Adding these ingredients helps to remove the gamey smell from pig's trotters. My grandma Wang Cuihua, my mother Wang Yitong, my eldest aunt, and my second aunt—back then, they didn't have the means to add these ingredients when cooking. They were just happy to be full, so they couldn't be picky.
Things are different now. With Yingbao, their little bundle of joy, they can make the food delicious, flavorful, and perfect...
A while ago, Yingbao brought back so many seasonings. They won't use much of the ingredients because they have a habit of saving them for their husbands or during busy farming seasons to prepare for winter. They are used to being frugal and it's hard to change that in a short time.
Fortunately, with little Yingbao around, we could put out as many as we wanted. Grandma Wang Cuihua, Auntie, Auntie... although we were reluctant to put out too many, feeling it was a bit wasteful.
However, regarding Yingbao's requests, they could only suffer in silence, watching anxiously, fearing that the next second would ruin the whole pot of food.
Mother Wang Yitong wouldn't do that. She wouldn't even glance at it, as if out of sight, out of mind. She's probably become numb to it after seeing Yingbao do this so many times.
Hahahahaha...
Yingbao thought of the way her mother, Wang Yitong, first watched her put seasoning on the braised skewers, and how her grandmother's expression was exactly the same—reluctant yet unable to stop her. She found it funny.
Then, without Yingbao's instructions or guidance, Grandma Wang Cuihua pushed the foam in the pot to one side, took out the pig's trotters, and rinsed them a few times in clean water.
Then, pour out the water used to blanch the pig's trotters and use Diaopai dish soap to clean the iron pot.
After washing the iron pot, Grandma Wang Cuihua heated it up and added lard and freshly pressed rapeseed oil. Yingbao had asked her to add the rapeseed oil, as it would make the stewed pig's trotters softer, sweeter, and give them a rich aroma.
This is Yingbao.
Definitely fueled by love.
After the oil was heated, Grandma Wang Cuihua originally planned to add scallions, ginger, and garlic directly, just like stir-frying vegetables, to bring out the aroma, and then add star anise, cinnamon, angelica, cardamom, and bay leaves to bring the flavor of the pig's trotters to an unprecedented climax.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yingbao, sitting to the side, stopped her with a serious expression, "Grandma, what are you doing? You said you'd let me teach you, why did it turn into you improvising?"
Wang Cuihua chuckled awkwardly twice and replied:
"This isn't because I'm used to cooking normally, but Grandma forgot that you were here to supervise me—no, not supervise, you were giving me instructions."
Yingbao rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "Grandma, listen to me. Just follow what I say and do what I say. Don't do things your own way. Don't be too capricious."
Seeing her grandmother Wang Cuihua's nonchalant and indifferent attitude, Yingbao felt a little annoyed. But then she thought, this is her grandmother, not her colleague or employee. She can't scold her too harshly, otherwise the old lady will explode and things will get difficult.
So, Yingbao's two big eyes darted around for a moment, and then she suddenly had a brilliant idea: to strike at the heart of the problem, to get to the bottom of it completely.
"Grandma, don't get distracted now, or you'll have to think about what Grandpa, Dad, Uncle, and Uncle's friends will think when we use so many seasonings and ingredients to make a pot of black charcoal and serve it on the table to celebrate the new house?"
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