"Sizzle—"
Xu Milu used a small knife to pierce the skin on the back of the ostrich's neck. With a slight force from her left hand, the entire skin was torn off, revealing the pinkish ostrich meat inside.
Luckily, Xu Milu reacted quickly and pulled the ostrich back from the fire before it fell in; otherwise, her dinner that night would have been half-cooked roast meat.
The ostrich is only the size of a rabbit, and it doesn't look so strange after being skinned.
She picked up the ostrich meat and smelled it carefully. She found that it didn't have the fishy smell she had imagined. Instead, it had a faint herbal fragrance, probably because ostriches roam the mountains and fields year-round, eating wild grass and tree bark and drinking mountain springs and dew.
Xu Milu took out a large pot from her bag, grabbed the fire spirit that was sleeping soundly in her backpack, and took out the seasonings and containers she would need later. Soon, a bunch of colorful little things were laid out in front of her.
The white porcelain plate she bought in Chang'an, the small jar filled with yellow wine, the sky-blue gourd filled with osmanthus honey, the glass jar for storing seasonings...
Xu Milu's actions attracted a group of children from the Ghost Kingdom to come and see. They looked no different from the ground, each with a single eye and a short, thick tail. When they crawled on the ground, they looked just like wriggling green caterpillars.
"What is this? The color is just like the sun when you see it in the morning!"
"And what is this? A 'human'? Is this something from your 'human' country?"
"Why don't you eat meat? They say you'll starve to death if you don't eat meat, and starving to death means closing your eyes and never seeing your mother and father again!"
As Xu Milu cut the meat off the ostrich with a knife, she patiently explained to them:
"This is white porcelain, which is very common in Chang'an. This bottle contains osmanthus honey, which I made by washing fresh osmanthus flowers and pickling them in honey. Here."
She picked up a spoonful of osmanthus honey and fed it to one of the children. The child first smacked his lips, then his big eyes widened, like a frightened little animal.
"Delicious! Delicious! I want more! If you like those hard stones, I'll trade you ten stones with tails."
The people of the Ghost Kingdom have never shied away from their desires, and even children are no exception. Xu Milu only used a jar of osmanthus honey to acquire a pile of sparkling diamonds of various colors.
—The diamonds at the bottom of the swamp are even more vibrant in color, but only the people of the Ghost Kingdom who are familiar with the terrain know where the most beautiful "hard stones" are.
Several children from the Ghost Kingdom traded "stones," which were useless to them, for a bottle of sweet osmanthus honey. They couldn't resist huddling together and licking the honey with the tips of their tails. The Ghost Kingdom people on the side watched with envy, but no one tried to snatch the children's food.
“It’s not good for you to use meat to perform witchcraft instead of eating it.”
The earth had already eaten its fill and was now sprawled out on the ground, lazily watching Xu Milu perform her "witchcraft".
After all, in her opinion, Xu Milu was performing witchcraft by throwing meat and herbs into a pot to boil.
"This isn't witchcraft; I'm making food taste better."
Xu Milu focused intently on tearing open the hamster meat, then used the back of her knife to chop it into a fine paste. She always had great patience when it came to food.
The texture of humpy meat is very similar to beef. After being minced, it has a gelatinous feel. The most peculiar thing is that there is a large clump of white fat on the tail of this animal, which looks like it is used to store nutrients.
"It's delicious to eat directly, very tasty."
The lazily wagged its tail, signaling to Xu Milu.
"This can be used to refine oil."
Xu Milu shook her head, turned around and picked a large handful of purple ferns from beside the swamp, washed them, cut them into sections and set them aside for later use.
"Oil?"
As it carefully pondered this new term, it couldn't help but become interested in Xu Milu's "witchcraft." It coiled its entire body forward and stared intently at Xu Milu's next move.
Bring water to a boil in a pot, then blanch the minced meat in the water until it changes color, then remove it immediately.
Don't discard the broth from cooking the meat. Add a little cornstarch, salt, and pepper, then add the cooked minced meat, sprinkle in some purple fern leaves, stir gently until the broth thickens, and finally add a drop of sesame oil. You'll have a pot of fragrant hamster meat soup.
Xu Milu added a little water to the pot, then added diced fat to simmer. After a while, the meat shrank rapidly under the high temperature, and she got a pot of animal fat.
As for the ostrich bones, Xu Milu didn't waste them. After washing the blood off the bones, she dried them over a fire, then rubbed them with salt, peppercorns, and wild fruits. She added a little soy sauce and star anise to marinate them. When the oil was 70% hot, she directly fried them in the oil until they were set. After they were taken out, she coated them with a little honey and marinated them for a second frying. She repeated this process three times until the bones were slightly charred and golden brown. Then they were ready to eat.
The intense fragrance attracted every member of the Ghost Kingdom. Some poked half their bodies out of their nests, looking around to find the source of the scent. Others simply jumped into the water, trying to avoid the temptation. Still others swam over with handfuls of diamonds, gazing longingly at Xu Milu.
The aroma of fried meat in the swamp at night is like dropping a bomb on a calm surface of water. The fragrance of oil and seasonings spreads everywhere on the wind, and for the people of the Ghost Kingdom who have never encountered this kind of smell before, it is almost the ultimate temptation.
"No, this is her food, no, no."
It fully demonstrated its formidable power, its tail slapping the water's surface with a loud "slap," which frightened away the group of ghosts.
The people around seemed to be in fear, and they all hid in the water, with only their heads sticking out. It was quite frightening to see them like that at night.
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