Chapter 106: Oil and Sauce【1】

Chapter 106 Oil and Sauce【1】

After entering the hall, Shang Xiucai did not ask the three of them anything. He just asked Ah Jiu to go to the mule cart to fetch the Four Treasures of the Study that he had brought with him. Each person gave them a piece of paper, a pen, and some ink, and said to them: " Write down what you think you have learned best, either in writing or in an article."

"Ah?" Gu Dewang was confused: "Didn't the scholar ask a question?"

Mother said that the scholar would only ask him a few questions, and he would just answer according to the instructions. Why did he change this to write? What do you want him to write? He never went to private school at all.

The only person in the Gu village chief’s family who attended a private school was Gu Dexing. Gu Dewang was only eight years old, and there had been two years of drought in the northwest. He was only six years old when the disaster hit him. He had never gone to school at all. He only learned a few words from Village Chief Gu and read the Three-Character Classic for a few days.

Shang Xiucai smiled and didn't reply. He just left Ah Jiu behind and watched them write. He himself said to Grandpa San and Gu Dashan: "Uncle Gu, Brother Gu, your tofu is a fresh food. Wen Yuan has always been curious about it. I wonder if I can go and have a look?"

Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan wanted to make friends with Shang Xiucai, so they naturally agreed happily.

They first went to the Luo family’s yard and saw the beans being ground. Shang Xiucai pointed to the white soy milk flowing out of the grinding plate and asked, "Is this soy milk?"

Third Grandpa smiled and nodded: "Yes, but these are soy milk with bean dregs. The bean dregs must be filtered, then cooked in a pot, brine and turned into tofu curds, and then compacted to make tofu."

"What about the soy milk? Can it be eaten after cooking and adding sugar?" Shang Xiucai did not ask about the stew. Although he was curious about how the tofu was made, he knew that it was the Gu family's secret recipe and he could not ask.

Third Grandpa said: "The soy milk needs to be diluted with water. If you drink pure soy milk, the taste will be too strong and not good to drink."

"That's it." Shang Xiucai suddenly realized, and said: "How much tofu do you want to make this day? There is only one millstone, I'm afraid it won't be enough."

The third grandfather said: "It's really not enough. We are planning to buy stones to make a stone mill."

 Originally I planned to do it some time ago, but things happened with the Lu family, which delayed it.

Hearing this, Shang Xiucai looked at the taciturn Gu Dashan with surprise on his face and said in a tone of admiration: "Brother Gu can also make stone mills. This is no small skill."

Gu Dashan smiled honestly: "Anyone who is not skilled in craftsmanship is all the work he has done before."

He was kicked out of the house by Mrs. Gu since he was a child to work as a carpenter, mason, well digger, stonemason, and all kinds of jobs.

However, Shang Xiucai said: "There is an abandoned stone mill in my old house. Let Ah Jiu deliver it to you tomorrow, so you don't need to buy another stone mill."

It takes a lot of effort to polish a new stone mill. The Gu family is short of manpower when making tofu, so he might as well give them one.

Upon hearing this, Gu Dashan quickly waved his hand and refused: "No, no, this stone mill costs a lot of money. Brother Shang, you have already given many generous gifts today, but you can't give any more."

Shang Xiucai smiled and said: "Brother Gu, that stone mill has been in the old house for almost twenty years. If you don't want it, it will be left somewhere to attract dust. So don't refuse."

Gu Dashan had no choice but to agree.

Brother Gu Damu and Gu Dalin listened to it and were very impressed. This Shang Xiucai didn't have the airs of a county captain's son-in-law at all and was very kind.

Gu Dagui and Gu Dafu were filtering soy milk at the side. When they saw Gu Dashan approaching, they quickly winked at him. After Gu Dashan came over, Gu Dagui asked him in a low voice: "Brother Dashan, my wife didn't cause any trouble to your family, did she?"

Last night Mrs. Chen said she would take a few children to let Shang Xiucai become his disciples and study with Shang Xiucai for free. He scolded her severely and said she didn't take enough advantage.

Mrs. Chen agreed to him at the time and said she would never mention the matter again. But today, as soon as he and her eldest brother came to the Luo family’s yard to do work, she ran to Dashan’s house with her four children. He saw it and wanted to chase after them, but he was afraid that the commotion would be too ugly and make Shang Xiucai disgusted with them, so he endured it. But I was really worried about Mrs. Chen, for fear that she would offend the son-in-law of the county captain and bring trouble to their family.

Gu Dashan said: "As long as my third uncle is here, everything will be fine."

When Shang Xiucai heard what they said, he didn't say anything. Farmers were like this, and it was for the sake of their children's future. However, it was up to him to decide whether to accept disciples or not.

Shang Xiucai walked around the Luo family yard and chatted with brothers Gu Dalin, Gu Dalin, Gu Dafu and Gu Dagui for a while. Then he returned to Gu's house and went to the kitchen to see the boiled soy milk, the tofu curds separated from the pulp and water, and the pressed of tofu.

"It's really amazing. After grinding, boiling and pressing the beans, they turned into a new food." Shang Xiucai sighed.

Gu Jinli was talking to Cui, Gu Jinxiu, Gu Yumei and Jiang's mother and daughter. When he heard this, he got up and left, came to Shang Xiucai, and took the opportunity to say: "In addition to making tofu, beans can also be used to make many foods, such as soybean paste." , bean sprouts, soybean oil, and a soy sauce that tastes similar to minced rice paste.”

Shang Xiucai was shocked when he heard this, and asked Gu Jinli: "Can we make oil and fresh minced sauce? Is this true?"

  Hash sauce is a sauce made from pickled meat. It is very expensive, so it only costs one tael of silver for a small pot on the market, and only wealthy people can afford it.

 But the soybeans only cost three cents a pound. If soy sauce could be made that tasted similar to the fresh soy sauce, it would be really... He couldn't imagine how much of a sensation this soy sauce would cause.

 And that soybean oil.

In Dachu, there are only two kinds of oil, one is meat oil for eating, and the other is pine oil for lighting lamps. As for Dayong, he heard that there was a kind of ghee made from cow and goat milk, but he had never heard of soybean oil. If these soybeans could be made into soybean oil, it would be a great thing for the country and the people.

Shang Xiucai knew that this matter was so big that he could not protect these two things with his current ability, so he said to Gu Jinli: "Good boy, who else have you told this matter?"

Gu Jinli said: "Uncle Shang, don't worry, only a few of us here know about the soybean oil and soy sauce."

She understands the sin of cherishing jade, so she will not make everything she knows how to make at once, but will do it one at a time. Only when she can protect this kind of thing can she make it.

 Before she just wanted to make tofu, it was because she met Shang Xiucai and knew that Shang Xiucai was the son-in-law of the county captain, so she wanted to make fresh glutinous rice paste and soybean oil.

With Jiang County Lieutenant's ability in Tianfu County, he should be able to protect these two things and prevent them from causing death.

After Shang Xiucai heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief. He then asked Gu Jinli roughly how to make soy sauce and soybean oil.

Gu Jinli gave a rough idea: "The production of soy sauce takes longer than that of fresh soybean paste. The fermented soybeans need to be marinated for half a year before soy sauce can be made. As for the soybean oil, the production time is relatively short, but it requires a lot of manpower. .”

Crushing beans and frying beans is very simple, but extracting oil is very laborious. Without more than ten laborers, you cannot extract the oil manually.

“It takes ten kilograms of soybeans to produce more than one kilogram of soybean oil, so the oil production rate is not too high.”

“But soy sauce is much better. Although it takes a long time to ferment and make, one pound of soybeans can produce two pounds of soy sauce. It’s not troublesome to make, and it’s very cost-effective.”

Gu Jinli told all the pros and cons of soybean oil and soy sauce.

 (End of this chapter)