Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 941 - 481: The Prosperity of Mules and Horses
The second update, requesting pink votes.
***********.........****
Lady Zhang’s pancakes were round, evenly sized, and just the right thickness. Among the daughters-in-law of the Lian Family, when it came to cooking skills, Lady Zhang was undoubtedly the most capable. Of course, if there’s someone most capable, there’s also someone who’s the least. For instance, now as Lian Manman looked at the pancakes Lady Zhang had made, she couldn’t help but think of Lady He.
Back before the family was divided, whenever it was Lady He’s turn to cook and make pancakes, the children would actually look forward to it because it always led to some laughs. The pancakes Lady He made were, to say the least, highly abstract in shape, resembling just about anything. As Lady Zhou put it, they were "all over the place."
Generally, when making pancakes, it was necessary to use a ring made from sorghum stalks around the edges of the iron wok to prevent the pancakes from sliding down along the wok walls. Those with good skills didn’t even need such a ring. Those less skilled, even if they used a ring, the pancakes would still slide into the bottom of the wok.
The result was, of course, poorly made pancakes and the flavor of the stew at the bottom of the wok ruined.
Lady Zhang made a batch of pancakes using the ring, then covered the wok with a lid, continued stoking the fire under the stove for one boil, and then stopped stoking. Using the residual heat at the bottom of the wok to warm the food for another quarter-hour, the entire batch—pancakes, stew, and soup—would all be perfectly cooked.
...
For lunch, aside from a bowl of kelp stewed with tofu, there was a plate of scrambled eggs with chives, a small dish of pickled radish, and Lady Zhang had also boiled a few salted duck eggs for the children.
When the steaming hot cornmeal elm seed pancakes were brought out, Lian Manman couldn’t resist taking a deep breath. The golden cornmeal paired with the green elm seeds made the pancakes look remarkably appetizing. The aroma of the cornmeal combined with the lightly sweet and fresh fragrance of the elm seeds was utterly mouthwatering, a feast for the senses that made one’s fingers itch to eat.
Lian Manman picked up a pancake and took a bite. The texture of the cornmeal elm seed pancakes was slightly coarse, but that didn’t detract at all from their delicious flavor.
Lady Zhang cracked open several salted duck eggs, ensuring that the ones with more oil were placed before the children and Lian Shouxin. She herself kept the smallest and worst one.
Almost every tenant farmer’s wife did the same, at the dinner table giving the best food to the men and children, while she herself ate the least favorable food or leftovers from the previous meal.
Lian Manman didn’t rush to eat the salted duck egg or pick the dishes. Instead, she grabbed another small bowl and placed a generous chunk of the pickled radish from the dish into it.
It’s worth noting that this radish wasn’t watermelon seeds or sunflower seeds, but rather pickled mustard root. The mustard roots were placed into a large jar and cured over the winter.
At this time of year, fresh vegetables hadn’t yet arrived, and the over-wintered cabbages, sauerkraut, potatoes, and dried vegetables were already consumed. For tenant farming households, the dining table was typically dominated by pickled vegetables and mustard radishes.
This so-called "already consumed" didn’t necessarily mean they’d run out completely—they might still have cabbages or sauerkraut left over. But the season was changing, and these things were no longer suitable for storage; even if they remained, they were no longer edible. Steamed buns were similar; in springtime as the thaw began, if any steamed buns were left, they would usually mold and become inedible.
Manman’s Family had a cellar and still kept some cabbages, potatoes, and dried vegetables. But they still followed the customary practice of previous years, preparing a jar of pickled mustard radishes for steaming.
After steaming, pickled mustard radishes were dried in the sun and could generally last through the lean season until fresh fruits and vegetables arrived.
The steamed and sun-dried pickled radishes were incredibly flavorful. Children in tenant-farming households sometimes even skipped meals just to snack on these. Of course, after that, they’d inevitably end up drinking several extra bowls of water.
Steamed and thoroughly softened mustard radishes lost the initial bitterness of mustard root altogether, and their fibers practically dissolved. A light press would turn them into paste. Drizzled with a bit of fragrant oil, the taste was indescribably delicious.
Lian Manman drizzled fragrant oil over the radish paste and alternated between bites of cornmeal pancake and scoops of radish paste, eating with relish.
Lian Shouxin also loved eating this; he even dipped green onions into the radish paste and ate them with the pancakes, taking big, hearty bites.
Lian Zhizhi, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi also ate the radishes.
"You boys are really so easy to please," Lady Zhang said with a smile.
Conditions at home had improved, and meals were frequently upgraded. But whether it was the adults or the children, they still hadn’t grown tired of the foods they had gotten used to eating in the harder, poorer days. Nobody was picky with food—it seemed whatever Lady Zhang made, they’d eat happily.
Of course, this also had a lot to do with Lady Zhang’s skill in the kitchen and her knack for making food taste good.
