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Where would we find the extra money and energy to buy pigs from the commune to provide as employee benefits?

Therefore, Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill easily acquired all the pigs around Beijing.

Even after distributing them to the workers, there were still dozens left over. Li Huaide decided to keep them at the factory so that he could prepare a special meal for the workers when they returned to work.

In addition to the free pork provided by the canteen, Xiaoshan also received additional subsidies of meat coupons and non-staple food coupons from the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Trade now has new translators who can translate documents, sometimes Xiaoshan still has to step in as a temporary translator when receiving foreign guests.

We were almost out of lard at home, and these food coupons would be just enough for Xiaoshan to buy a few jars of lard at the grocery store.

Moreover, Xiaoshan also received a lot of fatty meat, and could go back to render lard and eat pork cracklings.

In addition to these benefits, there are also extra supplies reserved for factory leaders, which are especially plentiful this year.

So this year, one person in Xiaoshan took home about 30 jin of pork.

Adding the dozen or so kilograms that Ding Qiunan brought home, the Xiaoshan family received a total of forty kilograms of pork.

Seeing the pork that Xiao Shan had brought back, everyone in the courtyard was drooling with envy.

However, everyone now knows that Xiao Shan is the pillar of the factory, so even Jia Zhangshi doesn't dare to say anything strange to Xiao Shan.

Looking at the pork that Xiao Shan had brought back, Jiang Chunlian was both happy and worried, saying, "With so much pork, will we be able to finish it all for the New Year?"

"It's still forbidden to set it off in winter, so if we can't finish it all, we'll just smoke it into cured meat after the New Year!" Xiao Shan said with a smile.

Because the city of Beijing is covered in ice and snow during the Lunar New Year, with the outdoors acting as a natural freezer, there is no custom of smoking cured meat.

Before Xiao Shan traveled through time, he was from Hunan Province, where people have a long-standing tradition of smoking cured meat during the Lunar New Year. Therefore, Xiao Shan knew how to smoke cured meat.

After paying the salary, Xiao Shan simply brought his father-in-law to his home as well.

Anyway, we have enough rooms in our own house now, so it doesn't matter if we give one room to my parents-in-law.

On the 29th of the lunar year, Xiao Shan specially asked He Yuzhu to come over and cook a meal for his parents-in-law.

After all, tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, so it's not appropriate to have He Yuzhu's family eat at home together.

On New Year's Eve, it was time for the Xiaoshan couple to show off their skills.

Xiao Shan got up early in the morning and went straight to the market to buy the ingredients needed to make hot pot.

I prepared everything at once, including scallions, ginger, garlic, fermented bean paste, chili peppers, star anise, bay leaves, and so on.

Chapter 422, Eating hot pot during the New Year, wouldn't that be wonderful? (Please subscribe!)

Of course, the most important ingredient in hot pot is beef!

Beef was extremely rare in those days. The cattle in the production team were precious treasures, and they would never be slaughtered when they were healthy.

Generally, cattle are only slaughtered when they are sick or old.

Moreover, there is no beef available at meat stalls until around the Lunar New Year.

The beef brisket I bought in Xiaoshan can be pressed to extract beef tallow, which is an essential ingredient for making hot pot.

Because beef is rare, a lot of meat coupons are needed.

Of course, Xiaoshan doesn't care about these hostages now.

After buying everything he needed, Xiao Shan carried his bags home.

Since the streets are crowded with people, Xiao Shan naturally can't be lazy and put these things in his backpack.

Besides, with Xiao Shan's strength, he wouldn't even feel the weight of this little thing.

When Xiao Shan returned home, Ding Qiunan had already prepared lunch.

After lunch, Xiaoshan will now prepare the main event: the New Year's Eve dinner.

Today, all the shops outside are only open in the morning and close at noon.

This is also to make it easier for people who come out to buy things, so that they don't end up empty-handed.

If you don't have anything to cook for the New Year's Eve dinner, you'll regret it for the whole year!

Everyone watched with curiosity as Xiao Shan prepared the New Year's Eve dinner, wanting to see what kind of feast he could put together.

After Xiaoshan cleaned all the ingredients he bought, he filled the pot with water.

After the water in the pot boiled, Xiaoshan put the beef brisket into the water to blanch it.

The purpose of doing this is to remove the fishy smell and other off-flavors from the meat.

After blanching the beef brisket, Xiaoshan immediately took it out and placed it in clean water to cool.

Next, add a little water to the pot, put in the cooled beef brisket, and you can start pressing the beef tallow.

The beef brisket was placed in a pot and simmered over low heat.

After the water has boiled away, start rendering the fat from the meat.

Once the oil started to render out, the kitchen was immediately filled with the aroma of butter.

The aroma of this is just as good as that of lard.

Fortunately, every household in the compound has had meat to eat these past few days, since the factory distributed about five pounds of pork to each person.

Otherwise, the children in the courtyard would gather in the backyard again, drooling over Xiao Shan's house.

In fact, the lives of the residents in the courtyard today have already surpassed those of most residents in Beijing.

After all, in the current situation, due to the country's emphasis on the metallurgical system, the factories in the metallurgical system have been the least affected.

In addition, the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill received a bonus for the new machine tools, so the welfare of the workers at the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill was naturally very good.

Places like No. 95 Courtyard, where every household has meat on their table, are extremely rare in Beijing.

Of course, nowadays every household in the courtyard has meat to eat, but the aroma of beef tallow is different from that of lard.

So a few curious kids from the courtyard went to the backyard to see what delicious food Xiaoshan's family was making.

How come they've never smelled this before?

Seeing these curious children, Xiao Shan naturally wouldn't be stingy.

They gave each of the children a piece of butter that had been rendered until it was half-dried.

They also sprinkled some chili powder and cumin on top.

This is similar to the barbecue butter of later generations. When you take a bite, the un-roasted oil bursts in your mouth, and it's incredibly fragrant.

He Yuzhu and Li Caijuan followed the smell and came over, eating several pieces of butter in one go.

In the end, Xiao Shan had no choice; if the two of them kept eating, there wouldn't be enough butter left in the pot for frying.

They hurriedly chased the two out of the kitchen.

After frying the beef, Xiaoshan discovered that there was still some pork chest meat left.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Shan decided to have a barbecue.

Paired with some pork belly and frozen fish and shrimp, this barbecue is absolutely amazing!

For this barbecue, Xiaoshan specifically brought out some fruitwood charcoal from his home.

This was specially arranged by Li Huaide, who knew that Xiao Shan's family had a fireplace, to be used as firewood for Xiao Shan.

It must be said that Li Huaide was very generous to his own people who were useful to him.

Soon it was time for the sun to set, and the New Year's Eve dinner in Xiaoshan was ready.

This year's New Year's Eve dinner was also quite lavish, featuring braised fish, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised lion's head meatballs...

There's also lotus root and pork bone soup, which is popular with the elderly.

There was even a plate of boiled shrimp as a mixed dish.

These are all seafood that Xiaoshan brought back from Qingdao, and we still haven't finished eating them even now that it's Chinese New Year.

Fortunately, the outside world is a natural freezer, so these seafoods can be kept fresh without having to be stored in a cellar.

However, Xiao Shan estimated that based on his current food purchasing habits, he would still need to get a refrigerator for his home once the weather warms up, just to be on the safe side.

After all, I don't go to Qingdao Port very often, so having a refrigerator will help keep my food fresh.

Although power outages are frequent these days, they are never very long.

Food can stay in the freezer, and even if the power goes out for half a day, it won't matter as long as the refrigerator isn't opened.

Finally, a steaming hot pot was served.

Xiaoshan specially made a yin-yang hot pot to suit everyone's tastes.

The red broth is made with butter, while the clear broth is made with mushroom broth.

Although mushroom soup isn't as fragrant as butter soup, it's still delicious for dipping vegetables in it.

The side dishes for hot pot are quite luxurious.

There are thinly sliced ​​beef and pork belly, as well as beef balls and shrimp paste and fish balls made from sea shrimp from Xiaoshan.

These all took him a lot of effort.

Because these dishes were all prepared by themselves, they tasted especially delicious to Xiaoshan.

The clear soup also received unanimous praise from my parents-in-law.

Especially when the shrimp paste is added to the mushroom soup, the umami flavor of the mushrooms combined with the umami flavor of the shrimp, along with the firm and bouncy texture of the shrimp, drew high praise from my parents-in-law.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, it's time to give red envelopes to little Xiao Jingyan.

To Xiao Shan's surprise, even though he is now a father, he still received a red envelope from his parents-in-law.

After distributing the red envelopes, everyone went to the backyard to set off firecrackers.

Xiao Shan took a string of firecrackers, hung them by the door, and then lit them with a kerosene lighter.

After lighting the firecrackers, Xiao Shan immediately covered his ears and retreated towards Ding Qiunan and the others.

Firecrackers crackled and popped, their light reflecting off the happy faces of the Xiao family, flickering and dimming.

After setting off the firecrackers, the Xiao family lit the large red lanterns hanging on the porch and then went inside to watch television.

Chapter 423, Enjoying a Barbecue to Welcome the New Year! (Please Subscribe!)

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve, and it is customary to stay up all night to welcome the new year.

So even at 10 p.m. today, every household in the courtyard was still brightly lit.

Even the sleepiest children are trying to stay awake, eager to welcome the New Year as soon as possible.

As it approached midnight, Xiaoshan had already begun to get busy.

He took a small stove that he had prepared beforehand from the kitchen, put on a wire mesh, and then moved it to the backyard.

Next, take all the chopped side dishes and seasonings to the backyard, and the preparations for the barbecue are complete.

As the hands of the clock on the wall pointed to twelve, 1971 arrived as scheduled!

Feng Chunlian and Ding Dade are getting on in years, and eating at midnight can easily cause indigestion.

So even though I was really craving the barbecue in Xiaoshan, I could only go back to my room and sleep.

After all, at their age, they can no longer act recklessly.

Otherwise, their bodies will teach them a lesson later.

Xiao Shan brought out two stools from his house, and Ding Qiunan placed Xiao Jingyan with Feng Chunlian.

The couple, wrapped in thick cotton-padded coats, began their barbecue in the snow-covered courtyard, their breath steaming in the cold air.

Xiao Shan placed the skewered pork belly and pork on the already red-hot charcoal stove. As soon as the meat was grilled by the scorching charcoal fire, the oil inside immediately dripped out.

The oil dripped onto the charcoal fire, making a sizzling sound.

As the sound rang out, a rich aroma of meat wafted through the courtyard.

At this time, everyone in the backyard had just gone to bed!

Caught off guard by the strong aroma of meat, I couldn't help but curse inwardly.

But when he lifted the curtain and saw Xiao Shan and his wife grilling meat outside, he immediately swallowed the words that were about to come out.