“Mother, this fatty meat can be used to render lard, and the lard can be used to stir-fry vegetables. Wild vegetables stir-fried with pork are always soft and fluffy.”
Upon hearing Pei Yao's words, Yunniang felt her mouth watering.
The soft, fluffy wild vegetables were just like the vegetables she used to eat; they must have tasted delicious.
Pei Yao put the meat in a ceramic jar and then filled a pot with water and placed it on the stove.
This earthenware pot used for stir-frying is larger than the earthenware pots they usually use. It is shaped like the clay pots used in modern households, and has two small handles on both sides for easy handling.
Pei Yao then sliced a few more pieces of ginger, washed a few wild scallions, tied them into a knot, and set them aside for later use.
Once the water has boiled, you can stir the fatty meat in the earthenware pot from time to time.
To prevent the fatty meat at the bottom from sticking to the pan.
The fatty pork that Pei Yao bought was very fatty and beautiful; it came from a large, fat pig weighing several hundred kilograms, raised by a local farmer.
They grew up eating grains and pig feed, so their pork is very fragrant, unlike modern pigs which are raised on concentrated feed. Although they grow quickly, Pei Yao feels that their meat always has a faint fishy smell.
Therefore, when rendering oil from grain-fed meat, there is no need to blanch it, and it has no fishy smell at all.
There are many ways to render oil, but Pei Yao knows these two to be the simplest.
One way is to put it directly into a pot and boil it dry, while the other way is to boil it with water like Pei Yao did.
Lard rendered directly is prone to turning bitter and yellow because it is relatively hot from the bottom of the pot, and it can easily burn if not stirred in time.
On the contrary, adding water when boiling can prevent the temperature inside the pot from rising too quickly and also make the pot heat up more evenly.
The cooking process only requires occasionally stirring the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking.
However, boiling it with water will take longer and consume more firewood.
Fortunately, during the day, Yunniang and Chen Fang would go to the beach or the hillside to collect firewood whenever they had time.
Especially firewood from the seaside, because it is washed ashore by the sea and then exposed to the sun, becomes light and dry, and burns with a crackling sound, with almost no drawbacks.
The only downside is that there are so many people going to the beach to collect firewood that there simply aren't enough to go around.
So most of the firewood in their home was collected from the mountains.
Once the water inside the fatty meat had boiled down to a milky white mixture of water and oil, Pei Yao told Yun Niang to turn the fire up to medium-high. It sounded so sophisticated, but it really just meant taking two pieces of firewood out of the stove.
Then add the prepared ginger slices, wild scallion leaves, and garlic to the pot and simmer together.
Once all the water has evaporated, turn the heat down to low and remove two pieces of firewood.
The milky white mixture in the pot turned into a transparent liquid, which was lard.
Simmer over low heat. While simmering, use a wooden spoon to scoop the oil from the pot into the newly bought earthenware pot.
The process is complete when the fat turns golden brown and crispy, looking caramelized, crispy, and oily.
This pig was very fat today; four pounds of meat made a big jar of lard. If we eat it sparingly, it will last for more than half a month.
Pei Yao set aside a large bowl of pork cracklings, and scooped the rest into the oil jar to soak.
Oil residue soaked in oil can be kept in a cool place and eaten for a long time.
Just then, Pei Yichen and Pei Xuan returned from the mountain carrying baskets on their backs.
Children crave meat the most, and as soon as you enter the yard, you can smell the aroma of meat.
The two of them hunched over and squeezed into the kitchen.
"Wow, Mom, Sister, does this smell like meat? Are we having meat today?" Pei Xuan sniffed the aroma coming from the kitchen.
Compared to the sweetness of seafood, the deliciousness of meat is completely different.
Pei Yao held up the bowl of glistening pork cracklings and sprinkled some fine salt on top.
"Try it and see if it tastes good."
They had never eaten pork cracklings before. This was something that only common people who rarely ate meat throughout the year liked to eat. The young ladies and gentlemen of wealthy families did not like to eat such greasy food.
So Pei Xuan didn't recognize it: "Sister, is this meat? Why is it golden yellow?"
Although I've never seen it before, it smells very good, like pork, but it's not like pork either, because pork isn't this yellow.
Pei Yao told them to try it; it was definitely no worse than pork.
Pei Yao: "This is called pork cracklings. It's what's left after rendering pork fat. It's crispy and delicious."
Pei Yao was right. Although many people don't like pork cracklings, finding them greasy and having a strange taste, the pork lard and cracklings made using Pei Yao's method are delicious.
It has absolutely no strange taste, and the oil produced is very white.
However, eating too much pork cracklings can be greasy.
Therefore, rural farmers rarely eat oily or fatty meat throughout the year, so they love to eat this kind of fatty meat that is greasy and has a meaty flavor.
This is why fatty meat is more expensive than lean meat.
However, given their family's situation, it seems unlikely they'll have the chance to eat until they're sick of it for the time being.
"I want to try it." Pei Xuan always tries to eat when there's something delicious, and this time she tried to grab one and put it in her mouth, but her hand got burned, though luckily the temperature wasn't too high.
Pei Yao gave her a pair of bamboo chopsticks and blew on her little hands: "Little glutton, slow down, be careful not to burn yourself. You can't eat hot tofu if you're in a hurry."
Pei Xuan took the chopsticks, blinked her big eyes, and looked at Pei Yao in confusion: "Sister, Xuan'er is not eating tofu, Xuan'er is eating pork cracklings."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh at Xiao Xuan'er's serious expression.
Pei Yichen: "Xuan'er, I'm not really telling you to take advantage of me, but rather to not be impatient."
Pei Xuan didn't care about real or fake tofu. After taking a bite of pork cracklings, she was so happy with the taste that she jumped up and down on the spot.
It smells so good!
Pei Yao shook her head helplessly.
How could it not smell delicious? It's been so long since anyone's had a proper meal with lots of oil and fat!
That evening, Pei Yao used the pot she had used to render lard to stir-fry a wild vegetable she had just discovered on the mountain, lamb's quarters.
Then I cooked a mixed vegetable and oyster soup with pork cracklings, and finally cooked some brown rice that I bought today as my main dish for tonight.
Everyone was covered in oil after the meal, though that's probably an exaggeration.
But it's been a long time since I've eaten this kind of oily meat, and after eating it, I really feel energetic.
There's oil in my stomach too.
Feeling completely refreshed, Pei Yichen sat on the stool and let out a hearty burp without any regard for his image: "Eating meat feels so good! I've never tasted meat so delicious before!"
Chen Fang exclaimed, "I never expected that this fatty meat would taste so good. The vegetables I cooked with it became so soft."
They usually eat wild vegetables, and even the ones Pei Yao brings back taste pretty good, but they always feel dry when stir-fried without oil.
Nowadays, they add lard and stir-fry it until it's soft and slippery, making it very satisfying to eat.
The only thing Pei Yao disliked was the brown rice. The brown rice of this era wasn't like the soft, sweet, five-colored brown rice found in weight-loss meals these days.
Instead, it's a mixture of many grains, coarsely ground, and contains a lot of unground grain husks.
It doesn't taste soft, sweet, or glutinous; instead, it's a bit harsh on the throat.
It was hard to swallow. Yunniang and the others had been eating coarse grains and wild vegetable dumplings for months, so they had gotten used to this kind of hard-to-eat rice.
It tastes no different from plain white rice. At first, they might not be used to it, but if they weren't used to it, they would starve to death. They didn't want to starve to death, so they had to force themselves to adapt.
After finishing her meal, Pei Yao went out and picked up a few soapberries. When she came back, she boiled water to take a bath and wash her hair.
In the summer in Lingnan, the weather is extremely hot, and you'll be covered in sweat even with the slightest movement.
In this weather, it's really uncomfortable not to take a bath for a day, but this soapberry isn't very convenient for bathing.
At least for her, who is used to using high-tech and high-quality shower gels, it is really hard to accept using soap.
At first, she was quite resistant, but later she got a little used to it. Pei Yao felt that she had to make money. Once she earned more money, she would improve her life and at least make a bar of soap to use.
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