Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Wang Dong's promise undoubtedly touched his heart.

Smiling, he continued, "Do a good job..."

"Not only must the workers not find any fault, but Director Yang and his team must also not find any fault."

"Now Old Yang is eager to see me laugh before the New Year so that he can take the opportunity to undermine my prestige in the steel mill."

"If you do this well, I, the deputy factory director, will definitely not let you suffer any loss."

Wang Dong immediately patted his chest and assured: "Please rest assured, Director, the First Canteen will definitely not let you down."

…………

The shortage of materials has not only led to a sharp decrease in the supply of grain and pork, but also the supply of edible oil has decreased by more than 60% compared to a year ago.

When Wang Dong first came to the steel mill, there was basically no limit on the amount of cooking oil available.

Nowadays, no matter what dish you cook, you have to save oil.

Due to the lack of oil and water, although Wang Dong tried every possible way, many of the big pot dishes he made still tasted like boiled water.

If you want to cook more than 300 sets of pig offal deliciously and satisfy more than 10,000 workers in the steel rolling mill, you must have enough oil and water.

But now there is obviously not enough money in the kitchen for Wang Dong to squander.

He could only focus on the pig offal itself.

Pig intestines make up the largest part of pig offal, and at least 20% of the weight of a pair of pig intestines is lard.

If it is pig large intestine, the lard content is likely to be more than 30 percent, or even more.

In later generations, people would basically dispose of the lard when processing pig intestines.

Wang Dong decided to make use of the waste and separate the lard to refine lard.

One set of pig offal can produce two kilograms of lard, and more than three hundred sets of pig offal can produce more than six hundred kilograms of lard. It can not only be used to braise the offal, but also for stir-frying, giving ordinary radishes and cabbages the flavor of pork.

Some people would say that pig offal has a very strong smell, and it is difficult to remove it even with flour, cooking wine, etc. in later generations.

In this age of material shortages, let alone cooking wine, there is not even flour. How can we get rid of the fishy smell from the offal?

As a chef in later generations, Wang Dong still has some of the most original methods to remove fishy smells.

If you don’t have flour and cooking wine, use medicinal herbs.

Many common medicinal herbs are great for removing fishy smells.

There was a shortage of supplies in Sijiu City, with food being the most lacking. Medicinal herbs grown in the mountains and fields were not in short supply.

You can buy it as long as you have money.

In the kitchen of a canteen, everyone had a troubled look on their face when faced with the endless supply of pig offal sent by the logistics department.

There are simply too many of them.

Although the number of workers in a canteen has exceeded 50 after the expansion, each person has to clean six sets of more than 300 sets of pig offal on average.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the logistics department did not send over 300 sets of pig offal at once.

"Don't just stand there, clean the pig's offal the way I just taught you."

"Turn over the large and small intestines of the pigs, clean the lard on the intestinal wall, and then scrape it off for my own use. Don't waste any of it..."

"These launches are a Chinese New Year benefit for our steel mill this year, and there must be no problems."

"Considering everyone's hard work over the past few days, Deputy Director Li has approved that every kitchen helper, apprentice, and cook involved in making braised offal in our canteen can get twice as much offal as their fellow workers."

"If anyone cheats during this process and doesn't follow my instructions, I will definitely remove that person's name from the canteen." "When others take two large boxes of pig offal home, and you can only take one large box of pig offal, don't blame me, and take action now."

…………

A workshop in a steel rolling mill.

Today is the last working day before the New Year. After lunch, the workers basically have no production tasks. They begin to clean their workstations, check machines, clean up raw materials and waste, and maintain machines under the command of their respective team leaders.

Make sure your machine can still be used when you go to work after the New Year.

“Notify…notify…”

The clear voice of the announcer suddenly rang out over the workshop radio, and all the workers, as if they had discussed it beforehand, simultaneously put down their work, pricked up their ears, and listened to the broadcast.

The steel mill will be closed tomorrow. According to the rules of previous years, the steel mill will distribute New Year supplies to everyone at this time every year.

The broadcast at this moment must be related to the New Year benefits that everyone is about to receive, so everyone became looking forward to it.

But some people also showed worried expressions on their faces.

Several factories in the surrounding area have distributed New Year benefits, but none of them have distributed pork. Even towels, basins and other supplies are much less than in previous years.

The supply of materials to the steel mill is becoming increasingly tight, which can be seen from the usual food standards.

The meat supply that was available every day at the beginning of the year has now been reduced to only one meal every three or four days.

The oil and water in the big pot of food became less and less.

Everyone was afraid that the steel mill would not distribute pork to everyone during the Chinese New Year this year.

Not only did you have to buy pork at the supply and marketing cooperatives and the vegetable markets with coupons, but the quantities were also very limited.

For ordinary workers, it is difficult to save up a pound of meat coupons in a year, let alone buy pork.

Many people pin their dreams of eating meat during the Chinese New Year on the Chinese New Year benefits that the steel mill will soon distribute.

If the steel mill could give everyone a little pork, even if it was only two or three taels, it would be enough to feed the family.

If the steel mill does not distribute pork, we will probably have a meatless New Year this year.

"Dear fellow workers, this year the city is facing a shortage of supplies, including grain and pork. As a result, the steel mill was unable to purchase enough pork to distribute to everyone as welfare..."

Upon hearing this, the workshop immediately became an uproar, and everyone, including the workshop director, showed disappointment on their faces.

Several of Director Yang's confidants took the opportunity to shout, "Deputy Director Li is in charge of logistics procurement. It must be that Deputy Director Li and his team did not purchase carefully, so they did not buy pork..."

Another confidant followed up and shouted: "Our steel mill is so profitable, and we are not short of money, so how could we not be able to buy pork..."

"Deputy Director Li and his men must have embezzled the money from the meat sales..."

Yi Zhonghai followed up with the conversation: "Deputy Director Li and his team always have pork in their special kitchen every day, but when it comes to distributing meat to us workers, there is no pork. They really don't take us workers seriously..."

"Wang Dong in our yard is a canteen team leader, responsible for the small kitchen in the steel rolling mill. He often takes leftovers home. These are the hard-earned food of our workers. Why do they eat pork every day, while we can't even get two taels of pork during the Chinese New Year..."

Faced with the disparagement from Yi Zhonghai and others, many workers who were not afraid of trouble joined in, hoping to take the opportunity to undermine Deputy Director Li's prestige in the steel mill, and even better, drive him out of the steel mill.

The one who works the hardest here is Yi Zhonghai.

In his opinion, one of the important reasons why Wang Dong could be the team leader in a canteen was that he had Deputy Director Li backing him up.

If Deputy Director Li is kicked out of the steel rolling mill, Wang Dong will have no backing and Director Yang can deal with him however he wants.

Once Wang Dong loses his position as the canteen monitor, his prestige in the courtyard will definitely be affected, which is a win-win for Yi Zhonghai. (End of this chapter)