Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 27 Initial Teaching
Soak the turtles in cold water, scrub them clean with straw, put the cleaned turtles in a wooden basin, and then take a dirty one from the basket to wash.

I don't know if they went to dig a pond early in the morning, but there were dozens of large turtles piled up in the baskets, and even some small turtles the size of a palm.

Chen Fan held up the small turtle and turned to look at Captain Yang, "How come you caught such a small one?"

Captain Yang tilted his head and grinned, "It's not like we're hunting or fishing, catching the big ones and releasing the small ones. These things eat fish fry and are a menace, so of course we have to catch them all."

Chen Fan grimaced, staring at the little turtle, "But this thing doesn't have any meat."

Accountant Liu, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette, said, "If there's no meat, we'll make soup."

Chen Fan's eye twitched slightly. Absolutely brilliant.

However, he didn't dare to say much, since Captain Yang had already said that this guy was a "troublemaker".

Soft-shelled turtles eat fish fry. If he dares to say he'll release the baby soft-shelled turtles, everyone will spit in his face.

He threw the small one back into the basket and replaced it with a larger one, continuing his one-on-one instruction with Liu Jujiang: "You must wash it thoroughly before slaughtering it; otherwise, it won't taste good."

Liu Jujiang smiled and nodded, "I know, no matter what you're killing, you have to wash off the mud before you can start."

By this time, the water had boiled enough, and Chen Fan began to slaughter the animals.

Chop off the head, remove the shell, soak, peel off the skin, remove the fat and internal organs, and then wash with warm water.

They killed several in a row. Except for the first one, which was done by Chen Fan, the rest were done by Liu Jujiang. He became more and more skilled as he killed them, and soon he had a large basin full.

Of the more than 40 households and nearly 300 people in the village, at least half came, crowding around and craning their necks to look.

"Wow, what a huge bowl of meat."

"I've never seen so much meat at a banquet."

"We collected several large bowls of blood; enough to make a lot of blood tofu."

"Even eating in the cafeteria more than ten years ago wasn't this lavish."

"This huge basin is worth at least five or six chickens. Add some potatoes and radishes, and it can fill more than a dozen bowls. Which family is so rich?"

These days, there are still some customs surrounding banquets in the countryside. Whether it's a wedding or a funeral, only close family members, like brothers, can attend in their entire family. Other families only send one person per household. There are only so many households in the village, so at most five or six tables can be set up. Therefore, preparing two or three chickens and a few fish is more than enough for the main dishes. Such a large basin of meat is indeed rare, and some people have never even seen it before.

Although the uncooked turtle has a slightly fishy smell, it still makes many people salivate.

Captain Yang was also excited when he saw such a big basin of meat. He turned his head and said loudly, "Those who went out to dig for turtles earlier, each of you bring a bowl. After the dishes are cooked, each of you take a bowl back."

As soon as these words were spoken, a small percentage of the people, mostly men, rushed out. Some went to get bowls, while others ran to dig in the pond to see if they could find a few more large turtles.

What about the women?
Everyone was waiting to see Chen Fan cook so they could learn his skills.

Even if it doesn't taste as good as Chen Fan's, as long as it's not as fishy as before and is edible, I can catch turtles myself and cook them at home from now on. This can't be delayed.

Chen Fan boiled another pot of water and was about to start when Liu Jujiang stepped forward and picked up the large wooden basin. "Young Master Chen, are we blanching the vegetables now?"

As Chen Fan tossed in the large pieces of ginger and scallion knots that Jiang Lili had prepared, he nodded and said, "There are also some tricks to blanching. First, you have to add ginger and scallion knots to remove the fishy smell. If you have the means, it's best to add some cooking wine. If you don't have cooking wine, white wine or rice wine will also work, and the effect will be even better."

Captain Yang immediately pointed to his eldest daughter, "Xiao Ju, bring out a bowl of wine."

Chen Fan was about to say that they didn't need that much, but seeing the large pot, he immediately shut his mouth and remained silent. He probably really did need a bowl of wine. Liu Jujiang secretly remembered Chen Fan's words, and at the same time poured all the turtle meat into the large pot, then asked, "One is to remove the fishy smell, and the other is..."

Chen Fan didn't hold back and taught everything he could. "Secondly, the water temperature should not be too high, preferably controlled at 80 degrees Celsius. At the same time, you should stir constantly to force out the blood from the meat. Meat treated in this way will not have a fishy smell, and the meat will not be too tough. It will be more tender and soft after stewing."

Accountant Liu stood behind Captain Yang and whispered to Warehouse Keeper Huang, who was standing next to him, "He's so particular about eating meat. Can you guess what his background is?"

Without turning his head, the custodian Huang said, "I'm not guessing. I tried to guess all day yesterday but couldn't figure it out. Anyway, he must be someone important. Look at Liu Jujiang, he's been doing this for over twenty years, and he even takes notes on the simple task of blanching meat. But this Chen Fan is all delicate and looks like he's not someone who does kitchen work. Anyway, I can't guess his background."

Captain Yang glanced back at them and whispered, "What's the point of guessing? Who cares about his background? It's worth saving him just because he's an old turtle cooking. Any more money later is a bonus, and if there's nothing, it's not a loss."

The two nodded in unison, "The captain is indeed insightful."

Soon after blanching, all the turtle meat was placed in a wooden basin. Just then, a gust of wind blew by, filling half the village with the aroma of meat, and the villagers' eyes lit up.

"Wow, it really doesn't have any fishy smell at all."

"This meat smells so good. If it were cooked into a dish, it would definitely be delicious."

"In the past, so many turtles were chopped up and fed to pigs. What a waste!"

Chen Fan sniffed the turtle meat, noticing its strong fishy smell that they couldn't detect.
At this point, Chen Fan gracefully withdrew, saying to Liu Jujiang, "Master Liu, there are only a few steps to remove the fishy smell from turtle, and they're pretty much the same. The rest is just cooking. You're the master chef, so I won't embarrass myself by showing off."

"No, no, no."

Liu Jujiang rubbed his hands together and said with a smile, "If you're going to do something good, go all the way. I've never actually cooked turtle before. Could you please have Master Chen make one or two dishes so I can learn from you?"

Chen Fan seemed a little embarrassed. "Master Liu, it's not that I'm unwilling to do it, it's just that I only know how to cook small pot dishes. With so much turtle meat, I won't be able to control the heat."

There's six or seven times more turtle meat than yesterday. With his current strength of only 5 points, how could he possibly stir-fry it all up?!
Liu Jujiang thought for a moment, "How about this, you make the small pot of dishes, and I'll learn from you and make a big pot of dishes."

Chen Fan looked at Captain Yang.

Without hesitation, Captain Yang waved his hand and said, "My kitchen has two stoves, so you can cook here."

Seeing that the captain had said so, Chen Fan no longer refused, "Okay."

The two then moved to the kitchen next door. Other villagers wanted to squeeze in to watch, but Captain Yang chased them away, so they could only stand by and watch from a short distance from the door, and had to make way for them.

The stove here is a double stove, meaning it has two fireboxes, which naturally means there are two large pots. There is an earthenware jar between the two fireboxes, so it can be heated from both sides at the same time.

In addition, there is a charcoal stove in the corner of the kitchen. This small earthen stove is only about 30 centimeters high, with the upper half being the fire pit and the lower half being the support, like a three-legged tripod. Both charcoal and firewood can be burned in the fire pit.

Chen Fan then asked Yang Ju to bring out the stove and put a clay pot of turtle stew on it. Then he also made a small pot of braised turtle on the large stove.

Captain Yang spared no expense for this dish, providing a full two ounces of soybean oil, equivalent to half a month's ration for an adult in the city.

Chen Fan was a little worried looking at the little bit of oil. With so little oil, would the turtle meat taste good?

Then I heard a "ding" in my head.

“初次传授知识，教学经验+20，当前教学技能LV2（20/50）；做了两份甲鱼，厨艺经验+10，当前厨艺技能LV4（20/200）”

Chen Fan was a little confused. His teaching level was only 2? When did he become a teacher?
(End of this chapter)