Chapter 81 - Secret Recipe (2/2)
Seeing that his second daughter was almost bouncing in anxiety, Yu Hai hastily limped forward and took the pig offal from Madam Mao and smiled, “Neighbor, our family hasn’t gotten to the point where we will starve to death. Thank you for your good intentions. Xiaocao has use for this pig tripe as she heard from someone that there’s a remedy that can be used on my leg with these…”
Madam Mao glanced at his leg, suddenly realized something, and said, “Ah! So it was supposed to be used for the leg eh…no wonder! If it really could fix your leg, then it doesn’t matter how stinky it is, you just have to endure it! Okay, I’ll bring the sweet potato starch back home, but you guys can keep the wild herbs so you can make a soup tonight. Xiaocao, if you want to gather more wild herbs tomorrow, find me, I know a spot where there’s a lot of shepherd’s purse around!”
Xiaocao promised the outwardly cold, inwardly warmhearted Madam Mao as she sent her off. Madam Fang still stayed behind to say, “Xiaocao, your mother’s not home right now. Let me help you prepare these things!”
When Xiaocao saw that there was no way she could persuade the older woman otherwise, she washed out the contents of the offal and cut them into sections. She instructed Madam Fang to turn them inside out and use coarse salt to scrub thoroughly. This helped to remove any lingering odors and excess fat. Madam Fang didn’t act as if she thought it was disgusting and rolled up her sleeves and got busy.
Yu Xiaocao then taught Xiaolian how to prepare and clean the pig tripe. She herself prepped the pig’s head. The first step was to let the pig head steep in clean water for some time, scrub off any dirt on the outside, and remove hairs until it was completely clean. Next, it had to be boiled in a pot for about fifteen minutes and inspected to see if there was any hair left on the head. At this point, a rough brush was used to energetically scrub the whole surface until it was absolutely clean.
Yu Hai had actually volunteered to take on the task of scrubbing the pig’s head. Before he had injured his leg, all of the villagers would ask him to help whenever they were slaughtering a pig. The reason was two-fold. On one hand, he was strong and had a lot of strength. On the other hand, he had learned how to slaughter pigs on his own and really knew how to deal with the hair on the animal. When Yu Xiaocao saw that he was as good as she was, she was able to give him the task with relief.
After making sure the pig head was clean, it was time to cleave it open and take out the innards. This work was naturally also given to Yu Hai. On the side, Xiaocao pointed out where he needed to cut and clean out any junk, such as the ears, the corners of the eyes, the lymph nodes, and nasal polyps. Then, the brain was taken out and placed carefully in a bowl to be used later that night. It could be used to make a stew for the whole family to eat!
Yu Hai removed the bones from the pig head in a practiced motion and split them into five to six pieces. The bone pieces were then put into cold water and washed carefully to remove any debris and bloodstains. This would prevent any odd tastes from seeping into the braised pig head dish, which could ruin an entire pot.
After that, Yu Xiaocao took over. She took the cleaned pig head and put it into boiling water. After blanching it for about twenty minutes, she took it out again and washed it clean. Then she took the blanched pig meat and placed it into a new pot with clean water along with the bones from the head. The combination was boiled, and she skimmed off any foam that appeared until it was about half cooked. Then, she put the meat in the braising sauce she had simmered yesterday and let it slowly stew until the meat was tender and soft. In addition, the meat was also put into the master sauce to allow it to incorporate some more flavors.
As the pig head meat slowly stewed, a rich smell of meat gradually spread from the courtyard out into the open. Even the Qian Family home, which was about two hundred meters away, had been enveloped in the savory scent of braised pig heat. Qian Wu was in the courtyard cleaning rods when he deeply inhaled the smell. He managed to swallow down his saliva with difficulty and said, “Smells so good! Mother, did you smell it too? It’s not the New Years, nor is it a holiday, which family is cooking meat right now?”
Madam Mao had also smelled it and thought about the neighbors in the area. Other than Hunter Zhao’s family at the foot of the mountain, who often ate meat because he was skilled at hunting, there was only Madam Fang’s family, who she didn’t get along with, that could possibly be the source of the smell. Could it be that Madam Fang had a guest come over and they slaughtered a chicken for them? But that seemed wrong. It didn’t smell like the aroma of chicken meat. As for Xiaocao’s family, Madam Mao completely skipped over them. They were so poor that they usually couldn’t eat enough, how could they possibly have any extra money to buy meat?
“You glutton! The next time your older brother comes back for his break, I’ll buy some meat and stew some for you two to eat! Where are you going? Be more obedient and don’t make your mother lose face by going to the Zhou Family!” Hunter Zhao lived a bit farther from them, so it was quite unlikely that the scent of their cooking would waft to here. Thus, there was only one family where the smells could come from.
Actually, there wasn’t any truly large conflicts between Madam Mao and the Zhou Family. It was simply that one family raised ducks while the other raised chickens, and the Qian Family’s ducks and duck eggs were not as popular as the Zhou Family’s chickens. In addition, the head of the Zhou Family liked to peddle goods during the farming off-season and made a lot of money from that. Madam Mao felt it was a bit unfair, and she never learned how to mince her words. After a few encounters, the relationship between the two families slowly cooled and drifted apart.
Qian Wu threw down the stick that was in his hand, dashed out of the gate, and said, “I’m not going to Older Brother Wenhua’s home, I want to find Little Shitou to play!”
When Qian Wu arrived at the gates of the Yu Family’s residence, he discovered that the smell of meat was stronger here. Even the red braised pork that his mother made during the New Years didn’t smell as mouth-watering and tantalizing as this. He deeply breathed in the air through his nose and set foot into the courtyard.
“Little Shitou, can you smell this? It smells so good!!” Qian Wu shouted as soon as he entered the residence.
Little Shitou bolted out of the kitchen and grinned, “Older brother Xiaowu, you have a good nose! The pig head meat has just finished braising and you ran over. Come here, come here, come here! My second sister will cut a piece of piping hot braised pig head meat and let you satisfy your craving!”
“Wow! So the smell of meat was actually coming from your family ah!! What's going on today for your family to make meat to eat?” Qian Wu almost let some drool slip out of his mouth and onto his jacket. He used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth but his feet didn’t move at all.