change the taste for my family. I don't have any other skills. It's just nonsense."
Ms. Zhang has been her sister-in-law for several years and knows her sister-in-law's temperament best, which is modest and kind.
"A few of the boys in our family only like to eat the food cooked by Mr. Zhu. It just makes it easier for me, as I don't have to cook."
Cao's sister-in-law looked at Zheng's skillful movements and silently compared herself with herself in her heart.
Finally, I came to the conclusion that there is no need to compare Guan Gong in front of him.
"Sister, you are so humble. Your skills are not bad if you work as a cook in the town. On the day my natal sister got married, her husband's family invited the chef from the Yuelai Inn in town to cook. The taste when I ate it was not as good as yours. What about craftsmanship!”
Shunxi Niang had never tasted the chef's skills, but she knew Zheng's skills and agreed.
"Yes, you said that we are all from the countryside. Why do you, Sister Zheng, know so many novelty things that we have never heard of? How come beggars' chickens, squirrels and fish are related..."
"Sister, who did you learn your skills from?"
Zheng paused while cutting the fish and replied with a smile: "When I was not married, I learned the local cuisine from a distant relative."
Cao's sister-in-law and Shun Xi's mother said "Oh". No wonder they didn't know. I heard that the Lin family fled thousands of miles from the north. The customs in different places are very different. It's normal to have a few good hometown dishes.
The kitchen was small and the four women couldn't move around in it, so Heshun Xi Niang from the Cao family went to the yard to help.
There were seven or eight tables in the courtyard, and people from almost every household came. Everyone was polite, and there were no family members involved. All the people who came were the heads of the family.
Because the Lin family has a good relationship with the Cao family, it was Lin Laosan who came.
And Xiangyun was held in his arms.
She was cute and her skin was white and tender. Mrs. Lin loved her so much that she sewed a red jacket and put on a small purple vest. In her spare time, Mrs. Zheng wrote a few floating white clouds on it. .
He was wearing a tiger head hat and no shoes on his feet, only a pair of thick red socks. At this moment, Lin Laosan was holding him in his arms for fear of freezing.
Every villager passing by Xiangyun had to stop and tease her.
At first she could show her newly emerged teeth and smile twice, but then the times became too frequent and she was too lazy to pretend. She closed her eyes and lay in her father's arms pretending to sleep.
Until the smell of rice wafted from the kitchen and saliva flowed from the corner of her mouth, she finally couldn't pretend anymore and stretched her neck to look in the direction of the smell.
As the dishes of food were brought to the table, the noisy villagers' eyes widened and their mouths seemed to be uncontrollable, and they frequently swallowed saliva.
Three meat dishes, the squirrel mandarin fish with sweet and sour sauce, golden and crispy; the beggar's chicken wrapped in black mud, tender and juicy, and the braised lion's head rolled into balls.
Four vegetables, including seasonal winter bamboo shoots, bright red mapo tofu, white, tender and refreshing honey-glazed yams, and a dish of braised wild vegetables with mushrooms.
Carrot and winter melon soup, which is suitable for nourishing the stomach and dispelling cold in winter, is also on the table.
The villagers were dumbfounded. The food on the table was so hard that they could not speak. At this moment, they felt regretful and surprised. They were sorry that their wives and children did not have a good meal, and they were pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the Cao family.
"Village chief's sister-in-law, your cooking skills are really amazing. When can you teach my mother-in-law, I'm almost tired of her cooking."
The people at the table ate so much that their mouths were dripping with oil, and they couldn't bear to wipe it with their hands. They licked it with their tongues and put it into their mouths. Everyone ate with the same taste, and no one disliked anyone.
The Cao family's sister-in-law hurriedly said, "How can I know these things? The chef I invited, the daughter-in-law of Sanlang of the Lin family, made them. Her skills are no worse than the cooks at the Yuelai Inn in town!"
No one here has heard of the name Yuelai Inn, but few of them have tasted it. They all thought that the Cao family's sister-in-law was flattering the Zheng family, so they smiled and said nothing.
Until Uncle Yu, who was sitting in the main seat, said: "It is indeed better than Yuelai's craftsmanship. Lin Sanlang, your wife is very capable."
Lin Laosan and Xiangyun grinned and laughed together, both feeling proud of Mrs. Zheng.
The villagers who just thought Cao's sister-in-law was exaggerating now widened their eyes in disbelief, lowered their heads, and ate even more happily.
At this time, the fence outside the courtyard was kicked open from the outside, and several idle teenagers appeared in the courtyard.
"Cao Tongguang, you are so arrogant when you become the village chief. Why don't you bring us with you when you treat guests?"
