HCB Chapter 39: Mastering Basic Skills and Making Ham
Chapter 39: Mastering Basic Skills and Making Ham
The day after this incident, as expected, representatives from the principal's committee visited and investigated Class 4 of Grade 5.
Everyone in the class said that Yufei was a cute, kind, and gentle little girl.
I didn't see it, but I heard that she had contact with Jin Tingting.
Principal Xu also subtly inquired of his son, Xu Junyi, whether Jin Tingting had recently been in contact with any other child.
Xu Jun thought for a moment and said no, Jin Tingting basically always went out with him and hadn't come into contact with anyone else.
When asked what happened to her father, Principal Xu said he was just asking casually, muttering to himself that he had watched this little girl grow up, and he never expected her to be so young and already able to frame someone so cunningly.
However, he did not stop his son from contacting Jin Tingting; making friends was his son's business.
Time will tell. His son will eventually learn which people to befriend and which to avoid. These will be invaluable lessons for him.
Finally, a solution was found: Chen Xiangui was taken by Principal Jin to Yufei's house to apologize.
After discussion, in order to protect the little girl's self-esteem, they went with Chen Xianggui to Yufei's house to apologize.
After writing a guarantee, Yufei didn't pursue the matter further.
Yufei was also seeking justice for her younger self in her past life by doing this, and she wasn't too concerned about the specific punishment they received.
However, I later heard that this matter somehow got spread.
The parents of students in Chen Xianggui's class are all trying to switch classes, they don't want Ms. Chen to teach their children.
Jin Tingting's life wasn't easy either; she was ostracized by her classmates. Apart from a few childhood friends, no one else wanted to play with her. But that's another story.
Yufei wouldn't care too much anymore.
What was she doing at that moment? She was completely focused in the kitchen, her hands moving incredibly fast as she chopped white radishes.
After the white jade radish was cut, Aunt Xia Chan, who was standing to the side, expressionlessly picked out a few slices of radish.
Yufei stared nervously at the things in Aunt Xia Chan's hands, awaiting Aunt Xia Chan's verdict.
Xia Chan compared several randomly selected radish slices, then picked up one of them and examined it closely.
"Excellent! Every slice of radish is the same thickness, as thin as a cicada's wing. That's my assessment!"
Aunt Xia Chan paused playfully for a moment.
"Oh dear, Aunt Xia Chan, stop teasing Yufei! Just give us the verdict! A quick and decisive answer, whether she lives or dies!"
Yufei looked anxiously at Aunt Xia Chan, who was being mischievous again, and said...
Aunt Xia Chan rolled her eyes. Sigh~ Young people these days, so impatient, they don't even know how to find joy.
If Yufei knew what Aunt Xiachan was thinking, she would definitely complain that this happiness is for you, not me~ Human joys and sorrows are not shared by all.
"I hereby declare Xiaoyufei to have passed the basic culinary skills test! From today onwards, you can learn the eight major cuisines of the Great Xia Dynasty from me!"
"Yay~" Yufei happily spun around her three masters. Today is a good day! We ordinary people are so happy! Haha, it turns out that human joys and sorrows are understandable.
Today, not only did she successfully pass the basic cooking skills test, Aunt Qiuju also said that her basic calligraphy skills are already quite good.
You can start learning plum blossom seal script and slender gold script from her!
After Yufei finished cheering and jumping for joy, Aunt Xia Chan began teaching her the first dish.
"Yufei, I know you're from Hunan Province. Hunan cuisine is the main representative cuisine of your region and one of the eight major cuisines of the Xia ethnic group. Today, I'll teach you one of its representative dishes, Zu'an Tofu. Learning Hunan cuisine first will also make it suitable for your family, so it won't seem out of place."
Xia Chan told Yu Fei that this was the first dish she had decided to teach Yu Fei after much consideration.
Tofu dishes may seem simple, but there's a lot to learn. Mastering one tofu dish means you can grasp the basic techniques for many other dishes. Zu'an Tofu takes the simplest tofu recipe to its extreme. Learning to make this dish will make other dishes much easier.
Besides, tofu is available everywhere, so Xiaoyufei can cook it for her family. She can improve her skills and develop a love for cooking amidst her family's praise, without them suspecting anything.
When Xiaoyufei transitions to other cuisines later, and cooks for her family, they'll only think she's exceptionally talented and won't doubt anything else.
Wow! She really is a genius; she thinks of everything from every angle.
"However, we don't have tofu yet. A good dish starts with the ingredients, and this refers not only to the selection of ingredients but also to the final product."
Xia Chan suddenly felt full of energy and said, "Let's start by making tofu!"
After saying that, he took Yufei to the storage room, took out the bag of soybeans, and went to the kitchen to soak them.
Aunt Xia Chan and Yufei said they needed to soak for more than 3 hours, and Yufei couldn't just wait there during that time.
So Xia Chan and Yu Fei said that they had a batch of pigs ready for market.
Perfect timing, they were preparing ingredients for the other dishes.
Ham, cured pork and cured sausage
Yufei followed Xia Chan to the slaughterhouse, where the slaughtering machines had already finished processing the fifteen pigs ready for slaughter.
Granny Chun and Aunt Qiuju also came to help, each dragging a pig's hind leg. After eight attempts, they finally carried all 30 pig's hind legs to the front of the kitchen.
Aunt Xia Chan took out about 50 packets of salt that Yufei had bought outside from the kitchen and poured them all into a wooden basin in their storage room.
While the pork hind leg is still warm, sprinkle salt evenly onto the skin to dehydrate it. It's better to let the meat cool down before the second marinating.
Xia Chan deftly spread salt all over the pig's hind leg, instructing them not to rub the meat vigorously, as this would cause bone breakage.
Gently rub the meat with the marinade, then let the hind leg meat cool for 2 hours before marinating it a second time.
After they had finished pickling all of these for the first time, they looked at each other.
I originally wanted to find something to do while the beans were soaking, but after the ham curing step, I also had to wait...
Alright! Let them chat! Three women make a drama, three and a half women make a drama too.
The topics of conversation were diverse and varied, with no two topics being discussed repeatedly.
Through their conversation, Yufei learned that they were from a parallel world of their planet, Earth.
After the Song Dynasty, things diverged, and a man named Gu Xinian established the Yan Dynasty.
The status of women in this dynasty was greatly improved, and it seems that this person was also very capable. Not long after establishing his dynasty, under his several policies, the people lived in peace and prosperity, and almost everyone in the country had surplus money. The country was powerful, and hundreds of countries paid tribute to him.
When he died, I heard that people all over the country spontaneously wore mourning clothes for him, and their cries were truly heartfelt.
Fortunately, his descendants were quite capable. The subsequent rulers were also outstanding individuals who managed the Yan Dynasty exceptionally well, expanding its territory several times over. Granny Chun and her family lived during the reign of the fourth successor of the Yan Dynasty.
However, the previous owner of this space didn't seem to care much for that emperor.
Yufei wasn't at all impressed by their descriptions; in fact, she seemed to find them rather repulsive.
Yufei, with her gossip radar, guaranteed there seemed to be a story behind this, but Granny Chun and the others didn't delve into it.
Later, Aunt Xia Chan said that the hind leg meat was almost dehydrated and they needed to process it further for a second marinating. That concluded their conversation.
This meat doesn't have to be marinated! Yufei said.