I've been transported to the orc continent.

For the New Year, Bai Ling planned several kinds of food: grilled fish, stewed meat, stewed ribs, hot pot, grilled meat, braised offal, steamed dumplings, soybean cake, cassava flour cake, cassava pancakes, and bean crisp candy.

Bai Ling started preparing the day before the Lunar New Year. The clansmen were also busy. Many hands make light work. Except for the elderly, children and cubs, all the other clansmen got to work.

Bai Ling personally made the maltose and soybean powder shortbread, while the rest were made by the tribespeople.

Making soybean powder brittle is very simple. The malt syrup is boiled until it becomes thick, but it's not quite ready to be used as malt sugar yet. So, the syrup is scooped out and left to cool in a ceramic basin.

Place the roasted soybean flour in a ceramic bowl, make a small hole with your hand, and pour in the malt syrup after it has cooled slightly.

Then press the soybean flour onto the syrup and knead it continuously. Sprinkle a thick layer of soybean flour on any part of the syrup that is exposed. Once the soybean flour and syrup are completely mixed, flatten the dough with your hands, fold it in half and flatten it, fold it in half and flatten it, fold it in half and flatten it again. After folding it in half several times, the dough will become layered.

Sprinkle another layer of soybean powder on the outside, and finally cut the soybean brittle in half. The soybean brittle is now ready.

Place the prepared bean curd in a ceramic bowl, layering it with soybean powder. When you want to eat it, just take it out.

When the bean curd was ready, the beastmen in charge of cooking all tried a piece. This snack with a light sweet aroma was very popular among the beastmen, especially the children. They would even lick their fingers after eating it.

Soybean cake is also very easy to make. Simply mix maltose with water and soybean flour, then steam it. Tapioca flour cake is made by mixing steamed tapioca flour with maltose and water, kneading it into a dough, cutting it into small pieces the size of your palm, and then steaming it.

Both of these are most delicious when they're freshly steamed; you can make them on New Year's Day.

Bai Ling also prepared pork floss. After the soybean cake and tapioca flour cake are steamed, sprinkle a layer of pork floss or soybean powder on them while they are still hot, and they will taste even better.

*

The entire tribe was looking forward to the New Year, especially the day before the New Year, when the beastmen lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) discussing what they would eat the next day.

Among these, bean curd candy is the most popular. It is sweet, fragrant, and soft, and you can swallow it without even chewing it.

There are also soybean cakes and tapioca flour cakes; just smelling them makes my mouth water.

Bai Ling also participated in the discussion. He was the one who led the preparation of all the food. Even if he didn't say anything, the tribesmen kept asking him questions.

"Ling, what is grilled fish? Is it like meat, where you put fish on a stone slab and grill it?"

"Ling, how many pieces of bean curd can each person have?"

"Ling, how much soybean cake and cassava flour cake can I eat? Can I eat as much as I want?"

"Ling, how many hot pots should we make tomorrow? I think the tribesmen prefer hot pot to roasted or stewed meat."

"You're wrong. I think barbecue tastes better. Ling, do you think I'm right?"

"Steamed dumplings are delicious, I love steamed dumplings the most."

…………

The tribespeople kept calling Bai Ling's name, and Bai Ling felt as if his soul was being summoned. So he simply stopped sleeping, wrapped himself in an animal skin blanket, and sat up.

Leaning against the warm fire wall, Bai Ling laughed and said, "Alright, all of you, stop calling me. You'll find out what's delicious tomorrow."

Coco's tribespeople still couldn't contain their curiosity. They had all sorts of questions to ask Bai Ling, and often one tribesperson hadn't even finished asking a question before another started asking one.

This left Bai Ling no time to answer. Perhaps they didn't want Bai Ling's answer anyway, and were just using this method to express their expectations for the New Year.

*

The New Year has finally arrived. On this day, all the people in the tribe get up very early, even the children who love to stay in bed the most get up before dawn.

The tribespeople who are usually responsible for cooking get up even earlier, and by the time the tribespeople gradually get up, they have already prepared all the meals.

The New Year's breakfast was the same as usual: bone broth and hot cassava cakes. The people who cooked were very experienced, and they never had much food left over in the mornings. The people usually ate everything. But today was different. The food that was usually similar to what they ate was almost half left over.

This indicates that most of the tribespeople were not getting enough to eat.

With delicious food to be served at noon, the orcs in the tribe were in no mood to eat much; they were all waiting for the midday feast with empty stomachs.

After the meal, Bai Ling began to arrange the tasks for the tribespeople. Stewed meat and ribs had to be started, and soybean cakes, cassava pumpkin cakes, and cassava cakes also needed to be steamed. The offal was cleaned and boiled to remove the blood before being braised. Bai Ling prepared the braising sauce herself, but to her regret, she couldn't find chili peppers or Sichuan peppercorns, and she didn't know how it would taste. Hot pot was relatively simple to make, so she would start making it last.

The tribespeople worked together with orcs from other tribes, and before long, the aroma of stir-fried meat and ribs began to waft through the air.

Even when stewing meat in winter, it's usually stewed with vegetables and other similar ingredients. But today, this pot is all meat. As soon as the aroma of the meat spread, the beastmen started to get distracted.

The older orcs were alright, but the younger ones couldn't resist any longer. They didn't have much to do, so they wandered around the pot of stewing meat. Unfortunately, the meat wasn't cooked yet and couldn't be eaten, so the orcs could only stare longingly at the meat in the pot.

Soybean cakes, cassava flour cakes, cassava pancakes, and steamed dumplings are all being steamed, and meat and ribs are being stewed. It's time to start grilling meat and fish.

The meat and fish were marinated yesterday. Find two clean stone slabs, place them on the fire pit, brush them with animal fat, and you can start grilling. Cut the meat into palm-sized pieces, and split the fish in half lengthwise, removing the bones from the center. After marinating overnight, the meat and fish are fully flavored. When they touch the oil on the stone slab, they sizzle.

After the first batch of meat was roasted, it was given to the youngest cubs. The cubs' round eyes followed the roasted meat. Because the meat was held high by their adults, the cubs jumped and leaped, but they still couldn't reach it.

This made the cubs anxious and they kept pacing around in circles. Some of the cubs even nuzzled around their parents' legs, but they just couldn't get a taste of the delicious roasted meat.

This can't be blamed on the adults, because the roasted meat is a bit hot, and the cubs' mouths are very delicate. Eating even a little bit of hot food will burn their mouths and make them red.

Bai Ling smelled the fragrance of soybean cake, and the steamer holding cassava flour cake began to steam. He smiled and said, "Now we can make hot pot."

As soon as Bai Ling finished speaking, the young orc guarding the hot pot fire started to light it.

Ever since he tried hot pot once, he has been craving its flavor. Now that he can eat hot pot again, he can't wait to enjoy it.