If Su Qingluan wants to make jelly soup, she has to peel the pig skin and clean it first.

The pigs at that time were handled very roughly. Not to mention being cut as scientifically and meticulously as in later generations, even the most basic processing was not in place.

For example, this piece of pork belly in front of you, although it is cut into a relatively square shape, the half-inch long pig hairs on the pig skin are prickly.

Fortunately, Su Qingluan had handled pig skin more than once or twice. She took out her "iron frying pan", brushed a thin layer of oil on it to prevent it from sticking, and placed the pan on the stove, waiting for the pan to start heating up.

Taking advantage of this gap, Su Qingluan put the pork belly on a long-handled fork and put it into the furnace to stir it with the flames. Although this method could not completely remove the fishy smell on the pig skin, it could burn off the longer and harder pig hairs on the pig skin.

After a while, when the soybean oil began to make a "sizzling" sound, Su Qingluan pressed the pork skin tightly against the pot.

Soon, a faint smell of burning came. Su Qingluan turned the pork skin over and found that a layer of burnt yellow crust had formed on it.

Su Qingluan checked it, and when the temperature of the skin dropped, she rubbed it back and forth with her hands. Well, all the prickly pig hairs on it had been removed. Moreover, because the surface of the pig skin had been burnt in a frying pan before, the fishy smell on the surface of the pig skin was also reduced a lot.

So Su Qingluan broke the frying pan and replaced it with an iron pan after the pig skin was completely shaved off.

The chicken had already been processed and cut into pieces. Su Qingluan did not remove the chicken fat this time, just to make the jelly soup more delicious.

But before that, Su Qingluan threw various spices such as star anise, bay leaves, onions, ginger, peppercorns, etc. into the pot and stir-fried them with pork skin and chicken pieces.

The chicken skin itself was rich in fat, and the fat wasn't even removed, quickly melting in the pot. Yang, who had just helped Su Qingluan kill the chicken, came over and asked curiously, "Aren't you going to make the broth? Why are you stir-frying the meat?"

"Oh, this will help remove the fishy smell. But it's better for you, mother, to stay away from this pig skin..."

However, Su Qingluan was a step too late. Before she could finish her words, she heard a crackling sound from the pot, as if firecrackers were exploding.

Su Qingluan was prepared. She held the lid of the pot with one hand as if it were a shield to block the splashing oil droplets. With the other hand, she continued to reach the long-handled spoon into the pot through the gap and continued to stir-fry skillfully.

It was Yang who was shocked: "Is there water in this pot?" Adding water to the oil pan would produce the effect comparable to setting off firecrackers.

Su Qingluan shook her head: "Pork skin crackles like this when it's stir-fried. Mother, you should go inside and rest. Don't worry, I'm well prepared and it won't break me."

In fact, it was because she had collapsed many times in her previous life, and she had summed up the bitter experience - not to mention the ingredients rich in gelatin such as pork skin, Su Qingluan was experienced and prepared, but she never expected that the black fungus, which looked harmless and inconspicuous to humans and animals, would be like a "small bomb" in the pot!

In her previous life, Su Qingluan had suffered a lot because of these "explosive" ingredients, so her skillful movements of holding the pot lid in one hand and the iron spoon in the other were completely subconscious movements acquired after countless blood and tears lessons. She was so skilled that it was heartbreaking.

When Su Qingluan had stir-fried all the chicken and pork skin until the skin was slightly browned, she added a ladle of cold water into the pot.

With a "hissing" sound, the crackling sound in the pot finally quieted down.

Su Qingluan turned around and took out a large casserole specially used for stewing soup. She poured all the ingredients and soup from the iron pot into the casserole, and then placed the casserole on the stove.

There were still a lot of scraps left in the iron pot. Su Qingluan added another scoop of water and used the iron spoon that was used to stir-fry the meat as a "pot scrubber" to rinse off all the scraps in the pot and poured them into the casserole along with the water.

This was repeated three times, and the iron pot was cleaned, and the meat pieces in the casserole were also covered with the "pot-washing water".

Su Qingluan tasted the soup in the pot - well, although it was not salty, the original fishy smell of the pork had been completely neutralized by the spices through continuous frying, leaving only a faint meaty aroma.

Apart from the scallion knots, Su Qingluan did not pick out other seasonings.

If scallion knots are cooked for too long, the broth will taste like rotten scallions, but other spices don't have this problem.

While waiting, Su Qingluan cut another half fist-sized piece of pickled bacon and threw the slices into the broth. This way, there would be no need to adjust the saltiness again later, and the broth would have the special aroma of different pickled pork.

Originally, Su Qingluan looked at the outdoor temperature at night, which was basically comparable to the constant temperature of a refrigerator, and considered kneading the dough for the soup dumplings a day in advance. After all, even in summer, the dough for the soup dumplings needs about fifteen minutes to rise.

But then I thought again, if I knead the dough now, it's still relatively warm during the day. If the dough doesn't rise enough, I can just heat it in a water bath to speed it up; but if the dough rises too much, it will be no fun.

To be on the safe side, she decided to just come back early tomorrow to knead the dough.

After the broth was cooked, Su Qingluan took out the skin and chicken pieces and set them aside. She then used a gauze net to filter out the spices, leaving only the light yellow broth.

Su Qingluan covered the pot of broth and placed it in the corner by the window.

The next morning, Su Qingluan made a point of checking the broth—well, thanks to the combination of low temperature and abundant gelatin, the jelly was surprisingly solid. Su Qingluan dropped a chopstick while standing, and it only bounced, not piercing the inside.

In order to prevent the soup jelly from melting due to the daytime temperature or sunlight, Su Qingluan deliberately chose to place the soup jelly behind the house where it was shaded and out of sight of the sun all year round. She only helped her parents set up the stall for half a day before rushing back in a hurry.

But before she went home, she did not forget to buy yellow mustard - thank God, there were mustard greens and mustard seeds in this era, and this ingredient had been consumed for quite a long time, so various ways of eating it were very mature.

Fermented yellow mustard comes from mustard seeds.

"Give me some more of this yellow mustard," Su Qingluan pointed to the fermented yellow mustard sauce.

"My dear, our mustard sauce is well-fermented, made with affordable ingredients, and has a strong aftertaste!" the mustard vendor kindly advised. "If you dip too much in it, you'll cry from the spiciness."

Su Qingluan originally only wanted to buy three taels of mustard sauce, enough for the whole family to eat. After hearing what the other party said, her eyes rolled: "Then I'll order a little more, half a pound!"

Street vendor: ...Is this young lady a little hard of hearing?