The whole mountain is my hunting ground

When dining in Northeast China, the most powerful, toughest and most popular dish is braised pork elbow.

It is said that it is difficult to agree with others, but as soon as the elbow is served on the table, even the little girls who do not eat fatty meat in ten or twenty years will choose a piece of elbow skin to eat.

The essence of grilled elbow is in the skin.

So when Wang Qiang removed the wild boar elbow yesterday, he deliberately removed the skin directly without peeling it off.

Today, Li Dayong and the others burned the pork knuckles one by one. When the skin was black, they washed them with water and beat them with an iron brush, and the four pork knuckles were ready.

Then, the women used a knife to cut open one side of the pig's knuckle, but did not remove the bone. Place it in the pot and blanch it with the meat side down and the skin side up.

This is what Zhao Youcai explained. Master Zhao said that blanching pork is completely opposite to blanching beef and mutton. If it is blanched beef or mutton with skin on, it must be skin side down and meat side up.

Today, none of the Zhao family is working, and no one else is idle. The old lady took action again. In addition to her best braised pork, the old lady also cooked the pork elbow herself.

Braised pork elbows, like braised pork, have to be fried to a sugary color. It happened that the old lady cooked them all in one pot, and then used the two large stoves in Zhao's courtyard to cook braised pork, braised pork ribs and braised pork elbows.

Braised pork is ready quickly, it only takes a few hours. The meat was taken from a three-year-old female wild boar and was still fat.

Wang Qiang was willing to do it for his nephew. He cut the best five-flowered flowers and cut them into three-layered rectangular cubes. The fire was slow, and after twenty minutes of cooking, all the fat in the meat was stewed out.

And when it was cooked to the end, there was no soup in the bottom of the pot, and what was left seemed to be boiling lard.

At this time, the other dishes were not ready yet, so Li Dayong took out the braised pork and brought it into the house, and then used the big pot to cook other dishes.

When it was time to serve, Jin Xiaomei put the already cool braised pork into the pot to heat it up. The oil that had condensed around the meat melted away. At this time, Jin Xiaomei took a shovel and stir-fried quickly to make the oil evenly hang on the meat.

In this way, the braised meat will be red and shiny, which is really pleasing!

Jin Xiaomei put the braised pork on four plates, then called to Li Dayong: "His father, is he not allowed to serve?"

"Jie Chen and the others..." As soon as Li Dayong opened his mouth, he heard the sound of a car horn coming from outside.

The Jiefang brand car parked outside the Li Family Courtyard. The passenger door opened and Xie Sun and Yang Yufeng got out of the car. They and Xie Chen from the cab went to the trunk to pick up the food.

Jie Zhong, who was on the back of the car, dropped off the large basins one after another, and the three of them caught them.

These dishes were cooked at Zhang Yuanmin's house. The reason for cooking at his house was because his family had two stoves after they bought a separate courtyard. The two stoves were busy for more than three hours, stewing four major dishes.

There were four large dishes in four pots. Three people took away three, and the remaining one was carried by Jiezhong. At this moment, he was standing on the trunk of the car. No one took the basin in his hand, and Jie Zhong couldn't get down by himself.

Li Dayong twitched the corner of his mouth, pushed the door open and ran out. As soon as he came out of the house, he saw Zhang Yuanmin running out of the Zhao family courtyard next door.

Li Dayong looked at the door of Zhao's house and saw his two sons muttering and tugging under the window of the west room of Zhao's house.

Li Dayong was afraid that the Ma family would hear, so he lowered his voice and shouted, "What the hell are you two doing?"

He shouted suddenly, but Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai were shocked. When the two brothers turned around, they saw Li Dayong waving his arms and shouting: "If you two don't work, what are you going to do?"

No wonder Li Dayong was angry, Lin Xiangshun and Zhang Yuanmin were moving tables and benches out of the Zhao family's warehouse, but their two sons were sitting there not working.

"Dad!" Seeing that Li Dayong was not happy, Li Ruhai was not afraid. He turned around and threw himself in front of the wall and said, "Let me go in and report later."

At this time, Jie Chen, Jie Sunshi, and Yang Yufeng arrived in front of Li's house with basins in their hands. Li Dayong quickly opened the door for the three of them, held it on, and then shouted at Li Ruhai: "Get out of here!"

Li Ruhai's face fell, Li Baoyu chuckled, and hit Li Ruhai with his elbow, but received a blank stare from Li Ruhai.

Five minutes later, Li Baoyu, Li Ruhai, Zhang Yuanmin, Xie Zhong, and Jie Chen arrived at the door of Zhao's house.

The difference was that Li Baoyu was empty-handed, but the other four people moved side tables and four-legged and eight-pointed stools.

Li Baoyu showed a smile on his face, raised his hand and patted Zhao's door. After a slight pause, he patted twice in succession.

He knocked on the door outside, and Zhao Youcai turned around and shouted, "Who is it?"

In winter, the doors and windows were closed tightly, and Zhao Youcai was in the east room. Li Baoyu outside could not hear him shouting.

But as Zhao Youcai shouted, Zhao Chun hurriedly stood up and went out to greet him. Soon, Li Baoyu entered Zhao's house. He nodded to Zhao Chun with a smile, and then walked quickly to the back room.

Li Baoyu entered the east room and nodded to his three friends, Ma Dafu, Wang Zhongjie and Wang Cuihua. Then he went to the edge of the Kang and smiled at Wang Meilan: "Auntie..."

As soon as Li Baoyu said "Auntie", Wang Meilan winked at him. Li Baoyu's heart skipped a beat before he realized that he had made a mistake.

Wang Meilan is usually in charge, and Li Baoyu has become accustomed to it. But today was different from the past, so he quickly raised his head, looked at Zhao Youcai and said with a smile: "Uncle, the food has been prepared. Do we want to eat?"

"Ah, haha." Zhao Youcai suppressed his displeasure, forced out a smile and said to Li Baoyu: "Then put the table!"

After saying that, Zhao Youcai turned to look at Ma Dafu and Wang Zhongjie and said, "In-laws, Brother Wang, we brothers will have a good drink in a while."

"That's necessary!" Ma Dafu responded with a smile. At this time, Li Baoyu stopped at the door of the west room, waved outside and said: "Come in, everyone!"

As soon as Li Baoyu said this, Zhao Chun hurriedly opened the door of the room. Xie Zhong and Jie Chen each held a side table and walked inside. After entering the outhouse, Jie Zhong went to the east room and Jie Chen went to the west room.

Then came Li Ruhai, Zhang Yuanmin, and Lin Xiangshun. Each of the three of them had two hands, holding two four-legged and eight-pointed stools in one hand.

The Ma family didn't know Jie Zhong who came in first with the table, but they knew most of the three people behind.

When he saw Lin Xiangshun, Ma Sheng subconsciously wanted to get up. He was the captain of the motorcade, and they all ran to Zhao's house to help.

But to Ma Dafu and Wang Zhongjie, Lin Xiangshun was a junior, and they just smiled and greeted him.

At this time, Wang Meilan called to the female members of the Ma family and said: "My mother, my eldest sister-in-law, my eldest sister, and my third sister, let's go up to that house and give it to them."

Hearing Wang Meilan's words, Wang Cuihua, Wang Cuilan and others stood up one after another, and Wang Meilan reached out to help Liu Tiezui down.

A group of women went to the west room, when Li Baoyu and others brought in the second batch of stools.

When Zhao Youcai saw that there were enough stools, he called Ma Dafu and Wang Zhongjie to sit down, while Wang Qiang called Ma Ling's two uncles, and Zhou Jianjun called Ma Sheng and Ma Yang.

Including Zhao Jun, there are exactly ten people at this table.

As Li Baoyu and others retreated, Yang Yufeng and Xu Chunyan came in each holding a large basin. The large basin contained clean dishes, chopsticks and cups. Yang Yufeng went into the east room, and Xu Chunyan went to the west room.

This is not a big banquet. At a banquet, the dishes are served first and then the bowls and chopsticks are served. Today is a family dinner, so the bowls and chopsticks are served first and then the dishes are served.

Seeing Yang Yufeng come in, as the junior of the host, Zhou Jianjun stood up and took the basin, and together with Zhao Jun, distributed the bowls, chopsticks and cups to the others.

After Yang Yufeng retreated, Jin Xiaomei came in with a white porcelain basin, followed by Xie Sun.

Since arriving in Yong'an Tun, Mrs. Xie Sun has become more and more promising. With all her strength, she is carrying a large tray with three large plates on it.

"Chicken stewed with mushrooms!" Jin Xiaomei announced the name of the dish and placed the basin in the center of the table.

As the saying goes: "Things are different in ten miles, and the rules are changed in hundreds of miles." Sometimes, the customs of two villages next to each other are different.

In some places, due to population migration, the fusion of customs will also occur.

Just like here in the Northeast, there are many Shandong people who came from Guandong. They took root here and intermarried with the locals. Like Ma Dafu, his family came from Shandong before, so when Zhao Jun went to his house that time, Ma Dafu was covering the smelly fish at home and making fried fish hair.

As for Yong'an, I don't know since when, the banquet setting has absorbed a Shandong custom, which is to start with chicken and finish with fish.

Therefore, the first dish was chicken stewed with mushrooms, and this was the only dish served in a pot and placed in the center.

This is why Zhang Yuanmin would rather shoot off cannons in fear all the way than lead people to pick out fish. Originally, Wang Meilan said that if there was no fish, she would serve canned fish, but Zhang Yuanmin felt that canned fish was not worthy of his brother's banquet.

After putting down the chicken and stewed mushrooms, Jin Xiaomei turned around and took out the braised pork, braised pork ribs and garlic white meat from the tray held by Xie Sun.

After the four dishes were placed, Jin Xiaomei and Xie Sun turned around and left the room, and then Li Ruhai came in carrying a basket made of apricot bark, which contained bottles of Xifeng wine.

There is no bamboo here in the Northeast, so the big brooms used for sweeping the floor are made of willow slivers. As for basket weaving and basket weaving, tree bark is generally used, but tree bark and bark are different.

Especially today is a good day for Zhao Jun. The women made baskets like this out of apricot tree bark in advance, taking the beautiful meaning of apricot, which is homophonic to "lucky".

Customs like this have been integrated into the lives of Chinese people for thousands of years.

During the Chinese New Year here in Lingxi, on the night of New Year’s Eve, apricot wood is used to cook dumplings.

If you have the conditions, you will have to chew pig trotters that night, which means catching money. And it must be the front hooves, because the front hooves are clawing inward, and the hind hooves are clawing outward.

But in Lingnan, Xie Zhong’s family doesn’t eat pig trotters. They rush to buy pig neck bones during the Chinese New Year, and they call them head bones.

Li Ruhai quietly placed the basket next to the leg of the stool where Zhao Jun was sitting. At this time, as the owner, Zhao Youcai picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of chicken and put it into Ma Dafu's bowl. He said with a smile: "My dear, please eat more." !”

"Hey!" Ma Dafu smiled and used his hands to support the bowl, while Zhao Youcai picked up another piece of braised pork and brought it to Wang Zhongjie's bowl. He said with a smile: "Brother Wang, try this meat."

Wang Zhongjie also responded. At this time, Zhao Youcai looked up at Ma Ling's eldest uncle and third uncle and said, "Eldest brother-in-law and third brother-in-law, we are not outsiders. You all have to use your chopsticks."

Although Zhao Youcai said so, no one, including Ma Dafu and Wang Zhongjie who picked up the food for him, did not use their chopsticks.

"Son!" At this time, Zhao Youcai also put down his chopsticks. He raised his hand and pointed at Zhao Jun. After calling Zhao Jun, he gestured towards Ma Dafu and said: "Pour some wine for your uncle!"

"Hey!" Zhao Jun agreed and stood up. At the same time, he took out a bottle of Xifeng wine from the basket and walked quickly to Ma Dafu.

After calling him uncle, Zhao Jun filled Ma Dafu's glass with wine bottles in both hands.

At this time, Zhao Youcai, Ma Dafu, and Wang Zhongjie were sitting on the edge of the Kang. Zhao Youcai was in the middle, Ma Dafu was on the left, and Wang Zhongjie was on the right.

Seeing Zhao Jun finish pouring Ma Dafu, Zhao Youcai turned to the right, gestured towards Wang Zhongjie, and said: "Pour some for your uncle too!"

"Hey!" Zhao Jun responded with a smile, but instead of pouring wine for Wang Zhongjie across the table, he walked around in a large circle and came to Wang Zhongjie's side.

Trouble is trouble, but the wine must be poured by Zhao Jun, and the elders and younger ones must be in order.

Of course, it’s just this one cup. From now on, unless there is a special need, Zhao Youcai, Wang Qiang and Zhou Jianjun will be busy.

Zhao Jun finished pouring the wine for Wang Zhongjie, and just in time Zhao Youcai handed the cup over. After Zhao Jun filled his father's glass with wine, he moved a step to the right, and there was Ma Ling's uncle.

Further to the right is Ma Ling's third uncle. After filling the wine glasses of the two uncles, Zhao Jun went around and poured wine for Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang is sitting on the left side of Ma Dafu. His first task today is to accompany Ma Dafu with Zhao Youcai.

Next to Wang Qiang was Ma Sheng. Zhao Jun smiled and called him "big brother". Compared with the arrogant brother-in-law, this elder brother-in-law is a particularly loyal person.

Ma Sheng smiled and nodded. He was very satisfied with Zhao Jun as his brother-in-law, but it was not because the Zhao family was rich and powerful. He was simply happy that his sister could marry into a good family.

After pouring the wine for my uncle, it was my brother-in-law's turn. Counting Zhou Jianjun, there were exactly eight people drinking. Each person has a 2-and-a-half cup, and eight people share exactly two bottles of wine.

At this time, Zhao Jun sat back in his seat, took out a wine bottle with a rolled-up label from the basket, and said to Ma Yang with a smile: "Brother, I'll pour you some too."

Ma Yang is still young and must not be able to drink, so this bottle of wine is said to be fishy and belongs to him and Zhao Jun, who cannot drink.

Zhao Jun first vented his anger with Ma Ling about this matter. When Ma Ling talked to Wang Cuihua, Wang Cuihua became even more satisfied with Zhao Jun as her son-in-law.

It is said that men have to drink, but after drinking, Wang Cuihua is particularly bothered by the situation where the five horses and spears are broken and the horses are broken. As soon as she heard that her son-in-law did not drink, Wang Cuihua supported him.

How dare Ma Yang say anything about something that Wang Cuihua supports. And after pouring a round of wine, Zhao Jun's mission has been completed, and the accompanying wine is not his responsibility.

At this time, Zhao Youcai picked up the wine glass, looked at Ma Dafu with a smile, then looked at Wang Zhongjie, and said loudly: "We are a family from today on, and we are all happy today..."

As he said that, Zhao Youcai turned to Ma Dafu, gave his wine glass to Ma Dafu, touched it, and said, "Let's eat more and drink more!"

After saying that, Zhao Youcai turned the wine glass to Wang Zhongjie and Ma Ling's two uncles. After everyone clinked their glasses, with Zhao Youcai's "drink", everyone raised their glasses together and drank the wine and water in the glass.

Putting down the empty glass, Zhao Youcai closed his eyes slightly due to the alcohol, frowned, tightened his nose and made a hissing sound, then picked up his chopsticks and asked everyone to start eating.

At this time, no one had their chopsticks in their mouths. Wang Qiang picked up the chopsticks and first took a piece of braised pork for Ma Dafu, and then took a piece of braised pork for Ma Sheng. Zhou Jianjun also picked up dishes for Ma Ling's two uncles, and Zhao Jun even gave his brother-in-law a chopstick of each item.

It was already one o'clock in the afternoon, and everyone was hungry, so they started to eat with their chopsticks.

The Zhao family's food is really hard. As soon as they moved their chopsticks, Jin Xiaomei, Yang Yufeng, Xu Chunyan, and Xie Sun filed in with two plates each.