Chapter 43 Vinegar-Braised Meat
Zhao Xuan woke up very early the next day. The window was half-open because of the fireplace and there were no curtains, so the morning sunlight shone in and fell directly on the high ceiling of the bed. As soon as the light shone on his face, he couldn't help but open his eyes.
The fireplace, which had gone out in the middle of the night, had been emptied of ashes and relit by Lu An, and a pot of water and a bowl of porridge were simmering on it.
Zhao Xuan walked out the door and saw Lu An squatting outside brushing his teeth. His hair was fluffy in the sunlight, and she couldn't resist going over and touching it.
Lu An didn't dodge; instead, she chuckled at her.
After the two of them washed up, the rice on the fireplace was almost cooked. The thick porridge was served with pickled vegetables and salted eggs brought from home.
The salted eggs were pickled for a short time, and after being braised, they were very tender. However, the yolks weren't as oily as duck eggs, and the texture was drier and powderier. The pickled vegetables were stir-fried beforehand and brought in a Lock & Lock container. The pickled vegetables were stir-fried with diced meat, and after being heated, they became very oily, filling the whole house with the aroma of lard.
After the two finished breakfast and washed the dishes, they tidied up the small room. Zhao Xuan washed all the basins and pots, dried them with a clean cloth, and put them back on the shelf. The southern climate is humid, and even a little water can cause mold. Then he patted the dust off the two sleeping bags and put them back in their place. They had brought extra rice and salt, which they put into jars and carefully sealed.
Lu An poured hot water into the kettle, extinguished the fire in the fireplace, and then cleaned up the area around the fireplace.
He planned to gather more firewood. Freshly collected wood in the forest wasn't easy to burn because of the high humidity and thick smoke, so he needed to collect some and let it dry so he could burn it directly next time. While he was gathering firewood, he could also take Zhao Xuan for a walk around.
Because of this transit point, he and Lao Dao could place animal traps deeper into the mountains and forests. Lao Dao also taught Lu An several other types of traps that only required wire, which could be used to catch small wild animals like rabbits. Generally, as long as the trap didn't trap the prey's head, the prey could live for several days, so they only needed to check on it from time to time. Of course, in reality, the probability of the trap catching prey was extremely low, so relying on hunting to ensure a stable meat intake was probably not feasible.
Lu An led Zhao Xuan to their water source and, further away, to the trap. There were no paths around them; their hut was like a small bald spot suddenly appearing in their hair. Lu An had a great sense of direction and moved around freely in the similar scenery. Sometimes, he would look up at the sky to determine the next step.
He told Zhao Xuan that when walking in this kind of old forest, it is best to take a stick and poke at it as you walk. First, it can prevent you from stepping into a trap ahead, and second, it can prevent you from stepping into a mud pit. Such mud pits look no different from other places on the surface, with wild grass growing on them, but in fact, they are just a thin layer of hard soil on top. When you step on them, it is almost like sinking into a swamp.
After wandering around for a while and collecting enough firewood, the two returned to their lodgings.
Lu An neatly stacked the firewood beside the fireplace, while Zhao Xuan began packing their belongings. Once everything was ready, the two shouldered their bundles, locked the small house door, and set off home.
Zhao Xuan had either finished eating the food in his backpack or left it in the hut, and Lu An had also left things like an axe and rope there, so their backpacks were very light and they walked very fast along the way.
On the way back, Zhao Xuan's heart was as joyful as it had been on the way there. Whether it was going to the unknown cabin in the woods or returning to that familiar home, it made her happy.
It was already afternoon when they got home. The gate to the yard was wide open, and Lao Dao was hanging clothes to dry. 460 was dozing off by the gate. After hearing their footsteps, Lao Dao and 460 looked at each other, and then two smiling faces appeared at the gate. 460, with his tongue lolling out, rushed out like a cannonball and jumped into their arms.
They had only been gone for a day, and nothing had changed at home. Old Dao was a shrewd man, and even when they weren't home, he didn't touch anything.
If it were before the apocalypse, Zhao Xuan would absolutely not be used to a man with no blood relation interfering in her and Lu An's lives for no reason. She is a person with a strong sense of boundaries, doesn't like to meddle in other people's affairs, and doesn't like others to meddle in her affairs.
She and Lu An had lived together for so long that their presence was like air, completely integrated into each other's lives. Later, Lao Dao's arrival made her realize that humans are indeed social animals. She quickly adapted to Lao Dao's presence, and she had even found a house—a two-story building less than twenty meters away from theirs, which was also very sturdy. If Lao Dao wanted to stay, they could help tidy up the building so he could live there permanently.
But Lu An said that Lao Dao wouldn't stay here for long.
This matter remained unresolved in Zhao Xuan's mind and was put aside.
After returning, life went on as usual. The days after winter arrived were so carefree. There was no heavy farm work, and all I did every day was plan what to eat today and what to eat tomorrow.
Like a loving father, Lao Dao taught Lu An all sorts of survival skills. He was never stingy with sharing this knowledge; the more people he taught, the greater the chances of survival for others. They still frequently ventured into the deep mountains, and Zhao Xuan was no longer too worried about them.
Zhao Xuan plans to make rice noodles from some of the potatoes and sweet potatoes harvested this year.
Although these two dishes are delicious when simply cooked, Zhao Xuan always gets a stomachache from eating too much of them, so she doesn't plan to make them her main meal.
Potatoes and other similar items will sprout after spring, so Zhao Xuan decided to make rice noodles from the more than 2,000 kilograms of potatoes and sweet potatoes before the new year, so that they can be stored for several years.
The process of making sweet potato starch is similar to that of making lotus root starch. Zhao Xuan had never done it before, so he decided to give it a try and first made sweet potato starch from 100 jin of sweet potatoes.
After about ten days of drying, twelve catties of powder were obtained.
Zhao Xuan looked at the powder in the glass jar and sighed.
The powder yield is really low.
These sweet potato starches still need to go through a very complicated process to be made into vermicelli, and then dried... She couldn't help but sigh again.
The pig caught in the spring was almost finished. All the fat was rendered into oil, the bones were used to make soup, and the best-tasting ribs and leg meat were made into cured meat, which was also eaten up in the year. There was still some tenderloin left in the refrigerator, but because it required a lot of oil for cooking, it had been kept frozen and not eaten.
She plans to use this sweet potato flour to make some braised pork with vinegar.
Food made with sweet potato starch coated in meat slices is delicious, whether it's stir-fried meat or vinegar-braised meat. Zhao Xuan hadn't had this kind of food in a long time and was really craving it.
Sliced pork is marinated for a while with soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, and a little sesame oil. Zhao Xuan has a lot of various kinds of white vinegar and aged vinegar. Vinegar doesn't expire, so she collects all the unopened bottles.
She was almost out of soy sauce; she had been using it very sparingly. She was thinking of trading something with the Yao family for some more later. They still had some stock—the Yao family had carried a lot of soy sauce with them when they were wandering, and sometimes they would use it to trade for supplies with other survivors they encountered.
Once the marinated meat is coated with sweet potato starch, it's ready to be fried. The oil used is the last small jar of lard. Because this year's harvest of peanuts that can be pressed for oil was plentiful, Zhao Xuan gritted his teeth and took out the last jar of oil to indulge in a little luxury.
She lit a small stove, placed a small pot on it, and carefully scooped out the solidified lard. Watching the snow-white oil melt in the pot, she picked up a piece of meat and slowly put it into the boiling oil.
The coating of sweet potato starch will turn into a crispy shell in the oil temperature, while the meat slices inside will still be fragrant and tender.
As soon as the first slice was fried, Zhao Xuan couldn't wait to pick it up, blow on it, and stuff the whole slice into his mouth.
With a "crunch," that's the sound of teeth biting into the crispy skin. The crispy skin encases the pork inside, and vinegar has been specially added to remove any gamey smell and enhance the flavor of the meat.
As expected, sweet potato starch coating meat is a foolproof combination no matter how you cook it.
Zhao Xuan patiently fried the meat slowly, and soon a large bowl of it was ready. Freshly made vinegar-braised pork can be eaten plain, but after sitting overnight, it becomes less crispy. At this point, it's good to use it with glass noodles or in soup.
"It's just that we used a bit too much oil," Zhao Xuan said, feeling a little distressed.
Zhao Xuan poured the leftover oil into a small oil jar. The oil, which had only been used once, was still shiny, and she planned to use it to cook more dishes. She also carefully scraped out the remaining oil residue from the bottom of the pot and decided to mix it into 460's rice so that not a single drop of oil would be wasted.
Last year, they harvested some peanuts from the abandoned fields and pressed some oil themselves, but due to a lack of experience, the oil yield was very low. This year, the peanut harvest is good, and she and Lu An discussed it and decided that they didn't want to use the traditional method of pressing oil anymore. They needed to find a home-use oil press, so they decided to go to town to take a look.
Zhao Xuan wanted to press more oil so that they could have a good harvest.
When Lao Dao and Lu An returned in the evening, Zhao Xuan had made a large pot of vinegar and pork soup, with tomatoes and a bunch of greens in it. The tomatoes were the last batch of this year, picked from wild tomato vines in the village.
The three of them ate a simple meal with rice over a pot of sizzling meat soup.
At this point, Lao Dao and Zhao Xuan started talking about their plan to stay in that little house in the old forest for a few days.
He said, "I'll bring a sleeping bag with me then; I won't sleep in the ones you two used. In winter, the animals might come towards the village in search of food, so I'll go and keep watch for a few days. Lu'an, are you coming?"
Lu An subconsciously looked at Zhao Xuan.
Zhao Xuan glanced at Lu An and said, "You go ahead, I can handle it myself."
“Okay,” Lu An nodded. “I’ll tell Yuan Ge and the others to look after you.”
“No need to trouble yourself, it’s only a few days,” Zhao Xuan refused. “I’ll prepare some food for you. It’s getting cold now, you need to eat more.”
Old Dao said, "Do you still have this braised pork in vinegar? It's delicious."
Zhao Xuan grinned and said, "There's still some left. I've packed it all for you. You can make soup with it when you get to the mountain."
The things Lao Dao and Lu An brought into the mountains were unremarkable, mostly pickled vegetables and dried meat that could be preserved for a long time. Zhao Xuan thought for a moment and then packed a basket of oranges and a jar of candy. He also brought two extra blankets, packed in dust bags, and told them to carry them up the mountain.
Lu An left 460 to Zhao Xuan.
As the weather gets colder, 460 goes out less often, preferring to snuggle up on the big sofa and take naps most of the time, carrying a blanket around himself to keep his little nest quite warm.
After seeing Lao Dao and Lu An off, Zhao Xuan focused on her own things again. Over the past two months, she had gotten used to Lu An being away from home every few days, but fortunately, she didn't need to do much work in the winter.
She plans to process the several hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes into powder first, and as for the dried sweet potato noodles, she will wait until they return to make them together.
Making flour requires a lot of water, and she was too lazy to fetch water back and forth, so she just ground the flour by the well. 460 would usually accompany her. The sun was warm, and before she knew it, she could work all day.
During this time, Zhang Xiaohe came to visit her and brought her some homemade tomato sauce. The tomato sauce was made by putting raw tomatoes directly into jars, screwing on the caps, and then steaming them. As long as the caps weren't opened, it could be stored for several years, a method similar to canning. By the same logic, it could also be used to make canned chicken and canned pork.
Zhao Xuan thanked him and returned some salted eggs.
Zhang Xiaohe was still smiling as she helped Zhao Xuan grind the paste all afternoon. She didn't go home until close to dinner time. When she got home, she wanted to invite Zhao Xuan to her house for dinner, but Zhao Xuan declined.
“I’m not going. I have a feeling that Lu An will come back at any time, and I want to wait for him to come back,” she replied.
With communication cut off, the waiting time became unknown. She had asked Lu An if there was any way to enable communication between the two places, but Lu An didn't know anything about this.
These past few days, Zhao Xuan hasn't dared to go far, hoping that Lu An will see her the moment he gets home.
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