Chapter 291: Chapter 244: Iron Pot Stewed Goose (Part 2)
"Don’t you try to fool me," Tao Fulun said to Zhao Jun, pointing at Li Baoyu. "That fella I heard about wasn’t even half as tall as this young man."
"HAHA..." Li Baoyu heard this and immediately broke into a hearty laugh.
Zhao Jun laughed too and said to Elder Tao, "Old-timer, you’re exaggerating a bit."
It’s human nature to exaggerate when describing someone particularly tall. Li Baoyu, at 1.9 meters, was a rare sight in those days.
"Come on, inside!" At this moment, Elder Tao suddenly remembered they shouldn’t be exchanging pleasantries outside and quickly ushered the two of them into the courtyard.
The three of them entering the courtyard was one thing, but as soon as the five dogs came in, the big white goose in the yard instantly fell silent, tucked in its wings, and ran toward the back.
At this point, Elder Tao paid the goose no mind. He pointed to a row of low sheds along the west wall and said to the two, "You two lads, tie the dogs up in those sheds over there. There are burlap sacks inside; spread them on the planks."
After saying this, the old man left the two of them and ran toward the front of the house. Reaching the door, he yanked it open and shouted inside, "Dear! Hurry up, we have company!"
"Who’s here?" The words had barely faded when a tall, sturdy Northeast woman came bustling out.
She was the old man’s second daughter-in-law, Li Yunxiang.
Tao Fulun waved at Li Yunxiang, then walked toward Zhao Jun while pointing at him. "This is the one I told you about, the young hunter, Little Zhao."
"Oh my!" Upon hearing this, Li Yunxiang quickly wiped her hands on her apron a couple of times before striding up to Zhao Jun and grabbing his hand. "Young man, I really must thank you!"
"Auntie, there’s no need..."
"No, I insist!" Li Yunxiang said. "You have no idea how worried we were that day. If you hadn’t saved my father-in-law, I would’ve hanged myself."
"It wasn’t that serious, really." Seeing this, Zhao Jun quickly changed the subject, pointing to Li Baoyu beside him. "Auntie, this is my brother, Baoyu. Li Baoyu."
"Auntie." Li Baoyu stepped forward and greeted her with a nod.
"Hello..." Li Yunxiang had just replied when she looked up at Li Baoyu again and couldn’t help but exclaim, "How did this kid get so tall?"
"Probably eats well at home," Elder Tao muttered from the side.
"Alright, let’s not stand around talking outside. Inside, inside." Li Yunxiang turned to the side, extending her arm to welcome Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu into the house.
As soon as they were inside, Zhao Jun pulled two Peach Cans from his satchel. Placing them on the kang table, he said to Tao Fulun, "Old-timer, I didn’t bring much for you this time, just bought you a couple of cans. They say peaches are nourishing. You should stay home and rest up, don’t keep running off into the mountains."
Tao Fulun was pleased by the first part of what Zhao Jun said, his face beaming. But when he heard the part about not running into the mountains, Elder Tao’s expression immediately stiffened, and he started, "Now that’s not..."
What Elder Tao didn’t like to hear, Li Yunxiang loved to hear. She took a step forward, cutting Tao Fulun off, and said to Zhao Jun, "This boy speaks so well. But next time you come, don’t spend money on these things, alright? You two brothers rest up a bit. Auntie will get you something to eat."
With that, Li Yunxiang bustled about, fetching water for tea, washing apples, and getting melon seeds. She also brought out two packages wrapped in yellow paper and laid everything on the kang table.
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were guests, and Li Yunxiang, worried they’d be too polite to help themselves, personally opened the Butter Paper packages, revealing the cookies and Changbai Cakes inside.
The cookies were fairly common, but the Changbai Cakes were a rare treat that not many people could get their hands on.
"Kids, have a little something to tide you over." Li Yunxiang took a step back, gestured to the food and drinks on the table, and said to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, "Auntie’s going to make you a meal now."
"Dear," Elder Tao spoke up. "It’s almost noon. Aren’t you going to make something for the two lads to eat?"
"Huh?" Li Yunxiang was taken aback, not quite understanding what Tao Fulun meant.
Tao Fulun looked at Li Yunxiang and said, "The boys are eating a meal in our home for the first time. You have to make them something substantial."
"Of course," Li Yunxiang laughed. "How about we kill the big goose, Dad?"
Li Yunxiang asked Elder Tao, then raised her arm and pointed outside. "Should we kill that last big goose?"
"Do it!" Elder Tao said decisively. "It was acting all smug with me just now."
Northeast women were known for being efficient and decisive. Li Yunxiang meant what she said, and she moved so fast that Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu couldn’t even stop her.
Li Yunxiang was seen gathering firewood to heat water, then she stormed out of the house. A moment later, the goose could be heard squawking, "SQUAWK! SQUAWK!" in the yard.
Next thing they knew, Li Yunxiang was back, her left hand gripping the goose’s neck and her right hand tightly clamping its two wings, hauling the eight- or nine-pound goose into the house.
Once inside, Li Yunxiang didn’t loosen her grip on the goose’s neck. With her right hand, she slammed its body to the floor, then pinned its wings with her foot to keep it from flapping.
Her right hand now free, Li Yunxiang grabbed a cutting board from the stovetop and threw it on the floor.
At this moment, the goose seemed to understand what was happening and let out a final, mournful cry.
Annoyed by its cries and worried it would disturb Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, Li Yunxiang slid the hand on its neck up to grab its head, pinched its beak shut, and pressed it down onto the cutting board.
She then yanked a cleaver from the stovetop. With a swift chop—CRACK—the goose’s head fell to the floor.
Although the goose was dead, its body was still twitching. But Li Yunxiang held it fast with her hand and foot, deftly grabbing a small basin from the stovetop to catch the blood.
By the time the goose had bled out, the water in the large pot was boiling.
But you can’t use boiling water to scald the feathers off a goose.
Conveniently, by the time Li Yunxiang had ladled the boiling water into a bucket, it had cooled to just below a rolling boil.
Li Yunxiang pushed the goose into the water and grabbed a nearby stove poker, sticking it into the bucket to stir the goose around.
After stirring it a couple of times, Li Yunxiang pulled the goose out and began to pluck it with practiced speed.
Goose feathers are difficult to pluck; not only are there flight feathers and contour feathers, but there’s also a layer of fine down close to the skin.
After plucking it clean, Li Yunxiang gutted the goose. She pulled out the innards, snipped the intestines off below the gizzard and discarded them, then removed the gallbladder from the liver and threw that away too.
Then, she chopped the goose into small pieces and rinsed them twice with clean water. Without blanching, she heated oil in a hot wok, stir-fried the goose pieces fiercely until the skin was slightly dry, then added soy sauce and continued to stir-fry.
Once the goose pieces were coated in the color of the soy sauce, Li Yunxiang ladled water into the wok, put the lid on, and added a couple more handfuls of wood to the fire. She then turned, took a small net bag from the south wall, and returning to the stove, grabbed two handfuls of dried potato slices from the bag and put them in a small basin.
Then, she poured boiling water from a thermos into the basin.
In the Northeast, chicken must be stewed with mushrooms, and goose must be stewed with dried potatoes. Otherwise, if you use anything else—even fresh potatoes—the goose meat will have a gamey taste.
While the goose stew came to a boil, Li Yunxiang placed a steaming rack over it and set a basin of rice on the rack to steam.
Just as Li Yunxiang put the lid back on the pot, the door to the house was pulled open from the outside, and a voice drifted in.
"Mom, why are there dogs in our yard? And where’d our goose go? Did the dogs get— huh? You’re stewing it."
"Son! Come here!" Li Yunxiang saw the newcomer, pulled him into the room, and made the introduction. "This is my son, Tao Fei."
Then, she said to Tao Fei, "Son, this is your Brother Zhao and your Brother Li."
Tao Fei was eighteen this year, while Li Baoyu had just turned nineteen after the New Year, making him a year older. So, it was proper for him to call Li Baoyu "brother."
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu politely stood up and shook hands with Tao Fei in turn. Then the three of them got on the kang to eat and drink with Elder Tao.
During their conversation, the topic of tomorrow’s spring hunt came up. Tao Fei laughed and said, "Brother Zhao, Brother Li, you two came at the perfect time. My grand-uncle had someone bring out the cannon today."
Hearing about a cannon, Li Baoyu’s eyes lit up. He said only to Zhao Jun, "If we use a cannon, we could even blast down a Big Claw, right?"
"This kid..." Elder Tao chuckled from the side. "What era is this? Where would you find a Big Claw anymore?"
"Why not?" Tao Fei turned to Tao Fulun and said, "What about behind Little West Mountain, at the stone cliffs? Didn’t someone say there was a stone tiger there a couple of days ago?"
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