Chapter 23: All salted fish!
"Grandma!"
"I'm back!"
Zhao Dahai pushed open the courtyard door, shouted loudly, and first put down his hand to carry dozens of kilograms of luggage. Then he put down the other net bag hanging on his shoulders, especially the one-meter-long mackerel, which came all the way back and swaggered through the village, attracting crazy onlookers, and everyone was extremely envious. .
Zhong Cuihua was weaving a fishing net in the main room when she heard the shouting and came out.
"Yo!"
"Such a big fish?!"
Zhong Cuihua was shocked when she saw the fish in the two net bags, especially the mackerel.
“Grandma.”
“I was the first to go!”
Zhao Dahai pulled open the rope tied to the mouth of the net bag and poured out all the fish.
“What are you doing?!”
“You have to sell it?!”
Zhong Cuihua didn’t know what Zhao Dahai wanted to do.
Zhao Dahai shook his head. These are fish brought up by wind and waves, and most of them are damaged in appearance, with wounds of various sizes from being bumped or rubbed against the rocks. Mackerel is the most valuable, costing twenty to thirty yuan per pound. When I caught it, I was worried that the fish would struggle and escape. I hammered it with a stone more than ten times, and the fish’s head was almost smashed. It’s not that I can’t sell it, but I can’t. What price is offered.
"Grandma."
"I had planned it."
"All these fish are salted!"
"Dried in the sun."
>"Cook it and eat it when there is no food, or fry it a little in the morning and serve it with white porridge or sweet potato porridge."
Zhao Dahai had already planned it. There are so many fish that you can’t finish eating. Salted fish is the best way to deal with these fish. There is meat at home, but it is impossible to eat meat every day. There is no shortage of small seas on the beach in front of the village or nearby. I have to think of ways to make money. It is impossible to catch it every day. Salted fish and muddy melon seeds dried in the past few days are all. It has the same meaning, for there are vegetables to eat in the bowls and plates, especially when the vegetables grow in the vegetable garden behind the house, so that there are fish, meat and vegetables.
Zhong Cuihua picked up the fish that fell on the ground. After picking for a while, she couldn't find an uninjured fish.
Zhao Dahai smiled. This is not giving up, thinking about whether I can sell some.
Zhao Dahai took out the chopping board and knife and started to kill the fish, scraping off the fish scales, picking out the fish gills, cutting the fish maw, fish intestines and other internal organs. He saw grandma Zhong Cuihua taking them from the kitchen. He took out another knife, wanting to kill the fish together.
Zhao Dahai immediately stopped her. Grandma Zhong Cuihua was old, so it wasn’t that she couldn’t do this job, but no matter how bad her eyesight was and her hands were weak, she could easily hurt herself accidentally.
"Grandma."
"I'll kill the fish."
"After you kill it, wash it and dry it on the dustpan."
Zhao Dahai knows not to work for Zhong Cuihua. No, I must want to help. I took a large iron basin and filled it with more than half of the water. I moved a large jar from the kitchen and opened the lid. It contained coarse-grained sea salt. I added salt and stirred it until it reached the big basin. It doesn't stop until the salt inside stops melting.
There are two ways to dry salted fish. One is to directly pickle the fish with salt. Sprinkle the killed fish with salt and leave it for a period of time. The salt will penetrate into the fish and then dry. Another method is to kill the fish, soak it in salt water for a while, then pick it up and dry it immediately. Salted fish that is directly marinated with salt takes a longer time, is saltier, and is easier to preserve. Fish washed in salt water does not contain much salt and is more delicious, but the storage time is shorter.
Zhao Dahai does not plan to sell these salted fish. He will eat them at home. It is better to use salt water directly.
Zhao Dahai was so quick that he killed a fish in ten seconds and placed it in a large iron basin filled with salt water.
Zhong Cuihua carefully washed the killed fish, cleaned them and placed them neatly on the dustpan. After filling one dustpan, she replaced it with another.
Zhao Dahai spent more than an hour killing almost a hundred kilograms of large and small miscellaneous fish, leaving only red drum and Spanish mackerel.
Zhao Dahai carefully scraped off the scales of the red drum fish with a knife, pulled off the gills, cut the belly and cleaned out the fish intestines. He placed the knife on the tail of the fish and cut it across to the big fish bone in the middle. He held the knife horizontally Lay it flat against the fish bones and push it toward the head, split it into two halves, wash it with salt water, use a small stick to prop it open, hang it up with a small rope, and hang it on the bamboo pole to dry. This fish is relatively large, so it can be dried quickly by hanging it up. This red drum fish only has a little scratch on its belly. It is basically not suitable for postage if it is cut open. It can be dried in the sun and taken with you when visiting relatives during the holidays.
"The sea."
"What are you going to do with this fish?!"
Zhong Cuihua pointed to the mackerel on the ground. Big fishing boats rarely catch such a big mackerel when they go out to sea. If the fish head is not damaged, it can easily be sold for three to four hundred yuan, which is really a pity.
Zhao Dahai did not dare to tell Zhong Cuihua that he smashed the fish head, knowing that he must be a prodigal, but he had no other choice in the situation at that time. One was Wang Changlin who was watching eagerly, and people from the other village came to pick it up sooner or later. For fish, it is impossible to go home and get a fishing net or a fishing net. In any case, this fish rotted in the pot at home and could not be sold for any money. It was very cost-effective to mix it into several delicious meals.
"Cut the salted fish."
Zhao Dahai waved his hand proudly. When people in the fishing village catch a mackerel of this size, no one is willing to eat it because they are so arrogant.
Zhao Dahai began to cut the mackerel into pieces, each piece was one centimeter thick, and the fish head was divided into two.
“Grandma.”
“There’s not much left to do. I can do it myself.”
"Uncle Dadong and Uncle Dong both work outside. No one at home goes to sea. If you want to eat some fish, you have to go to the town to buy it. Send this fish to the second mistress. Have a taste."
"If I had gone there, I would probably have the second grandpa come right out."
After Zhao Dahai cut the fish, he walked into the kitchen, took a red plastic bag, picked the three best pieces of meat, and added The upper half of a fish head. Don't look at it. In my grandfather's generation, the families were separated and each lived his own life. However, in times of difficulty, they helped each other and gave some to those who had plenty to eat.
Zhong Cuihua nodded with a smile, took the bag and went out, walking towards Zhao Shi's house.
Zhao Dahai picked up the cut mackerel fillets, washed them in salt water, and stacked them individually in a dustpan. The fish was big, and the cut fillets had to be as big as two palms.
"Good stuff!"
"This is really good stuff!"
Zhao Dahai walked out of the yard carrying the dustpan and placed it on the stone at the door. It has been a windy day for the past two days. No matter how much sun you have, you must wait for good weather to dry the salted fish. It can be semi-dry in half a day and dry in two days.
Zhao Dahai looked at the mud snails and sea melon seeds that he had brought out to dry early in the morning. They were like hard pebble seeds and had dried completely. He took the bags and put them in them. He looked at the time and saw that it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon. I was so busy working that I couldn't take care of eating, and my stomach growled with hunger.
Zhao Dahai walked into the yard, carried a plate of miscellaneous fish and the other half of the mackerel head into the kitchen, and started cooking. He picked up hundreds of kilograms of fish for nothing and had to eat it. OK!
Please vote for everyone. Thanks!
(End of this chapter)