Chapter 20
The flavor created by various spices and specific medicinal herbs is the key to the deliciousness of this braised meat, and it can be regarded as her exclusive recipe.
But spices are the most expensive, and some spices are even listed as controlled substances.
In the past, when my father was a traveling doctor, he could occasionally buy some spices from peddlers, but now the control over spices in Bianjing City is so strict, I don’t know if he can buy any.
But fortunately... she didn't need much, just two spices: fennel and cloves, and the rest were mostly medicinal herbs.
Su Guoer first came to a herbal medicine shop and asked the shop assistant to weigh out 10 pounds of dried tangerine peel, 10 pounds of hawthorn pills, 10 pounds of white atractylodes, 10 pounds of monk fruit, 10 pounds of amomum villosum, and 10 pounds each of nutmeg and cardamom.
The shop assistant looked puzzled and asked Su Guoer with a smile what she wanted to do with all these loose herbs. Because in his understanding, these herbs were only used by the injured, and when they came to buy them, they would bring a complete prescription with them, and the shop assistant would just fill the medicine according to the prescription. But the herbs Su Guoer bought didn't seem to be enough to make up a prescription, so he was a little confused.
Su Guo'er just smiled and didn't answer. This was because the braised pork recipe was something her father had researched himself, and most people didn't know about it. Therefore, using medicinal herbs to stew meat was a first in Bianjing. It was normal for this guy not to understand.
But no one would reveal their family secrets, so she said nothing.
Medicinal herbs are more expensive, and buying all of them cost Su Guoer two taels of silver. But fortunately, these herbs are enough for at least a month, so she doesn't feel bad about it.
The most distressing thing happened when Su Guoer entered a herbal medicine shop and found the spices she needed. However, she looked at the prices: cloves: 2 taels of silver per catty, fennel: 1 tael of silver per catty, and there was a purchase limit...
I know that Wei has very strict control over spices, but I didn’t expect the prices to be so high?
This is dozens of times more expensive than meat, right?
However, she still gritted her teeth and prepared to take a pound of each, because the braised meat would be useful. She did have some fennel left in her backpack, but it was pinched by the kitchen manager, so it was only a small pinch.
She stared at the fennel, and the clerk first asked her to produce a purchase document, clearly stating what the spice was for.
Su Guoer looked up: "Huh?" with a confused look on her face.
The waiter didn't make things difficult for her, and simply said, "Miss, if you're going to make wontons at home, you can just buy two taels. You don't need to report if you buy less."
Does this mean that if you buy a lot, you need to report it?
Su Guoer: "I need this money to open a restaurant. I don't have any paperwork. What's the maximum I can buy?"
The waiter apologized slightly: "Sorry, I can only buy two taels, two taels of cloves and two taels of cumin."
Su Guoer: "Okay, give me two taels." She didn't make things difficult for the other party. This spice was really precious and no one dared to open this back door.
It cost me more than one or two taels of silver to buy cloves and fennel, and then I bought some basic salt and pickled soy sauce, vinegar and other seasonings and carried them back home myself.
When she returned to the store, the oxcart delivering meat was already parked there waiting. She went forward to open the door and asked the guys to load and unload the meat to the backyard. She then took out the perilla drink that she had prepared long ago and gave each of them a large cup so that they could drink their fill before leaving.
After the guys left, Su Guoer was not idle either. She started washing mutton, pork, pork elbows, etc. in a large wooden basin in the yard.
The meats were killed quite cleanly, but there was a lot of blood. Before braising them, the foam had to be skimmed off, which was a key step in removing the fishy smell. After washing away the blood slightly with coarse salt, Su Guoer rinsed it again with clean water, and then went to the kitchen alone carrying a wooden barrel.
The kitchen and the vegetable washing pool are not far away, but because there is a lot of meat in it, the wooden barrel is extremely heavy.
It took her a lot of effort to carry all the meat into the kitchen.
There were already several washed large pots sitting on the stove in the kitchen, waiting for her to light the fire.
This shop must have been a restaurant in the past, so the well, pond and other decorations in the backyard connected to the kitchen are all decorated according to the layout of a restaurant.
The kitchen alone has four large stoves, enough for two cooks to cook at the same time. The stoves have chimneys against the wall, and in the middle of the kitchen is a huge wooden table where people can chop and prepare vegetables. The entire kitchen can accommodate up to a dozen people, making it quite a large kitchen.
But now it’s just Su Guoer here.
She has to do all the work by herself, including cutting vegetables, preparing food, braising meat, and lighting the fire. It's not that busy, but it's really tiring. She will have to hire a servant or an apprentice tomorrow to help her clean up.
Put the pork, pork elbows, tail, ears, etc. into a large pot, pour in the best mountain spring water, bring to a boil and skim off the foam.
Then she added herbs such as angelica dahurica, orange peel, and amomum villosum, and finally poured a few grains of fennel and cloves into the pot to enhance the flavor. Finally, she poured in the soy sauce made by the farmers herself, which she bought from outside. The soy sauce was salty and fresh. Although it was not made by her, she had tasted it before buying it and it tasted good. Nowadays, the soy sauce making method in Bianjing is very mature, which saves her the trouble of making it herself.
Then sprinkle enough salt on it, stir it and you can start braising.
The two big pig heads were also placed in another big pot and cooked in the same way, but as for the mutton...
Su Guoer didn't prepare any stewed food.
One reason is that I have seen it at the night market in Bianjing when I was on holiday before. Nowadays, everyone in Bianjing loves mutton, so the braised mutton can be seen everywhere in the streets. You can see a braised meat stall every two steps. It is almost everywhere.
Therefore, if you want to sell this braised mutton, you must make it taste outstanding to make it famous.
It would be better to find another way to make this mutton into other snacks to sell. Su Guoer remembered that when she traveled with her father to southern Jiangsu, she ate something called pot stickers, which were eaten with rice porridge.
The filling is made of fresh pork and green onions, then wrapped in dumpling wrappers and fried in a pan. The most important thing is to pour a white water made from sweet potato starch into the pan halfway through the process. This is how the pot stickers are fried until the bottom is golden brown and crispy, and the outside looks bright and shiny. When you bite into it, the juices from the pork drip out, and the chewy dumpling wrappers complement the rich taste.
If you want to be extravagant, you can sprinkle some black sesame and chopped green onion on it. Whether you eat it with vinegar or just plain, it will taste unique.
Slurp~, some things are enough to make Su Guoer drool just by thinking about them.
Unfortunately, she never ate this kind of thing again after leaving Sunan.
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