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

"Alright, now that everything's settled, let's have a good meal tonight!" Shen Cao suggested happily.

"I want to eat meat."

“I want to eat meat too.” Shen Qing and Shen Wan raised their hands in agreement and expressed their thoughts.

"It's so late, where can we find meat?" Mother Shen said with a smile. "Let's go to the county town to buy some tomorrow."

Shen Qing and Shen Wan pouted. Although they also wanted to eat meat now, they could only wait until tomorrow.

Shen Cao gestured to his father, who then took his basket.

Shen Cao smiled and said, "Father, how was my guess?"

"I knew my younger siblings would want to eat meat. Luckily, I was smart enough to buy it in advance." As she spoke, Shen Cao reached into her basket and took out the pork belly and ribs she had bought.

Shen Qing and Shen Wan were overjoyed to see the generous amount of meat that Shen Cao had brought out.

That's great. Since my sister got better, we can not only eat delicious meals at home, but also meat, which they never dared to dream of before.

Shen Cao gently pinched her younger siblings' noses. "Alright, you two stay with Mom and Dad. I'll go make you something delicious."

After saying that, Shen Cao took the meat to the kitchen.

She doesn't let her younger siblings help because she needs to take some of the seasonings for making braised pork and sweet and sour pork ribs from her storage space, and she doesn't want them to find out.

Shen Cao first soaked the pork belly and ribs separately in a basin to remove the blood.

She had the butcher chop the ribs into small, easy-to-eat pieces beforehand.

Braised pork is best served with rice, so Shen Cao added some brown rice to the only leftover white rice in her house and steamed a pot of rice.

Since she didn't have a rice cooker, she used the rice-steaming method she had learned from the Sichuan and Chongqing regions in her previous life. She first put all the rice in a pot, added enough water, and cooked it for a while. Then she took out the rice and put it in a steamer to continue steaming. The water used to cook the rice turned into delicious rice soup. After the rice was cooked, each grain was distinct and tasted exceptionally good.

Thinking about her family's appetite, she went to the cellar and took out some potatoes. She had seen these potatoes last time when she and her father went to the cellar. She never expected to find potatoes at this time.

She took three large potatoes, peeled them, cut them into chunks, and boiled them until they were half-cooked.

Pour a little vegetable oil into the pan and fry the potato chunks until golden brown, then remove them. Potatoes don't usually need to be boiled; frying them until golden brown is better. However, considering that she didn't have much oil at home, she had to boil the potatoes until they were half-cooked first.

Once the potatoes are fried, set them aside.

Shen Cao began to prepare the pork belly. Since the pigs in ancient times were not castrated, they would taste rather fishy. She cut the pork belly into small pieces, added scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, and blanched it once.

She bought a lot of pork belly, and kept a small piece for tomorrow.

The pork ribs were blanched using the same method.

Wash the pork belly and ribs thoroughly, and the preparation is almost complete.

She took out the spices she had taken out of the storage space beforehand—bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, and fennel seeds—and chopped the scallions into sections, sliced ​​the ginger, and smashed a few cloves of garlic.

Shen Cao first stir-fried braised pork. She prefers braised pork that is slightly sweet, but not as sweet as the kind from the Jiangzhehu region in her previous life.

Therefore, she took out rock sugar.

Add a little oil to the pot, pour in the washed pork belly, and stir-fry until the Maillard reaction occurs. Each piece of pork belly will turn slightly browned. At this point, the excess fat in the pork will be rendered out, which will make the pork belly less greasy.

Pour out the excess oil, then add the prepared spices: a small piece of cinnamon, a star anise (adding too much cinnamon and star anise will make the meat too spice-flavored), three bay leaves, four or five slices of ginger, three or four sections of scallion, and three cloves of garlic.

Stir-fry for a while longer until the aroma of the spices is fully released. Then add soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rock sugar, pour in enough boiling water, cover the pot, and simmer slowly. Just wait for time to allow all the sauces to blend into the meat. As time goes by, each seasoning brings out its unique flavor, and every bite is just right.

Just then, the rice was cooked, and Shen Cao scooped out both the rice water and the cooked rice, freeing up the pot to make sweet and sour pork ribs.

Sweet and sour pork ribs is a dish that Shen Cao has eaten since childhood and never gets tired of.

When Shen Cao entered the storage space, she was surprised to find a bottle of Sprite in the refrigerator and preserved plums from different regions and time periods that she had collected in the storage room. She immediately changed the sweet and sour pork ribs to preserved plum pork ribs.

Using the same method, stir-fry the ribs until they undergo the Maillard reaction, add an appropriate amount of Sprite and about eight preserved plums, then pour in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a suitable amount of oyster sauce. Cover the pot and simmer.

The pork ribs were just starting to stew, and the braised pork was almost done. Shen Cao added some potatoes that she had fried earlier.

Potatoes are a magical ingredient. They can retain their original flavor and adapt to any cooking method, taking on the flavor of whatever you stew them with, and they also have a great texture.

After adding the potatoes, reduce the sauce over high heat until the braised pork is almost cooked through, then it's ready to serve.

The best thing to eat is rice with meat gravy. When it was done cooking, Shen Cao secretly ate a piece of meat, and it was delicious.

Before taking the ribs out of the pot, some potatoes were added. After removing the spices and preserved plums from the dish, the preserved plum ribs were ready.

Shen Cao also made a cold dish of wild vegetables at the end.

The rest of the Shen family had smelled the aroma as soon as Shen Caocai poured the meat into the pot.

During this time, Shen Qing and Shen Wan sneaked into the kitchen countless times to try the food in advance, but Shen Cao chased them out each time.

"More haste less speed."

Worried that her family would see the seasonings she had taken out, Shen Cao hurriedly chased her younger siblings out of the kitchen, so that her family could only smell the aroma but no one could actually eat them.

After a long wait, the group wiped the table clean early on.

The funniest one was Shen Qing. From the moment he smelled the meat, he lost all interest in playing and wiped the dining table over and over again, almost polishing it.

After the food was laid out, Shen Qing picked up his chopsticks early, waiting for Shen Cao's command to "start eating".

Upon hearing the instruction, Shen Qing immediately headed towards the braised pork he had been eyeing for a long time.

The braised pork belly was a beautiful reddish-brown color and glistening with oil. Every piece was stewed to perfection. When he first served the dish, the braised pork belly trembled as he held it. Just thinking about it made my mouth water.

Sure enough, upon taking a bite, the outer layer of fat melted instantly in his mouth, carrying a subtle sweetness and a rich aroma. The meat was firm yet tender, fatty yet not greasy. As he chewed, the juices slowly seeped out, filling his mouth with a rich and lingering blend of meaty and soy sauce flavors. Paired with a mouthful of rice, it was so delicious that he almost swallowed his tongue along with it.

"It's so delicious." After finishing the first bite, Shen Qing couldn't wait to start the second.