Chapter 1418 - 554: This Tofu Truly Deserves the Top-grade Title! When It Comes to Poisoning, Leave It to the Professionals! [Bonus 1]_2

Chapter 1418: Chapter 554: This Tofu Truly Deserves the Top-grade Title! When It Comes to Poisoning, Leave It to the Professionals! [Bonus 1]_2

After everyone tasted it, they all couldn’t stop praising it.

When Lin Xu came into the dining room carrying the Pork Trotter and a few cold side dishes to go with the dumplings, like Red Oil shredded pig’s ear and Garlic Paste cucumber, he saw everyone’s faces full of delight and asked curiously:

"What’s going on? Did something good happen?"

Shen Jiayue leaned over, helping him set the dishes on the table as she said:

"Everyone’s been stunned by the Top-grade tofu you made. We never thought tofu could taste this good. You’re amazing, Xu-bao!"

Lin Xu smiled:

"I’m not amazing, the person who invented this dish is amazing."

He picked up the chopsticks on the table, lifted a slice of tofu and tasted it. It really did taste great.

Before long, the dumplings were cooked. Chen Meijuan brought the dumplings over, and at the same time also brought Chili Oil, garlic juice, persimmon vinegar, Laba garlic and other condiments.

Everyone could mix and match freely, eat whatever they felt like eating.

While eating dumplings, Shen Jiayue asked quietly:

"Xu-bao, what are we doing this afternoon? Are we getting ready to do a barbecue?"

Lin Xu nodded:

"Let’s prep the ingredients for the barbecue tonight, make some Gluten, and take the ducks out of the fridge to soak in the brine."

He had just opened the fridge to take a look and found that, whether it was because he’d rubbed in the salt well yesterday or just used a lot of salt, those ducks were actually almost at the right stage.

They needed to go into the brine now; it just so happens they need three rounds of marinating and three rounds of drying. So we’ll start this afternoon, finish up in the evening and hang them to dry, then boil them tomorrow morning, so it won’t delay having them for lunch.

The wild vegetable dumplings were delicious, especially with Shrimp added. The Shrimp and finely chopped Egg completely brought out the umami of the wild greens.

The taste was fresh and fragrant, even better than chive filling dumplings.

Shen Guofu had originally wanted to gnaw on a Pork Trotter, but now he totally lost interest. Even when everyone had finished off all the tofu, he still couldn’t stop; he poured the dumplings from his bowl into the plate that had held the tofu and used the dumplings to mop up the remaining sauce.

To be fair, these relatively light vegetarian dumplings paired with the richly aromatic tofu sauce were really a perfect match. Eating them felt like eating meat dumplings.

"Wow, my dad is really giving it face, he’s not even letting the sauce go. Tomorrow First Aunt and Second Aunt are coming over, how about we make Top-grade tofu again?"

Shen Jiayue asked with a grin.

Tomorrow it wasn’t just First Aunt’s and Second Aunt’s families coming; those cousins on both sides were coming too. They’d arranged this beforehand.

The scenic area is quite far, and if everyone comes every few days, it’s not just unsafe on the road, it’s also a hassle. So they come together, have a lively meal, keep the elders company and chat for a while, and that wraps up the New Year visiting relatives.

On the sixth day of the New Year, the scenic area officially goes back to work and starts making money, and early on the seventh day, Lin Xu will drive off. By then, Shen Guofu and his wife will escort Old Lady Shen back on the high-speed rail.

The business-class tickets had long been arranged by the company; no need to worry about it here.

The New Year is joyful, but you still have to keep striving; only by working hard on ordinary days can you have these moments of pleasure and relaxation. The two go hand in hand.

Old Shen popped a dumpling into his mouth and chimed in:

"Make more. This tofu is too delicious, I just can’t get enough of it... Oh right, the lamb Old Huang is sending over via cold chain will arrive this afternoon, two whole sheep in total. We’ll roast one and use the other to make Salt-fried Lamb. What do you all think?"

Lin Xu said:

"One is enough. Two is too much; we won’t be able to finish it. Just make it all into Salt-fried Lamb, and keep the other one for ourselves later. This kind of Xilingol lamb isn’t easy to buy around here."

We’ve still got Salt Water Duck, Top-grade tofu and other dishes for tomorrow. If we do two sheep, there’s no way everyone can finish them.

After the meal, everyone pitched in to clear the table.

In the kitchen, Lin Xu used chopsticks to separate the leftover dumplings and spread them out on a tray, then put them in the fridge. He’d pan-fry them in the afternoon; they’d taste even better.

After washing all the pots, bowls and utensils in the kitchen, he took the ducks out of the fridge’s cold compartment.

After almost twenty hours of salting, quite a bit of blood had leached out of the duck meat. He took the ducks out, let the blood drain slightly, then put them into the brine.

You can’t rinse the ducks at this stage, because raw water would get carried into the brine.

You just put them in directly with the salt and Sichuan peppercorns on the surface. Once they’re all in, you place a heavier plate on top to press them down so the ducks are fully submerged in the brine.

After this pot of brine has been used to soak ducks several times, it will become old brine.

At that point, it will boost the flavor of the ducks quite a bit, but right now it’s not there yet; this fresh brine actually slightly lowers the quality of the duck meat.

This change is subtle, and ordinary people can’t tell.

But those veteran chefs can still feel the difference between fresh brine and old brine.

After finishing all that, Lin Xu checked the time, fetched a large Dough basin, poured in over half a basin of gluten flour, added a small spoon of salt, and kneaded it into a dough with water.

Gluten flour is different from regular flour; once it’s formed into a dough, it doesn’t absorb any more water.

So when you’re making the Dough, you can pour in more water; after it’s kneaded, you can just pour off the excess water.

He left the dough in the basin to ferment.

Once it’s properly fermented, you can start making Gluten.

An hour later, Lin Xu called out to Shen Jiayue and Xiaolei, who were playing badminton:

"Come on, come on, help me make Gluten. Let’s all get on it together so we can get it done faster, and it’ll give you something to kill time with."

Shen Jiayue asked curiously:

"We can do it too, Xu-bao?"

"Sure, the method for making Gluten is very simple. You’ll pick it up as soon as you learn it."