Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Chapter 184 Year 3

We are having barbecue tonight. Since we bought shrimps, we are planning to make casserole porridge.

Xiantao Prefecture has many large and small docks, so the processing of fish and other fresh food is very mature, and clay pot porridge has been around for a long time.

Song Ersao wanted to help even though she was pregnant, but was stopped by Song Sanniang. She had no choice but to move a chair to the side and watch and give some instructions.

The pork we bought today, Song Sanniang specially selected the pork belly, and the mutton was also cut into slices.

The tender parts of the beef were cut into several pounds each. Song Sanniang cut some of each piece to roast tonight, and put the rest in the well to eat tomorrow.

Qin Yuanyuan helped to process the shrimps, removing the heads, cutting the shrimp bodies in half, and picking out the sand lines.

Qin Haodong cleaned the tiles, which were left over from building the house, and then prepared to light a few charcoal stoves in the yard.

Si Niang and the others knew that they would have tile barbecue tonight. They had never eaten it before, so they thought it was very interesting and ran to the kitchen to help wash the vegetables, ginger, onions, etc.

After Song Sanniang cut the beef, she heated the pan, added lard and fried the shrimp heads until fragrant. Then she poured in boiling water, took out the shrimp heads, added soaked rice, ginger slices, diced mushrooms, and shredded scallops, and boiled the porridge over high heat.

After a while, pour it into the clay pot, turn down the heat and continue to cook. When it is almost done, add the celery and coriander, and you can serve it.

While Song Sanniang was busy, Qin Yuanyuan was not idle either. She packed all the ingredients for tonight into bowls and plates. After Song Sanniang was done, she washed the bowls and chopsticks and took them to the table in the pavilion.

Qin Haodong had already lit the charcoal stove, Song Laoer had also returned, and everyone was ready to start dinner.

Candles were lit on the corridors and walls of the courtyard, and the charcoal stove in front of everyone was also lit, illuminating the joy on everyone's face. With the charcoal fire, everyone was not cold.

Everyone first had a bowl of delicious casserole porridge to fill their stomachs, and then started grilling meat.

Put two palm-sized tiles upside down on the small charcoal stove. No need to apply oil. Put the pork belly on top.

The fat of the pork belly will soon come out, sizzling on the tiles, and soon the pork belly with fat and lean parts will be ready.

Everyone followed Song Sanniang's example and dipped the pork belly in a little sweet salt and pepper, then put the pork belly on the lettuce leaves and ate the meat and vegetables in one bite.

The rich aroma of the charred pork belly instantly filled my mouth, but the freshness of the lettuce neutralized the greasy taste of the pork belly.

If you don't like lettuce, you can also wrap the pork belly with basil leaves. The taste is very unique. Everyone was busy grilling the pork belly for a while.

But Song Sanniang put the mutton and beef on the tiles and roasted them, and then gave the roasted meat slices to everyone to taste.

After tasting it, everyone no longer clings to pork belly, because the tenderness of beef and the tenderness of mutton make everyone unable to stop eating.

The fish fillet Song Sanniang bought was grass carp, which is a crispy meat grass carp. It tastes crispy, and the meat is crispy and delicious. Everyone thinks it is delicious.

After eating the meat, we fried some tofu and added some vegetables to help alleviate the greasiness. We all finished the meal of tile barbecue with laughter.

Everyone got up early the next morning, and Song Sanniang and her friends pasted the red window decorations they had bought to appropriate places in the house.

Song Laoer brought a ladder and hung red lanterns everywhere. Because he had put up new red couplets when he moved to the new house, he didn't need to put up couplets at home anymore.

We need to buy the meat and vegetables for the next two days today, otherwise some stores will be closed for the New Year and you may not be able to buy the ingredients you want.

The rest of the ingredients were bought yesterday, so today I will buy some fresh fish, shrimp, squid, spareribs, etc. There is still some mutton and beef left from yesterday, so I don't need to buy any more.

So Song Laoer and Qin Haodong went back after buying these things, because they still had a lot of things to do today.

After returning home and putting the ingredients in the kitchen, Song Lao Er and Qin Haodong went to the chicken coop to catch chickens and kill them.

The big chickens were flapping their wings and running around in the chicken coop. It took Song Laoer and his companions some effort to catch them.

After Song Lao Er prepared the two chickens for worshipping the gods, Song Sanniang and Qin Yuanyuan took over the task of worshipping the gods from Song Ersao.

Song Ersao gave them detailed instructions on what to do, and they prepared various offerings according to Song Ersao's instructions.

For example, besides fruits, biscuits and candies, a chicken should be placed on the ancestral tablets and the kitchen god.

For other guardian gods such as door gods, chicken coops, and stables, there is no need to place chickens.

After placing the offerings in front of each shrine, they would light the incense and candles. While the incense and candles were burning, Song Sanniang would hold the incense and say some auspicious words before bowing three times. Finally, she would burn some paper money.

The house is filled with the smell of incense and candles, which makes people feel particularly at ease. This is the smell of traditional festivals, a custom that has been passed down for thousands of years.

There is a custom here of making rice dumplings and giving them to people during the Spring Festival. People pick the rice dumpling leaves and dry them in the sun. When they are ready to use them, they have to boil them and then wash them with clean water.

The main fillings in zongzi are glutinous rice, mung beans, pork belly, and mushrooms.

Of course, some people will give scallops, dried shrimps, spareribs, roast pork, dried oysters, salted egg yolks, etc., depending on the situation at home.

Before the second son of the Song family was separated, the second sister-in-law of the Song family would also make rice dumplings every year. However, Mrs. Song would buy the simplest fillings and would even try to make them without meat.

In contrast, the rice dumplings made by Song Ersao's mother are the most luxurious version. In addition to glutinous rice, mung beans, pork belly, and mushrooms, her rice dumplings also contain dried shrimps, scallops, spareribs, and roasted pork.

The meat is ground into powder from dried bonito and marinated with five-spice powder, then cooked over firewood for seven or eight hours until the glutinous rice is soft and the pork belly inside melts directly into the filling.

When eating, mix all the fillings and glutinous rice together. It is extremely fragrant. Compared with Mrs. Song’s white meat dumplings, it is like the comparison between a sumptuous meal and bland soup.

Just as I was thinking about it, the loud voice of Uncle Liu came from the front door. The door was open. He came with Uncle Liu II.

They also came to give New Year gifts to Song Laoer's family. They brought Song Sanniang's favorite meat dumplings, more than 20 of them.

Then there were all kinds of high-quality dried goods. Among the pile of dried mushrooms, Song Sanniang saw tea tree mushrooms, bamboo fungus, and white fungus.

There were also walnuts, longans, several jars of honey, and even two pieces of colorful brocade.

These should be the good stuff that the two uncles collected when they went to the countryside. They didn’t sell them and left them for their family.