Chapter 341 Taro Braised Pork
There are very few mushrooms here, so they usually go to the pine forest to look for them, as mushrooms grow best under pine needles.
But other plants are not so easy to survive under the pine trees, so when the two of them look for wild vegetables, they usually avoid the pine forest and look for them here or near the path down the mountain.
Zhao Yeqing walked around but didn't find anything. Well, it would be too much trouble for the wild vegetables if he went out to look for them at this time.
Having consumed so much electricity in the winter, the two of them are reluctant to use electric saws when they go out now. They still use the most primitive axe to cut down the tree first and then slowly split it into small firewood.
After working all day, the cart was filled to the brim.
The biggest gain is Chaga, which needs to be dried and preserved well, otherwise it will get moldy or lose its medicinal effect.
It cannot be exposed to direct sunlight or placed in a humid place. Zhao Yeqing waits until the sun comes out during the day, cuts the chaga into small pieces, spreads them evenly on a winnowing basket, and takes them to the shade under the eaves to dry.
A lot of moss has grown under the eaves recently, slowly climbing up along the corners of the eaves and covering the dry moss that was originally frozen to death by the snow. A close look reveals some tiny insects on the furry surface of the moss, just like a microbial landscape.
After Zhao Yeqing dried the chaga, she squatted in the corner and stared at it. She didn’t know if it was her illusion, but she always had a feeling that after the cold winter night, the ecology was gradually getting better.
Let’s just talk about insects. Some of the small insects that appeared this year were things she had never seen in previous years.
The most inevitable thing about living in the mountains is all kinds of insects. As soon as you turn on the light, the bulb will be fluttering with small white flying insects and moths with big wings.
So after the weather warmed up, the two of them would not easily turn on the lights in the yard at night unless they had something to do in the yard, otherwise when they woke up the next morning, the floor under the light bulbs would be covered with dead insects.
Mu Xi would occasionally put up a torch outside the yard to attract flying insects. The flying insects would be burned to death when they hit the fire and would not fly into the glass windows of the house again, thus avoiding the situation where the glass windows were covered with small insects after the two of them turned on the lights in the house.
Mu Xi was just moving the taro plant used for decoration out of the room to bask in the sun. Seeing Zhao Yeqing squatting on the ground and staring at the moss, he said, "What are you looking at? It's so beautiful."
Zhao Yeqing stood up slowly and was about to answer when he saw the pot of taro in Mu Xi's hand. His attention was immediately drawn to the taro.
"You know what? The taro we grow in the house grows better than the one in the basement."
Mu Xi weighed the planting pot in his hand and said, "Yes, it is much heavier than when I first planted it. I guess the fruits inside have grown."
"Then what are you waiting for? Just dig it out."
The taro grew very well, with big leaves and some small water droplets condensed on them. It looked very beautiful, but Zhao Yeqing cared more about the taro fruit underneath. Since it had grown well, he would dig it out and eat it, and then plant the taro seed to continue growing.
"So you don't want the potted plant anymore? It will take a long time for the taro to grow."
"That's easy. Plant the taro in the ground, and dig up one of the taro plants that aren't growing well in the backyard and bury it in the pot. Then I can have leaves to look at and it won't interfere with my eating."
Mu Xi was impressed by the wisdom of the foodie and nodded, "As expected of you."
What dish did Zhao Yeqing want to eat most when he had taro? Without hesitation, he chose taro braised pork.
We couldn’t have pork before, but now we have pork and taro. It would be unreasonable not to try the famous taro braised pork in Gui City, Guangxi Province.
This dish takes some time to prepare and is much more troublesome than the fish-flavored pork elbow.
The braised pork in Guangxi is different from the braised pork with preserved vegetables. Each slice of their braised pork is about the thickness of a finger and about 3 fingers wide. Taro of the same thickness is sandwiched between each piece of meat.
Mu Xi took out a piece of pork with distinct layers from the refrigerator, waited for it to thaw, and scraped off the remaining pig hair.
Zhao Yeqing walked to the cupboard and took out the fermented tofu that he had been reluctant to eat before. This thing is indispensable for making Guangxi's taro braised pork.
This braised pork belly requires a large piece of pork belly. It takes a long time to thaw a large piece of meat. The two soaked the meat in water at room temperature and waited for several hours, constantly changing the water before they finally thawed it successfully.
After Mu Xi cleaned the pork, he handed it to Zhao Yeqing. He didn't know how to do the rest of the processes.
Zhao Yeqing put the pork belly into a pot with cold water, added onion, ginger and cooking wine and brought it to a boil. When chopsticks could be easily inserted into the pork, he took the pork out of the pot.
Use a skewer to start poking holes in the skin of the pork belly. The holes should be densely packed and at least one inch deep. The denser the better, because the pork belly will be fried in a pan soon. Only when the holes are densely packed will the fried pork skin be fluffy.
After poking holes in the pig skin, apply a layer of salt and white vinegar on it. This will not only give the pig skin flavor, but also allow it to be fried into patterns like lychee peel.
The patterns are not just for looks, the texture of the lychee fruit also makes it fluffier when eaten.
While Zhao Yeqing was rubbing salt and vinegar on the pig skin, he instructed Mu Xi to heat the oil in a pan and put two wooden chopsticks at the bottom of the pan. He would throw the pig skin face down into the pan and fry it. Without the wooden chopsticks, the pig skin would stick to the pan.
When the oil starts to smoke and is about 70% to 80% hot, put the whole piece of pork skin down into the pan and fry it.
Whether it is fried pork skin or fried chicken feet, the ingredients are particularly prone to oil leakage.
These were not the small dots you see when stir-frying ordinary dishes. The oil at this time was exploding like a small stone thrown into the water. Mu Xi took the pork from Zhao Yeqing's hand, quickly put it into the oil pan, and immediately covered the pan.
The sound of oil exploding inside hit the lid of the pot.
Control the heat and wait until the popping sound of the oil in the pan stops, which means the pork is almost done. Open the lid of the pan and take out the golden fried pork.
A side dish called crispy skin is added to the rice noodles in Guangxi Province. This crispy skin is the semi-finished braised pork belly.
Zhao Yeqing cut off a small portion of the meat, intending to cut it into thin crispy skin and sprinkle it with chili powder before eating it for fun.
The remaining meat will have to be fried again later. While re-frying, Zhao Yeqing asked Mu Xi to prepare the taro. The taro for the taro braised pork also needs to be fried in oil.
The re-fried pork skin becomes more crispy. After re-frying, it is soaked in water until the crispy skin swells and small bubbles appear. Mu Xi takes this time to fry the cut taro in the oil pan.
The last step for the fried taro and soaked and cut braised pork is to steam them. Pour the prepared sauce on them and marinate for half an hour to an hour until they are tasty, then put them in the pot to steam.
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