OBS Chapter 376 Making Tofu
Chapter 376 Making Tofu
In the central square in front of the canteen, Lin Baiyan directed Hu Qiu, "Come on, put the millstone here."
Hu Qiu carried a huge millstone and took a few steps forward. Yang Ye was beside him carrying a stand. After the stand was set up, the millstone was placed on it, and Lin Baiyan poured some water into it to clean the millstone.
"Where are the soybeans? Are they soaked?" Lin Baiyan asked, turning around.
The dog spirit quickly replied, "It's been soaking for a long time, two whole basins of it!"
This year's soybean harvest was good, yielding about 300 jin per mu. 100 jin of seeds were used for planting, which is half of the total amount. 100 jin of seeds were planted on 15 mu of land.
The total weight collected was 4,782 jin.
The land in the north is really suitable for growing crops. The yields they've been harvesting these days are all decent, with no bad ones.
The dog spirit directed several orcs to carry out the soaked soybeans.
Soak the soybeans overnight and then wash them clean. Take out the washed soybeans and set them aside. Lin Baiyan scooped up a ladle of soybeans and slowly poured them into the small hole of the stone mill.
Before long, the white bean liquid slowly overflowed and flowed into the bucket.
"High Priest, let's go," Ma Yuan said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head.
Lin Baiyan responded, and after he let go, several male orcs each pulled for a while, and soon half of the bowl of soybeans was gone.
"Are you suggesting we cook this stuff?" Ma Yuan wondered. It wasn't like grinding wheat into flour; it was all a thick liquid.
The dog spirit added another spoonful of soybeans to the stone mill. "Why worry about so much? Just listen to the high priest."
"makes sense!"
Lin Baiyan entered a very damp cave. This cave was the one they had broken out when they first settled here. Most caves are cool and dry, and can be used to store food.
There was only one cave in the corner, but when it was dug out, it was found that the moisture inside was too heavy and it was not suitable for orcs to live in, so it was abandoned.
This is perfect for Lin Baiyan to use to make brine. Brine is not simply salt dissolved in water, but rather salt that can precipitate some magnesium chloride when it is moist.
In fact, there should be quite a lot of brine left over from the salt fields. They didn't use it before because they didn't have soybeans, and the brine couldn't be eaten except for making tofu, so it was left unused.
However, it is quite wasteful of manpower to make a round trip to the seaside now. The tribe has a lot of salt, which can be manually extracted to make some brine.
The brine in this cave is what we'll be using. Salt will naturally release some liquid when it's damp; this is magnesium chloride.
Lin Baiyan entered the cave with a candle in hand. The dripping sound inside the cave was the sound of brine seeping out.
He leaned closer, dipped his finger in a little bit of brine, and put it in his mouth, instantly contorting his face beyond recognition.
Very good, that was tough enough! It should be a success.
Lin Baiyan quickly grabbed the bamboo tube and gulped down a mouthful of water, then rinsed his mouth and spat it out.
Brine is toxic. Although it shouldn't be too difficult to extract brine this way, it's still better to be cautious.
He took the brine out of the large bowl and poured it into the bamboo tube, then put the bowl back down to collect the brine.
After Lin Baiyan returned to the central square with the bowl, the soybeans were almost ground. Lin Baiyan set up a filter rack to filter out the soybean pulp.
Soybean pulp is a great resource. It can be used to make soybean pulp cakes, fried soybean pulp balls, steamed soybean pulp buns, and even as animal feed.
"We've got all this soybean pulp left over, let's make a whole tofu feast today!"
The dog spirit responded and put the bucket aside.
The large pot in the canteen has already boiled. After the soy milk is filtered, boiling water is poured into the raw soy milk and stirred evenly. It is then brought to a boil over high heat, and then slowly turned to low heat. Once the surface has solidified, four or five sheets of fried tofu skin can be peeled off.
Lin Baiyan hung the peeled bean curd skins out to dry, and they turned into dried bean curd sticks.
After the soy milk boiled, Lin Baiyan skimmed off the foam on top, served each of them a bowl, and even lavishly added some animal honey. "Come and try this pure, natural soy milk!"
He blew on it and then took a big gulp, closing his eyes contentedly. The aroma of soybeans was rich and the aftertaste was long-lasting. Indeed, the one he made himself was the best!
"How is it? It tastes good, right?" Lin Baiyan asked with a smile.
Ma Yuan smacked his lips. "The taste is good, but I feel like anything tastes better with animal honey added!"
That's animal honey!
That is to say, their high priest was rich and generous, and was willing to give them animal honey to drink!
Without even thinking, he blurted out, "But after all this trouble, just for this water, it's not even enough to fill my stomach."
The dog spirit glared fiercely at the clueless male orc, "I think it's great! I can drink it for breakfast from now on!"
"Ah, yes, yes, it's delicious!" Ma Yuan was pinched hard from behind by his partner, and quickly corrected himself.
Lin Baiyan looked at his grimacing face and smiled without saying a word, "If it were really just for this, why go through all this trouble?" Soybeans have many uses.
"Dog Spirit, go to the cafeteria and get some wood ear mushrooms or something to stir-fry into a thick sauce."
Quanling put down the bowl. "Okay, I'll go right away."
"Go wash the dishes right now!" Rat Moon rolled her eyes at the clueless male beastman.
Ma Yuan gave an embarrassed smile and slunk away.
Lin Baiyan finished the soy milk in the bowl in one gulp, and while the temperature was just right, poured in the brine he had taken from deep in the cave.
He stirred the mixture back and forth with a stick several times to ensure the brine and soy milk were fully combined. After doing this, he put the lid on the bucket, saying, "Just let it solidify."
After a while, Lin Baiyan lifted the lid of the bucket and gently pressed the surface with the back of a spoon. It was tender and looked quite good.
He scooped out several bowls of tofu pudding, then poured on the gravy that Quan Ling had just made. And there you have it, a bowl of authentic Northern-style tofu pudding.
In the South, tofu pudding is mostly served with brown sugar and white sugar. Although he is from the South, he is not used to this kind of tofu pudding. Instead, he prefers the rich and dark tofu pudding from the North.
"Come, take these bowls to the elders and let them have a taste." Lin Baiyan beckoned to Mao Yu.
Just then, several voices came, "No need, we're already here."
Lin Baiyan looked back and saw several elders slowly walking towards him, leaning on their canes.
"Xia heard you were going to make some delicious food in the central square, so she insisted on dragging us along. She said we have to eat the freshest food to taste good!" Hu Kuo shook his head helplessly.
Foxy Clouds retorted, somewhat unconvinced, "It's like you weren't even here!"
They come out as soon as you call them, and then they push all the blame onto her!
Lin Baiyan watched the elders joking around with amusement.
"Come, come, Grandpa Hu Kuo, try my tofu pudding." He quickly stuffed a bowl into Hu Kuo's hands.
Upon seeing Lin Baiyan, Hu Kuo's demeanor instantly changed. He chuckled and replied, "Alright, alright, Grandpa will have a taste!"
Otherwise, the more he looked at Bai Yan, the more pleasing he found him to the eye. The little Asian beastmen were so well-behaved, and they always thought of them when there was something good!