Miao Chu

Chapter 326 Precision
What crab isn't delicious?

Fresh blue crabs, steamed until cooked, are carefully removed from the meat, leaving no shell fragments behind. One bite, and slowly savoring it, Cao's nephew inexplicably sighs, one sigh after another.

The sound was somewhat involuntary, but the sigh coming from his nose clearly conveyed a sense of satisfaction.

So fresh and sweet!

You could even coin a new word for it: fresh and delicate.

The broth is a rich stock. Because guests had made a reservation for the evening, the broth was started early in the morning. It contains whole chicken, pork bones and other ingredients, and is simmered together with winter melon and crab meat. The refreshing taste of the winter melon and the sweetness of the crab meat are fully extracted, resulting in a very refreshing flavor.

Live crabs have firm, distinct meat, with each bite revealing distinct strands and strands. The crab roe is a rich, thick, and flavorful red roe that sticks to the teeth and throat when bitten into, leaving a thick, creamy texture in the mouth. It is incredibly mellow and has a rich, fragrant aroma.

But that thickness only lasts for a moment, and it will soon be overwhelmed by the sweetness of the crab meat and the sweetness of the winter melon juice.

When he tastes crab roe, he marvels at its rich aroma and flavor; when he eats crab meat or winter melon, he is overwhelmed by its boundless sweetness.

Especially that winter melon...

Cao's nephew's hand, which had been hanging in mid-air, unconsciously reached for the winter melon on the plate.

He grabbed a spoonful and put a large piece of winter melon into the spoon in his bowl.

While having dinner with his elders, the nephew, who was sitting upright, suddenly forgot why he was there and who was at the table. He subconsciously leaned back, resting his elbow on the edge of the table, half-holding his spoon, his mind completely focused on his mouth.

This guy was already a bit squinty, and now his eyes were even more narrowed.

The winter melon has been simmered until it's thoroughly cooked; when you eat it, the texture is divided into two parts.

Part of it, closer to the inside, was so soft and mushy that it couldn't be picked up with chopsticks at all. Luckily, I used a spoon, otherwise it would definitely have fallen back into the plate.

It is especially flavorful, with a pure, soft texture that seems to solidify slightly, but melts in your mouth, becoming a delicious broth that perfectly complements the sweetness of the crab meat, the richness of the crab roe, and the umami of the broth.

The other part is near the outer skin, where it retains its original shape and even feels a bit firm when you eat it, but that firmness is all bark and no bite.

Whether the teeth are young or old, they can be dealt with effortlessly. Even if you have no teeth, you can crush them with just your upper and lower palates, squeezing out the essence of the crab, its sweetness and the flavor of the broth, with an endless sweetness.

Song Miao thickened the sauce for this dish.

The character 芡 (qián) refers to the fruit of the fox nut (芡实).

The starch slurry is made from fox nuts and thickened very thinly. It is all thanks to the starch slurry that all the juice of the winter melon is preserved. At this time, the juice is so plentiful that it is completely inexhaustible. Press it down and a mouthful of juice will flow out. Press it down again and another mouthful of juice will flow out.

However, compared to the winter melon flesh, which has been completely "crab-like" inside, the main flavor of this part is still winter melon.

Winter melon has a bland taste, and sometimes it can even give people a sense of tastelessness and lack of flavor.

But for some reason, perhaps it was because the ingredients themselves were of good quality, or perhaps it was because the chef handled them so skillfully, or perhaps it was both, in any case, using this extremely fresh and sweet crab meat to braise brought out its unique refreshing sweetness.

It is not domineering, nor intense; it has the feeling of flowing water that does not compete for the lead, but for the endless flow.

Normally, eating a lot of crabs is troublesome, and the fatter and more delicious the crabs are, the easier it is to get tired of them. But with winter melon as a base, you can eat it without getting tired of it.

It's practically made for mixing with rice.

Without realizing it, Cao's nephew had already picked up the bowl next to him and started eating.

The rice grains are round and plump, steaming hot, and rolling in such a wonderful broth. The aroma of the rice, the sweetness of the crab, and the refreshing scent of the winter melon are simply a match made in heaven. Once you've tasted it, you'll never want to eat them separately again.

As if in the blink of an eye, just as Cao's nephew swallowed the food in his mouth and was about to take another bite, he suddenly froze.

—Hey, why is this bowl empty?

I haven't eaten much yet... right?

He turned to look at Master Cao and saw his uncle also raising his head from the empty bowl, blinking at him.

The two pairs of eyes exchanged a glance, and as expected of uncle and nephew, they almost simultaneously called for food from the hired women beside them.

The woman hurriedly brought over another bowl, but couldn't help but add a word of advice: "The master said that you two should save some room for later—there will be fried rice and other dishes as well."

The uncle and nephew responded, but both ignored it completely.

The younger one knew the proper order of seniority and took the initiative to serve the older one more rice.

However, the old man kept offering his opinions on the food.

"Less! Less! Not so much! Just half a bowl is enough, oh dear, that's too little! Give me more!"

After much deliberation and nitpicking, the old man said, "I want two bites of crab meat and winter melon with a mouthful of rice. Too much soup is greasy, too little is bland—forget it, you're too young, you don't understand the balance of quantity and amount! I'll serve myself!"

While we were eating, the next dish was served.

A very pretty little plate of hand-grabbed pork strips.

Lamb neck meat, with skin on, has an excellent fat-to-lean ratio. You can taste its freshness; it truly has no gamey smell at all, and even the saltiness is very mild. The meat is extremely tender, and it won't get stuck in your teeth when you bite into it. Instead, you'll experience a very noticeable juicy texture with a milky aroma.

Two small dishes of chive blossom sauce were served next to the meat, but the two of them didn't dip their fingers in it and ate it all on its own.

Crab meat is white meat, which is completely different from the richness of this red meat. Eating them in turn is truly satisfying on top of satisfying.

By this point, I was already about 70% full.

But almost as soon as I swallowed the last bite of mutton, the next dish arrived.

This time, it was Zhang Si Niang who served the dishes.

She was already quite familiar with Master Cao, a regular customer. After introducing the dishes, she said, "My wife said that this dish is actually best made by directly burying salt in the crab, without anything in between, as it's more fragrant that way. But this is the first time I've made it, so I don't know what the saltiness of coarse salt-baked crab is like..."

"The crab meat and winter melon dish ahead already has two large crabs and one small crab. Since it's considered a cold dish, my wife said not to eat too much. Although we made four salt-baked crabs, you two don't need to finish them all. If you can't finish them, you can take them home."

Master Cao chuckled and said, "Don't worry! I know what I'm doing—tell Miss Song not to worry!"

Although Cao's nephew didn't say anything, looking at the plate of salt-baked baby crabs, he couldn't help but think to himself: Although they're not big, if I keep one and bring it back to the yamen, I can slowly enjoy a bite of it with tea when I'm tired in the afternoon. That would be quite nice!
Four salt-baked baby crabs, their shells a vibrant red, emitted an incredibly rich aroma as soon as they were served.

Even without smelling it, just looking at it with the naked eye is enough to make you smell incredibly good.

While Lao and Zhong Er Cao were frantically figuring out how to take them back, they each picked up one. It was incredibly hot; as soon as they lifted the crab shell, white steam was already billowing out.

Also gushing out is golden crab oil. When you break it open, the meat is only about the thickness of a copper coin, and the rich crab roe completely fills the entire crab shell and belly.

At this moment, the crab oil mixed with the crab roe flowed even more profusely, almost to the point of being turbulent. Cao's nephew's eyes widened in astonishment, and he hurriedly leaned in to take a sip.

That one sip made his head start buzzing.

If the previous dish of crab meat with winter melon was a gentle stream that flowed into his heart without him even realizing it, then this bite of crab roe was a raging torrent that crashed against his heart with a resounding thud, leaving him nowhere to hide and nowhere to escape.

The texture is absolutely gorgeous.

It is semi-solid and flows very slowly, like a salted egg yolk, but it is fresher, more fragrant, richer, smoother, and denser than a salted egg yolk, with an overwhelming rich yellow aroma. Your mouth is full of it, making you almost reluctant to swallow it. You will only keep sucking on it, letting the full flavor and texture fill your mouth as much as possible.

The salt-baking process absorbs all the moisture, making the crab more fragrant, its meat firmer and more elastic, and its freshness and sweetness concentrated to the extreme. When it enters your mouth, it's an explosion of flavor.

Cao's nephew ate with great gusto, not wanting to miss a single piece of crab meat or crab roe. When he finally finished one crab and saw that no one was around and his uncle across from him was too busy to look up, he finally relaxed and sneakily licked his fingers, cleaning up any crab oil that had accidentally gotten on them.

He had just wiped his hands with a damp cloth when he looked up and saw the two remaining golden-red crabs inside, and he felt an intense urge to scratch them.

Why wait until the afternoon?

What difference is there between eating now and eating back at the government office in the afternoon or evening?

They're all on the same day, a few hours earlier or later, but they all end up in your stomach anyway.

His stomach was clearly very warm, so where was the coldness?

Besides, it's hot right now, and with the heat from the salt baking, most of the crab's coldness has already been forced out. If we don't eat it now, it will absorb the coldness of heaven and earth again once it cools down, which is not good!
Thinking this, Cao's nephew involuntarily reached out his hand—almost colliding with the other person's hand in mid-air.

"Uncle! Crab is cold in nature, you shouldn't eat too much! If you get diarrhea when you get back, what will you do to that young lady Song?"

Cao's nephew earnestly advised him.

After offering his advice, he couldn't help but block the two crabs from view, and said, "Nephew can do it for his uncle!"

Old Cao almost laughed in anger, saying, "We're all surnamed Cao, is this crab only making me feel cold? Doesn't your stomach feel cold too?"

“My nephew is still young, and besides, Miss Song said she would prepare ginger tea later. I’ll drink a couple more cups to balance it out. It would be best if Uncle could drink ginger tea, but if he really feels unwell, Aunt will ask. When I went to check on him this morning, she specifically told me to…”

When he heard his nephew bring up his own wife, Master Cao became a little nervous.

He hasn't been able to come to Song's recently, and he's been locked up at the school with the law school next door all day making exam papers and doing chores. The food he eats is really pitiful. When he gets home, he's hot and tired, so he always picks up some fruit to eat.

As a result, a few days ago I don't know if I accidentally ate too much chilled melon or drank too much iced drink, and sure enough, my stomach and intestines were a little upset.

His wife repeatedly warned him that if his stomach, which had just calmed down, were to become upset again due to the cold...

There's only one crab, which doesn't seem like much. What's the problem?
As he thought about it, he couldn't help but reach out and pull at his nephew's hand, saying, "There are only two, each of us can eat our own!"

Just then, Song Miao came out carrying a plate of fried rice.

Upon seeing the fried rice, Cao, who was about to say that he was already full and didn't need to eat anymore, immediately shut his mouth.

A plate of golden-yellow fried rice, sprinkled with a pinch of chopped scallions, yellow with a hint of green, each grain loose and fragrant, with an exceptionally rich, smoky aroma. Upon closer inspection, the golden-yellow fried rice is interspersed with countless shades of deep gold...

Is the dark gold color from an egg?
This must smell so good!
"Is this made with fried eggs?"

Master Cao was visibly getting restless.

Song Miao hurriedly said, "There are eggs in it, but I added a lot of ginger—although I know you don't eat ginger, there were quite a few crabs in it today. Since you don't like ginger tea, could you please try this ginger fried rice?"

Such thoughtfulness meant that even if a bowl of ginger tea were brought over, Master Cao would have already forced himself to drink a couple of sips.

He immediately took a spoon, scooped a small spoonful into his bowl, and said, "Let me try it—oh dear, it's my fault! It really didn't have to be so complicated. Ginger tea would have been fine too! I'm not a three-year-old after all... But when you fry rice with ginger, how big is that piece of ginger? Can you even pick it out?"

As they were talking, Master Cao frowned, rummaged through the bowl for a while, and when he didn't see any ginger pieces or slices, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and took a bite.

His furrowed brows immediately relaxed.

A bite that's bursting with wok hei (the smoky aroma imparted by a hot wok).

It has a very strong aroma, much more fragrant than ordinary egg fried rice, soy sauce fried rice, etc. It's warm and cozy, and the first thing you taste is the aroma of ginger, which is exceptionally strong and abundant. However, it truly only has the aroma of ginger, without any spiciness.

When you chew, the whole mouthful of rice is dry and fragrant, with the aroma of rice, egg, ginger and a hint of pepper intertwined. There is no greasy feeling at all, and the most prominent feature is its dryness. As you chew, you will feel a very obvious crispiness between the rice grains - but you are actually eating fried ginger.

As soon as the fried rice entered my stomach, a warm, cozy feeling slowly rose from my stomach, but there was no spicy sensation at all, and I quickly broke out in a sweat.

Even so, Master Cao couldn't help but serve himself another large spoonful.

"How can this fried rice be made without any ginger or spiciness? It's so fragrant and has a wonderful umami flavor!"

"It was all thanks to Fourth Sister's hard work in carefully scraping the ginger into a paste and squeezing out the ginger juice!"

Seeing that he could accept it, Song Miao breathed a sigh of relief, which was expected. She smiled and said, "The ginger paste was fried. When I was stir-frying it, in addition to the ginger paste and eggs, I also added shredded dried scallops and fish sauce. With these ingredients, it would be strange if it didn't taste good!"

On the other side, Cao's nephew had already started eating fried rice from his bowl, his five senses engaged and he was so focused that he couldn't concentrate on listening to what his uncle and Song Miao were saying.

Soon, almost the entire table of food and dishes was eaten clean.

Nephew Cao was already full to the chest, but seeing that the crab meat and winter melon still had a little broth, he couldn't help but scrape it into his own bowl and add a couple of bites of fried rice—this time he was truly full, so full he was practically choking.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhong Cao first sent his uncle back before hurriedly returning to the Censorate.

He carefully protected the many manuscripts, hurrying into the house while already planning how to investigate the evidence and roughly drafting his plan.

—We must pay close attention to this!

Firstly, it is the duty of the censor to report on rumors and supervise all officials. Secondly, if more details and evidence are found here sooner, it will be necessary to confirm with the person involved. At that time, I will have to make more trips to Song Ji.

If we work quickly and efficiently, we might be able to make the trip by noon tomorrow. We could verify everything at both ends by noon, and then go to the various government offices for confirmation again in the afternoon. Then, in the evening… no, in the afternoon… we should go again to confirm everything…

When censors submit memorials, the content must be as precise as possible, and the more conclusive the evidence, the better the effect!
Ah! That crab smelled so good! I wonder if they'll still have it tomorrow...