Li Xiangdong raised his eyebrows, suppressing his surprise. He had asked Secretary Liu to help him get a coordination letter to buy cement, so why was he given special permission to buy twenty tons of cement?
"Brother Liu, I don't need that much!"
Secretary Liu picked up a piece of braised pork skin and said, "It's free!"
Li Xiangdong had a bad feeling. He put another braised chicken foot on his plate for Secretary Liu and said, "I'll go back with you later and bring some braised food to Uncle Liu."
Secretary Liu blinked and said, "Um, I want to order some too!"
Zhao Sufang came in at that moment, carrying an aluminum lunchbox filled with braised pork skin, pork heart, pork lungs, and pork intestines.
"Everything is prepared for you."
"Auntie, I'd like some more braised vegetarian dishes. Those potato slices are quite delicious."
Seeing Secretary Liu staring at her expectantly, Zhao Sufang found it amusing and turned back to serve him braised potato slices and braised mushrooms.
This child is good-looking and kind-hearted; Zhao Sufang likes him quite a bit.
After eating to his heart's content, Secretary Liu Junbo carried two large lunchboxes of braised dishes back to the county committee with Li Xiangdong.
As soon as Li Xiangdong entered Liu Donglai's office, Gougou furtively closed the office door, then leaned close to Liu Donglai's ear and whispered, "Why did Yanling City give me twenty tons of cement for free?"
Liu Donglai chuckled, "What, you think it's not enough?"
Li Xiangdong was anxious. "There's no such thing as a free lunch! Has my identity been exposed?"
Liu Donglai picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Mayor Chen is personally thanking you out of his own pocket!"
Li Xiangdong immediately jumped up, "Didn't you say you'd keep it a secret from me?"
"Only the two of us know!"
Li Xiangdong felt a little relieved. "Mayor Chen wouldn't tell anyone, would he? Anyway, I don't admit to anything. I didn't say anything, and I didn't do anything!"
Liu Donglai glanced at him and said, "You think no one found out about those letters you sent? If it weren't for me and Lao Chen cleaning up your mess, you would have been exposed long ago!"
"It wasn't me who exposed myself, it was the old man who said it, I'm just relaying it."
Seeing that Li Xiangdong was still being stubborn, she didn't call him out on it. Instead, she opened the lunchbox and asked, "What delicious food did you bring me?"
"I've just invented a new braised dish, please try it!"
Although he had just finished lunch, Liu Donglai still took a couple of bites, mainly because the smell was pungent and fragrant!
"What kind of meat is this?"
It's delicate and tender, spicy and fragrant, and doesn't taste like ordinary meats such as chicken, duck, pork, beef, or lamb.
"This is a real treat. I didn't even give any to Brother Liu, I only made this one! I'm sending half to you and keeping the other half for my Uncle Yan."
Judging from Li Xiangdong's smug look, it was clearly not something common, and it didn't taste like rabbit meat.
After chewing carefully, a thought flashed through Liu Donglai's mind: "Turtle meat?"
"Your mouth is so sharp!"
Li Xiangdong gave him a thumbs up, "It's braised turtle!"
These days, Li Xiangdong always feels that his mouth is bland and he wants to eat something spicy and flavorful. After thinking about it, he decided to make some braised dishes.
He carefully recalled the ingredients for the braised dishes his aunt used to make in his previous life. He could remember the specific types of spices, but he couldn't remember the proportions.
However, Li Lan was patient and enjoyed cooking, so she experimented with different proportions of spices that Li Xiangdong had bought.
Anyway, the meat is good meat, the seasoning is good seasoning, how bad could it be?
When the first batch of braised pork skin came out of the pot, the aroma even reached the neighbor across the street, making Xiao Xiangzi's mouth water! The children and adults in the family all loved to eat it, but Li Xiangdong frowned after taking only a small bite.
"Almost there!"
If it's not quite there yet, then let's keep trying!
After trying about eighty different kinds, when the last pot of braised meat came out of the pot, the aroma wafted far and wide, and could even be faintly smelled in Panjiazhuang and Guanyutai.
The pork skin is glossy and reddish, and looks chewy and sticky. When you take a bite, the collagen and aroma explode in your mouth, and the taste lingers for a long time.
"Sister, what are the proportions in this recipe?"
Since we've succeeded, we should record it.
How did the secret recipe come about?
This braising spice recipe will be a secret in a few decades!
"Three ounces of star anise, one ounce each of Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, galangal, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cardamom, and amomum tsao-ko, six mace of cloves, nutmeg, and licorice root, one pound and four ounces of white sugar, half a pound of soy sauce, one pound of salt, one pound of dried chili peppers, half a pound of ginger, one pound of scallions, and three pounds each of rapeseed oil and lard."
"Then use five catties of pork bones and ten chicken carcasses to make a rich broth."
"The cardamom must be crushed and the seeds removed, otherwise the resulting braising liquid will have a bitter taste."
"All the spices need to be soaked in water for ten minutes to remove some of the bitterness and excess color. This will make the broth flavorful and have a good color when fried, and it will not easily burn when frying."
"When you're ready to cook, first pour half of the rapeseed oil and lard into the pot and heat it up. When the oil is about 30% hot, put in the spices and stir-fry over low heat for 20 minutes. Once it's fragrant, pour in the stock and bring it to a boil over high heat."
"In another pot, heat the remaining oil to a high temperature, add ginger slices, scallions, and dried chili peppers and fry until fragrant and spicy, then pour the hot oil into the boiling broth."
"Then add the caramelized sugar, soy sauce, and salt to adjust the color and flavor, simmer over low heat for two hours, and the oil brine is ready."
Li Xiangdong carefully noted it down and solemnly wrote down the three characters "oil brine" at the beginning.
(Please don't think I'm just writing this filler; this is how my family makes our oil-based braising liquid. It's different from the typical northern-style red braising liquid. Just follow this recipe, and it's guaranteed to be delicious!)
"Sis, I'll open a restaurant for you in a few years. With your skills, you'll definitely make a lot of money!"
Li Lan smiled shyly. She felt truly satisfied to be able to live a life where she wasn't seen as someone who did nothing, and where she could stand tall and speak her mind.
As the weather warms up, the ice melts. Recently, the river has risen, and people are going out to fish and catch fish again.
Because Li Xiangdong had previously bought a turtle at a high price, now the children love to bring him any turtles they catch.
Li Xiangdong is generous and never lets the children down.
After eating turtle stewed with chicken a few times, Li Xiangdong suddenly had a whimsical idea: could he braise turtle?
Large turtles don't absorb flavor well, so Li Lan chopped them into small pieces, blanched them in water to remove the blood foam, then put them into the oil-based brine and simmered them over low heat for three hours.
When I took it out and tasted it, it was indeed delicious!
Liu Donglai praised it a couple of times, and then finished off all the turtle meat in a few bites.
"Hey, this is for you to eat tonight! Didn't you just finish dinner? How come you have such a big appetite!"
Liu Donglai took a leisurely sip of tea, glanced at Li Xiangdong's bag, and said, "I'm going to Brother Yan's house for dinner tonight!"
Well, it seems they've set their sights on the other half of the braised turtle!
Li Xiangdong picked up his bag and walked out, saying, "I'm leaving!"
If we don't leave, we might not be able to keep the portion meant for Uncle Yan.
To everyone's surprise, as soon as the door opened, Liu Junbo was standing outside with a resentful look on his face!
Braised Small Soft-shelled Turtle
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