One of these two people is named Chen Zhong and the other is Chen Yong, both from Huanggang Village, two brothers in law, in their 20s. They were able to come to the store to do chores because they were of the same clan as Chen Chunhua and called Aunt Chen Chunhua. Chen Chunhua is not worried that her son Zhang Meng is running here alone, so the people in the store know the roots.

Li Liang first asked Chen Junhua to wash the dried chili peppers and soak them in water for 10 minutes, then use a knife to set aside the soaked chili peppers, put them in a pot, add a spoonful of water, boil the water and turn to low heat and cook for 5 minutes. The aroma of dried chili peppers is irreplaceable for fresh chili peppers, just as the flavors of dried shiitake mushrooms and fresh shiitake mushrooms are also different. But the dried chili peppers are easy to paste in the oil pan and are not boilable at all, so Li Liang first did this step to boil the dried chili peppers until they were soft.

Zhang Meng bought the missing spices back, and there was no butter in the kitchen, so Li Liang replaced it with soybean oil. Chen Zhong burns the fire in the stove to boil the hot pot base, and it is very important to control the oil temperature, and the fire should not be too big, otherwise the base material will be easy to paste.

Heat the oil in the pan, Li Liang first put the green onions, ginger and garlic cut by Kang Xinghua, stir-fry until fragrant, put the coriander, celery, pepper, etc. into the oil pot and fry them for a while, and then put in Z County bean paste, boiled soft dried chili peppers, and kept drawing circles in the pot with a spatula.

Chen Yong helped to smash all the dry ingredients of star anise, cinnamon, cumin, white pepper, orange peel, sand kernels, bay leaves, cumin, angelica, lily, cloves, longan, nutmeg, grass fruit, black sesame, wolfberry, and licorice slightly smashed with a stone spoon, Li Liang poured all the smashed dry ingredients into the pot, and added liquor, sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, tempeh and other seasonings.

Finally, add some moromi grains, boil for about 5 minutes on low heat, pick out the coriander and celery, and the rest is the boiled hot pot base, which can be cooked.

Li Liang prepared enough materials, and Chen Xinghua used a large iron basin in the kitchen to put out the boiled hot pot base, which was enough to fill most of the basin.

Chen Junhua and Kang Xinghua watched the whole boiling process very carefully, in fact, Li Liang is also a half-baked chef, but the experience from his previous life has made him know more things, and his cooking skills are not as good as professional chefs like Chen Junhua and Kang Xinghua. Chen Junhua and Kang Xinghua watched Li Liang's operation and were already confident about the entire boiling process of the hot pot base.

Li Liang told them that if they want to boil the base better, it is best to use butter, and in the future, the store can openly buy the fat and make butter by themselves. It's just that now in the countryside, not to mention killing cattle, even the killing of pigs is relatively small, and it will be difficult to find enough cattle fat for a while and a half.

The spicy smell that diffused from the kitchen provoked Wang Fagen and Zhang Meng, who were in the lobby outside, and the monkey was half drunk and had already gone back to sleep in his own shop.

"Liangzi, you boil it so fragrantly. Wang Fagen praised.

Zhang Meng looked at the half-large iron pot hot pot base and tasted it with chopsticks, and said with a smile: "It tastes good, fragrant, numb and spicy!"

With the base material, Li Liang asked Chen Zhong and Chen Yong brothers to prepare the ingredients for eating hot pot at night, and there were few vegetables in winter, so they used white radish, carrot, lotus root, chrysanthemum, spinach, cabbage, green cabbage, and coriander in the store to prepare some washed and cut each, and then soaked some dried kelp, fungus, mushrooms, yuba, vermicelli, etc. in warm water in advance. Of course, ingredients such as pork belly fillets, fish fillets, duck blood, bean bubbles, and tofu are also not missing.

It's just that I didn't buy beef and mutton in the store today, and there is less beef and mutton when I eat hot pot, and there are hot pot balls that are necessary for eating hot pot in the last life and future generations, so I have less taste when I eat it.

Li Liang felt a little regretful in his heart, Chen Junhua saw Li Liang showing a regretful expression, and hurriedly asked what was the matter. Li Liang described to him the hot pot balls in his impression, and Chen Junhua said that he could make some fish balls and pork balls. The other flavors are limited to insufficient ingredients, so they can't be made for the time being.

Chen Junhua rushed to make pork balls and fish balls, while Kang Xinghua began to boil bone broth, and the base soup of the hot pot had to be boiled with pig or beef bone broth to be delicious.

With the ingredients, you can't do it without a pot.

Fortunately, there is a blacksmith shop next to it, and the last time the store was developed, Hu Pingcheng, a blacksmith from Huanggang Village, was the first to inquire about leasing a shop. Now his blacksmith shop is doing well. Hu Pingcheng has a good iron striking skills, he not only knows how to make farm tools, such as plows, harrows, hoes, pickaxes, sickles, etc., but also makes some daily necessities, such as kitchen knives, spatulas, planers, scissors, iron pots, etc., in addition to door knockers, bubble nails, door plugs and so on.

Before Zhang Meng and Li Liang entered the door of the blacksmith shop, they heard the sound of clanging iron from the shop.

Entering the store, Hu Pingcheng's shop was full of made ironware, and several rows of made shovels, hoes, iron pots and other large iron products were neatly placed on the ground. On the walls are small iron objects such as tongs, scissors, and kitchen knives.

Inside the house, Hu Pingcheng renovated a wind stove, and a half-old child pushed the bellows by the stove to burn the fire in the stove vigorously. Hu Pingcheng stood in the middle of the room, holding a hammer in his left hand and a pair of iron tongs in his right hand, clamping a piece of iron billet and clanging on the iron backing plate.

Seeing Zhang Meng and the two entering the store, Hu Pingcheng put the iron billet back into the furnace and continued to calcin, put down the hammer in his hand, and said with a smile: "Zhang Meng, why are you here, is there something wrong with the pots, basins, and spatulas in the store, uncle will help you fix it!"

Saying that, Hu Pingcheng asked the half-grown child to call someone again, this child is his son, and he helped him pull the bellows and light the fire in the store during the winter vacation. Usually his wife helps in the store, but these days his son has come to liberate his wife home to prepare for the New Year.

As the Chinese New Year approached, business was good, and while talking, a few villagers came in to buy pots, scissors and other items. Li Liang and Zhang Meng stood aside and waited for Hu Pingcheng to finish, and Li Liang described his needs to Hu Pingcheng.

Northerners are accustomed to using copper hot pot to eat hot pot, and Li Liang chose the mandarin duck pot that he had often come into contact with in his previous life. In addition, in the previous life and later generations, induction cookers were generally used for heating, and now there is no induction cooker, and each mandarin duck pot also needs to be equipped with an iron bottom bracket to hold charcoal for heating. And this iron bottom bracket must be made into a double layer, with water in the lower layer and charcoal in the upper layer, so as to avoid burning the tabletop.

Hu Pingcheng's understanding is good, and he quickly understood Li Liang's needs, he said with a smile: "I understand, otherwise, I will make a set of samples for you to try, and if there is no problem, I will make them in batches." ”

Li Liang and Zhang Meng have this intention, they are still waiting to eat hot pot in the evening.

Hu Pingcheng's craftsmanship is really exquisite, he first began to make the bottom bracket, the burning red iron block under the swing of his hammer, just like the newly married little daughter-in-law in her husband's arms, a delicate hot pot bottom bracket formed.