Chapter 30: Selling pork. Do you really need to braise it?
It was late at night when Zong Xiao came out of the courtyard next door. He stood outside the door and waited until he calmed down before pushing open the door.
"You're back just in time. I just heated up the food for you. These dishes were cooked by your mother today. They are so delicious." Qiu Xuan came out of the kitchen with food in her hands.
Zong Xiao stepped forward to lend a hand, and when he saw a plate of scrambled eggs, he exclaimed in surprise, "Is it Chinese New Year today? Mom actually scrambled so many eggs."
Qiu Xuan smiled and said, "That's right. This dish uses two eggs at least."
Zong Xiao thought about what Zong Anji had just said, and his heart ached again. He gave the chopsticks to Qiu Yun and went to the kitchen to get another pair. "There are so many, eat some more."
Qiu Xuan had already eaten and wasn't hungry at all. She yawned and waved her hand, "No more, you eat yours. I'll stay here with you for a while."
Seeing how sleepy she was, Zong Xiao couldn't bear to ask her to stay with him any longer. He said in a hoarse voice, "Go to sleep. I have to clean up the yard later. You don't have to wait for me."
Seeing him looking at the hung wild boar, Qiu Xuan thought he was going to deal with it at night, so she agreed.
Qiu Xuan was so exhausted today that she fell asleep as soon as she entered the room. She had no idea when Zong Xiao came in, let alone that he had been sitting by the kang and guarding her for quite a while in the middle of the night.
The next day, just as the sky was getting light, there was a knock on the door.
Qiu Xuan frowned and pulled the thin quilt over her head. She was still sleepy and didn't want to move at all.
"You continue to sleep for a while, I'll go take a look." Zong Xiao got off the kang quickly, walked out of the house quietly, and headed straight for the courtyard gate.
Outside, two women from the same village were talking while carrying baskets. Seeing the door open, they smiled and asked, "Erlang, I heard you hunted a wild boar yesterday?"
Zong Xiao hummed. He didn't expect the news to spread so quickly.
"Are you selling meat? If so, please leave some for your aunt." The woman's name was Liu Yuncai. She lived in the same area as them. She heard some noise last night and guessed that the clan would sell meat today.
Zong Xiao did plan to sell the meat. First, the wild boar was so big that his family couldn't finish it. Second, his family needed money. He could make some money from this pig, although not much, but it would be good.
"Don't worry, Auntie. The wild boar hasn't been processed yet. It will take at least another half an hour." He hadn't eaten yet this early in the morning, so how could he have the energy to cut the meat?
"Okay, I'll come back later. Remember to save some for me."
After seeing everyone leave, Zong Xiao closed the door.
In front of the house, Qiu Yu leaned against the door, rubbing her eyes and asked, "Who's here?"
Zong Xiao: "The Liu family said they wanted to buy some wild boar meat."
Qiu Xuan woke up instantly after hearing this. "Is this wild boar meat cheaper than other pork?"
"It's a bit cheaper. Wild boar meat isn't as fat as domestic black pigs." Zong Xiao pointed at the wild boar and said, "It runs around in the mountains all day, so the meat is chewy."
Qiu Xuan had never eaten wild boar meat before. She thought wild boar meat would taste better than domestic boar meat because it has the word "wild" in its name after all.
"Then let's keep some and sell the rest." Qiu Xuan looked at the whole wild boar and had another idea in her mind.
She said, "Don't sell these pig intestines or anything else. Save them for me to make dumplings for you."
Zong Xiao was about to enter the kitchen when he heard her say that she was going to use drain water to make dumplings and nearly fell on the stairs.
Offal is not very tasty to begin with. I heard that there is a place in town that makes stewed offal, but the spices are too expensive, and it is a waste of food for the villagers to use them to stew offal.
"You don't believe me? It's really delicious." Qiu Xuan said confidently, "Wait, I'll make it for you."
The two of them went to the kitchen to have a quick meal. Since there were a lot of things to do today, it was more important to sell the pork first.
Zong Xiao boiled two large pots of hot water, poured them over the wild boar, and scraped off its hair with a knife.
After completing this step, he opened the pig's stomach and took out all its internal organs.
Qiu Xuan was just waiting to go into the water. This thing was troublesome to clean at home, so she had to go to the river early to reserve a spot.
"I'll call your third brother over for you. You two can sell the pork at home. I'll go to the river to clean this." Qiu Xuan said happily, carrying a bucket full of pig intestines.
In the next courtyard, when the clan mother heard that she was going to the river to wash pig intestines, she hurriedly advised: "My silly girl, this water is worthless. You will not be able to make it delicious even if you spend a lot of time on it."
"Mom, you'll know whether it tastes good or not when it's cooked."
Cleaning pig intestines was a hassle. Seeing that she was determined to do it, the grandmother stopped trying to persuade her. She went to the kitchen to get some wood ash, then returned to the house to get a pair of scissors. "Then I'll go with you. It'll be faster if we're both together."
"I'm going too." Huaixue ran over happily. She loved going to the river the most and couldn't miss this opportunity.
Qiu Xuan pinched her little face and said, "Okay, let's go together."
Because they were going to the river to clean pig intestines, which smelled bad, and to avoid annoying others, the clan mother took Qiu Xuan to a place with fewer people.
They arrived early and there was no one here.
Qiu Xuan cut the pig intestines into several pieces with scissors. She turned them over and rinsed them with river water to wash away the dirt inside.
Seeing her skillful movements, the clan mother thought she had done this before at the Qiu family.
"Mom, do you have any ingredients for stewing meat at home?" Qiu Xuan rubbed the pig intestines vigorously with wood ash. When she saw that it was almost clean, she used scissors to cut off the fat inside.
The clan mother's eyes widened, and she asked in disbelief, "You want to use that ingredient to stew the water?"
"Mom, I heard that this braised offal is also sold in town. Let's braise some." Qiu Xuan had already thought of how to make it. She had been thinking about the pig intestine buns for a long time!
"Well...this won't be easy to sell." The grandmother still felt bad about the marinade ingredients. Those things were very expensive, and she would only braise some meat during festivals.
Seeing that her mother was reluctant to give it up, Qiu Xuan continued to deceive her, "Mom, if you don't sacrifice your child, you won't be able to catch the wolf. This thing will definitely sell well. Just think about our pork fat dumpling."
The grandmother was completely convinced by her. She decided to just stew it. What if she could really make some money?
The two were cleaning pig intestines by the river, and Zong Xiao also set up a stall at home.
He asked Zong Anji to go to the village and announce that they were selling wild boar meat today, which was five cents cheaper than domesticated meat. If anyone wanted to buy it, they could come over.
This price was quite cheap, as five copper coins could buy a pound of brown rice. Upon hearing this, the villagers hurried home to get their copper coins, fearing they would miss out on such a good deal.
The wild boar was fat, so Zong Xiao kept the part for his family and placed the rest on the wooden table in front of the door.
"Two pounds, the fattest ones."
"Take a look at this piece of meat." Zong Xiao held it up and showed it to him. Seeing the man nod, Zong Xiao started to cut it off with a knife.
It was a little more than two pounds, and that was considered as a bonus, so Zong Xiao didn't charge any more money.
Zong Anji was helping on the side. He had to count the copper coins one by one. Even though they were selling in the village, there were still some cunning people who deliberately gave less copper coins.
Zong Anji counted them carefully and put them into a pottery jar beside him after he finished counting.
Qiu Xuan and the others came back from the river and happened to see them selling meat, but they did not go forward to help. Instead, they went to the small courtyard where the clan mother was.
The water needs to be brineed quickly so that it can be cooked by evening.
"Mom, please put the marinade ingredients on the table and I'll pick them out later." Qiu Xuan put the pig intestines into the pot with cold water, and when the water boiled, she added some ginger slices and rice wine.
The mother-in-law was trembling as she watched, those were all good things, why did she let them be braising?
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In a fictional era, chili peppers were actually introduced during the Ming Dynasty, but that's fictional...
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