Food for the people

According to Qiao Yu's instructions, Song Li baked the oven on a low fire all night. When Qiao Yu went to see it, the fire inside was still alive, and the heat inside the oven could not be felt from the outside. To feel the heat on the top.

Qiao Yu opened the furnace door to feel the temperature inside. The furnace door was also made of two layers. The inner layer was made of iron and hung on both sides with iron hooks. The outer layer was made of wood. The furnace door was two feet wide. , but the space inside is larger and can hold more things.

Qiao Yu used a hook to open the inner door, and the heat wave hit his face immediately. It seems that there must be no problem with roasting things, but whether they can be heated evenly without burning them still needs to be tested.

When Qiao Yu was tinkering with the oven, besides Song Li and Zhao Kang, there were also a bunch of workers who came to work around him.

The decoration of the restaurant is nearing completion, and the rest are just odd jobs. Everyone is watching Qiao Yu's side while doing it, not knowing what he is tinkering with.

When Song Li asked them to build it yesterday, they were already very curious. It looked like a stove, but it was sealed and only the middle door was opened. After that, there is no place to put the pot.

Qiao Yu often comes here, everyone is familiar with him, and he is young and easy to talk to. In the eyes of these workers, he is easier to get along with than the foreman Song Li. Yesterday, everyone was embarrassed to ask Song Li, but today they met Qiao Yu When you come, gather around him, and ask him what he made.

Qiao Yu was about to get something to test, when he heard this, he said simply: "I just want to test whether this stove works well, everyone is so curious, why don't you have roast pork at noon?"

When everyone heard what he said, there was no reason for their reluctance. They all nodded and were very grateful to him. They didn't care where the meat came from, and they didn't care whether the things made by this strange-shaped thing in their eyes were edible. .

They have worked for many families with Song Li, and they have never seen such a generous master as Qiao Yu. Not only does he give enough money, but he also brings food to everyone from time to time. He is very skilled. It's not enough to miss it. I heard that Qiao Yu is going to roast meat for them again. Even if I don't know what the roast meat Qiao Yu is talking about, it won't delay everyone from swallowing just after hearing him say it.

Seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Qiao Yu gave Zhao Kang money and asked him to go to the street to buy meat.

Experiment first, if it doesn't work, change it to stew.

When Zhao Kang bought the meat and came back, Qiao Yu washed the meat and cut it into large pieces, boiled it with Chinese onion, ginger and pepper grains in Huadiao wine, then turned off the fire and soaked it in the sauce for an hour.

The meat was soaked in the sauce, and Qiao Yu started to prepare other ingredients.

Crispy Roasted Pork requires coarse salt and tin foil. He doesn’t have tin foil here, so he can only use soaked and drained lotus leaves instead. The taste must be a little different, but it shouldn’t be bad.

After the meat is soaked, buckle the skin up on the lotus leaf to expose the skin, tie the rest of the meat thinly with thread, and use a needle to pierce small holes one by one on the skin. This is the key to crispy skin and cannot be omitted.

When Qiao Yu was making, Zhao Kang was watching. He had been with Qiao Yu for more than ten days, and he knew his craft very well. He was very interested in seeing him making things that he had never seen before.

After piercing the skin of the meat, spread a thick layer of coarse salt mixed with peppercorns, then put it in the matching baking tray, open the door of the oven in front of everyone, and put it in.

Qiao Yu never put all the meat in to roast, fearing that the temperature would not be right, and the meat didn't get too big.

But there are still many worries that the meat will not be cooked.

"Young Master Qiao, this piece of meat is so thick that there is no open flame, can it be cooked?"

Qiao Yu wasn't worried about being uncooked. The temperature inside the furnace was not low, so it would definitely be cooked, but he couldn't feel the specific temperature.

Everyone is full of interest in the meat in the oven. Not only do they want to eat it, but they are also very curious about the oven outside. Every once in a while, they will find time to take a look. After watching for half an hour, Qiao Yu opens the door and takes out the meat. , the few people who happened to be in front of me were instantly captured by the fragrance, and asked, "Is this all right? It smells really good."

Because there was no tin foil, Qiao Yu wrapped a thick layer of lotus leaves on the outside of the roasted pork. Now the outermost two layers have been slightly charred and shattered when touched lightly. Although the inner two layers are dry, they are still warm. Keeping the original appearance, it was peeled off by Qiao Yu.

The thick layer of coarse salt grains on the meat skin has been hardened into lumps, so Qiao Yu peeled it off, revealing the fragrant meat skin inside.

Qiao Yu smiled at the person who asked the question, and said, "Bake it for this long, and it will be fine."

The man swallowed his saliva and said with a hearty smile: "It smells so good, I can't wait for a long time."

Qiao Yu put the meat back into the roasting pan and stuffed it into the oven, and added some firewood underneath to raise the temperature even higher.

The skin of the meat is quickly beeping in the oven and baked into a meringue.

After roasting for another half an hour, the roast meat was finally really good.

Qiao Yu brought the meat out of the oven. A large piece of roasted meat was golden and crispy. When the skin of the meat was knocked with the back of a knife, the sound was crisp. Most of the fat in the meat had leaked out, exuding the unique aroma of roasted meat. Qiao Yu Yu turned over the hot roasted meat, and cut the meat in half with a sharp knife. Under the golden puff pastry, the meat inside was not dry, but very tender.

Qiao Yu cut the meat with a knife, counting Zhao Kang, Song Li and himself twelve people, exactly a piece of meat for each person, a square piece of meat with the length of a thumb, put it in a bowl with rice, it is so delicious that you want to eat it with your tongue swallow.

Zhao Kang was the last one to taste the crispy roasted pork. Seeing him take a bite, Qiao Yu asked, "How was it?"

The skin of the meat is crispy, and most of the fat has been roasted, so it doesn't feel greasy when eaten, but the meat underneath is just the opposite, tender and juicy, without making people feel dry at all.

Zhao Kang ate all the remaining meat in one gulp, and nodded at Qiao Yu.

"It can be used as a signboard, delicious."

Qiao Yu rolled his eyes and laughed.

He was not simply happy that the roasted meat was delicious, but even more pleased that the oven was completed. Since there was no problem making roasted meat, there should be no problem with roasting chicken, roasting duck and baking cakes.

He was quite excited, so he roasted the rest of the meat, and when it was ready, he shared some with everyone and took them home, and he packed a few extra portions for Qiao Ling and Lu Jincheng.

The oven is ready, and the decoration of the restaurant has also been completed. Tomorrow is the summer solstice, Qiao Sheng's birthday, and Qiao Yu's birthday from now on.

Qiao Yu felt that more than half of the serious problem in his heart had been solved, and the rest could be taken slowly.

Today is the last day for everyone to come here to work. After eating the barbecue, except for Song Li, the rest of the people can go home after paying their wages. Because of Qiao Yu's barbecue, everyone took the money and did not leave. Stay here and let Qiao Yu clean up all the places that need to be cleaned inside and out, and the restaurant can open as soon as the tables and chairs from Mr. Shen's place arrive.

Qiao Yu didn't go back early today either. After cleaning up with everyone, wrapped the meat for everyone, and sent everyone away, he locked the door of the restaurant with Zhao Kang and prepared to go around to the academy to pick up Qiao Ling. .

As soon as he walked to the entrance of the academy, Qiao Yu saw the carriage parked at the entrance of the academy for the first time.

The coachman stood guard beside the carriage, but there was no one in the carriage. Lu Jincheng and Qiao Ling walked out from the door of the academy. Jiang Lingxiao poked his head out from the door and waved to Qiao Ling.

Qiao Ling also turned her head and waved at him.

Lu Jincheng looked up and looked ahead, and then said to Qiao Ling, "Your brother is here to pick you up."

Qiao Ling turned his head excitedly when he heard the words, and sure enough, he saw Qiao Yu and Zhao Kang walking to the side of the carriage, looking in their direction, and seeing that both Lu Jincheng and Qiao Ling saw him, he smiled at them and raised the question. Lift the food box in your hand.

As soon as Qiao Ling was in front of his brother, he couldn't help becoming more lively, and ran towards Qiao Yu, jumping up and down. After only two steps, he probably thought that Lu Jincheng was with him, so he stopped quickly and cautiously. Glancing at him, he walked up in a regular manner.

"You said earlier that you were here to pick up Xiaoling, so I went home and waited for you." Qiao Yu said.

Lu Jincheng smiled, and didn't say why he came to pick up Qiao Ling in such a good manner, he just pulled Qiao Yu into the car, Sanqi didn't follow this time, Lu Jincheng, Qiao Ling and Qiao Yu were sitting in the car, Zhao Kang He sat at the front end and followed them back to Qiao's small courtyard.

Lu Jincheng seemed to come here specially to pick up Qiao Ling. After sending them home, he took the food box that Qiao Yu gave him, and took Zhao Kang back to the palace without saying a few words to Qiao Yu. , mysteriously, as if she was hiding something from Qiao Yu.

As soon as Lu Jincheng left, Qiao Ling went back to his room. Qiao Yu stood in the yard and thought for a while, but he couldn't think of anything the two of them could hide from him. As soon as he rolled his eyes, he followed to find Qiao Ling. .

When he entered, Qiao Ling was sitting on the bed with his back facing him, pouring out a small earthen jar, which contained the copper plates Qiao Yu gave him.

Since the first time Qiao Yu came back from the stall and gave him dozens of copper coins, he would give them to him every day after he came back. After saving a can, he had exchanged small silver ingots with Qiao Yu several times. When he was young, he secretly gave Qiao Yu the silver ingot and stuffed it under the pillow. Qiao Yu found out the next day and quietly returned it to him. The two of them came and went several times, and Qiao Ling knew that his brother had made up his mind. If he wanted to keep the money for himself, he didn't force it on him, but wrapped it up and put it away.

At this moment, he put the five small silver ingots aside, and was concentrating on counting his own copper plates, but he didn't notice that Qiao Yu had already come in.

Qiao Yu deliberately frightened him without knocking on the door. After entering the door lightly, she hugged Qiao Ling into her arms, causing Qiao Ling to cry out in shock, and subconsciously took the little silver ingot into her arms.

Seeing that it was Qiao Yu who rushed over, he let go of his hand suddenly and said, "Brother scared me to death."

Qiao Yu rubbed his head and said with a smile, "Little money fan, don't rush to protect yourself, just think about protecting money."

Qiao Ling smiled shyly, but did not refute. He moved the small earthen jar away, and showed Qiao Yu a bed of copper plates and small silver ingots: "Look, brother, I have so much money."

Qiao Yu rubbed his head again: "I don't have any money for you recently, but don't worry, when the restaurant opens, I will give you all the money my brother earns."

Qiao Ling shook his head quickly when he heard the words: "Brother, keep it for yourself, I don't want it."

Qiao Yu hugged him tighter: "Big brother's is yours, we don't care about you and me."

Qiao Ling said in a low voice, "Brother is really kind, but it's useless for me to ask for money now, brother should keep it for himself."

Qiao Yu squeezed Qiao Ling's fleshy face, and drew a section of red rope from his neck, revealing the emerald green jade gourd hanging on it.

"Don't you want to redeem brother's jade gourd?"

Qiao Ling suddenly looked back at him.

Qiao Yu smiled: "What are you looking at me for?"

"How does brother know?" Qiao Ling's eyes turned red.

Qiao Yu smiled: "Because I also want to redeem the jade gourd for you, but I rented the shop with the money first, will Xiaoling blame me?"

Qiao Ling shook his head vigorously.

How could he blame his brother, he was grateful to him before it was too late, he could understand the reason why his brother used money to rent the shop first, if it was him, he would do the same, after all jade gourd is a dead thing, and they can't just remember the past , you have to live well first.

Seeing him shaking his head vigorously, Qiao Yu's heart softened, he hugged him tightly, and said, "Why is Xiaoling so obedient, don't worry, brother will do what he says, and he will definitely redeem the jade gourd for you completely." Come."

Qiao Ling nodded, he believed everything his brother said and never doubted it.

"Then can you tell brother now what Mr. Yan told you today?"