Volume 1: Reborn in the 1980s, selling lunch boxes with my mother Chapter 20 Mixed Fish Casserole
Li Guifen has always wanted to find a chef who can really cook, and then let her elder brother go home and eat her.
But how easy is it to find a skilled chef?
In this era, many families in rural areas have just barely had enough food to eat, and their daily cooking lacks oil and salt.
Some people who know how to live will put half a spoonful of rapeseed oil in the pot to moisten the bottom of the pot before cooking, then pour in a bowl of water and put the cut vegetables in to cook.
The dishes cooked in this way have a layer of oil floating on the surface, which looks greasy but actually tastes bland.
Just think about it, even rapeseed oil and salt have to be used sparingly, not to mention soy sauce, fermented black beans, balsamic vinegar, and aniseed, which are condiments commonly used in restaurants. Many rural families are reluctant to buy them for cooking during the Chinese New Year.
Although Jiang Tian said that her mother's cooking was delicious, Li Guifen didn't take it to heart. Instead, she squatted down and carefully picked out the loaches and eels in the bucket.
Jiang Tian really didn't lie to her. The loaches and eels they brought were very fresh, and their sizes had been picked in advance, so they were all big.
There were a few golden eels in it, and they looked quite old. If you take these old eels to the vegetable market, the fishmongers will have to take them out separately and sell them for at least RMB 1.5 per pound.
Li Guifen nodded with satisfaction, stood up, wiped the water stains on her hands, and began to bargain with Hu Qiongfang.
"Big sister, give me some more. Yellow eel is 70 cents a pound, loach is 40 cents, I want them all, okay?"
Who knew that Hu Qiongfang was stunned for a moment and actually turned to look at her daughter.
Li Guifen was also stunned for a moment.
This mother and daughter came out together to sell eels, and the younger one was the one in charge?
Jiang Tian bit her lower lip in embarrassment, thought for a moment, and said to Li Guifen, "Madam Boss, you're cutting the price too low. We inquired before we came here, and found that wild eels this thick would be sold for at least 1.2 yuan per pound in the morning market."
"We deliver the goods to your door, so you don't have to pick them up from the market yourself, right?"
Li Guifen was used to bargaining with others. She rolled her eyes and immediately retorted, "You can't say that. I see you are from the countryside. There are fixed fish stalls in the morning market in our town, and they don't allow outsiders to set up stalls there."
"You don't have much of this stuff. If you can't sell it, you can take it to the market and sell it to the fishmongers. They may not even give you 70 cents a pound."
When Hu Qiongfang heard this, she thought it made sense and was about to agree. After all, they had caught the eels themselves and it didn't cost much, so 70 cents was fine.
This price is much higher than what she used to pay to fishmongers who went to the countryside to buy fish.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Tian pulled the boss lady aside and whispered , "Boss lady, how about this? If you buy all my eels at 80 cents a pound, I will give you a new dish for free. How about that?"
Li Guifen was a little bit unconvinced.
"You girl! Didn't you just say you couldn't cook? How come you can cook a new dish now?"
Jiang Tian chuckled: "I only know how to cook this dish. How about this? I'll borrow your kitchen for a while and prepare the ingredients myself. If it's not delicious, I'll give you another fifty cents, which is just like borrowing your oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. Is that okay?"
"If you like the food I make, I'll give you the recipe for free. Is that okay?"
Li Guifen thought about it and felt that she would not suffer any loss this way, so she nodded and agreed.
Jiang Tian immediately rolled up her sleeves and asked Hu Qiongfang to help her catch two eels and several loaches and kill them.
She asked the proprietress for a brush, scooped out a dozen snails, and brushed off the layer of moss on the outside.
This snail has been raised for two days. All the mud and sand in its stomach have been spit out. Just brush off the moss on the outside of the shell and cut off the butt, and you can use it for cooking.
While killing the eel, Hu Qiongfang whispered to her daughter, "Tiantian, when did you learn to cook? How come I don't know?"
Jiang Tian was stunned for a moment, then he remembered, damn!
When she was this age in her previous life, she really couldn’t cook!
Hu Qiongfang is definitely a good mother. She did not let her daughter work like a slave at home just because she gave birth to a son.
In her heart, her son and daughter are her treasures.
No matter how much her mother-in-law bullied her or how heavy the housework was, she would rather work herself like a workhorse and rarely let her children help her with the work.
So, in her previous life, Jiang Tian really started learning to cook after Hu Qiongfang died. She went to work in a construction site canteen and accidentally started learning how to cook from the canteen chef.
The dish she was going to make for Li Guifen today was the master chef’s specialty – mixed fish stew.
In her previous life, the foreman at the construction site where she worked loved fishing. He would catch a bunch of random fish and ask the chef to help cook them.
The chef was also annoyed by him. At the beginning, he could still cook patiently and carefully, but later on, he couldn't help but start to mess up.
He also created the dish called "Mixed Fish Stew" which astounded the contractor - in fact, it was just a stew of all the different fish caught by the contractor!
Unfortunately, because this mixed fish pot was so popular, the contractor would order this dish every time he came to eat.
The master chef almost vomited while making this dish. Later, he really didn't want to make it anymore, so he simply passed the skill of making this dish to Jiang Tian and asked her to make it for him.
Anyway, you are cooking in the kitchen. As long as the taste is similar, who cares whether it is made by a master chef?
Unexpectedly, Jiang Tian actually learned the essence of this dish.
In order to make the mixed fish stew delicious, in addition to testing your skills, there are two other important points.
First, the ingredients must be fresh, such as fish, shrimp, loach, etc. It is best to cook and kill them immediately.
Another thing is that it needs thick and red sauce.
This is also the reason why Jiang Tian never made this dish at home before.
There are only two condiments in the Jiang family kitchen all year round: salt and sugar. Without enough condiments, even if she is the god of cooking, she cannot make delicious mixed fish stew.
Fortunately, Li Guifen's family runs a restaurant, and they have all the commonly used seasonings in the kitchen.
Jiang Tian first cuts the side dishes, then heats the oil in a pan, puts in the ginger slices, garlic slices, peppercorns and green onions, and frys them until fragrant.
Then pour in the processed loach and eel segments, add cooking wine, rice vinegar, soy sauce, broad bean paste and dried chili peppers while stir-frying. When the surface is evenly covered with the sauce, add a spoonful of salt and a bowl of water, cover with a lid and simmer for ten minutes.
While this was going on, Jiang Tian took out another wok and fried the snails in the same way , then poured them under the casserole.
Snail shells are resistant to burning and can be placed under the casserole to prevent the bottom from getting sticky when heated. The snail meat will taste better if it is soaked in soup and stewed for a longer time.
When the snails are done, the loach and eel in the pot are also cooked. Open the lid, pour the casserole, add the fried garlic slices and onions, and finally sprinkle some chopped green onions.
A simple version of mixed fish stew is ready.
