The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Wanyue looked at him incredulously, "You've actually eaten hot pot before?"

Wei Siyu finally found her advantage and immediately spoke up, "Of course, who hasn't eaten hot pot?"

"Tch," Wanyue rolled her eyes at him. "So what if you've eaten?"

She ate today and that's it.

Grandma Zhang originally didn't want to stay for dinner; she had been trying to avoid the people from the capital these past few days.

She was terrified of being recognized, even though she knew that more than a decade had passed and the person might not recognize her.

When I first met him, he was just a three-year-old child.

She was just one of many palace maids, and besides, her family probably wouldn't even recognize her now, but she was still afraid of being discovered.

The reason she stayed for dinner was because she really couldn't refuse. After Shen Cao persuaded her, her mother also persuaded her, and if she still didn't agree, she would be ungrateful.

Besides, there might not have been any problem originally, but if my actions arouse suspicion, it would be counterproductive.

At the dinner table, Grandma Zhang refused to sit at the adults' table.

Shen Cao was worried that Granny Zhang would feel uncomfortable with so many people around, so she let her and Li Xiaoyu sit at the children's table.

Apart from Grandma Zhang, Li Xiaoyu, Wanyue, Lü'e, and Aunt Lüwu, everyone else had eaten hot pot.

Shen Cao prepared the condiments for everyone this time, one for oil and one for sesame paste.

She first explained how to eat hot pot, demonstrating it to those who had never tried it before.

It was Wanyue's first time eating it, but with Shen Cao beside her and reminding her, she quickly learned how to do it.

Li Xiaoyu and Shen Cao had been learning to cook for some time, and after Shen Cao finished speaking, she immediately understood how to eat hot pot.

Shen Cao helped at the adults' table, while she was in charge of checking whether the food was cooked at the children's table.

As the weather gets colder, meat is easier to preserve.

A couple of days ago, Shen Cao went to the market and was surprised to see someone selling mutton.

The owner told me that the mutton was transported from Mengxian County.

Shen Cao immediately bought a slaughtered sheep.

After she brought the mutton back that day, she cut it up and even rolled it up in gauze.

Now that we're having hot pot, she specially cut several plates of lamb rolls.

She then introduced the ingredients to everyone, saying, "This is lamb roll."

Seeing Wanyue's curious gaze, she said, "It's made from the meat of the lamb that we bought that day and that was transported from Meng County."

Wanyue paused for a second upon hearing Meng County's name, but quickly recovered.

Shen Cao was busy introducing the mutton from Meng County and didn't see it.

"The sheep in Mengxian County taste better than our local sheep because they graze on the grasslands and drink snowmelt from the mountains all year round. As a result, the meat is not only more tender, but also has no muttony smell."

"In addition, Meng County is relatively close to us, so we can have our first mutton meal before winter arrives."

"I sliced ​​the lamb rolls very thinly, and they're ready to eat once they change color."

She put half a plate of mutton into each of the two pots of the hot pot. The fire in the stove was very strong, and the meat changed color in no time.

She first placed a piece of meat on Wanyue's plate, saying, "You can eat now."

Upon hearing her words, everyone else eagerly took meat from the pot and put it into their own dipping bowls.

Following Shen Cao's example, Li Xiaoyu also added a plate of mutton rolls to the pot.

Once the meat changed color, she first put a piece on her grandmother's plate, and then reminded the others that it was time to eat.

Wanyue picked up a piece of mutton from the condiment bowl and put it in her mouth. She didn't smell any muttony smell when she got close to it.

The imperial chefs in the capital had cooked mutton before, but it always had a strange taste. She always thought that only she could smell that strange taste.

After all, her father loved mutton the most, and he said it was the aroma of mutton that she didn't understand.

She has never eaten mutton since then.

She had intended to refuse, but Sister Cao'er had already put it in her bowl.

She pretended to look down just to smell if there was any strange odor.

This mutton really does have the same strange taste as Sister Cao'er said.

It only had a faint milky flavor, which was very fragrant, and she didn't dislike it at all.

That's why she dared to pick up a large piece and put it in her mouth.

Once it entered her mouth, the mutton was so tender that it slid down her throat almost effortlessly, and she didn't even taste anything.

She couldn't wait to pick up another piece of meat with her chopsticks. This time there was more meat, and she could taste the texture of mutton.

No wonder her father liked to eat mutton; it was the most tender meat she had ever eaten.

If it didn't have a strange smell, she would say that mutton is her favorite meat.

The plate of meat was gone in no time.

Shen Cao added another plate of meat.

Everyone else felt the same way as Wanyue. As seasoned foodies, Wei Siyu and Shen Yu'an had no idea what there was in the world that they didn't like to eat.

That's mutton.

The lamb has a great texture; it's very tender, the most tender of all meats.

But they just couldn't stand the mutton's gamey smell.

This is the first time I've heard that lamb tastes different in different places.

They didn't believe it at first and kept staring at Wanyue.

They knew that Wanyue wouldn't refuse the food Shen Cao put on her plate.

After she finished eating, her eyes lit up, and she quickly picked up another piece with her chopsticks before daring to try it.

This mutton was indeed different from any they had eaten before.

Compared to the mutton we eat now, the mutton we ate before was nothing.

Not only is the meat tender, but it also has a subtle milky aroma.

Paired with Shen Cao's specially made dipping sauce, it's so tender that you might accidentally swallow your tongue.

After everyone finished their four plates of mutton, Shen Cao told them that they could add whatever they wanted to the pot to cook themselves.

If you're unsure whether it's cooked or not, you can ask.

Although Shen Yu'an and Wei Siyu had experience eating hot pot before, this time there were many dishes they had never seen before.

For example, egg dumplings, fish balls, meatballs, etc.

Shen Cao made the egg dumplings on the spur of the moment today. She really wanted to eat them, and since she happened to have some ground meat at home, she added some chopped lotus root and made a bowl of egg dumplings.

Shen Cao pointed to the egg dumplings and said, "Egg dumplings, fish balls, meat balls, and shrimp paste are all ready to eat as long as they float to the surface."

"Vegetables absorb oil, so it's best to cook them in a non-spicy pot."

People who have never eaten hot pot before will learn how after a few rounds.

Wanyue's little face was flushed from eating. She finally understood what Sister Cao'er meant when she said that hot pot was suitable to eat in this season.

The food warmed her up nicely, and she even started sweating a little.

It was the first time she had ever eaten spicy food, and her lips were so swollen from the spiciness that she thought it was because she was sweating profusely from the heat.

He kept slurping.

"Wanyue, you're already eating so much spicy food, so eat less of the spicy hot pot. Eat some of the vegetables from the mushroom hot pot instead."

"Sister Grass, I'm not spicy, I'm hot."

Another stubborn one; he'll stick his tongue out for food.

Fortunately, the rock sugar pear soup she cooked during the day was deliberately kept in the ice cellar.