"Ah! Sister, you didn't pick any meat for me!" When Su Xuanhe saw that he didn't get any meat slices, he immediately pouted his mouth as if an oil bottle could be hung on it.
Yang tapped the edge of her son's dipping dish with her chopsticks in annoyance. "Your sister's arms are only so long. How can she pick up meat for you from across the mountains and seas? Can't a child this big, pick it up for himself?"
Su Qingluan lowered her head and asked her sister, "Is this level of spiciness okay? Does your throat feel uncomfortable?" Su Xueyan was the one in the family who couldn't tolerate spicy food the most. As long as she could tolerate the spiciness, the whole family could.
The little girl ate a piece of hot pot meat and chewed it for a few times: "It's a bit spicy." But judging from her expression, it was not to the point of being unbearable.
Su Qingluan thought for a moment, then went to get some sesame oil and poured it into Su Xueyan's dipping saucer: "Would you like to try it with a layer of sesame oil?"
Su Qingluan only added a little salt to the sesame oil and did not add any minced garlic - after all, raw minced garlic was too spicy for this little girl.
Sure enough, after being coated with another layer of fragrant oil, the spicy taste originally stimulated by the dogwood became more mellow and even Su Xueyan enjoyed it very much.
Yang, on the other hand, ate the original soup with a dipping saucer, exclaiming as she ate, "Wow, I never knew this oil made from green Sichuan peppercorns could be so fragrant! And this slightly numbing feeling—is that because of the Sichuan peppercorns?"
Su Qingluan nodded: "I put some, but not too much, otherwise my tongue would be too numb and I wouldn't be able to taste the original flavor of the food."
The milky, salty, and savory broth enriches the otherwise bland Sichuan peppercorn base with a richer, more delicious flavor, making the hot pot dishes even more flavorful, imbued with the aroma of chicken and pork. Even the vegetarian dishes have a subtle meaty aroma.
"This soup is quite rich." Su Guangfu sighed, "Is there a lot of oil in it?"
Su Qingluan smiled and shook her head: "I only added the leg bones and chicken fat with skin. But there is bone marrow in the leg bones, and there is fat in the chicken skin - not to mention the chicken fat and the bacon that was cut off before." The bacon Su Qingluan chose was also pork belly with alternating fat and lean meat, so the fat content was also quite considerable.
Upon hearing this, Yang exclaimed, "No wonder the soup smells so delicious!" As she said that, she was about to use a small bowl to scoop out a bowl of the soup to drink.
The test area dared not look at it, and a shudder sank in their hearts: this much fat had been simmering for almost two hours. If this pot of broth was only used to dip vegetables, it would be fine, but if it was drunk directly, it would definitely cause gout! Although Yang was only in his thirties, who could pick on people with gout?
But then she thought again - gout and the three highs are all "rich diseases", but looking at Yang's thin figure and the previous diet of eating coarse grains and vegetables, it doesn't seem like she is "rich", right?
After weighing the two options, Su Qingluan advised, "Mother, I made the soup base a bit salty to make the vegetables more flavorful. Hasn't your throat been uncomfortable these past few days? It's better not to drink such salty soup. If you want it, I'll make a lighter pot another day."
Although Su Qingluan was trying to dissuade Yang from drinking this "gout-accelerating soup," what she said was true. Autumn is dry and prone to inflammation. If eating too much salt during this time of year causes a sore throat, there are no anti-inflammatory drugs available in this era.
Moreover, a sore throat not only hinders speech but also affects eating. So when Yang heard her daughter's advice, she immediately gave up the idea of drinking the broth: "That's right, such a delicious broth, if you drink it all at once, the dishes you'll eat later will have no flavor."
Su Qingluan secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her mother had given up the idea of drinking the broth.
At this time, Su Xuanhe was curious about what the garlic sesame oil dish tasted like, so he made one himself.
Although Su Qingluan's Sichuan peppercorn hotpot was originally quite fresh and fragrant, Su Xuanhe wasn't a fan of the numbing, numbing texture of Sichuan peppercorns. However, once the vegetables were dipped in the garlic sesame oil, the entire hotpot was bathed in a gentle, delicate aroma of sesame oil. The garlic aroma further enhanced the flavor of the sesame oil.
Because Su Qingluan's mutton was sliced as thin as paper, and this time she had bought relatively tender lamb, the complex spices fully masked the mutton's strong smell. And because the slices were so thin, there was almost no need to refuse. With a light bite, the fat and lean mutton slices were painted between the lips and teeth.
For a moment, everyone's taste buds were captured by the fragrant flavor, and they were intoxicated by the feast between their lips and tongues - the evidence was that even the youngest, Su Xueyan, waved a pair of chopsticks and picked up the mutton into the hot pot bit by bit.
Of course, her movements were not very skillful yet, so in order to prevent her from getting burned, most of the time Su Qingluan or Su Guangfu would help her put the dishes on her left and right.
After eating hot pot mutton and green leafy vegetables for a while, the carrots, yam and other ingredients that were put into the pot at the beginning were also cooked until they were soft and tasty and ready to be eaten.
Su Qingluan took the lead by adding a slice of yam. It was no longer that crunchy, now soft and glutinous. The subtle numbing aroma of the Sichuan peppercorn oil and the salty, fresh flavor of the broth made the yam incredibly delicious. Then, coated in a layer of sesame oil and mashed garlic, Su Qingluan found it so soft and glutinous that she couldn't even open her mouth.
"Well, it's time for the yam." Su Guangfu also tasted a piece of yam and greeted everyone, "Yams tend to slide down easily, Erzhuang, get a colander and scoop it out."
Su Xuanhe was enjoying his meal and didn't want to move. But then he heard Su Qingluan say, "Mother, did you forget to bring the fried chicken?"
Su Xuanhe's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up: "I'll get it now!"
Seeing her brother like this, Su Qingluan sneered, "Are you a weasel? Your eyes light up when you mention chicken. Are you going to steal a few pieces? I just counted them, there are 23 pieces in total. Don't miss any."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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