Chapter 1413 - 552: A Cooking Tip Every Day! With This Pork Hock Terrine, Who Wouldn’t Be Tempted!

Chapter 1413: Chapter 552: A Cooking Tip Every Day! With This Pork Hock Terrine, Who Wouldn’t Be Tempted!

Just now Shen Guofu lost all his corn kernels and got kicked off the mahjong table.

Right now Han Shuzhen was on a winning streak. Seeing Shen Guofu come in, she said:

"I’m winning, don’t come near me, in case your losing streak rubs off on me."

Old Shen: "..."

Getting this worked up over a handful of corn kernels—are they planning to use the New Year to make up for all the mahjong they didn’t have time to play during the year?

He set the plate of pork shank terrine on the dining table and said to Chen Meiliang and the others:

"The pork shank terrine’s done, come on, come on, have a taste. This is Little Xu’s hard work. As the grown-ups, we can’t let it go to waste..."

While he was talking, this big boss twisted open a bottle of Wuliangye.

A little liquor at night gets the blood flowing, removes stasis, and helps you sleep.

Shen Jiayue set the dipping sauce she’d mixed onto the table, then put out a plate of boiled peanuts and several pairs of chopsticks.

She brought over a few freshly steamed hollow mantou, stuffed in a couple slices of pork shank terrine, drizzled a bit of garlic sauce on top, and handed them to the elders who were playing mahjong.

At the table it was Grandma Lin, eldest aunt Qi Xiangzhi, Chen Meijuan, and Han Shuzhen playing. Old Mrs. Chen didn’t like cards; she was off to the side playing games with Dundun using a few bouncy balls.

Originally Old Mrs. Shen was going to play, but after Shen Guofu lost all his corn kernels, he went on to lose all of hers too, so now she could only sit next to her daughter-in-law acting as a strategist.

"Come on, come on, try the freshly braised pork shank terrine."

Shen Jiayue handed around the hollow mantou stuffed with terrine. These things weren’t big, and the middle was empty—you could finish one in just a couple bites.

Everyone took one and brought it to their mouths for a taste, all feeling this pork shank terrine was really well made.

Chen Shaokang wasn’t that into this kind of braised meat. When he saw Lin Xu come in, he asked quietly:

"Cousin, aren’t we grilling meat tonight?"

Lin Xu asked curiously:

"You still want more?"

"Yeah, I’m waiting to post it in the class group and torture everyone with it."

You and your classmates really are mutually in love and mutual harm... Lin Xu laughed and said:

"I didn’t prep anything today, and we don’t have ingredients. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll buy some wings, and at night we’ll do honey-glazed wings, and grill some Chicken Feet or whatever along the way... As long as we’ve got ingredients, doing barbecue is easy."

"Okay, Cousin, I’ll be waiting."

Eating her mantou with terrine, Shen Jiayue grinned and gave him a tip:

"When you post in the group, don’t snap the picture and send it right away. Wait till after nine, closer to ten, then send it. Best if you film the skewers sizzling and oozing oil on the grill—that way the effect’s even better."

Little cousin Shaokang had never thought of that.

He always just snapped a pic and posted it, never considered how changing the timing would improve the results.

"When you post food pics in the group, the best times are usually just after eleven in the morning, four or five in the afternoon, and after ten at night. That’s when the effect’s best—especially at night. Not only will you torture your classmates, you can even torture your homeroom teacher."

Chen Shaokang: "!!!!!!!!!!!"

Lesson learned, lesson learned.

Big thanks to cousin-sis-in-law!

Hahaha, tomorrow the kids in the class group can just wait to be bombarded with food.

During the New Year, even though every household has all sorts of good food, stuff like skewers isn’t actually that common.

After all, in lots of adults’ subconscious, grilled meat isn’t healthy; it’s fine to have it once in a while on a regular day, but how could you eat that kind of thing during the New Year?

Chen Shaokang wanted to "poison" the group because yesterday, after he posted the skewers, all his classmates said they wanted some.

That gave him the motivation to keep on "poisoning" them.

The next morning, Lin Xu and Shen Jiayue took Chen Shaokang and little Lei and the others along to the city for a second round of shopping.

They were going to make wild-greens dumplings today, so Lin Xu specially bought some Shrimp, and also live shrimp, chicken wings, Chicken Feet, fish tofu, beef brisket fat, lamb chops, and other ingredients.

Since they were doing skewers at night, they might as well prepare more.

Anyway, the scenic area had all kinds of grills, big and small. Whatever you wanted to grill, you could—super convenient.

On the way back, Shen Jiayue turned to look at little Lei and asked:

"Lei, what do you like to eat? You’ve only got one more semester before senior year. You need to eat more. Senior year’s super stressful. Without a good body, you won’t make it."

She thought back on her own senior year, when she was so busy it felt like her feet never touched the ground.

And the college entrance exam in the Central Plains was much tougher than in Beijing. To hack out a bloody path, it was an extreme test of body, mind—every aspect.

Little Lei said:

"I like grilled Gluten... Cousin, can you make that at home?"

"Sure, it’s pretty simple. I’ll make some when we get back today so you can get your fix."

Shen Jiayue mentally went over today’s dishes, her eyes full of surprise:

"Wow, we’ve got so many kinds of skewers tonight—we could set up a stall and sell them... Xu-baby, how about we open a barbecue stall for fun?"

Lin Xu chuckled:

"No way, that doesn’t fit Lin Ji’s Food’s brand positioning. If I’ve got that kind of time, I’d rather spend it in the shop refining a couple more dishes."

Shen Jiayue: "..."

She’d wanted to "experience life," but got turned down.

But whatever. When it warms up, they can set up a "stall" on the rooftop terrace. By then Yan Bao might have moved into the same complex. Send her a pic, and she’d definitely come trotting over for a bite.

Back at the scenic area, everyone got out of the car and helped Lin Xu carry the ingredients into the kitchen.

Setting down the chicken wings, Shen Jiayue asked curiously:

"Can I be in charge of marinating the wings? When do we start?"

"The afternoon’s soon enough. If you do it too early, they’ll be too salty."

"Oh... Then can we make the Top-grade tofu now? I’ve been waiting to eat it."

Lin Xu took several bags of sea salt out of the cupboard and said with a smile:

"Not yet. I need to boil the brine for the Salt Water Duck first, so we don’t end up delaying tonight’s prep."

The brine was essential for Salt Water Duck—it was the soul of the dish.

The brine prized age: the older the brine, the tastier the duck, because after soaking in it for a long time, the duck’s soluble umami compounds dissolve into the brine.

Then when you soak more duck, those umami compounds penetrate back into the meat, making it even more delicious.

The older the brine, the more obvious this effect.

That’s why some restaurants in Jinling tout their "century-old brine."

In fact, as long as you soak enough ducks in it and store the brine properly, even if it’s not literally a hundred years old, it can still significantly improve the quality of the duck meat.

Making brine required sea salt.

Lin Xu brought out a big stainless-steel stock pot, poured in over half a pot of mineral water, then added eight bags of salt, along with Sichuan peppercorns, Star Anise, Angelica dahurica, Cardamom and other spices.

"That much salt—won’t it be super salty?"

Seeing how much salt he was using, Shen Jiayue was genuinely shocked. If this were filmed, the bullet comments would definitely be full of "fatal dose."

Lin Xu said:

"You need a lot of salt to really cure the duck, and this brine isn’t one-use-only. We keep it indefinitely, and we’ll monitor it with a salinity meter. If the salt content drops, we add more. It can become a family heirloom."

Shen Jiayue: ??????????

It can do that too?

She pictured herself in old age, barely breathing, gasping to her kids, "I’ve left you a pot of brine," and felt like she’d probably get her oxygen tube yanked out on the spot.

Lin Xu brought the brine to a boil on high heat, simmered it for another half hour, then set it aside to cool.

You couldn’t leave this stuff sitting in a stainless-steel pot for too long. Lin Xu planned to have his mom buy a big earthenware crock later, then pour the brine in for storage.

Once that was done, he took the tofu he’d bought at the supermarket and got ready to make the legendary signature dish—Top-grade tofu!

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This Chapter is 5,400 words. Brothers, I’m begging for a Monthly Ticket!