It was a clear morning after the first snow. Lin Feng rode the White Moonlight, with White Emerald beside him and Wangcai leading the way.
He planned to check the animal traps he had set up earlier, and also see if there were any new developments nearby.
When they came to a sheltered, gentle slope, Wangcai suddenly started barking wildly at a snow-covered area with a slightly raised ground, and began scratching at the snow with its paws.
"What's wrong, Wangcai? Did you find something?"
Lin Feng was somewhat curious. He knew that Wangcai had an extremely keen sense of smell, and what could excite it so much was usually not a small creature.
He dismounted, walked over, and brushed away the snow to reveal the frozen, somewhat hardened soil beneath.
He noticed that the vegetation in this area was somewhat unusual; most of it had withered, but some withered vines clung stubbornly to the ground, their roots seemingly deeply embedded in the soil.
Lin Feng's heart stirred. He took out the small iron shovel he carried with him and began to dig carefully.
The soil had hardened due to the low temperature, making digging quite strenuous. But as he went deeper, he felt his shovel hit some hard, lumpy objects.
He carefully cleared away the surrounding soil, and soon, several fist-sized, irregularly shaped tubers with dark brown skin and some purple stripes appeared before his eyes.
These tubers looked somewhat like potatoes he had seen in his previous life, and somewhat like sweet potatoes, but with a rougher skin.
"This is……"
Lin Feng picked one up, weighed it in his hand, and found it to be quite heavy. He scratched off a bit of the outer skin with his fingernail, revealing the milky white, dense inner core, which emitted a faint scent, similar to a mixture of earthy and plant fragrance.
He let Wangcai smell it, and Wangcai wagged its tail excitedly, seemingly very interested in the thing.
Lin Feng broke off another small piece and tasted it himself. The raw tuber had a slightly sweet taste and tasted somewhat like a raw potato, but with a stronger starchy texture.
"Could it be some kind of edible tuber?"
Lin Feng felt a surge of excitement. He knew that tuberous plants rich in starch were an excellent source of energy, especially in winter, when they were a rare and precious food.
He immediately began a thorough search of the area and discovered that this type of tuber was quite widely distributed.
With the help of Bai Yueguang and Bai Feicui, he spent half a day digging out a huge pile, weighing over a thousand kilograms!
Lin Feng packed the tubers into animal skin bags, carried them on Bai Feicui's back, and was filled with joy.
He named this newly discovered tuber "snow potato" because it was found under snow and its taste and uses were similar to potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Back in the cabin, Lin Feng immediately began to study the sweet potatoes. He first cleaned them thoroughly, and then tried various cooking methods.
Roasting sweet potatoes is the simplest and most direct way. He buried a few sweet potatoes in the embers of the fireplace, and soon smelled a rich aroma.
Roasted sweet potatoes have a crispy, caramelized skin and a soft, sweet interior, giving them a unique flavor that is better than simply roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes.
He also tried boiling and steaming the sweet potatoes, and they tasted equally excellent.
Cooked sweet potatoes can be mashed into a puree, and with the addition of a little salt and lard, they make a delicious sweet potato puree. Steamed sweet potatoes can be eaten directly, or sliced and fried in lard until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
This unexpected discovery greatly enriched Lin Feng's winter recipes once again.
Sweet potatoes are not only delicious, but also very easy to preserve. They can be stored for a long time simply by placing them in a cool, dry cellar.
He even began to wonder if he could try artificially cultivating these sweet potatoes after spring and develop them into a stable food source.
With the availability of high-quality starchy ingredients like sweet potatoes, Lin Feng's stomach, which had been spoiled by all sorts of delicious food in his previous life, and his heart, which loved creation and challenges, began to stir again.
Baking, boiling, and steaming are no longer enough for him.
A memory from his past life flashed through his mind—potato chips, a globally popular snack!
Making potato chips from sweet potatoes would be delicious, wouldn't it?
He got right to work. He selected several large, regularly shaped sweet potatoes, washed them carefully, and then, with his sharp iron knife, meticulously sliced them into even, paper-thin slices. This required considerable knife skills and patience, but Lin Feng enjoyed it immensely.
After slicing the potato chips, he soaked them in water for a while to remove excess starch, then drained them.
Next came the seasoning. From his spice reserve, he found fine salt and several wild spices that he had picked and ground into powder himself (similar to Sichuan peppercorns and cumin substitutes). He sprinkled these seasonings evenly on the sweet potato chips and gently mixed them.
Finally, he deep-fried the potatoes. He took out a small earthenware pot, poured in the refined animal fat, and heated it over a fire. Once the oil reached the right temperature, he added the seasoned potato chips in batches to the oil.
"Sizzle!"
As soon as the potato chips hit the pan, they made a pleasant sizzling sound, tumbling and expanding in the boiling oil, their color gradually changing from milky white to golden yellow.
A rich aroma of fried food, mixed with the sweetness of sweet potatoes and the spiciness of spices, filled the wooden house, making Wangcai, who was standing nearby, drool with envy.
Lin Feng carefully turned the sweet potato chips with a pair of specially made long wooden chopsticks to ensure they were heated evenly.
Once the potato chips were fried until golden brown and crispy, he quickly scooped them out and placed them on a wooden tray lined with clean animal hide to drain the oil.
The first batch of "snow potato chips" is freshly made!
They are golden in color, thin and crispy, and have fine seasoning particles on the surface.
Lin Feng couldn't wait to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth.
"Snap!"
After the crisp sound comes an exquisitely crispy texture.
The subtle sweetness of the sweet potato, the richness of the animal fat, the salty umami of the salt, and the complex spiciness of various spices blend together perfectly, creating a delightful spark on the taste buds.
"It's a success! It's so delicious!" Lin Feng was so excited he almost jumped up.
Although the taste is slightly different from the industrialized potato chips of my previous life, with a touch of primitive and rugged flavor, the crispy texture and complex taste are absolutely top-notch!
He immediately made several more batches until he had used up about half of the sweet potatoes he had brought.
Looking at the large plate full of golden, crispy potato chips, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
The phantom was also attracted by the aroma. It jumped off Lin Feng's shoulder, curiously approached the wooden plate, stuck out its little tongue to lick a potato chip, and then began to eat it in small bites. It was clear that it also liked this novel snack.
Wangcai ate with great relish, wagging its tail like a rattle.
Emboldened by his success with potato chips, Lin Feng's creative enthusiasm soared. He then set his sights on another classic snack from his past life—spicy strips!
He also had all the ingredients needed to make spicy strips.
The main ingredient is naturally "Golden Fox Rice," which he can grind into powder and make into rice cakes.
The spiciness can be replaced with a wild chili pepper he found called "fire kiss pepper," which is extremely hot and has a burning sensation.
The aroma can be blended using the "wild spices" he found, as well as several other wild spices.
He first ground a portion of the Golden Fox Rice into fine rice flour using a stone mill, then added an appropriate amount of water and a little salt, and kneaded it into dough.
Then, he rolled the dough into a thin sheet and cut it into even strips. These rice strips need to be steamed or fried in a small amount of oil to set them in shape.
Next comes the soul of making spicy strips—the sauce.
He put the dried "fire-kissed peppers" and "wild spices" along with several other spices (such as a type of grass seed with a cumin-like flavor and a type of wild Sichuan pepper with a numbing taste) into a stone mortar, added a little salt and animal fat, and pounded it into a fine paste.
This process is very demanding on arm strength, but it's also a lot of fun.
When the bright red sauce, exuding a strong spicy and complex aroma, was finally made, Lin Feng couldn't help but swallow hard.
Finally, he mixes the steamed or fried rice noodles thoroughly with the prepared chili sauce while they are still hot, ensuring that each rice noodle is coated with the rich sauce.
To enhance the flavor and texture, he also added some roasted, crushed nuts (similar to peanuts and sesame seeds).
And so, the "Golden Fox Spicy Rice Strips," with their rich wild flavor, were born!
It looks bright red and oily, smells spicy and domineering, and tastes even more chewy, spicy and fragrant, with a long-lasting aftertaste.
The intense taste sensation made Lin Feng feel as if every pore on his body opened up, and he even broke out in a light sweat. A feeling of exhilarating pleasure welled up inside him.
"So satisfying! It's so incredibly satisfying!" He exclaimed, stuffing spicy snacks into his mouth repeatedly, unable to stop.
Over the next few days, Lin Feng was immersed in the joy of making and tasting these two snacks.
He made a large quantity of sweet potato chips and Golden Fox spicy rice strips, some for his own consumption and some sealed in earthenware jars as a delicious winter treat.
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