Chapter 495: There are requirements for cooking bear paws

When the tractor drove to the county seat, Sun Jia Qiang shouted from the back cargo bed:

"Boss Li, go to the bus station, I want to see if there are any tickets now."

Li Long said without turning his head:

"Do you want to stay in the county for a night? Aren't you going to rest?"

"No, no, my heart is flying home." Sun Jia Qiang said with a smile, "Can't wait, can't wait, you're married, you should be able to understand..."

Fine, Li Long really could understand, so he drove directly to the bus station.

Sun Jia Qiang got off the car, waved to Li Long, and said:

"Boss Li, see you next year."

"Alright, see you next year." Li Long watched Sun Jia Qiang enter the bus station, then turned and drove toward the big courtyard.

Gu Xiaoxia hadn't finished work yet. Li Long first took the bear gallbladder out of the satchel, found a room, tied it with a rope, and hung it to air-dry, then spread the bear skin out in the side room to air-dry, and then put the basin of simmered bear meat in the kitchen.

All four bear paws were brought back. Li Long didn't distinguish between front and back paws, found a bag, packed one of them, and rode his bicycle toward the supply and marketing cooperative.

The supply and marketing cooperative was almost off work. When Li Long arrived, some people had already started packing up. Seeing Li Long, those who knew him greeted him.

"Little Li, are you here to find Section Chief Li?"

"Yeah, is the section chief in?"

"Yes, yes, what did you bring for the section chief this time?" That person asked.

"The section chief asked me to help him find some medicinal herbs in the mountains, I found them, so I brought them over." Li Long told a lie.

That person smiled and left with his colleague.

The new colleague asked in a low voice after walking a few steps:

"Feels like there's a heavy smell of blood in there, doesn't look like medicinal herbs?"

"Why do you care so much? This young man is a talent in our cooperative. Since he said so, then it is."

"In our cooperative, don't see him working?"

"Temporary worker, but originally the cooperative wanted to give him a permanent position, but he didn't want it. But his work is impeccable; several honors of the cooperative were brought back by him, and several big jobs were done very well. The cooperative director and deputy director both know him, whether he comes or not is just like that."

"Is that so..."

Li Long didn't know how these colleagues were discussing him behind his back. He carried the bag to Li Xiangqian's office. Li Xiangqian was on the phone; seeing him come over, he pointed to a chair, signaling him to sit first.

"Good, good, good, as long as it's qualified, it's fine. I reported to you, leader, earlier, right? The materials we handed in, you can rest assured, they are definitely the best, yes, yes, yes, hmm, good, goodbye leader!"

Hanging up the phone, Li Xiangqian asked with a smile on his face:

"Are you back from the mountains again, or back from the team? Heard the phone call just now, right? The leader of the state cooperative is praising us, saying this batch of lifting poles is good, they have already used them, and the workers all say it's good."

Everyone lifts a flowery sedan chair; Li Long didn't take these words seriously. He pointed to the bag beside him and said:

"Went hunting in the mountains today and got a bear, brought a bear paw for you."

"Oh? Hunted another bear? You're amazing!" Li Xiangqian came over, opened the bag to take a look, and then said with a smile: "Not bad, not bad, although not big, it looks quite good."

"Alright, section chief, I'll be going first." Li Long said: "The finishing work in the mountains isn't done yet, I'll finish the business here this afternoon and have to go back to the mountains."

"Alright, you go do your work, come back and have a good rest when you're done. It's been hard in the mountains during this time." Li Xiangqian patted him on the shoulder and said, "If you have any difficulties, call me, or come directly to find me."

"Good!"

Li Long rode his bike away from the supply and marketing cooperative and went to the big courtyard. Of the remaining three bear paws, he planned to leave one here and take two home. This thing is only good to hear the name; in fact, it's very troublesome to make, and even if it's made, it might not be delicious—after all, we are all ordinary common people, without the skills of a master chef.

He drove the tractor out of the big courtyard and headed straight for the team.

When he arrived at the township, he saw that school was already out. The water in the Mohe Canal was quite high, and there were children swimming by the canal. Li Long didn't rush them—this era is different from later generations; a group of ten-year-old youths jumped from the shore one by one, laughing and playing happily.

Occasionally, he could run into one or two students from the team on the road. Li Long's speed wasn't fast, but no one climbed onto the car, so he drove directly toward the team. It wasn't until he was close to the reed gully that he saw Li Juan and Li Qiang walking on the side of the road. Hearing the tractor sound, the sister and brother turned their heads and then jumped happily.

Li Long drove the tractor to a stop seven or eight meters away from them, because the two children had already run toward the tractor, and Li Long was afraid of hurting them.

"Get on the cargo bed." Li Long said, "Climb slowly."

In this era, it's actually quite normal for children to have bumps and bruises, and raising children isn't as delicate as in later generations. One reason is that there are many children, and the most important thing is that adults grew up this way, so feeling bumps and bruises is quite normal.

When the tractor drove to the three-way intersection of the residential area, Li Long saw someone riding a bicycle toward Dongzhuang from afar.

Someone in the team bought a bicycle?

He drove the tractor to the big courtyard and saw Lu Tie Tou from Lu Yingming's house next door practicing on a bicycle on the road ahead. Seeing Li Long's tractor, Lu Tie Tou was a bit embarrassed, and as a result, he didn't hold it steady and plunged headfirst into the haystack by the wall of their front courtyard.

Li Long was amused. At this time, when people just started learning to ride a bicycle, some people just wanted to find a place with a haystack nearby. When they couldn't master it or couldn't brake in time, they would plunge headfirst into the haystack, at least neither the person nor the bike would be hurt.

At this time, in the eyes of some people, even the person wasn't as valuable as the bike; if the person fell and scraped some skin, at most they would just press some cotton with ash onto the wound. If the bike was broken, stricter parents would scold them.

Might even give them a beating.

The Lu family also bought a bicycle, huh.

The 28-inch bicycle is really popular.

The tractor drove into the courtyard. Li Qing Xia had just come back from checking the nets, looking at Li Long with a smile.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei were both in the vegetable garden setting up trellises for the beans. Li Juan and Li Qiang got off the cargo bed and ran into the room, wanting to put their schoolbags down first.

When Li Long came down carrying the bear paw bag, Du Chunfang and Chen Li Rong also came over from the front courtyard, followed by the two children, Li Xue Qin and Xueping.

Li Qing Xia asked with a smile:

"What are you holding? Just left, why are you back again?"

"Why can't he come back?" Du Chunfang heard her old man's question and was immediately unhappy, "Home is here, father and mother are here, so isn't it whenever he wants to come back, he comes back."

"I didn't mean that, I just felt that Xiao Long must have something to do to come back. Ask what's the matter." Li Qing Xia wasn't angry when he heard this, explaining with a smile, "Coming back in such a hurry, there must be something."

"Hunted a bear." Li Long took the bear paws out of the bag to show everyone, "Brought back two bear paws for you to cook and eat."

"Hey, this is good stuff." Li Qing Xia looked at the bear paws, full of excitement, "Good stuff."

"Hunted a bear? You weren't hurt, were you?" Du Chunfang and Li Qing Xia's focus wasn't in the same place at all. She hurriedly walked over with her small feet and asked, "Didn't let the bear scratch you, did you?"

"No, over thirty meters away, I fired three shots and killed the bear." Li Long said easily, "Now hunting uses guns, see it, one shot, gun rings, bear or wolf, hit it, hit it, if you don't hit it, it gets scared and runs away."

Li Long took the gun off the tractor cargo bed and showed it to his mother.

The bear had already been held and played with by several children. Li Qing Xia walked over, took the gun, and looked at it, praising:

"Hey, this thing is really good! If we had this guy in those years, hey!"

He didn't finish his sentence, but Li Long knew clearly what he was going to say. His family has a genealogy, and going back hundreds of years, it can be considered a prominent family, but by his father's grandfather's generation, it was poverty, and by his father's generation, it felt even more like extreme poverty, suffering quite a bit, and also being oppressed before liberation. So for guns, they are more sensitive than his generation.

Li Jianguo and Liang Yuemei came out of the vegetable garden, looking at the bear paws, Li Jianguo frowned:

"This guy is not easy to deal with."

He had been a quartermaster in the Production and Construction Corps. Li Long hadn't asked if he had dealt with bear paws before, but hearing this, he at least knew how to do it.

In his previous life, he had scanned a few times in videos on how to deal with bear paws, only vaguely remembering that it required vigorous boiling, then using various high-quality soups, or braising, anyway, the final evaluation given was that it wasn't very delicious—after all, we are all ordinary common people, without the skills of a master chef.

"Big brother, how to deal with this?"

"Boil it, first boil the paw until tender, remove the fur and claws, then stew or braise it. Anyway, you have to use star anise, otherwise, it won't be delicious. And it must be boiled until tender; this boiling has to boil for a whole night, right?" Li Jianguo wasn't sure, "Otherwise, if it's not boiled tender, eating it will be like eating a leather strap."

Fine, another thing that requires slow work for fine results. Li Long simply didn't care, he said to Li Qiang:

"Qiangqiang, be careful, don't let those claws scratch you, there's a lot of dirty stuff on them!"

Although the brown bear wasn't big, the claws looked very sharp. Li Long had seen with his own eyes that this brown bear had almost pierced that deer's neck with two claws.

"Then you rest, I'll deal with this thing in a while, can eat it tomorrow noon." Li Jianguo said so, but encountering such legendary ingredients, it's impossible not to be interested.

"I won't wait, there's another one in the courtyard in the county, Xiaoxia is busy with work, I'll go back and deal with that one too. Big brother, tell me in detail how to deal with it."

Li Jianguo heard Li Long say this, so he explained it in detail. In fact, he only knew the general idea, but it was much more detailed than what Li Long knew.

Must scrub, trim the fur, wait until it's clean then boil, boil until tender, then peel off the skin, fur, and claws...

Li Long suddenly thought, can use a pressure cooker!

With that thing, stewing this bear paw until tender should be very easy, right?

Stewing until tender is the first step, and also the most difficult step; the next steps are easier. So Li Long didn't listen very carefully afterward. After Li Jianguo finished speaking, he asked about another topic:

"Big brother, I see someone in the team bought a bicycle again?"

"Hey," speaking of this, Li Jianguo smiled, "Do you know how many the team added in these two days?"

!.

"Two?" Anyway, Li Long saw two new ones.

"Six!" Li Jianguo reached out and gestured, "All went to weave lifting poles. The team didn't have that many tickets at all, they directly took rice and flour to the third team and second team, and also went to the township to exchange for tickets. This time you're famous."

"What does it have to do with me." Li Long shook his head, "That's their own ability."

"Everyone can't say that, they all say it's you who led them into the mountains to weave lifting poles and earn money. Hey, the township also said they would get you some kind of leader in getting rich."

Li Long immediately shook his head; he didn't want to wear such a hat. Wearing this thing is equivalent to having an extra layer of protection, but it's inevitable to be a representative, and then attending meetings from time to time will be troublesome; he doesn't want to go.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Li Long said:

"Then big brother, you guys deal with it, I'm going back to the county." He was still thinking about the pressure cooker. In this era, pressure cookers already existed, but it was already off work when Li Long went back now. He planned to buy it early tomorrow morning, get it ready, and strive to be able to eat the bear paw by noon, and go to the mountains in the afternoon.

Du Chunfang was a bit dissatisfied; her youngest son coming and going in such a hurry, how hard it is.

She wanted to say something, but was pulled by Li Qing Xia and didn't open her mouth.

Chen Li Rong also wanted to say something. Her family was able to come here, and her brother-in-law put in a lot of effort. Now living in her brother-in-law's courtyard, it's much better than the old Ma number side, and much more convenient. She also wanted to open her mouth to thank Li Long, but Li Long came and went in a hurry, and she herself was introverted and not easy to say, her lips moved, and Li Long had already shaken the tractor to leave.

"Slowly, slowly!" When Li Long got on the tractor, Liang Yuemei had already gone to the vegetable garden and came out, holding a willow-woven basket in her hand. She put the basket on the cargo bed and said:

"Leeks, baby bok choy, wild amaranth. Others haven't grown yet, take them when you come back later. Take this vegetable back, it can be kept in the kitchen for two days, tell Xiaoxia, no matter how busy, must eat!"

Fine, this familiar feeling is back. Since Li Long came here for nearly ten years, Liang Yuemei has almost always played the role of a mother. She won't be polite, whatever should be done is spontaneous, and this bringing vegetables to Li Long is also the most simple behavior. Family members don't live at home, so bring whatever good things the family has.

The tractor left the courtyard, Li Long waved to everyone, stepped on the clutch to change gears, and drove toward the north, then toward the west.

"Sigh, when will it end." Du Chunfang looked unhappy, "Don't know when the next trip will be back."

"What are you saying." Li Qing Xia complained, "Xiao Long has serious business. Besides, his wife is in the county, he can't just guard here, right? If you want to see him, tell Xiao Long when the time comes, let you move to his county courtyard for a few days?"

"I won't go!" Du Chunfang shook her head as soon as she heard it, "Here, when I'm free, I can plant vegetables in the courtyard, and talk to Qiangqiang's mother and Xueping's mother. There, Xiao Long goes to the mountains, his wife goes to work, what do I do alone?"

"Right, know they are all busy, you just take care of yourself, don't add trouble." Li Qing Xia is now equivalent to having a formal job, so he is really standing and talking without back pain.

Du Chunfang had no choice but to stop talking.

After dinner in the evening, Li Jianguo started to fiddle with the bear paws. Several children were quite interested at first, but later felt it was boring and went to play.

Li Long drove the tractor toward the sunset and kept moving forward. When he arrived at the big courtyard, it was already a bit dark.

Gu Xiaoxia opened the door, and when she saw him, she said with a smile:

"I saw the things in the kitchen and knew you were back. I thought you were like last time, coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace, and had already entered the mountains."

"How could that be?" Li Long got off the tractor, went to close the big gate and fasten it, then the two of them entered the kitchen together, and he said:

"Hunted a bear, I plan to make the bear paws tomorrow, eat them after they are made, and then I'll go into the mountains."

Hearing Li Long was going into the mountains again, the smile on Gu Xiaoxia's face faded a little.

"Rest assured, at most three to five days, finish the finishing work and I'll be back." Li Long promised again, "Fritillaria has already started to bloom, they won't be able to dig for many days. I started this, can't just not finish it. Alright, alright, we've both been tired for a day, have you eaten? I'll make something to eat..."

"Already made it, just waiting for you to come back." Gu Xiaoxia pointed to the food covered on the dining table and said.

"Then what if I didn't come back?"

"Then I'll eat alone." Gu Xiaoxia said.

Li Long understood a little. Although the words were said very naturally, he could understand the mood.

Waiting in vain, how lonely.

He regretted it a bit, but things still had to be done, so he changed the subject:

"Are we eating these bear paws at home tomorrow noon, or should I go to Sister Yang's place after I'm done?"

Li Long didn't have much interaction with Sister Yang and the others, so he asked for Gu Xiaoxia's opinion.

"Go to Sister Yang's place, let Sister Yang and Han Fang taste it too, this is the Eight Treasures, right?" Gu Xiaoxia said.

"Good, then I'll bring it over after I'm done."

"Hmm, hmm, come, wash your hands and eat." Gu Xiaoxia went over to take off the bowl covering the food, and served porridge with chopsticks.

Li Long didn't say anything more, just thinking in his heart, after finishing the tail on this trip back to the mountains, come back and live in the courtyard for a good period of time.

Always running back and forth like this, what is it like?

After eating, Li Long washed simply. Gu Xiaoxia didn't need to work overtime tonight, so the two of them rested early.

The details, won't say.

Not allowed to say.

The next day after breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long went to the department store to buy a pressure cooker.

Although pressure cookers entered the mainland in the sixties, it was already the early eighties when they reached the Ma County area in the Northern Xinjiang. They were on the shelves of the department store, looking like no one was buying them.

Li Long bought the pot, and the salesperson wouldn't let him go, introducing the usage method in detail, telling him he must be careful, not to block the air outlet, to avoid an explosion.

"If this thing isn't operated well, it will explode like a bomb, you must be careful!" The salesperson urged repeatedly. Li Long felt whether this thing had exploded before and had been sought by the department store's sales party?

After taking this pot back, he first carefully scrubbed the bear paws clean, trimmed the fur, then put them in, added water, and started boiling. Anyway, Li Long's plan was, if it's not boiled tender once, do it a few more times, it will always be boiled tender.

If it really doesn't work, eating it like pig's trotters is also good, get some dipping sauce, even if it's eaten like braised meat, it can taste like something, right?

With such thoughts, Li Long started to fiddle with it.

When Gu Xiaoxia finished work and went to Sister Yang's courtyard, Li Long was already there.

He pointed to the dish covered on the table and said:

"It's this, taste it in a while. Right, Sister Yang, leave some for Han Fang, let's all taste it."

The bear paw wasn't small. After Li Long dealt with it, boiled it until tender, didn't braise it, just added marinade and braised it like pig's trotters.

Took a plate here to taste, there was still quite a lot left at home, he planned to let Gu Xiaoxia eat it slowly. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 496 =====