tasting the old taste on the tip of the tongue, the floodgate of memory is instantly opened. Gently, lest I miss every detail.
In my memory, marinated shrimp sauce is a "next meal" that people in my hometown can eat almost all the year round. Hometown people call "salt net" (homonym) the "next meal" to eat with meals. Before meals, children often pester their mothers eagerly. "Mom, what should we eat with salt net (homonym) today?" "Today, I'll beat (make) you some braised soybeans with marinated shrimp sauce." After that, the woman quickly went to the yard to hold firewood and then lit a fire to cook. The children are scrambling to help their mother pull the bellows, and the flames in the stove are getting stronger and stronger in the sound of cracking. The woman scooped a ladle of clear water from the water tank and put it in a large iron pot. Then she took out a proper amount of marinated shrimp paste from the porcelain jar with a spoon and put it in the large iron pot to stir with water. Finally, she put in white corn flour and kept stirring, so as to be evenly heated and not paste the bottom of the pot. Corn flour should be slightly coarse and fine-grained, otherwise it will feel sticky when cooked in fine powder. Without a drop of oil, the clever women in their hometown have accumulated over time, and the proportion of water, marinated shrimp sauce and corn flour put in order is just right, so that the braised soybeans in marinated shrimp sauce will be delicious. "Hey, come and help mom stir the pot." Older children are often mothers' best helpers. The woman freed her hand and took a crock of yellow corn flour made up in advance to the stove. A pair of rough but dexterous hands began to get busy again. In a short time, the inner edge of the large iron pot was covered with a circle of gold, and the salty aroma of the stewed shrimp sauce was forced into golden corn cakes. At this moment, maybe those golden corn cakes can't wait for the aroma of marinated shrimp sauce. When the tortillas are about seven or eight years old, it's time for the soaked soybeans to play. The woman scattered the full and energetic soybeans into the big iron pot, and the big iron pot was bubbling, and some naughty soybeans crept into the bottom of the pot. In a short time, a plate of braised soybeans in marinated shrimp sauce is in sight. Originally, it was a red-faced marinated shrimp sauce. At this time, it was pink and cute. It was entangled and wrapped by the white jade surface, and the temperature of the fire instantly turned into a beautiful white paste. And the soybeans that came from behind are also eye-catching, like golden beans looming, as if to seduce you and arouse your appetite. I haven't waited for you to take a closer look at the masterpiece of Qiao Fu's rough big hands. Once it is put on the kang table, it will be eaten up by adults and children in a short time. "Mom, the braised soybean in marinated shrimp sauce you beat (made) is really delicious!" The naughty child patted his belly and burped at his mother, "Mom, will you give us a beating (cooking) of braised soybeans in marinated shrimp sauce tomorrow?" The woman put away the dishes and chopsticks, smiled and answered quickly: "Chinese, you are really a greedy cat." This kind of picture is almost a warm scene that appears every day in my childhood farmhouse, and my family is no exception. Childhood hometown people are not only simple, kind, hardworking, but also so easy to satisfy. A plate of braised soybeans with shrimp sauce can be our delicious meal.
when it comes to marinated shrimp sauce, if you want to eat good marinated shrimp sauce, you have to be bad, and you must use a seafood called shrimp lice as raw material. In my memory, most of the marinated shrimp sauce sold in the shouts of walking around the streets was made of "rotten fish and rotten shrimp", so it can't be compared with the marinated shrimp sauce that my grandfather personally made bad.
As far as I can remember, my grandfather was an old man with few words, but I never felt unfamiliar with him. Perhaps my childhood and my grandfather's personality are very similar, which makes me feel deeper about the outside world. Although grandpa's home is close to the sea, grandpa is not a fisherman, he is just an ordinary agricultural worker on the farm. Although grandpa is not a fisherman, he is an old man who likes the sea as much as those real fishermen. When I was a child, I grew up listening to my grandfather tell us stories about the sea. I always think that only people who really like the sea can use shrimp lice, one of the children of the sea, to brew the unique taste of the sea-marinated shrimp sauce. I know that every time grandpa spoils shrimp sauce, he pays his own hard work and sweat just like raising his own children. Because there is a sincere effort, there will be a return, so the stewed shrimp sauce that grandpa personally made will have a truly pure and unparalleled taste.
in my bones, the hometown where I was born and raised is my hometown, and my grandfather's hometown is also my hometown. They both have the same weight in my heart. In my memory, there are more and clearer memories about my grandfather's family, which may be one of the reasons why I regard my grandfather's family as my hometown.
Spring has always been a vibrant season, not to mention the spring in my hometown. Let's talk about the sea in my hometown. When the flood season comes in spring, shrimp lice (also known as black shrimp) will roll from the distant sea with the tide like a sandstorm. I think, perhaps because shrimp lice are only a few millimeters in size, it should be appropriate for hometown people to name them after the word "lice". Don't underestimate the shrimp lice. If it's a sunny day, you happen to catch a "maritime" of the shrimp lice. Standing by the sea and looking from a distance, you will see layers of black fog rolling from a distance like the ups and downs in the sea, which is very spectacular. I remember my grandfather told me that it is precisely because of this that people in my hometown called shrimp lice "fog shrimp". It is the most humble shrimp louse in the sea, whose name even makes people feel humble, that is the best raw material for the marinated shrimp sauce, but those fish, shrimps and crabs that are much more expensive than it are incomparable.
I remember that when I was a child, in the spring, our children would pester our mother to take us to my grandfather's house for some time, because in that season, there would be seafood such as sea bass, sea otters, sea clams and so on hanging around our little greedy insects. Mother can't beat us, often in order to cut corners and cross a big dam from the south of the village to get to my grandfather's house. Along the way, there are all kinds of unknown wild flowers fluttering in the wind on both sides of the dam. They are white, pink, yellow, blue and purple. They are either clustered together and winked at passers-by, or they bloom independently, bringing vitality to the wilderness. Exquisite me, I often fall behind because I squatted down to pick a wild flower and put it next to my ear. My mother turned around from time to time to urge me to keep up with them. Grandparents always prepare our favorite seafood early, but I am most interested in following my grandfather to the seaside to catch shrimp lice, and then doing those things with my grandfather to marinate shrimp sauce.
I remember my hometown's spring is so beautiful, the sky is blue, the water is clear, the birds' songs are so crisp, the distant and the nearby blend with each other, and the high and low voices sing their own spring songs. In your hometown, you don't have to worry about oversleeping. The chirping of birds will wake you up when you are asleep in the morning. Pushing open the window, I opened my eyes and saw that the window was full of green, which was an unpolluted green, and I still yearned for it. It is a kind of green that looks like you want to take a bite of green juice, like a light sweet and smooth green. My grandfather's yard is surrounded by all kinds of trees planted by my grandfather and grandmother, and the branches and leaves are crowded together to form a fence. In the courtyard, all kinds of vegetables in the neat vegetable fields show off themselves. Leek shook her waist with the wind. "Look how slim I am!" Spinach smiled at leek and said, "Don't flatter yourself, a gust of wind will blow you down." One side of the overwintering green onions jumped high and looked around disdainfully. "Hum, I'll chop you into stuffing and make buns if you make any more noise." The vegetables shouted, and grandpa bent down to help them from time to time. Occasionally, a small weed hid under the leaves of the vegetables, which could not escape grandpa's eyes. Pieces of vegetable fields are my grandfather's paradise. Whenever my grandfather handles his vegetable fields, I will follow my grandfather. When I meet someone who can't be named, I will often ask my grandfather, "Grandpa, what is that dish?" Grandpa often takes the trouble to explain it to me one by one. "Grandpa, when are we going to catch shrimp lice?" Grandpa walked around his vegetable field with his hands behind his back, and I followed him with my hands behind my back and kept asking questions. "Let's go after seeing the vegetable fields." Later, I learned that grandpa took it as fun to review his vegetable fields once a day.
Grandpa put all the tools needed to catch shrimp and lice on the wooden unicycle in the yard, and then said, "Get on the bus, children, and let's go." A creaking, creaking wooden wheelbarrow was pushed out of the yard by grandpa, and then the giggles of our four children sitting on the wheelbarrow floated out of the yard. From behind came the exhortations of grandma and mother, "His grandfather, come back soon." "Children, listen to grandpa." ......
The creaking unicycle was bumpy all the way, and my thin grandfather was afraid of dropping our four children, and his steps were a little slow. "Grandpa, when can we see the sea?" The wind blew a thick smell of sea water, which seeped into the nose. "It will arrive soon." We four children cheered and forgot that we were sitting on a wheelbarrow and obviously fell off it. "Children, sit tight." Grandpa clenched the two handles of the wheelbarrow hard and continued to push the wheelbarrow forward.
"Look, that's the sea!" It's time for us to show our talents. The wheelbarrow finally stopped creaking. Grandpa put on one-piece rain pants and got ready to go to sea. We got off the iron bucket for shrimp lice. "Children, please wait for me on the shore and don't go into the sea." Sitting on the shore waiting for my grandfather to go ashore, the sun shone on the sea and looked at the sea in front of me. At that moment, I felt that the sea in my hometown looked so gentle and quietly like a quiet and kind old man. If we saw shrimp lice gently pushed to the shore by the waves, our four children completely ignored grandpa's instructions and went into the shallow water to pick up shrimp lice with their own small nets made by grandpa. It didn't take much effort. After grandpa carried the reed basket to and from the sea and the shore several times, our bucket of shrimp and lice was full. Small shrimps and lice are packed in iron drums, and they are like a bucket of mud. They can hardly see their faces and tell where their eyes are and where their legs are. So far, I will sigh how amazing the sea is. I wonder if shrimp lice are the smallest children in the sea. The vastness of my hometown is really all-encompassing!
with shrimp lice, there is no need to worry about marinated shrimp sauce. However, it's not a simple thing that bad marinated shrimp sauce starts with cleaning shrimp lice and ends up with a good jar of marinated shrimp sauce. If something goes wrong in a production process, it will become rotten shrimp sauce. Grandpa's bad shrimp sauce has its own uniqueness. Every time grandpa made bad shrimp sauce, we all went into battle together in the early stage. We have different division of labor, some help to carry water, some help to pick up seaweed mixed with shrimp lice with mesh screens, and some help to wash shrimp lice over and over again and then drain the water. There was laughter in the yard, which attracted a mother-in-law next door to look around. "Second brother, nephews and nieces have come to help spoil the shrimp sauce?" Grandpa answered while busy, and said with a smile, "Children love to work." After everything was ready, Grandpa poured the shrimp lice without impurities into a big vat that had been cleaned and dried, and then added the sea salt equivalent to the weight ratio of the shrimp lice. When I was a child, the salt that my hometown people ate was all the large-grained sea salt produced in the local area. I remember it was very similar to rock sugar. The proportion of sea salt is very important. If it is put less, the bad marinated shrimp sauce will go bad easily, and the salt must be put into saturation. Next, grandpa will take a polished wooden stick and stir the shrimp lice in the vat until the shrimp lice in the vat become porridge. In the meantime, we will each hold a small wooden stick, and because we are small, we tiptoe around the vat like grandpa. Finally, grandpa will find an old iron pot and cover it on the vat. For better sealing, wrap the old iron pan with a large piece of plastic cloth, and then tie the plastic cloth with hemp rope, which is an iron hat for the vat. The purpose of doing this is to prevent the infiltration of rain and the pollution of flies and other insects. After the vat is sealed, the initial production of bad shrimp paste is temporarily over. Finally, the vat filled with shrimp lice is placed in a sunny and ventilated place to let it ferment naturally. Next, in order to better ferment the shrimp lice that have become porridge, grandpa will uncover the sealed old iron pot every few days and stir it repeatedly with a wooden stick for a long time. During the day, the sun shines into the yard and it is warm. If you stand next to the vat and listen carefully, you will hear a subtle sound in the vat, which is the natural fermentation sound of shrimp lice. At night, the night is quiet, a bright moon hangs high, and shrimp lice hide in the vat to enjoy the moonlight and starlight. With the passage of time, the flavor of marinated shrimp sauce in the yard is getting stronger and stronger day by day, and the garden is full of fragrance, even you can eat with a sip. How time flies! The hot dog days are over. When I go to my grandfather's house in autumn, I can't wait to see the fermented shrimp lice first. At this time, the iron hat on the vat has been replaced by a big sauce basket woven by reeds, like a big steamed bread buckled on the vat. Every summer, grandpa will replace the iron hat on the vat with a big sauce basket, and move the vat to the shade, in order to ventilate and prevent shrimp lice from being exposed to the sun and fermented into smelly shrimp sauce. Uncover the sauce basket, and a layer of liquid with bright color like sesame oil floats on the top of the marinated shrimp sauce, which is fragrant and straight to the nostrils. This kind of liquid is called marinated shrimp oil by hometown people, and it belongs to the by-product of marinated shrimp sauce. It is an essential oil that is separated from the bad marinated shrimp sauce day by day after sun exposure and night dew. Although it is a by-product of marinated shrimp sauce, its value is far greater than marinated shrimp sauce. This kind of brine shrimp oil derived from natural fermentation is extremely delicious, and it is also delicious on the table of hometown people. I couldn't help but want to steal my food. When I just stood on tiptoe and tried to reach out my little hand to the tempting layer of marinated shrimp oil, my grandfather didn't know when he was standing next to me. "Smell the fragrance of marinated shrimp oil and marinated shrimp sauce?" "Well, grandpa, your bad marinated shrimp sauce and marinated shrimp oil smell so good." Grandpa stroked my head and said, "Son, good marinated shrimp sauce is bad with love." "Grandpa, you gave your love to the marinated shrimp sauce, will you still love me?" At that time, I was so innocent that I was afraid that my grandfather would give his love to the marinated shrimp sauce and would not love me anymore. "Silly boy, grandpa loves you more than marinated shrimp sauce, of course. However, grandpa also regards shrimp lice as his own children, and loves them as much as he loves you, so that they will become delicious like marinated shrimp sauce and marinated shrimp oil day by day. "
In the days to come, we can eat the bad fresh marinated shrimp sauce and marinated shrimp oil every day. Skillful mother cooked for us in a variety of ways, such as braised soybeans and marinated shrimps in marinated sauce.