Pounding rice is a very ancient and practical agricultural production activity, with its history tracing back to the early stages of human civilization.
It originated during the dawn of human civilization with the earliest agricultural practices like slash-and-burn cultivation. In Flame Country, it has been passed down for thousands of years, until modern mechanical processing gradually replaced this age-old agricultural activity.
However, even so, in the vast rural areas of Flame Country, this ancient skill can still be observed.
The word "pound," pronounced the same as "chong," means putting something into a stone mortar or pestle and using a rod to mash it.
This is an ancient pictograph, with the bottom being the character for mortar, and the upper part in ancient script and small seal script depicts two people holding a pestle, vividly and graphically expressing the meaning of the word.
Once you understand the meaning of this word, recreating this ancient agricultural production activity becomes simple.
Find a sufficiently sturdy container, put rice grains inside, and use a heavy object to continuously pound until all the rice husks are broken, revealing the grain, which completes the rice pounding process.
This container in the vast rural areas is usually made of stone mortar, with even more primitive and ancient ones being burned out of tree stumps.
As for the tools used for pounding, wood, stone, or metal can all be used as long as they are heavy enough to crush the rice husks.
Chen Xin adopted a method of using metal materials to make a large bowl and a metal rod, then putting rice grains into the bowl and pounding them with the metal rod.
Because the rice grains were not dried, and he did not pound all the rice, but just processed a little to cook, a large bowl was sufficient for pounding rice.
Putting the golden rice grains into the bowl and forcefully pounding them with the metal rod, watching the rice hulls gradually break and reveal the light brown grains inside, brought a significant sense of the joy of labor.
Especially since these rice grains were not dried, they emitted a faint fragrant scent, further uplifting the mood, making Chen Xin eager to taste the rice he had grown himself.
Since Chen Xin only pounded a bowl of rice, it did not take him long to finish pounding the rice.
But at this point, the rice and husk had not been separated, mingling together couldn’t go directly to cooking, needing another screening to separate the rice and husk.
The most traditional method Chen Xin knew was using a flat sieve to sift the pounded rice and husk mixture, with the heavier rice grains falling back into the sieve under the force of gravity, while the lightweight husk or empty grains would be blown away during the sifting process.
Dust mixed with rice grains would also fall through the gaps of the flat sieve, ultimately leaving behind clean rice grains.
However, at this point, Chen Xin did not have a flat sieve on hand, nor could he make one himself, as flat sieves are woven from bamboo strips, and where could bamboo be found in the post-apocalyptic world?
If using metal materials, that would purely be asking for trouble, as how much effort would it take to sift with an iron flat sieve?
Thus, at this point, some relatively modern methods are needed.
Sifting rice itself is a classic and simple physical knowledge application. Although the ancestors might not have understood the physics principles involved, it did not prevent them from doing it.
Knowing that the principle of sifting rice involves the weight difference between rice grains and husks, using wind to carry away the husk and empty grains, it becomes manageable.
Chen Xin just needed to make a blower and blow through the rice and husk mixture to remove the husk.
A blower is not hard to make, especially since separating husk from rice does not require much wind power; even an electric fan or a hand-cranked blower can do the job.
With the help of the system, making a hand-cranked blower on the workbench and installing a funnel at the blower’s outlet with an opening on one side to facilitate husk separation, Chen Xin could easily obtain clean rice grains.
The blown-out husk was carefully collected by him in a small bag, and the light brown rice grains placed in a bowl, making Chen Xin impatient to taste their flavor.
Wash the rice grains with water, place them in an iron pot, and add an appropriate amount of clear water to cook; the rest is just waiting for the rice to be cooked.
During the waiting time for the rice to cook, Chen Xin went to the food storeroom to cut some Jinhua ham and Iberian ham, took a cabbage, as well as canned pork and canned tuna, to celebrate the day’s harvest.
Iberian ham is raw ham, best eaten by slicing and eating directly.
Though it can also be used to make salads or paired with bread and fruits, or used to make soups and other hot dishes, the former is impractical, the latter too wasteful.
So Chen Xin just cut a few slices to pair with the rice.
Jinhua ham has a wider range of use; it can be used to stir-fry cabbage, simmer soup, or even lay on rice and cook together for a perfect delicacy.
Therefore, regarding Jinhua ham, Chen Xin cut half of what he sliced into thin slices intending to place them on rice, and the other half into crumbs intending to stir-fry with cabbage.
As for canned pork and canned tuna, these are merely heat-and-serve side dishes.
Humming a cheerful tune while slicing cabbage, Chen Xin felt he had rediscovered the joy of cooking after such a long time.
Being able to take the chef certification exam without being a professional chef proves that Chen Xin truly loves cooking, but the post-apocalyptic lack of ingredients had suppressed his culinary skills, forcing him to eat ready-made food and stifling his desire to cook for far too long.
Though now there are only simple ingredients, he could manage to create one or two dishes.
Compared to simple seasoning shelter food, the meal he was preparing might be simple too, but the taste and sense of happiness and fulfillment differ vastly.
The former merely fills the stomach, whereas the latter offers a true enjoyment of food.
In this extremely cold and dark post-apocalyptic world, being able to savor real culinary joy is an extravagant act.
However, in many construction games, the rich food enhances the happiness of citizens and boosts the morale of warriors, proving this logic to be true and reasonable.
Eating well truly grants immense happiness and satisfaction.
This Chen Xin deeply realized as he added Jinhua ham to the rice, which emitted a rich aroma as the rice cooked, causing him to swallow his saliva.