Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

After steaming the buns, He Yuzhu did not return to his room; twenty-five minutes was not a long time.

He Yuzhu, who had been in this world for over a year, discovered a strange phenomenon: even without a cell phone or watch, he had a very clear sense of time.

In the morning, I often don't need an alarm clock to wake up; I can wake up three to five minutes earlier. When I'm preparing lunch at 11:00, I can feel the time approaching around 10:50.

Without a timekeeping tool, is my sense of time evolving? And I don't need to look at the sun every time.

He Yuzhu started to let his mind wander again.

After 25 minutes, remove the steamed buns from the steamer without opening the lid. Let them sit for 2-3 minutes after steaming to prevent them from collapsing and looking unappealing.

I washed a small potato, chopped it, and soaked it. I secretly peeled the potato beforehand and stored it in my system space so no one would see. Otherwise, I'd be another spendthrift.

Nowadays, ordinary families don't peel potatoes, apple peels, or anything like that. Chicken giblets and fish giblets are also considered good food, as they're all meat.

Before 2 o'clock, the smell of braised pork wafted from the backyard. It didn't smell as good as the pork I made myself, so it must be from Xu Damao's house.

The Xu family is wealthy, and Xu's mother still works as a nanny at Lou Bancheng's house. Taking some ingredients home for the New Year is not a big deal.

Importantly, Xu Fugui's family members are not stingy. In the past, the He family and the Xu family had the best food in the courtyard.

The deaf old lady's family also gets meat every week, which is bought for her by Tan Guilan or Yi Zhonghai, but the frequency is decreasing.

As for Liu Haizhong's family, they fry eggs quite often, but they don't cook meat very often; they mostly stir-fry meat rather than stew it.

Among the other people in the compound, very few families could afford to eat meat every two or three months. They either had little money or were desperately saving it up. This was exactly what was being said about Yi Zhonghai.

At 3:30 pm, the braised pork with potato chunks was ready and served.

Starting at four o'clock, more and more families in the courtyard started making braised pork. He Yuzhu sniffed around and found that at least eleven families were stewing braised pork.

He Yushui was called back to start making dumplings.

Since it's for my family, I didn't make any fancy dumplings; I just used the regular way of making large, round dumplings.

He Yuzhu makes steamed dumplings, which have more filling than boiled dumplings. The larger the filling, the harder they are to cook, but this is not a problem for steamed dumplings.

The key to making large dumplings (also known as big-bellied dumplings) is to fold the dumpling wrapper in half, pinch the middle tightly, and then use the tiger's mouth of both hands to squeeze the sides to form a full, round belly. It is simple to do and can hold more filling.

"Brother, are the dumplings I made okay?" After teaching He Yushui, she made a dumpling herself.

"That's pretty good. Gradually add more filling to the dumpling wrapper, that's how it's done. I'll teach you other techniques for making dumplings later, none of them will be difficult."

"There's not enough filling; too much filling makes the dumpling wrappers difficult to wrap. I'll try again slowly."

He Yushui's dumpling-making skills are alright, but the filling is too little, only half of He Yuzhu's. With more practice, she'll be able to make good dumplings in a while.

Before traveling through time, I spent a few years in Northeast China and fell in love with the big steamed dumplings. They have thin dough, large fillings, lots of broth, and the filling doesn't taste bad.

The sauerkraut dumplings, in particular, are delicious. The store doesn't sell pre-pickled food, so I'll have to pickle them myself. I'll pickle some next November. The system isn't omnipotent, though.

There are no pickled or sauerkraut ingredients in it. Sauerkraut is used in dumplings or stewed with slices of pork belly to make soup; both are great side dishes.

"Brother, how did I make this dumpling? I put in so much filling that I almost couldn't wrap it properly." He Yushui finished wrapping another dumpling.

"The second dumpling was made quite well. After learning how, you can practice making dumplings a few more times and you'll become proficient." In his previous life, He Yuzhu had seen on Douyin that children should be encouraged more and criticized less.

"Okay, I'll make more dumplings in the future so my brother can rest."

"become!"

After wrapping all the dumplings, I didn't rush to steam them. Instead, I started steaming the sea bass and making sweet and sour pork.

"Brother, we used too much oil for frying the sweet and sour pork. Pour less oil and fry the meat in several batches instead of frying it all at once." He Yushui was very good at managing money.

"I'll be more careful when cooking in the future. When frying coated pork tenderloin, you can't use too little oil, or it will stick to the pan. It's best not to reuse the oil after it's been used. Even if you can't bear to waste it, don't reuse it more than twice."

Nowadays, no one would throw away oil that has been used for frying vegetables; it is reused repeatedly. He Yuzhu was educated by various sayings from later generations, which is why he never reuses oil twice.

"What a waste! The oil is still perfectly good; it can be used for stir-frying. Why not use it?" He Yushui is from a normal family.

"Listen to me, brother. Use less oil that's been used for frying; it's bad for your health." He Yuzhu had no choice but to agree. That's what people say in later generations, and there's some scientific basis to it.

"Next, we'll fry it again. We'll wait for the oil to cool down, then reheat it to about 70 degrees Celsius to fry the meat. After the meat is out of the oil, we'll stir-fry it in fresh oil, and before taking it out of the oil, we'll add some white sesame seeds."

The fish is steamed, I'll bring it over. Later, when I'm stir-frying the meat, I'll pour the oil over the fish, heat up the chicken and mushroom stew, and steam dumplings on this stove. We'll have our New Year's Eve dinner soon.

"Brother, I'm going to heat up some chicken and mushroom stew. Should I use high heat and just bring it to a boil?"

"After bringing it to a boil, simmer over medium heat for three to five minutes to thoroughly heat the vegetables, including braised pork and mutton soup."

"I'll go heat up the food."

In less than twenty minutes, the New Year's Eve dinner was ready. After exchanging blessings, the two began to eat.

.......

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, I took He Yushui to pay respects to my master. My master was still at home and went out at ten o'clock to prepare the feast.

Today there are two hosts, and we're preparing eight tables of food, each costing 120,000 yuan. That's a total of 960,000 yuan a day. Cooking for the wealthy is a high-paying job, far more so than what ordinary workers earn.

He Yuzhu and his sister chatted a lot at Qi Tianfu's house, mainly because their teacher's wife was concerned about them and worried that they might be bullied in the courtyard.

They were also surprised by He Yuzhu's fighting skills, as he dealt with more than a dozen robbers as if it were child's play, and reminded the siblings to be careful.

At ten o'clock, the master left home, and He Yuzhu left four gifts with him as they walked out the door. This time the master did not refuse, and He Yuzhu's monthly salary was not small.

After parting ways with their master, He Yuzhu took He Yushui to visit the Guangdian Temple Fair. In present-day Yanjing, people still visit temple fairs during the Spring Festival, as they are part of Yanjing's culture.

Since the founding of the nation, the temple fair is still authentic. More importantly, the Guangdian Temple Fair has a wide variety of snacks, making it a perfect place for He Yushui to visit.

Changdian is a traditional temple fair in Beijing. Originally, it was an open space in front of a glazed tile kiln during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Republic of China period, Haiwangcun Park (now the site of the China Bookstore) was built here, becoming the core area of ​​the Changdian Temple Fair.

The temple fair is held annually from the first to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, featuring books, antiques, and the Four Treasures of the Study.

It wasn't far, so I planned to take a bus there. When I got to the bus station, there were so many people. I wasn't sure if I was going to visit relatives or go to the temple fair.

The brother and sister decided to walk over and found a rickshaw to ride in. He Yushui was very excited when she heard that there were many snacks at the Guangdian Temple Fair and that her brother would buy them for her.

After walking for more than forty minutes, I finally encountered a rickshaw at the entrance of the Guangdian Temple Fair. I shook my head and went inside the Guangdian Temple Fair.