in2ebook Chapter 154 Fish Balls
Chapter 154 Fish Balls
Li Yuer could only sigh in his heart that the underdeveloped transportation in this dynasty had delayed the development of the seafood market.
Li Yuer thought of the dried clams she had eaten before and said, "Wouldn't it be possible to transport seafood farther if we sell it as dried goods?"
“Yes! Many fish collectors at the dock only dry fish to sell. They don’t want anything else, which is difficult to get.
But they buy fish at a lower price, by the basket. Dried fish needs to be salted and dried, and it costs money to transport it inland. Dried fish is not very tasty, so it can’t be sold at a high price, so naturally they buy it at a lower price.”
After noon, cousin Xiaojun made a wicker box for Li Yuer, the kind with big holes and breathable, specially for her to store Xiao Huang.
Li Yuer got some straw from the surrounding wasteland and spread it inside the box to prevent Xiao Huang from peeing on the boat.
The time of arrival of ships on the island was uncertain during the Chinese New Year, and they were afraid of being late for their return home, so they went to the pier to wait.
Hu packed some return gifts for Fan, and when Fan left, she deliberately dropped eggs.
The Li family has everything they need now, so it would be better to leave this basket of eggs for her parents to eat, so that they won’t have to sway on the boat all the way and might get broken. She will explain to her mother-in-law when she gets back.
Back in Xinpu Town, Li Yuer held the dog cage in her hands and said, "Xiao Huang is so well behaved. He didn't bark, make a fuss, or pee."
Xiao Huang stared around outside the cage with wet eyes, standing on all fours and refusing to lie down. The unfamiliar environment made it obviously a little scared. Li Yuer held the dog cage in her arms and pressed her clothes against Li Yuer's through the cage, and Xiao Huang's mood improved a little.
When they returned to Rabbit Island, Datou and the others had already brought over the catch from their day's fishing with Naonao, and the accounts had also been recorded.
"Uncle San, we don't need them to come to the island to deliver the goods anymore. We can just send them to the town and bring them back after we set up our stall." Li Yuer said.
"Okay then. There are a lot of things today, including fish. How do we cook the fish?" Li Laosan and Li Dalang can both be half cooks now. Especially Li Dalang is very diligent in learning to cook, so it is estimated that he can do this job for a long time.
"The fish is used to make fish balls. I will teach you how to make them later."
There are many ways to eat fish balls, such as fried fish balls, stir-fried dishes, stews, hot pots, soups, barbecues, braised seafood, noodles, etc. In short, fish balls are basically a universal side dish with a very good effect of enhancing the flavor.
Moreover, the cooked fish balls can be stored in a vacuum for a longer time. Now it is winter, so just freeze them.
The method of making fish balls is not difficult, but there are three key points to making delicious and chewy fish balls: First, choose fish with no bones and thick meat. Second, when beating the fish balls, you need to have enough arm strength. In this era, there was no meat grinder, so you could only beat it by hand. Third, the ingredients for the seasoning of the fish balls.
Li Yuer looked at the fish in the bucket and pointed at perch, pike and other fish with fewer bones and more meat.
"After fishing these few out, make sure to choose fish with fewer bones next time, and be careful not to bring in bones when handling them."
Li Dalang swiftly fished out a sea bass and hit the fish's head with the back of a knife, and the fish fainted.
Then he quickly slaughtered the sea bass.
Li Yuer pointed to the fishy lines and other parts that would affect the taste and color of the fish balls and said, "Remove all of these parts, wash away the blood, then slice the fish meat and take out the fish bones. Don't throw them away, save them for making soup later."
She also asked Li Meir to grind some pepper powder with a small stone mill. Pepper powder is the soul of delicious fish balls.
Li Yuer said: "My eldest cousin and third uncle are strong, so they are perfect for making fish balls. After chopping the fish meat, put it on the chopping board and beat it with a wooden hammer until it is strong. Add salt and pepper while beating, so that the flavor is evenly absorbed.
After the fish is beaten for the first time, add some ice cubes if possible to make it taste better, then beat it again to make it into a fine fish paste, then add a little scallion and ginger water, the fish will quickly absorb the scallion and ginger water, and just stir it. "
After the fish paste was made, they started to boil water. "When the water boiled, put the fish bones in to make soup, and then put the fish balls in to make fish ball soup. If you want to eat fish balls alone, make them separately."
Li Yuer taught them how to use the tiger's mouth to squeeze the fish balls. The plump round fish balls were put into the fish bone soup and soon cooked and floated to the surface. They looked like the glutinous rice balls on the fifteenth day of the lunar month, round and round.
"Wow! This is the fish ball. It looks plump and white, which makes people feel blessed. This thing will definitely sell well." Li Erlang took the bowl and chopsticks and waited on the side.
Seeing that the food was almost cooked, Li Yuer took the bowl from his hand and scooped up a bowl with a spoon.
"Come here! Cousin, Chef Li, you try it first."
Boss Li took the fish ball excitedly, scooped one and started eating.
It was a little hot, but he didn't want to spit it out, so he kept nodding and giving thumbs up to indicate that it was delicious.
Li Erlang, who was waiting impatiently, also scooped one into his mouth, "Hmmmm!"
The fish balls were chewy and Li Erlang chewed them like a squirrel.
"It's so delicious. The more you eat, the chewier it gets. The soup is also fresh and not fishy at all. It's amazing!"
Others also tasted it and praised it highly.
"These fish balls are so delicious. How much do you think a bowl of our unique fish balls would cost?" Li Erlang asked.
Li Meier said: "It certainly can't be lower than braised seafood. Fish balls are much more laborious to make, but no one will buy them even if they are more expensive."
Li Yuer said, "This is four cents a bowl."
"Ah?" Li Erlang couldn't believe his ears. "Yu Baoer, no, you only sell such delicious food for four cents. It's cheaper than small seafood with sauce."
Others disagreed, but Li Yuer explained, "Fish balls have soup, which weighs down the dish. If you sell them at a higher price for a long time, customers will be able to tell what's going on. We put eight fish balls in a bowl, and that's the fixed number. No matter how much soup there is, we only put eight balls in it."
Li Mei'er's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands and said, "This is a good idea. Everyone who buys it will get eight, so there won't be any objections."
"Will we still sell fish balls tomorrow?" asked Li Laosan.
Li Yuer said: "Whether to sell it or not depends on how much the chefs can make today."
After teaching his apprentice, Li Yuer went to play with his new friend Xiao Huang.
She took a piece of black flour cake from the kitchen, broke it into small pieces and fed it to Xiao Huang.
Little Huang smelled it and knew it was a good thing, so he started eating it immediately, wagging his tail, looking very cute.
The weather is cold, and if Xiao Huang lives outdoors, he will easily get sick without his mother and brothers to keep each other warm.
So, Li Yuer made a doghouse for it in the cabin. She was not worried that it would develop a habit and stay on the boat. Anyway, they were going to build a new house this year and would not be able to live on the boat for long.
Dog training should start from a young age, because bad habits formed by the dog when it grows up will be difficult to change.
Li Yuer began to subconsciously guide Xiao Huang to do the right things, such as not biting people, not urinating or defecating anywhere, not eating things given by strangers, etc.
Training a dog well is the greatest love for it. In her previous life, she had also encountered or heard of some pets being abandoned by their owners because they bit people or urinated and defecated everywhere, but was it all the pet's fault? She believed that a large part of the responsibility was that the owner did not know how to train the dog, or did not teach it at all.
Those pets that are abandoned because of their shortcomings may be abandoned again in the end even if they are adopted by the next owner. Ultimately, failing to teach a pet well is the greatest harm to it.