Chapter 146: Teach Carefully Without Picking Her Up
"Of course, it's true, is it true?" Liu Guihua's voice came from outside.
Chen Zhaozhao shut up, he is here to rob Xiaoni~ Hey~
However, she did explain to her daughter why her father did not live at home, but her explanation did not seem to fully convince her daughter.
Now, the little guy should have no doubts anymore, and there should be less gossip among the villagers, right?
Thinking on the bright side, Chen Zhaozhao felt that this matter was not so difficult to accept.
She was busy for about half an hour, and others got up one after another.
Some people helped grind soy milk, some made breakfast, and some helped clean up the woodshed. They were very busy.
When preparing to have breakfast, Zhao Youchang came back, presented the soybeans exchanged for today and the wooden barrel of tofu, and told Chen Zhaozhao at the same time.
"The money for selling tofu belongs to my comrade. He said he would give it to you when he comes back in the evening."
Chen Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a smile, "Okay, I understand, I'm sorry to bother you, uncle. Let's have breakfast at home before we leave."
"Yes, his uncle, we are about to have breakfast, let's eat together." Liu Guihua warmly invited.
"No, it's already prepared at home and waiting for me." Zhao Youchang politely refused, and when he was about to leave, he praised, "Zhao Zhao's skill at making tofu is really good, where did you learn it?"
"When I went to the county before, I met a mother-in-law who sold tofu and learned from her." Chen Zhaozhao said the words he had already thought out without blushing or out of breath.
"So that's it." Zhao Youchang nodded, hesitated and said, "I heard that the supply and marketing cooperative recently asked for a lot of tofu, and I thought about making some. Can you teach your aunt?"
"Okay, as long as my aunt is willing to learn, I will teach her carefully. But first of all, making tofu is not easy. It is very demanding on operation. If the operation is not good, it will fail, or it will not taste good."
Zhao Youchang nodded understandingly, "Okay, I understand. I'll go back and discuss it with your aunt, and I'll see you again then."
"Okay." Chen Zhaozhao agreed, and Zhao Youchang drove the ox cart and left.
After breakfast, before Liu Jiamei came, Li Huarong came first.
After eating tofu last night, she also had the idea of making tofu, but after thinking about it, she was afraid that Chen Zhaozhao would not teach her. After all, she wanted to sell it for money. It should be a secret recipe, right? She was afraid that it would be wrong to ask, but there were several people in the family.
The child was making such a fuss that she had no choice but to shamelessly ask Chen Zhaozhao.
Chen Zhaozhao happily agreed and told her what Zhao Youchang said this morning. Li Huarong did not expect that Chen Zhaozhao agreed so happily, let alone that Zhao Youchang also had the idea of learning to make tofu and wanted to sell it.
However, Liu Jiamei is too lazy and her cooking skills are extremely poor. She thinks that even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to learn it, and even if she learned it, she wouldn't be able to do it well.
She complained about Liu Jiamei to Chen Zhaozhao, and Chen Zhaozhao thought she was right, but Zhao Youchang asked to learn it, so she had no reason to refuse, since it was not a secret skill anyway.
But she is only responsible for teaching, and the rest is up to the learners themselves.
Chen Zhaozhao took Li Huarong to the side hall and taught her the steps of making tofu.
Almost every household in Lishan Village has a stone mill, which is used to grind glutinous rice flour during Qingming Festival and Chinese New Year. During Qingming Festival, glutinous rice flour is used to wrap Qingming glutinous rice cakes, and during New Year, glutinous rice flour is used to fry glutinous rice balls.
In the early years, there was a collective large stone mill in the glutinous rice flour milling village. Later, there was a dispute over the use of the stone mill and it broke down.
The village went together to break stones, and each family did it themselves.
Therefore, Li Huarong and others want to learn how to make tofu, so they don’t have to worry about grinding soy milk.
This time Chen Zhaozhao made ten pounds of soybeans, and only half of them had been ground so far, so she had to cook them twice.
Chen Sanmei and Chen Simei were grinding soy milk, and now she and Chen Damei were going to cook the first pot of soy milk.
When the fire was lit, Liu Jiamei came with her daughter Zhao Xiaoyan.
Liu Jiamei came in with a smile. After saying hello, she pulled Zhao Xiaoyan forward and said, "I'm afraid I won't be able to learn. Let Xiaoyan learn with me."
Chen Zhaozhao nodded and said nothing more.
Boiling soy milk and adding brine is the most critical step in making tofu. The fire was already lit, and she told them the essentials and certain precautions while doing it.
Let them watch her do it step by step.
"When cooking soy milk, be sure to stir it well at the beginning, and the heat must not be too high, otherwise it will easily smear at the bottom, and the tofu will be mushy and unpalatable..."
Chen Zhaozhao then taught them how to order brine, what temperature to order it at, how to order it, and how to operate it after ordering it. He explained everything in detail.
"Is this the tofu pudding?" Liu Jiamei asked after ordering the brine and the tofu pudding solidified and floated. She stared at the tofu pudding and swallowed secretly.
It smells so good~
The kitchen was filled with the scent of soy milk, and she felt hungry just from smelling it.
Chen Zhaozhao glanced at her and nodded with a smile, "Yes, this is tofu pudding."
"Tofu curd, it smells so good~" Liu Jiamei said again.
The implications of these words were very strong. Chen Zhaozhao did not answer. She had no intention of eating the tofu pudding today. As for Liu Jiamei, if she gave it to her, she would have to take some back for her son to eat. Just eating a little would not be enough.
Just eat enough.
And if it was given to her, it would have to be given to Li Huarong's family. She was happy to give it to Li Huarong's family, but the problem was Liu Jiamei's.
Even if she gets a lot of money and still doesn't know how to be grateful, if word spreads about it, she will say that they are the ones who flatter her family and honor them.
Li Huarong glanced at Liu Jiamei and said with a smile: "Tofu curd is delicious. When you learn how to make it, go back and make it yourself. You can eat as much as you want until you are full."
She knows Liu Jiamei's virtues better than Chen Zhaozhao.
"Yes." Chen Zhaozhao answered with a smile. She kept scooping the tofu flowers into the gauze hanging on the pot and taught them the next steps.
When Liu Jiamei saw that she couldn't get the tofu cake to eat, she secretly curled her lips and scolded Chen Zhaozhao for being stingy, and then scolded Li Huarong for talking too much.
After Chen Zhaozhao scooped out the tofu pudding, filtered the water, and then he and Chen Damei lifted it into the wooden frame and pressed it.
"Okay, that's it. If you want it to be tender, press it for a shorter time. If you want it to be tender, press it for a longer time. I did it for six hours yesterday. I think this time is the best..."
Chen Zhaozhao told them the size of the wooden frame, the weight of the stones, and how to make the brine.
"Every time you cook the soy milk, keep some of it and keep it sealed. It can be used as brine next time. If you want to make it, I will give you some brine first. But you can also make brine in other ways."
Chen Zhaozhao then told them how to use acid water to make brine and told them the proportion of brine.
"Proportion is very important. It must be done according to the proportion, otherwise it will affect the success rate and the taste. That's how it is done. Don't do too much when you first start. Take a little to practice, and then do more when you are done.
This is the method and things to pay attention to.”
"Is it that simple?" Liu Jiamei asked.
"...Yes." Chen Zhaozhao nodded, "Although it looks simple, it is very demanding to do. If you have any questions after doing it, please ask me."
Her current skills were developed through countless trials in her previous life, and she failed many times in the beginning.
But at that time, she only knew a rough idea. No one told her the steps and things to pay attention to in such detail. These specific proportions were the accumulation of her experience.
Before the soy milk was finished grinding, Chen Zhaozhao took some time off. Aunt Li recalled the steps and chatted with Chen Zhaozhao about making tofu, while Zhao Xiaoyan listened silently.
Liu Jiamei went out to gossip in the woodshed. Rather than making tofu, she was more curious about what Liu Guihua and the others were doing cleaning the woodshed.