Chapter 12 Cricket Tofu

  Su Anying and his wife returned home early in the morning with a lot of things. Everyone in the Su family was very happy and warmly entertained the young couple.

   "Look, I don't know that you came back so early and didn't prepare anything.

  Let’s take a bite this morning, and ask your mother to cook something delicious for you at noon. "

  It was six o'clock, just in time for breakfast, and Su Weizhong felt a little shabby looking at the porridge, pickles and miso on the table.

  When the new uncle enters the door, how can the first meal be so simple?

   "Mother, I remember we still have salted duck eggs, right? Hurry up, cook some."

  Su’s family lived by the river, so they raised two ducks. They were reluctant to eat their eggs, and sold most of them.

  Leave a few pickles for serving.

  The new son-in-law came in as a distinguished guest, so he had to treat him well. Without saying a word, Mrs. Han went to find two salted duck eggs from the jar, boiled them in a pot, cut them open and served them.

   "Try it, the duck eggs are well marinated this year, and the oil is flowing."

  Han put the duck eggs directly in front of Xu Shiyan and Su Anying with a smile on his face, and beckoned them to eat.

  Xu Shiyan refused again and again, but he didn't dare to be stubborn, so he finally poked some egg yolks with chopsticks and put them in the porridge to eat.

  As for Su Anying, how could she be willing to eat salted duck eggs?

  Seeing the two younger sisters lowering their heads and sneaking a glance here, Su Anying directly divided her half duck egg into the bowls of the two younger sisters.

   "Yingzi, eat yours and ignore them."

   Mrs. Han just wanted to talk about the two young ones when she saw her, but saw that the two young ones ate all the porridge and salted duck eggs in the bowl in a few mouthfuls. Angrily, Mrs. Han stared at the two daughters.

  Seeing this, Xu Shiyan didn't say a word, but took advantage of others not paying attention, and dug his share of salted duck eggs into his wife's bowl. "Let's eat."

  Su Anying glanced at her parents secretly, split the salted duck egg in half and put it back into Xu Shiyan's bowl.

  The young couple looked at each other, smiled and drank the porridge in the bowl.

  Su Weizhong had seen the little tricks of his daughter and son-in-law a long time ago, and he didn't point it out. He just finished the meal with a smile.

   It is said that the uncle is here, and Su Weizhong should accompany the guests at home.

  But Su Weizhong is the captain of the production team, without him assigning errands, today's job probably wouldn't be clear.

  Xu Shiyan saw his father-in-law's embarrassment, so he took the initiative to mention that he was going to visit his relatives in the morning.

  Let the father-in-law do what he should, without delaying the team's work because of him.

   Just like that, Su Weizhong hurried to the production team to arrange today's work after breakfast, while Xu Shiyan led his wife and went out to visit relatives.

  Xu Shiyan's grandmother, two uncles, and an aunt are all in Daying.

  Come back, if you don’t go elsewhere, you have to visit your grandmother.

   It was past ten o'clock when a group of relatives walked down. When the young couple returned to Su's house, they saw many people laughing and laughing, wondering what they were busy with.

   It wasn't until I got closer that I realized that it was Su Weizhong's sister-in-law, Mrs. Feng, who came next door with her daughter-in-law and daughter, and was helping Mrs. Han deal with the crickets there.

   "Hey, Yingzi and uncle are back? Come in and sit down, it's tiring to go around on a hot day."

  Feng's temperament is bright and hospitable, and he treats Su Anying very well.

   "Xiaoyu, hurry home and pick some cherries for your brother-in-law.

   Check to see if the peaches on the peach tree in the pot are ripe, pick two and give them to your brother-in-law. "

   "Anmin, go into the house and talk with your brother-in-law, we will be busy for a while, and I will make cricket tofu for you at noon today."

  Feng's is more like a master than Han's, everything is well arranged.

   "Coincidentally, yesterday Anmin caught a lot of crickets in the lower reaches of the Tanghe River. I didn't cook them for them because I thought they were too young. It's just right to make cricket tofu."

  Su Anmin is the third son of Feng and Su Weicheng. He is fifteen this year. He doesn't like to study. He refuses to go to junior high school after primary school.

  Going up and down the mountains and rivers all over the world, they are also very good at catching fish and shrimp.

   The cricket tofu that Feng mentioned is a major specialty in Northeast China. Most people who live by the riverside know how to make it, but they rarely do it.

   Crayfish, also known as big head shrimp and crayfish, look very similar to crayfish.

  The difference is that the body of crayfish is greenish brown, while that of crayfish is dark red. The shell of crayfish is not so thick, while the shell of crayfish is thick and has hard spines.

   The first pair of legs of crayfish, that is, the front claws are relatively large. When compared with crayfish and crayfish with the same body size, the claws of crayfish are much larger than those of crayfish.

  The living habits of the two are also different. Crayfish grow in clear and transparent streams, have extremely high requirements on water quality, and are sensitive to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

   Crayfish is a kind of Northeast river fresh food. Its taste is delicious and unique. In the eyes of Northeast people, it is definitely the top three food list.

  It's a pity that due to environmental pollution and other reasons in later generations, this kind of creature is on the verge of extinction, and only a few breed it, and the price is extremely expensive.

  As for cricket tofu, it is definitely not stewed with cricket and tofu.

  Peel off the shell of the cricket, remove the sand thread at the tail, then put it in a stone mortar and mash it, and then use gauze to filter out the reddish-brown juice for later use.

  Boil the water in the pot, pour the crayfish juice into it, stir gently, and you will see pink flowers floating from the pot.

  Add some salt to taste, sprinkle with chopped leeks, this dish is ready, and if possible, you can also make frangipani flowers.

  The three colors of red, yellow, and green are very beautiful mixed together, and the taste is soft and tender, just like tofu, so it is called cricket tofu.

  This soup combines the umami flavors of crayfish and leeks. It doesn’t need to add any seasoning to remove the fishy smell. Take a sip and it will definitely be delicious enough to swallow your tongue.

  However, because the production process is too troublesome, especially in these days when there are no crushing tools, mashing purely by hand is too laborious, so most people seldom do it.

  If it wasn't for the new uncle returning home, no matter how many crickets Su Anmin caught, Feng wouldn't bother to cook them. At most, he would cook them with some salt.

   "Auntie, this cricket tofu is too troublesome, why bother?

  Look at me coming here, it's really troublesome for my aunt, sister-in-law, and third brother. "

  Such a high standard of hospitality was something that Xu Shiyan had never experienced in his previous life.

  At that time, he went to work in Daan Coal Mine the second day after he got married, and he didn't accompany Su Anying back home at all.

  Although the Su family didn't say anything, they must be unhappy in their hearts.

  In this life, Xu Shiyan not only accompanied his daughter-in-law back home, but also brought a generous home gift, which can be regarded as an embarrassment to the Su family.

  When Su Weizhong was about to leave the house, he specifically told him that no matter what method he tried, he had to prepare a table of delicious dishes to entertain my uncle at noon.

   "Hey, what is this? It's the first time for the new uncle to come to the door, and he is a distinguished guest.

  The rules of our family are like this, your uncle will also come over at noon, and you and your father will have a good drink at that time. "

  Feng's hearty laughter made people feel better after hearing it.

  (end of this chapter)