After making sticky rice cakes, she started cleaning the house. While cleaning, she also had to rush to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy food for the New Year. Fortunately, Xiao's mother had an acquaintance at the cooperative and managed to buy quite a lot of things. Otherwise, she would have had to queue up before dawn to buy things.
"An'an, the old ox in Xingwang Village fell and died. I bought some beef shank. What do you think I should cook it to make it taste good?"
These days, cattle are precious collective property. They are usually too precious to be slaughtered. They are only killed to sell meat when the cattle fall, get old, or can no longer work in the fields. This shows how difficult it is to get a bite of beef.
Upon hearing that it was beef, Gu An'an's eyes lit up. Since becoming pregnant, she had rarely been able to cook special meals in her space. Moreover, the beef stored in her space was obtained by scavenging supermarket warehouses during the apocalypse. Not to mention that it was not as fresh as freshly slaughtered beef, the quality of the meat was not comparable to that of the local beef available today.
"You bought so much? How about we cut a piece and stew it with radish for lunch, and braise the rest? Whenever you want to eat it, just cut it up and dip it in some sauce."
Xiao's mother didn't know how to braise food, but she had blind confidence in Gu An'an. She thought anything Gu An'an said would taste good.
"Okay! Just tell me what seasonings you need for the braised meat, and I'll go buy them if you're missing any."
Gu An'an thought for a moment and named two items, then asked, "Mom, have you sold the beef offal yet?"
"It wasn't there when I came back. It has a strong smell, and nobody likes it. I guess it's still around now."
Hearing that it wasn't on sale yet, Gu An'an felt her mouth watering. Beef tripe and honeycomb tripe were her favorites for hot pot!
"Mom, wait for me, I'll go with you."
Aunt Xiao knew that Gu An'an must have come up with other dishes, but she didn't think Gu An'an was greedy. On the contrary, she was very much looking forward to it. "Okay, don't rush. Wear more clothes. It's a bit cold outside."
Gu An'an was quick; she came out soon after, all bundled up. "Da Bao and Er Bao are waiting for Mom at home. Mom will be back after buying some things."
Ignoring the children's babbling, she pulled Xiao's mother out the door.
When they arrived, the beef was sold out, leaving only some beef bones and scraps. The people who had been gathered around the stall had also dispersed.
"Xiao Li, how much are these?"
"Sis, you want these things? This has no meat, and the smell is really strong. Are you sure you want it?"
If it were the old Xiao Ma, she definitely wouldn't have bought it. After all, you could smell the stench just by standing next to her, and most people really couldn't handle this kind of thing. But she had blind confidence in Gu An'an, so she turned to look at her and asked, "An'an, what do you want?"
Gu An'an spotted the tripe immediately. "Mom, I want this, and a few more beef bones too."
Looking at the belly that hadn't even been emptied, Xiao Ma grinned and finally asked Xiao Li, "How much are these, the ones my daughter-in-law asked for?"
Xiao Li didn't expect them to actually want it. Based on past experience, these things were unsellable and would end up being consumed internally. But to be honest, even if they were given some, they wouldn't really want it because it had a strange smell no matter how it was cleaned, and it would get tough and inedible after being stir-fried for a short time.
He wanted to offer some advice, but seeing that he couldn't persuade the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law at all, he finally quoted a relatively low price.
"Mom, we made a profit."
In later years, a few slices of tripe would cost tens of dollars in a hot pot restaurant, but these two large bags only cost the price of a pound of beef.
"It's cheap, but this stuff smells awful. Can it really taste good?"
Gu An'an nodded seriously, "It will definitely be delicious, Mom, just wait and see."
Fortunately, the weather is cold these days, and almost no one is out and about. Otherwise, the two of them carrying this smelly bag of stuff would definitely have been the subject of much gossip.
After arriving home, Xiao Yuheng took over the task of cleaning the tripe. He first removed the residue from the stomach, then washed it thoroughly with wood ash. After washing, he followed Gu An'an's instructions and cut it into pieces for later use.
While Xiao Yuheng was cleaning the tripe, Gu An'an also prepared other ingredients.
"An'an, are you going to use this for hot pot?"
"Yes! It gets tough if you stir-fry it, but it's absolutely delicious in hot pot."
Hearing her say that, Xiao Yuheng and his mother began to look forward to it.
The aroma of hot pot and braised meat mingled together, and Xiao's father smelled it as soon as he entered the door, instantly dispelling the fatigue of a busy afternoon.
"It smells so good! What are you making for dinner?"
"You're finally back! If you hadn't come back soon, I really wouldn't have been able to wait for you anymore. An'an made hot pot for dinner tonight, and I've been craving it all afternoon."
Although Xiao's father had never eaten the hot pot that Gu An'an made, he had heard of it. His eyes lit up and he said, "Hot pot? I've been craving it ever since I heard them say how delicious it is. I never thought I'd get to eat it today."
Gu An'an realized that Xiao's parents were really different from other people's in-laws. If she had dared to eat like this in other families, her reputation would probably have been ruined long ago.
But in the Xiao family, they would never disappoint her if she wanted to eat anything, and would even praise her sincerely.
"Alright! Go wash your hands, let's start eating."
Xiao's father first washed his hands with warm water, then interacted with the two little ones for a while before sitting down to eat hot pot.
Xiao Dabao and Xiao Erbao were sleeping, but they were awakened by a fragrant aroma.
There was nothing she could do; they were already awake. Gu An'an could only put the two of them in a small bed and take care of them while she ate hot pot.
"Ahhh!" It smells so good! We want some too.
Xiao's father tried a piece of tripe that Gu An'an highly recommended. He dipped it in the sauce, cooked it briefly, and when he took a bite, it was fragrant, crispy, and incredibly delicious.
Hearing his two children crying loudly beside him, he had just finished chewing a piece when he started to soothe them, "Oh, don't cry, Da Bao and Er Bao can eat when they're a little older."
"Ahhh!" We want to eat! We've grown up now!
Perhaps the flavor was too overpowering, because as the two little ones kept calling out, their saliva started dripping from their mouths.
"Haha, these two in my family are such little gluttons! But this hot pot is too spicy, you two can't eat it, be good!"
The two little ones squeaked for a long time, but the adults didn't give them even a tiny bit to try. They knew it was completely hopeless, so they had no choice but to give up and fall into a deep sleep amidst the rich aroma.
"I've lived most of my life and never knew that tripe was so delicious. It's a pity that it's rare to find beef for sale, otherwise I would really like to come here once a month."
The portions were large, and even though Grandpa and Grandma Xiao kept telling themselves not to eat too much, they still ended up stuffed.
"Wow! I've wasted the last few decades of my life! I never knew there were so many delicious foods out there."
Upon hearing this, Grandma Xiao put her hand on Grandpa Xiao's ear. "What? Did I mistreat you in the past few decades?"
Grandpa Xiao quickly reached out to save his ear, and said timidly, "No, no, how could I dare!"
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