Food bloggers made fortunes in ancient times

Song Yan responded with a perfunctory "hmm", not listening at all.

He took out two pounds of pork from his backpack and said with a smile, "Go and light the fire. We'll cook meat tonight."

Erya looked at the meat in his hand with her eyes wide open. She swallowed and said shyly, "Brother, I want to eat braised pork."

"Okay, let's eat braised pork tonight." Song Yan agreed immediately.

"That's great." Erya couldn't help but cheer a little and followed Erlin, "Brother, I'll help you light the fire."

While waiting for the twins to start a fire, Song Yan tidied up the backpack and put the two pieces of cloth aside. Later, she would pay an aunt to help her.

Take out the slaughtered chicken from the space, marinate it with salt at night, pick some mushrooms from the mountain tomorrow morning, and come back to make chicken soup together.

Then there were the bacon and sausages, which were also taken out from the kitchen. They were put into jars because they were worried that mice would steal them.

As well as five pounds of flour, and some soybeans and mung beans, all taken from the kitchen.

The two buckets of rice I bought were all brown rice, which is not suitable for making rice soup for Yaya.

Song Yan took out a bag of rice porridge from the kitchen and said that she bought it from a businessman from another place. The twins probably wouldn't suspect anything.

Brother Ying snored all night last night. Song Yan couldn't sleep, so she went into the kitchen to tinker with something.

Grab two handfuls of rice, fry them in a pot until cooked, and then grind them into powder using a blender.

But rice is not nutritious enough, so Song Yan cut the pumpkin into slices, steamed it, dried it in a steamer and oven, and then put it into a wall-breaking machine to grind it into powder.

Mix rice flour and pumpkin flour together, then add some milk powder, and the pumpkin rice paste is ready.

It’s just a little bit of milk powder. Even if Erya sneaks some of it out of greed, she shouldn’t be able to taste it.

There were other miscellaneous things, but Song Yan was too lazy to clean them up, so she put them all aside and would deal with them later when she had time.

The stove was lit up quickly, and Erya came over and asked, "Brother, when are we going to make the braised pork?"

Song Yan found it funny, looking at the little girl in front of him who was looking at him eagerly. It was hard to imagine that this greedy little girl would become a cruel and vicious female supporting role in the future.

Perhaps it was the experience of being sold as a child that influenced her later personality.

Song Yan thought that now that Song Dashu had disappeared and Erya had not been sold to human traffickers, she would probably not become a vicious female supporting role again in the future.

Song Yan's voice softened unconsciously: "Don't worry, let me boil the lard first."

He washed the pork fat, cut it into small pieces with a new kitchen knife, put it into the pot, added water and boiled it.

Bring to a boil over high heat, and when all the water in the pot has dried up, the lard will begin to seep out.

"Erlin, turn to low heat." Song Yan held the spatula and gently stirred the lard.

Erlin pulled out a few pieces of firewood from the stove, leaving only one piece of wood, which was burning slowly.

"Wow, it smells so good." Erya sniffed and stared at the pot without blinking.

In the past, my mother would occasionally make lard. After making the lard, there would be a lot of lard residue left, which was fragrant and crispy.

Erya still remembers the crispy texture and the aroma of lard when she took a bite.

"Brother, can I eat lard residue?" she asked cautiously.

"Of course, I'll give it to you once the oil is boiled." Song Yan asked again, "Do you want to eat fried rice with lard residue?"

"I do." Erya responded crisply.

Song Yan thought about it and realized that fried rice tastes better if it’s left overnight, so he said, “Let’s make it tomorrow and have braised pork tonight.”

The lard will take a while to cook, so Song Yan takes this time to prepare the seasoning for the braised pork.

Pork is just 30% fat and 70% lean, which is perfect for making braised pork.

Song Yan cut the meat into small even pieces and prepared the seasoning, only to find that his family didn't even have onions, ginger or garlic.

He called Erya: "Go borrow some onions, ginger and garlic from Aunt Niu."

Erya turned around and ran out the door, shouting, "Aunt Niu! Aunt Niu!"

Song Yan opened the palm-sized earthenware jar, which contained the soy sauce that Aunt Pang had given him, and poured a little into the bowl.

Then he prepared spices such as star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, etc., which he took out from the space.

This stuff is very valuable. In ancient times, there was a saying that "one ounce of spice is worth one ounce of gold".

Spices such as pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom are mostly produced in South Asia or Southeast Asia. Due to the long distance and high transportation costs, the prices naturally cannot be cheap.

Don’t think that our ancestors didn’t know that spices can be used in cooking. They knew it very well.

In ancient times, there was a corrupt official whose property was confiscated. During the search, it was discovered that he had secretly hidden a large amount of precious spices such as pepper and cinnamon in his home, with a value of up to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

In some farming novels, the protagonist opens a snack bar and sells braised meat to make money.

In reality, this kind of scenario would never happen.

The ingredients needed for braised meat include dried tangerine peel, cumin powder, fennel, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and many other expensive seasonings.

It is conceivable how high the cost of making a pot of brine is, and the braised meat is not something that ordinary people can afford.

Only high-ranking officials and nobles could afford such luxury.

Not long after, brisk footsteps were heard outside the door again.

Erya grabbed a handful of washed onions, ginger and garlic and said, "Brother, here you go."

Song Yan cut the green onion, ginger and garlic into slices, looked up and said, "Erlin, give me some of the candy I just gave you."

Erlin took out a small piece of maltose from the oil paper bag, put it in a bowl, and dissolved it with warm water.

By this time the lard has been cooked.

The oil is boiled until it is clear, and the lard residue looks slightly yellowish and floats on the oil layer.

After the oil was boiled, Song Yan added some salt to extend the storage time of the lard.

Then he scooped up the lard residue, put it in a basin, and gave half to Erya: "Take it and eat with your brother."

He reminded me again: "Don't eat it all at once, or you'll feel sick. We'll have braised pork later."

The lard residue was still very hot when it came out of the pot. Erya couldn't wait to eat it after smelling the fragrance. She grabbed a handful of lard residue, blew on it, and stuffed it into her mouth.

With her mouth full of lard, Erya felt extremely satisfied.

Just like when my mother was still alive, every time she saw her eating voraciously, she would touch the tip of her nose and laugh at her for being a little greedy cat.

Before she knew it, Erya's eyes were moist.

She misses her mother so much.

Erya forced back her tears, sniffed, and then remembered that she had not given her second brother food yet.

"Second brother, please eat quickly." Erya handed the lard residue to Erlin.

Erlin only grabbed a little bit of lard and left the rest for Erya to eat.

When the oil cooled down a little, Song Yan poured it into a clay jar.

Then pour in the sugar water with the little oil left at the bottom of the pot and start frying the sugar color.

When the sugar water turns reddish brown, Song Yan pours the pork into the pot and starts stir-frying.

When the meat is stir-fried until slightly browned, pour water and soy sauce into the pot, then secretly throw in seasonings such as cinnamon and star anise, then cover the pot and start simmering.

Erya was eating the lard residue with great relish, without even raising her head, until the aroma of the braised pork wafted out of the pot, then she paid attention to take a look.

"Erlin, is the meal ready?" Song Yan asked.

Erlin said, “It’s almost done.”

"Then let's get ready to eat." Song Yan said as she lifted the lid of the pot. The braised pork in the pot had been stewed until soft and tender, and its color was bright red and attractive.

While the twins weren't paying attention, he scooped out the cinnamon and star anise from the braised pork and threw them into the stove.

Then he served the braised pork as if nothing had happened.

There were not enough bowls at home, so Song Yan took out a bowl, filled it with braised pork, and wrapped the lard residue in oil paper.

He said to Erlin, "Send these to Aunt Niu's house, and bring Yaya back with you."