"A... a grand feast?"
Lerin swallowed hard, then made a circle with his hands. "A very big meal?"
Ling Miao almost burst out laughing. She suppressed the smile that was about to spread across her face, looked away, and nodded seriously. "Yes, there's lots of delicious food."
Lehrlin bit his finger, clearly conflicted.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes and shouted, "Sister Miaomiao, you guessed right, I am Lelin!"
"Aren't you Lesen?"
Ling Miao looked at him with a troubled expression.
The little guy got anxious, his brows furrowing into a frown, "I'm the one who's Lerin!"
Then, with a conflicted expression, he whispered, "Sister, you guessed right."
He stole a glance at Ling Miao's expression, his chubby little hand pinching the hem of her clothes, "Let's have a big meal."
"A big meal?"
Ling Miao drew out her words, glancing at him sideways, "Didn't you just say it wasn't Le Lin?"
"I was just joking!"
Lelin's face was tense as he tightly gripped Ling Miao's clothes.
"Okay, just kidding."
Seeing his nervousness, Ling Miao lost her desire to tease him and mercifully let him go. She looked around and asked, "Are you all alone?"
"Mom and the others are still in the backyard."
After saying that, he turned and ran away quickly, "I'm going to tell Mom and the others!"
Ling Miao watched his fidgeting legs disappear through the doorway in a flash.
"They run really fast."
"When it's time to eat something delicious, how can you not run fast?"
Susan chimed in, somewhat amused, "When it comes to food, no one can outrun him."
Ling Miao raised her eyebrows, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
"By the way, what other ingredients are needed for sweet and sour pork?"
Ling Miao stood up and walked towards the cutting board. "Don't worry about the side dishes. The meat still needs to be marinated. After preparing the marinade, it will take a while before it goes into the oil."
"There's no rush. I'll make another dish first."
Ling Miao picked up a piece of pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. The fresh pork belly had a 6:4 ratio of fat to lean meat, with the fat being delicate and white, and the lean meat being bright red. It was a top-quality ingredient.
Ling Miao sighed, heated the iron pot, placed the pig skin side down, and soon a sizzling sound came from inside the pot, accompanied by a burnt smell.
"What are you doing?"
"Removing excess hair and sweat glands can better remove fishy smells."
Susan nodded, watching Ling Miao pick up the pork belly. The once snow-white skin was now charred black, and she couldn't help but ask, "Is this still edible?"
“Of course not.” Ling Miao looked at Susan in surprise. “It needs to be shaved off.”
Susan awkwardly touched her nose and looked on curiously.
The other person picked up a knife and scraped away the black skin bit by bit, revealing the clean white flesh underneath. "Now we can blanch it to remove the fishy smell."
The same old three-piece set for removing fishy smell: bring to a boil over high heat, then add scallions, ginger, and pork.
When the water boils, skim off the foam. The meat turns white and then Ling Miao takes it out and puts it into the prepared warm water to wash it.
Is there a specific temperature requirement for the water?
Susan looked at it and asked questions.
“Of course,” Ling Miaozai carefully washed the pork. Hearing the question, she explained seriously, “When pork is boiled in hot water, the muscle tissue breaks down and the gaps become larger. If you wash it with cold water at this time, the hot meat will suddenly become cold and the texture will become tough and dry.”
"So that's how it is."
Susan nodded, deeply moved.
"This is the first time I've heard of this."
The two turned around, and Rella and the others appeared in the kitchen. "I'm here to help."
"Is there anything we can do for you?"
Le Yuan spoke up, having not yet properly greeted the store manager since arriving.
"Yes, yes, we can help too!"
The twins hugged Ling Miao's legs, one on each side, and Le Lin held up his chubby finger, "Just let me eat a little more!"
Everyone burst into laughter. Ling Miao bent down and gently pinched his nose, "You glutton!"
"hey-hey."
He smiled sheepishly, but didn't let go of Ling Miao's arms.
"Let's wash the vegetables first, these all need to be washed." Ling Miao pointed to a pile of vegetables beside her.
"Okay."
Several people stepped forward, picked up the vegetables, and headed towards the pool.
With a swift movement, Ling Miao chopped the cleaned pork belly into large chunks.
Rella glanced at it curiously and, seeing the thick, large chunks of meat, couldn't help but wonder, "Was this cut too thick?"
"Not thick,"
"The meat chunks will shrink after cooking, and the point of braised pork is to enjoy big, satisfying bites of meat."
If it's cut into small pieces, you won't even be able to taste the flavor, which would be truly disappointing.
Ling Miao placed the chopped meat into the pot. The bottom of the steaming pot was covered with a layer of golden oil. The thick pieces of pork belly sizzled as soon as they touched the bottom of the pot.
The sizzling pot bottom continued to pop with each sound, gradually turning the whitish meat pieces golden brown, with specks of charred brown around the edges.
The oil at the bottom of the pot had thickened, and the originally large pieces of meat had begun to shrink.
Ling Miao scooped out the meat chunks, leaving only a little oil at the bottom of the pot to caramelize the sugar.
Because I don't have a big sweet tooth, I only used a little rock sugar this time for coloring.
The low flame continued to simmer, and the large, glistening pieces of rock sugar gradually melted into a pool of clear syrup. Ling Miao didn't stop; she continued to stir slowly with a spatula.
Soon, the glistening sugar water turned into a thick, dark reddish-brown color, bubbling with large bubbles.
Susan leaned closer curiously, "So rock sugar turns a deep reddish-brown color after it melts."
She watched as Ling Miao poured the chunks of meat into the pot. The thick, dark red sugar syrup quickly coated each piece of meat as they were stirred.
She didn't think anything was wrong. Having eaten sweet and sour lychee pork before, she had a different understanding of sweet meat dishes.
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