NFBE Chapter 188 Seafood BBQ
Chapter 188 Seafood BBQ
Today's catch was good, but Li Erlang was very tired from carrying a pile of oysters.
"Yu Baoer, why do you always ask your brother to carry the millstone? There are so many delicious seafoods, why do you pick up some smelly oysters?"
There are many kinds of oysters, including raw oysters, small oysters that grow on offshore reefs, and flat, round oysters near the coast. Because this type of oyster tastes far inferior to small oysters, it is called "saolitou" in the local dialect.
But there are many kinds of oysters, and they usually call oysters sauerkraut.
The small oysters on the offshore reefs have delicious meat and a meaty aroma when cooked. They are indeed more delicious than larger oysters, but they need to be pried open by hand. When there are better seafood to eat, almost no one will eat oysters.
Small oysters are not suitable for grilling, so if you want to grill, you should use raw oysters.
The Li family set up their stall as usual, as if nothing had happened before, but they were privately keeping an eye on the developments in Ningzhou Prefecture.
Datou and Jiaqueer would occasionally send food to the beggars in Huihai County and ask them to keep an eye out for news.
The beggars were naturally happy too. In such a cold day, begging for food one day and going hungry the next was not as comfortable as eating expensive seafood and hiding in a sheltered place to gather information.
In the evening, Li Laosan and his friends came back and brought news about the gambling house.
"The gambling house has been very low-key recently. Many thugs in disguise have been coming in and out from the back door, seemingly looking for someone."
Datou added: "Ma Wu basically never comes out."
Li Yuer continued to grind the barbecue seasoning, and at the same time taught Li Meir and Li Dalang how to prepare the seasoning.
"Looking for someone? They want to get the Wu family father and son in their hands so they can act according to the situation."
"Then what should we do? If we really watch the father and son of the Wu family fall into their hands, won't they have the capital to turn things around?" Li Laosan frowned, his eyes filled with worry.
Li Yuer calmly observed Li Meir's mood and saw that she looked unhappy and absent-minded.
He eased the atmosphere and said, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, the matter cannot be traced to us. After such a big incident, they dare not continue to do evil for the time being.
Third Uncle, you brothers don't have to go out to the stall these days. Just keep an eye on what's going on over there. Your wages will be calculated as if you were on a business trip, double the normal wage. In addition, there will be a subsidy for food, ten cents per meal.
Once you find out that they have found someone, you will report the news to the county government."
Shitou was about to refuse the double salary when Li Laosan interrupted him, "This matter has nothing to do with you brothers. I asked you to take risks to do this, and you all deserve the double salary. Don't refuse it, otherwise, I, Li Laosan, will not dare to bother you anymore."
Datou said firmly: "Third brother, your words are too polite. We are brothers. We have enjoyed so many benefits that should not belong to us. It is our duty to return a little."
Shitou had saved enough money to redeem himself long ago. The Li family kept the indenture contract just to teach Li Laosan a lesson and had no intention of holding Shitou hostage.
Shitou's eyes were clear and he said sincerely, "Yes, Third Brother, don't worry, the brothers will always be behind you to support you."
Jia Que'er also expressed his attitude positively: "Don't worry, Third Brother. I am not good at other things, but I am the best at getting information and keeping watch. Whether it is a widow cheating on someone or a high-ranking official keeping a mistress, I can find out everything."
"Hahahaha!"
The house sparrow's joke successfully made everyone laugh.
Li Erlang tore the seaweed he had pulled off the oyster shell and threw it at him: "Don't say dirty words, the girl is here."
The sparrow scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "I was careless, I was careless."
This made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere suddenly became much better.
Li Yuer put the washed conch into fresh water to spit out the sand and said, "Tonight we will let everyone see our new dish, seafood barbecue. We will also set up a stall to sell barbecue separately."
"Really?" Li Erlang was so happy that he almost jumped up. At this moment, he was not so annoyed when looking at the hoe in his hand. "We have set up two stalls so quickly."
Li Yuer nodded, "I'm afraid we won't have enough manpower in the future, so we'll have to recruit more people."
Li Dalang said: "You have to hire reliable people, otherwise it would be bad if they learn the secret recipe."
Li Yuer said: "Barbecuing is not difficult to learn, there will definitely be people who imitate it. The secret depends on the seasoning. We mix the seasoning ourselves and use it directly after we mix it. We don't do it in front of the waiter."
"That's great. It won't be easy to leak the secret recipe." Li Dalang relaxed his brows and carefully ground the cumin in his hand. Yu Baoer said that the finer the powder is ground, the better the taste will be and the less likely it will be for people to tell what it is.
Cumin can be sprinkled directly without grinding, but to keep it secret, Li Yuer decided to grind it into powder and mix it with different seasonings, so that the level of confidentiality is higher.
A few people were grilling seafood in the small kitchen in the east wing, which did not affect Zhao and others' use of the big kitchen to cook.
Li Meir informed Zhao and the others in advance that they didn't need to cook tonight and just steam a pot of pancakes.
After the pancakes were steamed, Li Yuer had them taken to the small kitchen, skewered on iron skewers, and kept for grilling.
Li Yuer began to teach everyone how to skewer barbecue skewers. "Basically anything can be grilled, like conch, oysters, and sea bass, which don't need to be skewered. White pine and radish need to be washed, cut, and skewered.
It’s not enough to just eat seafood at a barbecue, you also need vegetables to relieve the greasiness and pancakes to satisfy your hunger.
As for the squid, you need to cut it open and remove the inedible parts, then peel it and string it into skewers.”
Li Yuer skewered a squid, and the others followed suit. They all had to learn how to skewer and grill a squid, and they would have to do it every day. Li Dalang alone couldn't do it.
Li Erlang picked up a dace carp and said, "Do you still want this? It has lots of small bones and is not very edible."
Li Yuer took the crucian carp and began to process it, scraping off the scales, cutting open the belly to remove unwanted parts, and then stringing them together with iron skewers.
"I'm telling you guys, don't treat bean buns as dry food. This crucian carp is best suited for grilling. Don't underestimate its small size, but when grilled, the meat is very fragrant. Don't fight over it when the time comes."
Li Erlang didn't believe it, curled his lips and said, "There are sea bass, herring, and sea bream, which one is not more delicious than this."
Li Yuer did not refute, just waited for him to slap her in the face.
Li Laosan pushed the barbecue grill over, and Datou and Shitou carried the charcoal and tools.
Li Yuer began to teach them how to use the barbecue grill.
"It's not difficult to use a barbecue grill. The key is to master the techniques of making and controlling the fire."
If you want the barbecue to taste good, you have to control the temperature of the charcoal fire. There are certain things to pay attention to, such as how to start the fire, how to control the temperature, and how to put out the fire.
Li Yuer taught carefully and they learned seriously.
Seeing that the time was almost right, they moved the barbecue into the main room.
There may be smoke when making a fire. The door is open and the smoke from the barbecue can easily dirty the house. So Li Yuer put the barbecue stove at the door to allow the smoke to go out through the door.
Everyone sat in the main room, looking at this strange stove curiously.