Miao Chu

Chapter 26 Fragrant Mouth
It's hard to imagine the taste of this if you've never eaten perfectly proportioned and cooked scallion and pork filling on an empty stomach early in the morning.

Pork is different from mutton. It doesn't have the same rich aroma as mutton, nor is it as firm. However, it is more tender and has a milder flavor.

In other words, it won't overpower the flavor.

If the scallions in the scallion and lamb filling are secondary, helping to enhance the aroma of the lamb and also cutting through the greasiness, then in this scallion and pork filling, the scallions and pork complement each other perfectly.

The white part of the scallion is cooked to a slightly pungent level, which enhances the flavor. The green part of the scallion is fully cooked and mixes evenly and evenly with the minced pork, each part blending seamlessly with the other.

The shumai wrappers are incredibly thin yet resilient, filled with abundant broth—wild scallions contribute their aroma, and the pan-fried pork gives off its full meaty fragrance.

The foreleg meat is 30% fat and 70% lean, making the meat more delicate and flavorful. It also has a chewy texture because it contains tendons, and the slight greasiness of the fat is perfectly complemented by the scallion flavor.

One bite, and the still slightly scalding soup practically burst open in He Qi's mouth.

The sweet and savory broth is the result of the combined efforts of scallions and pork.

He Qi chewed quickly at first because it was still a bit hot, but soon he started chewing slowly, afraid of swallowing it whole and wasting such a good taste.

But no matter how slowly he chewed, there was only one scallion and pork shumai, and he quickly finished it all.

Forget about feeling unsatisfied, we couldn't even get to the bottom of it.

For a moment, He Qi's gaze toward Wang Geng was filled with even more resentment.

The latter had no choice but to pretend to be dead and hurriedly brought over the bamboo tube.

He Qi took it, still a little worried about getting burned again, and only dared to carefully drink a sip of soup.

Some of the pork rib broth in the bamboo tube had spilled, and since it had been left open for a while, the temperature was now just right.

He took a small sip, and as soon as he tasted it, he quickly took a big sip.

The soup was light, but not bland.

The bone broth was clear, and the radish was sliced, each slice only a fraction of an inch thick. But since it was added last, it still had a bit of texture and didn't just melt in your mouth.

Because it retains its shape and is not overcooked, the white radish retains its flavor even better. When you bite into it, it's refreshing and sweet, and the radish flavor even cuts through the oil that rises from the bone broth.

The soup was sprinkled with chopped scallions, adding a subtle fresh scallion aroma to the refreshing bone broth, meaty fragrance, and radish flavor.

The soup isn't quite salty enough; it's rather bland. But that missing bit of salt is just enough to make you drink a whole bamboo tube of soup without feeling thirsty.

It's actually just a regular stew, but because the seasoning and ingredients are just right, it tastes exceptionally light and refreshing.

This soup is absolutely perfect with glutinous rice, especially with mutton and scallion, pork and scallion, shepherd's purse, bamboo shoots, tofu and shumai!

The scallion-flavored mutton and pork are very flavorful, and the soup is perfect for cleansing your palate after you've finished eating them.

But He Qi only ate one pork and scallion shumai, so what was the point of cleansing his palate?
How could Wang Geng not see the condemning look in the eyes of the person opposite him? He quickly hid and went out, not daring to leave the matter unattended. He had no choice but to go to the back door.

Before he even arrived at his destination, he felt the road was getting darker and darker, as if the weather was about to change.

When we got to the door, the wind was already howling outside, and it seemed like rain or snow was about to fall.

A number of pageboys were gathered outside the door, two of whom were servants who usually followed Wang Geng and came to deliver breakfast to their young master. When they saw him come out, they hurried forward.

Wang Geng accepted the breakfast but wasn't in a hurry to leave.

He didn't mention He Qi's name, but only said that he had eaten a kind of food today, which looked similar to a dumpling. It was a variety of two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. He described what the meat dishes were filled with, what the vegetable dishes were filled with, what the main seasonings were, what it tasted like, how fresh and fragrant it was, and what the texture of each dish was, how thin it was. As he talked, he even made himself hungry. Recalling the two shumai he had just eaten, he actually began to understand He Qi's feelings.

After describing the appearance of the shumai, he went on to talk about the glutinous rice, how soft and sticky it was, how savory and fragrant it was, and what rich ingredients it contained, including fried ingredients for added aroma, salty and sour ingredients to cut through the richness, and mung bean paste...

After he finished speaking, he felt that the sticky rice seemed to actually be something special, and not as simple as he had originally thought.

After reporting everything, Wang Gengfu instructed, "Please have Mother arrange for the kitchen to make some and send it over. I need it to entertain my friends—it needs tonight at the latest. Don't delay, I've already promised!" The two servants, having heard him say all that, felt that even though none of the ingredients were expensive, it wouldn't be easy to make. They didn't dare to delay any longer and hurried back to the mansion to report.

Besides the regular kitchen staff, the Wang family also employed several experienced chefs, all of whom were quite skilled. Seeing the servants hurry away, Wang Geng finally felt relieved and waited for food to be delivered to his home that evening. He hoped it would be even better than what he had eaten that day, as it would be a way to apologize to He Qi.

***
Wang Geng had arranged for his men to leave, but Song Miao in Suanzao Alley welcomed an unexpected guest.

She was about to go out to buy some groceries when she noticed that the sky was low and the clouds were thick, and soon a strong wind started to blow.

Fearing rain or snow on the way, she changed her plans, started a fire, and slowly began to make the crispy fried dough for the glutinous rice.

This is a bit time-consuming, but you can't make too much at once, otherwise it will easily go bad if left for too long. So Song Miao makes it fresh every day.

She had only fried one pot when she heard someone knocking on the door. When she went out to answer, it turned out to be Sun, the village head.

The other party had clearly come braving the wind; his half-white beard was disheveled by the wind.

Upon seeing this, Song Miao quickly greeted him and ushered him inside, offering to pour him tea.

Sun, the village head, didn't care about those taboos about weddings and funerals. He stepped inside, stopped Song Miao first, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then said, "Yesterday my wife came back and gave me a lot of contracts. She said you're a very capable young lady. When I saw them, I found they were indeed capable. So I picked out the ones with familiar names and sent them over. They were willing to listen to me a bit because of my old reputation, and they didn't say anything. After that, there were still these left..."

As he spoke, he handed over a stack of documents.

"I don't know these remaining people very well, and they live far away. As a village head, I have no power and I can't speak to strangers. A couple of days ago, Liao Qingjiao sent someone to find me, saying that he had received some instructions from a wealthy man to tell me to mind my own business."

“Kid, let me be frank with you. It’s not that I don’t want to help with the rest of the matter, but I really can’t. If you have a way, use it quickly, don’t delay. I know you’ve been selling breakfast near the Imperial Academy these past few days, and you’ve done well. In a few years, you might actually be able to pay off your debts. It’s just that others might not give you that opportunity.”

Song Miao brought back a few documents, but there weren't many left, only seven or eight, with varying amounts.

She understood the situation and knew that Mr. and Mrs. Sun's repeated reminders were very kind, so she thanked them profusely.

After delivering the documents, Sun, the village head, was about to leave. Song Miao tried to persuade him to stay, but to no avail. Just as he was about to leave, the wind outside began to howl, and the sound of rain was added—it started to sleet.

The wind and rain were fierce, and since Sun, the village head, hadn't brought an umbrella, he really couldn't leave this time.

Song Miao then brought out a stool and invited him to sit and wait in the hall. She also poured tea and brought over some snacks such as fried rice and crispy fried noodles.

Sun Lizheng did not refuse, sat down and ate, and asked about his difficulties with food and clothing.

Song Miao responded with a few words, but then suddenly said, "Last time when my aunt came, she said that you two both really like to eat fragrant food."

Sun Lizheng then said, "That's true—I really enjoy eating these fried buns of yours."

Song Miao got up and looked at the weather, saying, "Auntie sent a lot of taro and yam yesterday. I was just about to return the favor, but I didn't have time. Now that Uncle Sun is here, I'll take advantage of the clear weather and make them all at once to send back. Wouldn't that be great?"

Sun Lizheng naturally refused immediately.

Song Miao simply smiled and said, "We were just frying something anyway, the oil was readily available, the rest was just a prelude to the Buddha's offering..."

As she spoke, she went to the back and brought out a frying pan.

There was still embers in the stove. After adding firewood, the stove was opened and it soon caught fire.

While the fire was burning slowly, Song Miao didn't need anything else, she just took out two taro that Zhu had given her.

What a long and voluminous chapter!!!

Speaking of shumai, if you have friends visiting Inner Mongolia and it's the right season, you can try the local shumai with mutton and pork with sand onions.

Sand onions, also known as Mongolian leeks, are solid and have almost no spiciness, but they are more fragrant with scallion flavor. They are crisp and tender, resembling both leeks and scallions. When paired with mutton, they have a very unique flavor.

However, I personally think that restaurants in the east, west, north and south tend to be a bit more heavily seasoned. If you prefer a milder palate, you might find the seasoning too salty or you might not be used to the taste. Nevertheless, it's still worth trying to broaden your palate's horizons.

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(End of this chapter)