Jiang Ruyu walked into the room, glanced at her two sleeping daughters, and put two capsules into their mouths. She had already tried it; these things melted in the mouth.
Seeing them unconsciously smacking their lips, Jiang Ruyu's heart melted. She kissed their fair faces before standing up to deal with the chickens, ducks, and geese.
She had previously saved up a lot of meat, grains, and various cooking oils and sugars. Except for the meat, which wouldn't keep, the rest were easy to store and eat slowly, just making sure they didn't get infested with insects or mold.
There are also many dried seafood products, which can be stored away and eaten anytime. Meat, on the other hand, must be air-dried or marinated, otherwise it won't keep.
She had filled the empty cabinets in the outer room with rice, flour, cooking oil, and other similar items. On the table were five or six old ducks, four geese, two baskets of eggs, and one basket of duck eggs.
There are ten strips of pork belly, each weighing two jin (approximately 1 kg), two pairs of pig's trotters, four pieces of beef tenderloin, and five pieces of beef brisket. There are two sets of lamb chops and two lamb legs. That's all the meat we have.
Jiang Ruyu put away other daily necessities, such as hygiene products, some cold and fever medicines, milk powder, pastries, and various fabrics. Since she wouldn't be able to sign in with the system anymore, she would have to use these things sparingly.
She kept one chicken and one duck, two pieces of pork belly, and took the rest, including lamb chops and lamb legs, to the kitchen to wash them, prepare to marinate and smoke them so they could be preserved for a longer time.
Jiang Lin felt stifled inside the house and wanted to see what his sister was doing. He saw her washing a basin of meat as if she had just robbed someone.
"You've gone too far, haven't you?"
Jiang Ruyu glanced at him: "I collected all of these. If you have nothing to do, ride your bike to the outskirts of the city and bring me back some more pine and cypress branches. I want to smoke meat later."
"Okay, I'll go right away." Jiang Lin had nothing to do anyway, and when he was idle, he tended to overthink things. He would only know how the system worked once he became proficient in using it himself; thinking about it now was pointless.
Jiang Ruyu took two large bags of salt, added star anise, bay leaves, and cinnamon to them and stir-fried them until fragrant. She put the cleaned and dried meat into the stir-fried salt, rubbing the meat with salt, and then put all the meat into a basket. She planned to have Jiang Lin put the meat away when he returned, and then take it out to smoke after it was marinated. She couldn't explain why she left it here.
Then there are chicken eggs and duck eggs. We can finish the chicken eggs at home, but duck eggs taste better when pickled. Duck eggs are more fishy, and they don't taste as good as chicken eggs whether boiled or fried.
She washed the duck eggs, dried them, and then placed them at the door to air dry. Luckily, it was during working hours, otherwise, with her switching between duck eggs and meat, everyone would have gathered around to watch her.
In the courtyard, only Li Xiuying and her husband, and Yang's aunt were there. Seeing Jiang Ruyu busy, they didn't come over. The two of them sat together, putting on shoe soles and talking.
Zheng Dali went out for a walk and came back to see his daughter-in-law busy. He wanted to go over and help, but Jiang Ruyu persuaded him to leave: "Dad, I can manage on my own. You go inside and watch over Tiantian and Huanhuan so they don't wake up. They'll start crying again if they can't see anyone."
"Okay, I'll go see my granddaughter." Zheng Dali's interest in taking care of children has not diminished. His retirement days are the happiest time of his life. He eats, drinks, plays, and chats with people with his granddaughter every day. He couldn't be more carefree.
Jiang Ruyu let the cooked sauce cool down, brought in the duck eggs, poured a bowl of white wine, dipped each duck egg in the white wine, and then put them into the jar that had been used to pickle vegetables.
After putting all the duck eggs in, pour the sauce containing salt, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, ginger, and peppercorns into the jar. Pour water over the mouth of the jar, then seal it with the lid. It will be ready to eat in about twenty days to a month. At that time, you can have a full breakfast of porridge with a salted duck egg.
Once the salted duck eggs are ready, it's time for the beef. The four pieces of beef tenderloin have been soaked in water for a long time, and the blood has been drawn out. Use the tip of a cleaver to poke a few holes in the surface of the meat to help it absorb the flavor.
Just as she was about to start a fire, Jiang Lin returned with two bags of pine and cypress branches: "Perfect timing. Put the branches at the door, and you keep the meat I've marinated. Give it to me in a few days. I'll say you asked your comrade to order it. Don't let it slip. Come in and start a fire for me."
Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow: "Okay, I understand."
He went into the kitchen and put away the basket of meat his sister had mentioned. This system is truly amazing; from now on…
Jiang Lin sat by the pot and started a fire. Jiang Ruyu blanched several pieces of beef in water with scallions and ginger. After the water boiled, she skimmed off the foam, took the meat out, and then washed the pot so it wouldn't need to be cooked again.
She asked Jiang Lin to take the coal briquettes outside and light them, while she began preparing the braising spices. The commonly used ones were star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves, and dried ginger. The less commonly used ones were orange peel, fennel seeds, licorice root, and angelica root. However, Jiang Ruyu liked to experiment with food, so she had all these spices at home.
Wrap all the spices in a clean gauze, soak them in white wine to let them breathe, then find a steel pot, put in a few pieces of meat and the spice packet, because there isn't a clay pot big enough, a steel pot is more suitable.
My family can handle spicy food quite well, so I added a few dried chilies, a spoonful of Shaoxing wine (which Zheng Yang bought for his father-in-law; a spoonful of Shaoxing wine helps remove the fishy smell and enhances the aroma of the braised meat), two large spoonfuls of soy sauce, a small spoonful of homemade fermented bean paste, a spoonful of sweet sauce, two pieces of fermented bean curd, and a few pieces of rock sugar. Finally, I brought over the kettle and poured in a pot of boiled water, then just left it to simmer on the stove.
The meat will be ready to eat at dinner time tonight. Jiang Lin couldn't help but swallow his saliva as he watched it; it looked so delicious.
Now that she was almost done with her work, Jiang Ruyu had time to talk to Jiang Lin about his personal life.
"When are you planning to get married, Da Linzi?"
Jiang Lin was eyeing the pot of meat with longing when his sister's words startled him so much that he choked on his saliva.
"Wh-what? Sis, what did you say?" Jiang Lin looked at his sister guiltily.
"What, can't I tell you?" Jiang Ruyu glanced at him sideways.
"Huh? What, what are you talking about? I don't even have a boyfriend yet, so how can I get married?"
Jiang Ruyu sneered: "Heh, trying to play mind games with your sister? I raised you, and I can tell whether you want to poop or fart the moment you bend over."
"Sis, I'm all grown up now, can't you give me some face?" Jiang Lin looked at his sister with dissatisfaction.
"Alright, then tell me what's going on between you and Dr. Guan?"
Jiang Lin's eyes widened: "What? What Dr. Guan? What are you talking about, sis?"
"Jiang Lin, you stutter when you lie, and you should change your habit of avoiding eye contact, otherwise you really won't be convincing."
Jiang Lin forced a dry smile, then looked at his sister with a puzzled expression: "Sis, how did you know? Guan Jin and I haven't actually started dating yet. We were planning to submit a relationship report when we went back this time."
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