Chapter 64: Chili Fish Head
"Chunxiang, Qianhuan, you're back. How are the chestnuts selling today?"
"We only sold 80 catties today. My eldest brother and his wife only sold it for 4 cents per catty, which took away a lot of our business."
"Mom, we have already severed our relationship with them. There is no need to call them brother and sister-in-law from now on." Qianhuan couldn't help but correct what Liu said.
"Oh, mom got it." Liu also knew that she had said the wrong thing, and immediately nodded in agreement.
"We still have several hundred kilograms of chestnuts at home. If we can't sell them, won't they all be wasted?" Liang Laoer seemed a little worried.
"Dad, don't worry. They won't be able to show off for long by lowering the price and disrupting the market. Let's not think about those unhappy things. I bought a fish today and will make a new dish for you and mom tonight. I learned it in my dream."
"Okay." Seeing his daughter's smiling face, Liang Laoer's mood inexplicably improved.
Liu helped her daughter in the kitchen. She soaked some flour in clean water and began to knead the dough. After the dough was ready, Liu started to make hand-rolled noodles.
Qianhuan processed the grass carp. She first scraped off the scales of the grass carp, then chopped the grass carp into two parts. She pickled the back half of the fish tail with salt and placed it in the cupboard for the next meal.
Wash the fish head and cut it in half, then use a knife to score a few times on the fish meat so that it will be more flavorful when steamed.
She spread salt evenly on the fish head and placed a lot of shredded ginger on the top and bottom. There was some leftover wine from the last banquet she had hosted for the villagers who built the house, so she took it out and poured some on the fish head, then added some vegetable oil and marinated it for about 10 minutes.
Qianhuan chopped up all the red chili peppers she bought and pickled them with salt. Since there was no ready-made chopped chili peppers at home, she had to make them now. In fact, the chopped chili peppers would taste better after being pickled for a period of time, but today she could only make do with the freshly pickled chopped chili peppers to steam the fish.
She chopped a lot of minced garlic, put the chopped chili peppers and the minced garlic in the pan and fried them with oil. She put some green onions and ginger slices at the bottom of the plate, then put two chopsticks on it, put the fat fish head on the chopsticks, and finally put all the fried garlic and chopped chili peppers on the fish head.
At this time, the water in the pot was boiling. Qianhuan put the plate with the fish head into the pot and steamed it on high heat for more than a quarter of an hour, then changed to low heat and steamed it for half an incense stick of time.
Feeling that it was almost done, Qianhuan took the fish head out of the pot. At this time, a lot of red soup had overflowed from the plate.
"Mom, please help me cut some green onions."
"okay."
Qianhuan poured some vegetable oil into the pan and fried it. She scooped up the hot oil with a spoon, sprinkled chopped green onions into the boiling hot oil and poured them on the fish head. A bowl of fragrant chopped pepper fish head was ready.
"Mom, let's boil some water and cook the noodles. We can eat the chopped pepper fish head noodles soon."
After a busy period of work, a large plate of steaming hot and fragrant chopped pepper fish head noodles was ready. The red-hot chopped peppers covered the black and white fish head, which made people's appetite increase.
Qianhuan and Liu carried the eight-immortals table to the east wing and placed it next to the bed so that Liang Laoer could also sit on the bed and eat with them.
"Qianhuan, is this the new dish you learned to cook in your dream? What's the name of this dish? It looks delicious."
"Yes, Dad, this dish is called chopped pepper fish head. We can just dip the cooked noodles in the fish soup and eat it."
Qianhuan put all the noodles into the soup, and then picked up a full bowl of noodles for Liu.
"Dad, you're still recovering from your leg injury. This dish is a bit spicy, so you shouldn't eat too much. I asked Mom to cook some light vegetables for you. I'll give you a small bowl so you can try it."
Qianhuan picked up a small bowl of noodles and handed it to Liang Laoer, and the family began to eat the fish and noodles with relish.
Qianhuan picked up the fish and took a bite. She frowned, feeling that the fish seemed to be overcooked today. She was not very satisfied. The taste was far from the authentic chopped pepper fish head she had eaten in modern times.
In modern times, she would cook when she has time, but cooking is really not her strong point. She is good at singing, dancing, playing the piano, and swordplaying, and even storytelling, but it is really a bit difficult for her to cook delicious food.
It seems that she can only try a few more times. When the taste is most satisfactory to her, she will give it to Zuixianju.
Although Qianhuan was not satisfied with the taste of the fish, the fish soup was still very delicious. The noodles dipped in it tasted delicious.
Liang Lao Er had only taken a few bites when he finished the small bowl of noodles. He looked at Qian Huan with an unsatisfied look on his face and said, "My daughter, this chopped pepper fish head is so delicious. The noodles taste especially good when dipped in the fish sauce. Can you give me another bowl?"
"Dad, no, you still have to take medicine later, you can't eat anything too spicy."
Liang Laoer was helpless. He could only watch Liu and Qianhuan slurping noodles dipped in fish soup while he ate noodles without fish sauce and some light vegetables.
"Qianhuan, this chopped pepper fish head you made is so delicious. I can feel the freshness and fragrance on my tongue after taking a bite. Let's make this dish again tomorrow night."
"Mom, the fish head we made today doesn't taste that good. It may be because I didn't control the time well. I steamed it for too long and the fish meat became overcooked. If it was steamed for a shorter time, the fish meat should be more tender."
"I feel that this overcooked fish is already delicious. If it is steamed a little tenderer, wouldn't it be a delicacy?"
Unlike Qianhuan, Liang Laoer and Liu had not eaten many high-end delicacies. The meals they had eaten in the old house before were all low in oil and salt. Even the steamed fish was a delicacy for them.
"Mom, the steamed tender fish meat is not considered a delicacy. If there is soy sauce, pour it on the fish head and steam it together, the taste will be delicious. Unfortunately, there is no soy sauce here."
"Soy sauce? What is that? I've only heard of meat sauce and fish sauce, but never heard of soy sauce." Liu asked curiously.
"It's also a condiment, mom. When I have a chance to make it in the future, you will know what it is."
In fact, Qianhuan’s next plan is to make soy sauce, which is why she bought that large piece of wasteland.
Unfortunately, making soy sauce requires koji. If it were summer and the temperature was high, the koji could be made in the room. Unfortunately, it is already November. Although the beginning of November in the southwest of Dayuan Kingdom is not very cold, the temperature is not enough to make the koji successfully.
She could only make money quickly, build a brick and tile house, then build a greenhouse and a small workshop, and then start making soy sauce to realize her plan to make a fortune.
"Okay, I'll wait for you to make it for me to taste one day."
Liu is no longer surprised that her daughter can always come up with something new. She thinks it is all God's will that her daughter has this gift.
At the Liang family's old house, in order to save on ox cart fare, Zhu and his friends pushed a cart back from the county town. By the time they got home, it was almost dark.
As soon as she entered the door, Zhu excitedly talked about the results of today's stall: "Dad and Mom, our chestnuts are selling very well today. All the 100 kilograms of chestnuts we brought have been sold out."
"Really? Doesn't that mean it was sold for 1 tael of silver?" Old Mrs. Liang stood up and asked.
"No, mother, we sold it at 4 wen per jin, and 100 jin sold for 400 wen in total."
"Didn't they say that sugar-roasted chestnuts are 10 wen per pound? Why are they only 4 wen per pound?"
"Mom, no one buys at 10 cents a pound. In the county town, besides Qianhuan's family, there are two other families selling sugar-roasted chestnuts, and they only sell them for 5 cents a pound. We have no choice but to lower the price." Zhu felt aggrieved when she talked about this. She didn't want to lower the price.
"Grandma, we buy chestnuts at the price of one cent for two kilograms, so the cost of 100 kilograms is only 50 cents. We also use very little syrup and cooking oil, so the cost of syrup and cooking oil for 100 kilograms of chestnuts is about 20 cents. We sold 400 cents, and made a net profit of 330 cents a day. This deal is already very cost-effective," Wen Yong analyzed.
"Old lady, Wen Yong is right. Excluding the cost, you can earn several hundred coins a day. This is already a very profitable business. You should stop being greedy." Old Man Liang also agreed with Wen Yong.
Old Mrs. Liang muttered a few words, took the 400 coins from Zhu and put them away. They could earn several hundred coins every day, so now their family would not have to worry about the money for Wenzhi's studies.
"Ms. Zhu, before it gets completely dark, take Zhaodi to the mountainside and collect some more firewood. Wenyong and Lao Da, you guys go and cut the holes in the chestnuts. We have to prepare everything quickly and continue to set up the stall in the city tomorrow." Old Lady Liang ordered.
After hearing the order, several people took action immediately.
Old Mrs. Liang went to the kitchen to heat up the food. She was very happy after earning several hundred coins a day. She went to the chicken coop and took out two eggs. She planned to make another bowl of egg soup for everyone.
By the time they are done, it will be almost time for dinner.