Chapter 137: Chapter 137 – Fragrance!!!
Translator: 549690339
Even though the ingredients were bought to cook for the Tong Family, the preparation was to take place at Qiao Xiaomai’s home.
Tong Sanlang, driving his ox cart, came directly to the front of Qiao Family’s small courtyard.
He had bought four pork hocks, eight pig’s feet, a pair of pork intestines, a few pig’s ears, and ten jin of pork belly. He placed these items beside the well and looked at Qiao Xiaomai with a slight smile on his handsome face. “Miss Qiao, it’s your turn to show off your skills.”
“No problem.” Qiao Xiaomai looked at these items, licked her lips, and said, “Brother Tong San, you can go back first. Xiaomai and Dami will deliver it to you once its ready.”
“Yah, sister, if we cook all these, we won’t have enough firewood, right? Why don’t Tong Brother and I go up the mountain to collect firewood?” Qiao Dami put her bag back in the room, then went out happily, heading straight for Tong Sanlang.
On hearing this, Qiao Changshun kept nodding, “Right, right, right, we need lots of firewood to cook all these. Let Sanlang and Dami go up the mountain to gather firewood.”
“Then I’ll go with Dami to the mountain.” Tong Sanlang had no objection.
“Okay!” Qiao Dami happily took a hemp rope, then cheerfully dragged Tong Sanlang out the door.
Qiao Xiaomai”…”
“Xiaomai, come, I’ll be your assistant. Get started.” Qiao Changshun spoke. He had finished making all the necessary open wooden boxes for sprouting beans, so he was free.
Qiao Xiaomai’s eyes swept over the meat, and then she put Tong Sanlang out of her mind and started to work.
She was reluctant to interact with Tong Sanlang for several reasons: firstly, she felt embarrassed; secondly, she was afraid of gossip; thirdly, the Tong Family’s assistance seemed a bit inexplicable to her.
But with Tong Tiehu’s sixtieth birthday approaching, she had to interact with him even if she didn’t want to.
Never mind, looking at the current situation, she was still inferior to Tong Sanlang. If she, the village woman, interacted with Tong Sanlang, the one who needed to worry was Tong Sanlang.
She didn’t want to think too much. Just let it be.
First, she worked on the pork hocks, which took a long time to cook. She planned to make soy-braised pork hocks.
Cleaning the hair off the hocks, blanch the hocks in a pan of boiling water, then set them aside.
Add more water to the pan, put in condiments such as scallions, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and then all the four pork hocks. After that, start boiling over high heat.
As Qiao Changshun was looking after the fire, Qiao Xiaomai put the pork hocks aside and began to make pig’s feet soup with soybeans.
She had made this soup several times; given the Qiao family’s current living standards, even if they had it ten or eight times in a row, they wouldn’t get tired of it.
With fires burning on both sides, Qiao Xiaomai even found time to clean the pot she used to boil soy milk before and began to prepare braised pork.
The method of making braised pork is nearly the same everywhere. Qiao Xiaomai chose a simple method. She first washed the pork belly, cut it into small pieces, blanched it in a pot, then set it aside and poured off the water. She then put oil in the pot, put in the pork belly, and started to stir-fry.
When the pork turns a golden brown, add scallions, ginger, soy sauce, star anise, and other seasonings, stir fry until fragrant, then add water.
Then simmer for one hour over a low heat.
The soy braised pork hocks that Qiao Changshun was tending also began to simmer slowly. In addition to the pig’s feet and soybean soup in the clay pot, the two had to watch over three stoves. But Qiao Xiaomai was not flustered, she even found time to cleanse the pig’s intestines with flour, preparing to stir-fry them later.
By the time Tong Sanlang and Qiao Dami returned, the courtyard was already filled with a delicious aroma.
Tong Sanlang carried a large bundle of firewood, and Qiao Dami had a small bundle symbolically on her back. As the two entered the courtyard, they instinctively took a deep breath.
Delicious!
The strong aromas of soy-braised pork hocks, pig’s feet with soybean soup, and braised pork mixed together, penetrating the nostrils.
Qiao Dami let out a “Wow”, dropped the firewood on her back, and ran toward the kitchen.
Tong Sanlang stood still on the spot.
Being a well-traveled man has allowed him to taste the craft of the chef in the Imperial Kitchen, but he had never experienced this kind of dominant aroma before..