Border Cook

Chapter 526 Grinding Tofu

"You've lost weight, but you look good, so you should be fine."

After Xia Mingyue finished speaking, she let out a breath and felt relieved.

A person's thoughts and personality are most clearly reflected in his or her face. This is the reason why people say that appearance reflects the mind.

In the past, Honglian had a charming face and was delicate and timid, but now, she has become much more graceful and calm, and even has a fierce aura between her eyebrows.

One can imagine what kind of mentality she has towards life during this period of time, and what kind of temperament she has developed.

Today's red lotus is no longer a green potted plant just moved out of the greenhouse, but a red lotus that blooms and grows wildly in a pool of cool lake water.

Xia Mingyue felt relieved and gently patted the back of Honglian's hand.

"I am fine, Madam Xia, don't worry." Honglian suppressed the sobs in her heart and responded loudly, "I...I have not let Madam Xia down."

"Yes, you didn't disappoint me. I'm relieved." Xia Mingyue was full of relief. "I heard from Zhuguo that you did a great job in the central kitchen. You are diligent, efficient, serious and responsible. I am very happy. But work is work, and you have to rest when you need to. Only by combining work and rest can you last long."

"Yes, I've made note of it." Honglian nodded repeatedly.

After talking for a while, it was getting late, so Xia Mingyue went back to her residence.

After arriving at her residence, Xia Mingyue began to pick soybeans, choosing only those with full grains, without damage or mold spots. After washing them clean, she soaked them in water.

The weather is hot now, so the soaking time does not need to be too long, only three or four hours is enough. The soaked soybeans will expand in size, and each bean will be shiny with water, looking juicy and very beautiful.

Grind all the plump soybeans into soy milk with a stone mill, filter them with fine gauze to remove the bean dregs, leaving only the extremely fine soy milk and boil it completely in the pot.

Next, it’s time to order some tofu.

There are many ways to make tofu, gypsum, brine, soursop...

Xia Mingyue used the more common brine. After adding the boiled soy milk, she stirred it slowly and continuously to allow the soy milk to fully blend with the brine.

As the brine and soy milk react, the originally sticky and white soy milk gradually turns into a light green-yellow liquid, while the white part gradually gathers and forms clumps like brain-shaped blocks.

This is tofu pudding in the traditional sense.

Scoop out all the tofu puddings that have completely formed into blocks, put them in a square, deep wooden box with a layer of sparse cloth at the bottom, tie the four corners of the cloth together, leaving as little gap as possible, then cover the wooden box with the lid, and squeeze out the slurry and water that are present with the tofu pudding.

This process is called pressing tofu.

However, it was far from enough to press tofu with the strength of hands alone. Xia Mingyue placed a stone on the lid of the wooden box and pressed a wooden stick on the stone. One end was fixed to the ground and the stone was used as a fulcrum in the middle to press down the wooden stick with force.

With a "splash", the pulp water splashed out like river water almost in an instant, and then flowed slowly like a trickle.

The rice water is steaming hot, with a definite bean smell, but also with the unique fragrance of beans. Some people like this kind of rice water and collect some to drink. Others think that this rice water is most suitable for washing clothes, so they collect a basin of it and prepare to use it for washing clothes.

When the flow rate of the slurry becomes dripping, and the tofu blocks in the cage cloth feel hard and elastic to the touch, the tofu is completely ready.

After the soy milk has been completely boiled, the tofu is still steaming hot and cooked. After lifting the cage cloth, use a long tofu knife to cut a piece and eat it directly.

Whether you eat it directly or dip it in some freshly prepared chili oil, this steaming tofu tastes the best with a slightly hot feeling in your mouth.

Xia Mingyue took a bite and felt very satisfied, so she gave the tofu to everyone to taste.

"Hmm...delicious!" "Really delicious!"

"I really didn't expect that hot tofu would be so delicious."

"Yes, in the past, when I bought tofu, it was usually cold, and I always felt like something was missing when I ate it cold. Now I know that what was missing was the warmth!"

“No matter how much you boil tofu or fish, tofu is best eaten hot!”

"When you mentioned the word 'fish', it made me think of eating crucian carp stewed with tofu..."

Yin Lingyou's words immediately resonated with everyone.

The fish meat is tender, and the tofu is also tender, and these two things have one thing in common, that is, the taste is light and delicious, but they can also be paired with any other ingredients. Not only will they not overshadow the main ingredients or mix the flavors, but instead complement each other and bring the overall taste to a higher level.

"That's a good idea. Let's have crucian carp stewed with tofu tonight!"

Xia Mingyue's bold words immediately drew unanimous approval and applause from the crowd.

Yinqiao and Zhuang's mother were already very skillful in slaughtering the live fish and preparing the ingredients.

Xia Mingyue took advantage of the time before dusk to deliver the freshly ground tofu to the government office and give it to Zhang Heming for a taste.

When Xia Mingyue went out, Fan Jinglan took the initiative to ask to accompany her.

The journey was not far, and the two men walked on foot, chatting and laughing all the way. When they arrived at the gate of the government office, they explained their purpose to the yamen runners.

The yamen runner had already received Zhang Heming's instructions and knew the identities of Xia Mingyue and Fan Jinglan. He was extremely respectful and bowed, "Madam Xia, Madam Fan."

"It's really unfortunate. The master said he was going to check out the venue this afternoon, but he hasn't come back yet. Maybe he was held up by other things."

"That's really unfortunate." Xia Mingyue felt a little regretful, and handed the tofu to the yamen runner, "Please give it to Lord Zhang, and tell him that these are newly made tofu. Please have a taste."

"Yes." The yamen runner took it with both hands, "Madam Xia, rest assured. I will hand it over to you and tell you that Madam Xia and Madam Fan were here today."

"Thank you very much."

Xia Mingyue and Fan Jinglan did not stay long and walked back from the government office.

We were still walking and chatting, and from time to time we would look at the shops and stalls on both sides of the road and take a look around.

Fan Jinglan suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Xia Mingyue also stopped.

"Nothing..." Fan Jinglan looked around, took a closer look, and let out a breath.

She always felt as if someone was following them, but when she looked carefully, she didn't see any suspicious figures.

Maybe there were too many people in Changzhou City and she thought too much.

Or maybe, when she came to the capital, her second brother was very worried after learning about this, so he specially arranged for more secret guards to follow her, but he didn't want her to know, fearing that she would be unhappy about it.

"I was just wondering what to pair with this tofu stewed crucian carp to make it taste good..."