Miao Chu

Chapter 89 Silver Threads
You Xuelu looked disappointed and asked, "If we eat later, will we have enough time to cook?"

Song Miao shook her head and told him how to make two dishes: how long to fry taro slices, how long to fry pork belly, how long to simmer the braising liquid, and so on.

You Xuelu felt a headache coming on just listening to it. After a quick calculation, he knew it wouldn't work, so he said, "How about something else? Does the young lady have any special dishes that are easy to chew? Even if there are one or two that are a bit tough, it won't matter. If the gentlemen can't finish them, I can help them eat them."

After thinking for a moment and asking the group about their preferences, Song Miao said, "How about fish? Let's also find a tender chicken to cook. As for the other dishes, we'll decide based on what good options are available in the shop."

You Xuelu immediately perked up and said, "Chicken is good! Fish is good too! But we don't need to buy fish, they're fishing in Jinming Pond, they've probably caught quite a lot already!"

Song Miao hesitated for a few moments, then asked, "Have any of you gentlemen ever caught a fish before?"

You Xuelu was taken aback for a moment, then said, "I don't know, but Jinming Pond is maintained year-round, and the water is clear. Even if you can't catch fish, you can probably catch something with any net."

Although she didn't know the abilities of those gentlemen, Song Miao herself had fished before and knew that the clearer the water, the harder it was for fish to bite.

She thought for a moment, and without questioning the fishermen's skills, she said, "The fish in the pond may not be edible, or they may only be good to look at? Why don't we buy some to take home? It would be great if we caught some, but if... we'd have some on hand?"

Upon hearing this, You Xuelu also became somewhat uneasy and said, "Then let's do as Miss Song says and buy a little of everything."

Song Miao then asked about cooking utensils and other kitchenware.

You Xuelu, however, seemed unprepared and asked, "We borrowed two stoves from the garden this morning to boil water for tea—I'm afraid that won't be enough?"

Seeing that the other party was so presumptuous, Song Miao suddenly felt that it was unreliable.

She politely declined, saying, "Jinming Pond is very far away, and it's inconvenient to go back and forth. We can only cook outdoors without a stove, so there's very little we can make. It would be more convenient to just buy some ready-made food and bring it in."

You Xuelu was immediately startled and hurriedly asked, "You were fine just now, why did you change your mind all of a sudden? If you're worried about money, young lady, why don't you name a price..."

Song Miao shook her head and said, "It's not about money. It's really difficult to cook without rice. We don't have any utensils or stove, so we can't make good food. I'm afraid we'll disappoint the old man."

Master Chen was a kind and approachable man, and he even kindly agreed to help find someone to check the records of the Qingjiao guild.

Song Miao would be willing to cook a meal, even if she was paid less or not at all.

But given these conditions, she felt she couldn't produce anything good, so she didn't want to earn this hot potato of money.

You Xuelu thought for a moment and then said, "Young lady, why don't you bring your own cooking utensils and kitchenware? I happen to have a carriage here. After things are done, I'll send you and your belongings back by carriage. Is that alright?"

His persistence has its reasons.

It turned out that during lunch, although Master Chen was not the oldest, his teeth were the worst. However, he refused to admit it in front of his old friends, so he could only describe Song Miao's cooking skills as heavenly and unparalleled, hoping to get a few soft things to eat.

You Xuelu took the assignment and thought it would be a small matter, but he was about to mess it up, so he hurriedly tried to persuade the others.

Seeing that Song Miao's expression softened, he added, "There are a few pageboys here who can help you. If all else fails, it's okay to cook two fewer dishes..."

Since the guest was so easy to talk to, Song Miao naturally stopped refusing.

Once the price was agreed upon, the coachman came over and helped load the stove, chopping board, knives, firewood, and other items onto the carriage.

Song Miao also took some of her usual seasonings with her and then got into the carriage.

The carriage swayed and rocked along the way, and Song Miao slowly thought about the dishes.

The three of them quickly drove to the vegetable and meat market. She first bought a young hen, put it in a bamboo basket, and then went to buy fish.

It is said that one should not eat crucian carp in March, but by this time fishermen have already begun to enclose ponds and rivers, releasing fish fry for self-breeding, and they are no longer so particular about these things.

Song Miao looked around and found that the crucian carp at one stall were much more aggressive than the other fish, even their tails were thrashing around more loudly in the water, so she bought more than ten of them.

The crucian carp varied in size, some as big as an adult's palm, others as small as three fingers wide.

She only chose male crucian carp.

After buying the crucian carp, I also bought two large bunches of fresh spinach, along with some side dishes and meat, and even a bamboo tube of raw milk.

The carriage wasn't very big to begin with, and it already contained a lot of everyday utensils. Now it was crammed with a stove, wok, steamer, and all sorts of cooking utensils, making it completely full. Now that they needed to put in ingredients, You Xuelu had no choice but to tidy up and tidy up inside, trying to make room for them.

Seeing this, Song Miao had no choice but to go over and help, but she ended up picking out a bag of tree roots from the corner.

She looked at the long, thin roots, the plump stems, the brownish-yellow skin with occasional red spots, and felt that it looked familiar. She leaned closer to smell it and found that it had a very strong coconut aroma. She couldn't help but say, "What a beautiful five-finger peach."

Upon hearing this, You Xuelu turned around and said, "Young Madam Song, you also know this? My husband has a weak spleen, so he needs to invigorate his qi, strengthen his exterior, and dispel dampness. One of my students gave me a prescription and told me to drink more Five-Finger Peach and Poria Water every day."

He pointed to the paper package and said, "This was also sent by that student. It smells like coconut meat, but for some reason, the water it boiled had a muddy taste. The teacher drank it twice and then refused to drink it again—saying it tasted like mud."

Song Miao said, "This needs to be washed thoroughly. Soak it in boiling water for a bit before boiling it, and it won't have such a strong muddy taste..."

You Xuelu shook his head: "The gentleman is very picky; he probably won't drink anymore."

Song Miao thought for a moment and said, "Since he doesn't want it, how about I use it to cook?"

You Xuelu hesitated, saying, "Isn't this just medicine? It's no different from tree roots. What would it taste like if we used it in cooking?"

"Five-finger peach has a natural coconut aroma, and people in Guangnan often use it to steam chicken and stew soup. Today's chicken is very tender, but the meat aroma is somewhat lacking. Fortunately, I brought a rough earthenware pot with me. Although it is not as good as a clay pot, it can still be used."

Song Miao explained to him once, and then pointed to the chicken that was flapping its wings in the bamboo basket next to her: "We'll use five-finger peach to bake it over high heat later. It will taste very fragrant and tender, and the meat juice will be sealed in well. It won't taste bad."

Hearing Song Miao say this, especially the words "fragrant," "tender," and "juicy," You Xuelu, though still somewhat skeptical, could no longer refuse and had no choice but to agree.

He thought to himself: Well, there's still a fish and other dishes, so even if the chicken isn't good, the gentleman shouldn't be too picky, right?

Once the carriage left the inner city, it sped along, and after about half an hour, it finally arrived at Jinming Pond.

At that time, Jinming Pond and Qionglin Garden were both royal gardens, which were only open to the public for recreation during March and April each year.

Although it is not yet March, the Empress Dowager is celebrating her birthday, and the current emperor is very filial. He has specially opened several gardens ahead of schedule so that the people can also enjoy the festivities with the Empress Dowager.

As the carriage entered, it was indeed packed with people, but the driver didn't stop immediately. Instead, he wandered around the garden and turned into a secluded garden. Upon entering, one could see flowers and trees of varying colors, creating a vibrant tapestry, and in the distance, a lotus pond.

At this time, the lotus leaves were just beginning to sprout and were not very pretty, but the pond was so large that one could not see the end of it when looking into the distance.

You Xuelu turned around and brought back two eight- or nine-year-old pageboys to help him. He said to Song Miao, "They said there are no fish here, so they went to look for fish elsewhere. We don't know when they'll be back. Miss Song, you don't need to wait. Just start cooking."

As he spoke, he led Song Miao to a pavilion not far away and asked, "There's a stone table here, and a well next to it—can we start a fire here?"

Song Miao looked around and realized that the conditions here were limited, and having a well was already a rare find, so she nodded.

Seeing that it was getting late, she didn't delay and immediately told one of the children to light a fire and boil water, and then called another to help her spread out all the things she had brought.

Once everything was laid out, she started kneading the dough and then asked the idle young servant to wash a piece of fatty pork and chop it into a fine paste.

In the open field, it's hard to control the heat. If you're cooking rice, it's difficult to cook it well. Besides, You Xuelu has already explained that there's a lot of leftover rice from lunch, which can be heated up and eaten again. So she thought it would be better to simply add some pastries.

After kneading the dough and washing the vegetables, Song Miao returned with the fatty meat already chopped into small pieces. She chopped it a little more herself until the fat was as smooth as lard. Then she added sugar and salt – this is called sugar oil.

The lard can also be called oil pastry. Using oil pastry for proofing will make the dough rise faster and become softer, white as jade, and especially fluffy.

Once the lard and sugar were ready, she rolled the previously kneaded dough into a thin sheet, spread the lard and sugar evenly on it, and folded it three times like folding a quilt. She rolled it thin again, folded it again, and repeated this process twice before gently stretching the dough sheet.

Once the dough was stretched extremely thin, she cut it into strips with a knife, grouping six strips together. Using her hand as the center, she gently rolled them up, tucking the end to the bottom to complete one.

This is a common pastry in Hengzhou and Yongzhou, called Silver Thread Roll.

Silver thread rolls are made with yeast dough, and after all the rolls are made, they need to rest for a long time before they can be steamed.

While the test was being done, the water had already been heated.

Song Miao then took the chicken out of the cage, killed it to get its blood, scalded its feathers with hot water, and gently pushed them away with her hands. Before long, all the wet feathers were gone, leaving a beautiful, naked chicken.

Both pageboys were at an age where they could watch cats and dogs fight all day without getting tired of it. They usually interacted with scholars but had little other knowledge. At this moment, while working, they couldn't help but watch Song Miao kill a chicken.

Seeing that her movements were clean and efficient, and that the chicken barely struggled when she made a cut with the knife, it became still.

Then they watched her pluck the chicken's feathers; her hands moved so fast they could barely keep up, it was like magic. Both of them were thrilled.

After killing the chicken, while it was still warm, Song Miao chopped it into evenly sized pieces, added salt and a little soy sauce, and marinated it with shredded ginger.

She waited for the chicken to marinate before she went to kill the fish.

The fish had already had its fins cut open in the middle and was bleeding for a while.

There's no need to worry about the small crucian carp. Just scrape off their scales, gut them, remove their gills, and then have the servant carefully wash them clean with water.

Song Miao handled the large crucian carp very carefully. In addition to the usual fish-killing steps, she used a knife to cut off all the bones, including the two central bones, the fine tail bone, and the large belly bone.

There were six large crucian carp and about ten small ones. Song Miao killed them one by one. In the eyes of the two pageboys, this young lady was not in a hurry, but somehow, it seemed that in the blink of an eye, a crucian carp went from the cutting board into the basin.

While the two were washing the fish, they could hardly contain their excitement as they stared at each other.

Who doesn't know that crucian carp is delicious but has many bones?
But right now, the small crucian carp in my hand is fine, but the large crucian carp has been cut into two large pieces of meat and a bone in the middle. When I touch the fish meat, there isn’t a single small bone.

The two servants, who had initially come to do chores, now felt as if they were there to broaden their horizons.

Seeing that Song Miaohe was amiable and easy to get along with, they hurriedly came over to try to get close to her. One of them imitated You Xuelu's calls of "Little Miss Song" and "Little Miss Song," while the other called her "Boss Song" and "Madam Song." They both asked how to kill the fish and the chicken, looking eager to try and learn the skills.

Song Miao didn't hold back, and specially picked out a large crucian carp to slowly kill and show them. After she finished, she smiled and said, "This is not a secret technique. It would be best if you were skilled, but even if you are not skilled, as long as you have a steady hand and remember the location of the fish bones, you can still remove them very quickly."

As they were talking, everything was tidied up here, and the pot over there was heated up.

Once the fire was blazing and the pot was smoking, Song Miao poured in some clear oil to coat the pot, added ginger slices and salt, and immediately put the dried crucian carp one by one into the pot.

As the sizzling sounds rang out one after another, the crucian carp's skin and flesh visibly contracted. Once it had settled into its shape, Song Miaofang flipped it over.

As soon as you flip it over, the incredibly rich aroma of fried fish wafts everywhere.

This place is not a cramped dwelling; it is quite spacious, so the fragrance naturally drifts away on the wind.

This time, Song Miao used a lot of oil and high heat throughout the frying process, almost frying and deep-frying at the same time. She fried the small fish first, and then put the bones of the large crucian carp in to fry together.

Once everything was thoroughly fried, she had her servant add more firewood. When the pot started sizzling and the aroma grew stronger, she then poured a ladle of boiling water from the side into the pot.

The moment the boiling oil and boiling water collided, the water turned white and became a pot of soup.

The bigger the fire and the more the water boils, the thicker and whiter the fish soup becomes, and the stronger the aroma is so intense that it pierces the nose. Just by smelling it, you can tell how fragrant it will be.

The fish soup is still simmering, and the rough earthenware pot next to it has already turned red from the heat.

Song Miao added oil, then put in the cleaned and soaked five-finger peach roots, and first stir-fried the five-finger peach roots, then stir-fried the ginger and scallions.

The aroma of five-finger peach and coconut milk is already very strong. When stir-fried with oil, the flavor is immediately brought out. After the ginger and scallions are added to the pot, the lightly marinated chicken is spread out evenly, the lid is closed, the stove door is turned off, and it is baked over medium heat.

Before the lid was even opened, the aroma of the hot, pan-fried chicken, mixed with the scents of coconut, ginger, and scallions, was already wafting out, almost as if it would lift the lid off.

Just then, Master Chen, carrying an empty wooden bucket and a fishing rod, was walking back when he suddenly sniffed and turned to ask, "Am I so hungry? I think I smell something delicious..."

Following behind him was an old man in his sixties. His hands were empty; he didn't even have a bucket, and his fishing rod was nowhere to be seen. He just sniffed around and nodded, saying, "It smells very good. Who's cooking chicken?"

But the next old man refused to agree.

He carried a wooden bucket in his arms like a precious treasure. The bucket was full of water and contained two shrimp the size of his little finger and a medaka the size of his thumb. He would take a few steps, then couldn't help but take a happy look at his catch before taking another two steps.

Upon hearing this, the man shook his head and said, "What noses? That's clearly a fish! I'm afraid someone's frying fish."

(End of this chapter)