Chapter 54.1

Translated by Aviana

Thank You Skuku, Evala, and IwonnaHH for your support!! Bonus Chapter (3/4)

*****

Once she was done grinding all the spices and herbs into powder, Lin Qingwan fetched a small spoon and a bowl and began blending the thirteen-spice.

She added smaller portions in the required proportions of each ingredient into the bowl and mixed them evenly.

After blending the spices until they looked homogenous, she grabbed a pair of chopsticks, dipped them in the spices, and lightly tasted them with the tip of her tongue.

Finding not much difference in the taste of the final product from her previous life’s one, she licked, again and again, smacking her lips.

In her former life, when Lin Qingwan just started learning how to cook and used the thirteen-spice for the first time, she had no clue if it had salt in it. She tasted it to get a sense of its taste but didn’t feel much flavor. Then she came to know that this seasoning doesn’t have salt in it.

This time too, she didn’t feel much of a difference in its taste. But she wasn’t yet quite sure if she got it right. Thus, she wanted to test this seasoning once.

After a moment of contemplation, she walked into the small cubicle and lit the stove. Took a small portion of strips of meat from what Yao-shi was chopping at the moment. First, she fried onion, ginger, and garlic before adding the meat, like she always does. And in the end, seasoned it with a bit of thirteen-spice and salt.

She let it cook for a bit longer before serving it on a plate.

She fetched a pair of chopsticks, picked a piece and fed it Yao-shi, and picked one for herself as well.

Yao-shi was still in the midst of chopping the meat. Seeing Lin Qingwan picking up some food to feed herself, she reflexively opened her mouth.

The moment she bit it, she found it a little unusual. How to say? It tasted delicious, to the point that she even wanted to swallow her tongue. She felt that the meat was quite tasty and savory, unlike the ones she ate usually.

Upon tasting, Lin Qingwan felt pretty satisfied; her efforts didn’t go to waste.

Exhilaration filled her heart. In high spirits, she took the plate to Yang Tiezhu and asked how it tasted.

Yang Tiezhu, naturally, remarked it was very awesome. Even if Lin Qingwan fed him a lump of mud, he would still eat it without hesitation and say it was delicious. Not to mention, this meat was truly quite tasty.

Yang Tiezhu’s compliments brought even more joy to Lin Qingwan. She quickly handed the plate in her hands to Yang Tiezhu to finish it and enthusiastically resumed grinding the spices.

The earlier blend of spices was something she had just tinkered within a small quantity. Since there was nothing wrong with it, she wanted to grind the rest of the spices and blend them.

Lin Qingwan was elated beyond words. Seeing her happy, Yang Tiezhu and Yao-shi simply thought she was too excited. But only she was clear in her heart, how excited and elated she was feeling at the moment.

The things she knew from her past life were of no use here. And the only way to make money was through the embroidery skills that she got from the original host. But now, because of her interest in learning cooking in her previous life, the things she had learned previously might prove practical for her here. This realization excited her, eager to try it out.

Perhaps, she could even make silver for it?! After all, the use of thirteen-spice is quite extensive – it could be used in marination, to prepare fillings for dumplings, to prepare Lao cheong, and so on.

Although Lin Qingwan had a savings of over a hundred silver taels, the second and third branches were in a precarious situation currently. For now, they were fine, but only because of the silver she got in exchange for that embroidery piece.

In a matter of a few days, the silver would inevitably get used up in one or the other place. She can only sell three pieces of double-sided embroidery per year, and the land they owned was also only two mu . In the future, she also wanted to restrict Yang Tiezhu from going into the mountains. In such a case, what could they do in the future? Furthermore, she was pregnant with a baby too.

亩 (mǔ): classifier for fields / unit of area equal to one fifteenth of a hectare

All these thoughts made Lin Qingwan feel a sense of crisis in her heart. No one desires for oneself to spend days in desolateness and embarrassment, and she was also the same!

She didn’t want to let go of any opportunities and wished to seek livelihood for their family.

Reality might be challenging and difficult, but she could make up for it with her wits!

But now, it was too early for her to think about making silver. Most importantly, at the moment, she has to successfully make Lap cheong.

When reminded of Lap cheong , Lin Qingwan’s mouth again began to drool with desire….

By now, Yao-shi was done with dicing up the meat. So Lin Qingwan began to marinate the meat to prepare Lap cheong .

First, she took all the meat into a large clean basin and began seasoning it with soy sauce, salt, sugar, ginger juice, thirteen spices, and the likes, along with a bit of wine she had them specially buy. She mixed all the seasonings evenly with chopsticks and let it sit still for about half a cup of tea time.

Once she was completely done with marination, Lin Qingwan began filling sausage casings.

She put a small funnel by the opening of one end of the sausage casings. She had earlier asked Yao-shi to buy a small funnel; the funnels were actually used here to transfer oil. She then tied the other end of the sausage casing tightly and placed it in a clean basin. After that, she began the process of stuffing the meat into the casings while pushing in any blocked meat with the help of chopsticks. And from time to time, she also made sure to squeeze in the casing to push the meat further inside with her hands. Once the casings were filled for about one chi, Yao-shi tightened it with a thread she had prepared in advance.

Lin Qingwan had done this process before; thus, she was rather skilled. In a couple of minutes, the meat was stiffed in, and a few more sausage casing sections were formed in the basin.

Finding this approach quite novel, Yao-shi asked Lin Qingwan what it was, intrigued.

With a smile, Lin Qingwan gave a reply that it was a kind of food called Lap cheong .

Yao-shi smacked his lips, feeling that this sort of food to be too extravagant. A lot of meat and effort went into it.

However, seeing Lin Qingwan in high spirits, she didn’t say anything. She knew that second sao was fond of tinkering with food from time to time.

嫂 (sǎo): older brother’s wife / sister-in-law

Besides, second sao was pregnant now, and pregnant women tend to be gluttonous, desiring to eat unusual and odd foods.

Yao-shi had bought nearly 20 catties of meat. Thus she made lots of sausages, almost filling up the basin.

When she was done with stuffing, Lin Qingwan took a needle pricked them all over. She then found a suitable place to hang them.

There wasn’t anything like sausage hangers here, so Lin Qingwan let Yao-shi find a long bamboo pole. She hung sausages onto the bamboo pole and suspended the bamboo poles through the roof beams.

Lap Cheong hung for air-drying (Source: italianbarrel.com)

Read only at Travis Translations