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

Looking at the beef sauce in her hand, Shen Cao suddenly felt that the cornbread was no longer hard to swallow.

It's even a delicacy.

When I made the beef sauce, I cut the beef into relatively large pieces so that I could eat it to my heart's content.

With the large chunks of beef sauce, Shen Cao quickly finished the corn cake.

I've made this beef sauce countless times.

However, I don't know the price of beef in this era, otherwise I could make a living by selling beef sauce.

After eating, Shen Cao took a walk around her yard and found neat rows of plants growing there, though they had just sprouted and she couldn't tell what they were yet.

Shen Cao then went for a walk around the house.

There is a small river not far from the house.

Shen Cao thought he should go and see if there were any fish or shrimp in the river, so he could improve his meals.

Shen Cao took a look and, sure enough, she found something good.

In this era, there was no pollution, the river water was clear, and Shen Cao could clearly see the small fish swimming around.

These fish are too small; they're not Shen Cao's target.

Shen Cao's target was the snails and clams lying on the bottom of the river.

The riverbed was covered with them.

Perhaps because the people here don't eat them, they are all incredibly plump and delicious.

We can treat ourselves to a better meal today.

Shen Cao went home to get the basket she had just seen, and filled it with snails and clams before returning home.

The rest will be kept in the river for now, and then we'll come over to eat them later.

On her way home, Shen Cao noticed a bamboo grove, and from a distance, it seemed to have quite a few bamboo shoots.

When my family comes back, I'll ask if that bamboo grove belongs to our family, and then we'll have bamboo shoots to eat.

As soon as she got home, Shen Cao poured the snails and clams into a basin and sprinkled some salt in so that they could expel the mud.

After setting out the snails and clams, Shen Cao took out the wild garlic she had just picked from the riverbank and started peeling it.

There were scallions planted in the yard, and Shen Cao pulled up a few.

After preparing the side dishes, Shen Cao began to process the snails and river clams.

The snail's tail tip was chopped off with a kitchen knife. Shen Cao originally wanted to use pliers, but couldn't find any.

Fortunately, because no one eats these snails, they have grown very large, each one about as thick as an adult's thumb.

After processing the snails, Shen Cao used a brush to scrub the snails and river clams clean.

Seeing the leftover wild vegetables from her mother's cooking in the kitchen, Shen Cao thought of making another wild vegetable salad.

Three dishes seem insufficient for five people.

Shen Cao then picked some more scallions, intending to make a scallion pancake using the modern method for making fennel pancakes.

Shen Cao took some flour and put it in a basin. Looking at the eggs in the basket, she gritted her teeth, took two eggs, and put them into the flour.

Add water, eggs, and a pinch of salt to the flour and stir until it reaches a yogurt-like consistency without any lumps.

Heat a wok over high heat, brush a little lard into the wok, scoop a spoonful of batter into it, and quickly spread the batter evenly with the spoon.

Once one side has solidified, flip it over and continue spreading until the batter is fully cooked.

A thin pancake is ready.

Roll up the spread pancake and cut it into strips about half a finger wide.

Shen Cao didn't see any rapeseed oil or similar products in the kitchen, so she took out a bottle from her storage room, but quickly put it back after using it up.

Finely chop the scallions and wild garlic, add salt, sugar, and the five-spice powder and MSG I took out from the pantry.

Heat rapeseed oil in a wok until it smokes, then pour the hot oil into a bowl containing seasonings and shredded pancakes.

With a "sizzle" sound.

The scalding hot oil immediately brings out the aroma of scallions, garlic, and the mixed seasonings.

Mix the ingredients in the bowl well, and a scallion pancake made according to the fennel pancake recipe is ready.

The aroma of scallions is irresistible. Because the scallions are chopped very finely, each white strip of pancake is covered with some bright green scallion bits, making it look incredibly delicious.

For the second dish, Shen Cao prepared stir-fried snails.

Heat oil in a wok, add scallions, ginger, garlic and other seasonings to sauté until fragrant, then add the cleaned snails.

Simply add salt, soy sauce, sugar, and cooking wine, then continue stir-frying.

After stir-frying for about ten seconds, add cooking wine and hot water to cover the snails, then cover the pot and simmer.

Before simmering, Shen Cao took out the dough she had just made with cornmeal and wheat flour.

Pure cornmeal was too hard, so Shen Cao added a little flour into it.

Wet your hands, shape the dough into a ball, flatten it with your hands, and place it on the side of the pot.

Shen Cao quickly finished making all the dough, making exactly ten pancakes.

Then cover the pot and continue to simmer.

After simmering for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, remove from heat and add the perilla leaves that Shen Cao picked by the roadside.

Stir-fry a few more times, then remove from heat.

The flatbreads by the pot were cooked, each one a golden brown with a crispy, golden-brown bottom, looking delicious.

Shen Cao didn't dare to add chili peppers because she didn't know if they existed in this era.

They then made braised snails.

Although braised snails don't look as appetizing as spicy snails, the snails coated in the red sauce still smell delicious.

For the third dish, Shen Cao planned to stir-fry a river clam with wild garlic she had picked.

River clams have a strong earthy smell, so Shen Cao plans to use the garlic flavor of wild garlic to mask the earthy smell.

The process is the same as stir-frying snails: heat oil in a wok, but this time a large amount of wild garlic is added.

The aroma of wild garlic instantly filled the entire kitchen.

After simmering for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the umami flavor of the river clams was brought out as the simmering reached its peak. Combined with the garlicky aroma of wild garlic, the umami flavor of the river clams was elevated to an even more exquisite level.

So delicious.

Shen Cao's mouth was watering.

These unpolluted river clams were indeed delicious.

Moreover, river clams are at their fattest and most delicious right now; they sound incredibly tasty.

After the river clams were cooked, it got dark outside. It seemed that Mr. and Mrs. Shen, who had gone out to work, and their younger siblings would be back soon.

Shen Cao quickened her pace, scalding the washed wild vegetables in hot water.

Put it in cold water to chill, then take it out, squeeze out the water, and put it in a bowl.

Add salt, sugar, MSG, chopped green onions, minced garlic, and five-spice powder to the bowl, then pour in hot oil.

With a sizzle, the hot oil released the aroma of scallions, garlic, and seasonings.

Then add an appropriate amount of soy sauce and vinegar, stir well, and a simple cold wild vegetable salad is ready.

After tidying up the kitchen, Shen Cao put all the seasonings she had taken from the storage room back in.

The Shen family also returned from their work.

Unlike before, this time they saw smoke coming out of the kitchen chimney from a distance on their way back, thinking that their eldest son might be coming back from the academy.

When I arrived at my doorstep, I could smell the delicious aroma wafting from my home.

It couldn't be the eldest son. At most, the eldest son can only cook porridge and mix some wild vegetables.

The aroma is similar to that of meat.

Has a thief broken into the house?

Everyone unconsciously quickened their pace to get home.