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

Before Shen Cao could speak, Li Xiaoyu warmly invited Wanyue in, "Wanyue, come quickly, Master made fried radish balls, they just came out of the pot."

"It's delicious, you should try it."

Upon hearing this, Wanyue immediately skipped and jumped into the kitchen.

Walking up to the stove, looking at the golden-brown fried radish balls, she smiled and said, "Wow! This is radish ball! This is the first time I've ever seen one."

"It looks delicious."

As she was saying this, she reached out to take it, but Shen Cao stopped her in time, saying, "Go wash your hands first, use chopsticks, be careful not to burn yourself."

"Mmm! Sister Cao'er is so kind, reminding me so I wouldn't burn myself." She happily went to wash her hands at the sink outside.

Shen Cao: [I just thought your hands were dirty, so I was just reminding you.]

"Delicious! Delicious!" Wanyue couldn't help but exclaim with her mouth still full of radish balls.

Everyone else seemed unsurprised, after all, Sister Cao'er's products were always top-notch and never tasted bad.

Wanyue ate one after another, unable to stop.

Shen Cao brought in a freshly cleaned cow stomach and saw that the first batch of fried radish balls in the basin was almost gone.

She cautioned, "Be careful not to eat too much now, or you won't be able to eat dinner later."

"There's a surprise coming today."

"Ah?!!" Upon hearing Shen Cao's words, Wan Yue quickly put down the radish ball she was about to put in her mouth, feeling a little regretful, as she had already eaten so much.

Wanyue sat there peeling garlic and asked, "Xiaoyu, do you know what the surprise Sister Cao'er mentioned is?"

Li Xiaoyu shook her head.

She looked at Shen Wan again, but the other woman still shook her head.

After all the radish balls were fried, Shen Cao asked Shen Wan to raise the temperature and then pour the freshly fried radish balls back into the oil. After frying for a few seconds, you could clearly hear the crispy sound when you turned them over with a slotted spoon.

Once the radish balls had darkened slightly in color, she immediately scooped them all out.

At this point, the radish balls have a crispier outer shell and a more golden color than before.

Shen Cao picked one up for everyone, saying, "Try it, this is the sound a freshly fried radish ball should make."

After saying that, he crunched the meatball in his mouth.

Crispy and delicious.

Wanyue regretted it even more after she finished eating; she shouldn't have eaten so much.

Shen Cao took out the copper pot she had prepared in advance, poured some charcoal into it through the opening at the bottom, and then took out burning firewood from the stove and put it in.

"Once the charcoal is burning, we can eat."

"You guys go have fun first."

Only Li Xiaoyu and Shen Cao remained in the kitchen.

Shen Cao took out the leftover mutton and mutton rolls she had bought earlier from the ice cellar and began to teach Li Xiaoyu how to cut mutton rolls, hand-cut mutton, and beef.

The beef she bought today was a bit tough, so she deliberately sliced ​​it thinly.

The old yellow ox is different from the beef cattle that were specially raised in the previous life. The old yellow ox has worked all year round, so its meat is naturally firmer than that of beef cattle. In addition, the old yellow ox is old, so the meat will be tougher.

After all the meat was cut, Shen Cao stood the arranged hand-cut mutton upright. "Xiaoyu, look, proper hand-cut meat needs to hang on the plate so that the plate stands upright and doesn't fall over."

"On the one hand, it's used to show the chef's skill in slicing the meat thinly enough; on the other hand, it's to indicate that the meat is fresh enough."

Li Xiaoyu nodded. "Master is so amazing, he knows so much."

After they were ready, Shen Yu'an had also finished his work.

The others had already wiped the table and set out the dishes, just waiting for Shen Cao and the others.

Shen Cao and Li Xiaoyu carefully carried the already heated copper pot over.

A plate was placed under the copper pot to prevent it from burning the table.

It was the first time anyone else had ever seen a copper pot, and they all looked at the uniquely shaped pot with great curiosity.

After Shen Cao placed the copper pots in place, he took a kettle and added clear boiling water to both copper pots.

Then I added a few slices of ginger and a scallion.

They were all very curious. This must be a pot for cooking, but why is it completely different from yesterday's hot pot?

Before they could figure it out, they saw Shen Cao leading her younger siblings in, carrying plate after plate of meat.

Each plate of meat looks the same, yet there are differences.

After all the dishes were served, Shen Cao sat down and began to introduce the copper pot hot pot.

"This pot is specifically for hot pot meat."

"It's getting cold, it's the perfect season for eating mutton."

"The reason this pot is designed this way is twofold: firstly, meat is easier to cook in a copper pot; secondly, the small opening allows the charcoal fire to burn longer, so the stove won't go out halfway through the meal."

Everyone nodded; they hadn't expected that such a small pot would have so many intricacies.

Wanyue looked at Shen Cao with even more admiration. She didn't expect that Sister Cao would not only be able to cook delicious food, but also know so much.

"Isn't this the same hot pot we had yesterday? But why is there nothing in the pot, just plain water?"

Wei Siyu pointed to the clear water in the pot and asked.

Shen Cao nodded and said to Wei Siyu, "Good question."

"There's more to it than meets the eye. The reason we use plain water is because boiling water in a copper pot is the fastest."

"In addition, clean water is better at testing the quality of mutton."

"Good mutton is very tender."

"And the most important thing about eating hot pot is this bowl of secret-recipe sesame sauce."

"It needs to contain chive blossom sauce and fermented bean curd."

"These two items are special things I made this year so that I can enjoy hot pot in winter."

"Only one of its kind."

Shen Cao spoke smugly.

God knows how long she begged for that one bite of chive blossom sauce.

At first, the seller absolutely refused to sell to her, saying they wanted to keep it for breeding purposes. She ended up paying several times the price to buy just a few kilograms.

Moreover, if you want this stuff to last a long time, you have to add a lot of salt, but she doesn't like it too salty, so she only added a little salt.

It's always been kept in the refrigerator in her storage space.

"No wonder there's only a sesame paste bowl today, and no oil dish."

"So this was specially prepared for hot pot. I thought Cao'er had forgotten." Wei Siyu stirred the sesame sauce bowl with her chopsticks and then tasted it.

"Hmm? It tastes different from before."

"Alright, alright, Sister Cao'er, we know now. Shall we start eating? I can't wait any longer."

Wanyue bit her chopsticks and looked at Shen Cao with bright eyes.

"Okay, let's start eating then."

As she spoke, she picked up a radish ball and put it in her mouth.

"Delicious, delicious!!"

"Hahaha!!!"

Wanyue was speechless. Why did Sister Cao'er always like to joke with her?

snort!

Shen Cao gently patted Wan Yue's head. "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. I'll cook you some hot pot now."