Mao Xue Wang can be considered one of the pioneering Jianghu dishes of Wudu.

Originally, the wife of a butcher felt sorry for the offal that was being sold cheaply every day, so she used pig head meat, pig bones, old ginger, Sichuan peppercorn, and cooking wine to simmer them on low heat, added peas to make a soup, and found that adding pig lung and chitterlings made it taste very good. Later, by chance, she discovered that adding fresh pig blood not only made the texture tender and smooth but also more delicious. Thus, the earliest Mao Xue Wang came to be.

In Wudu, "Mao" means "rough" or "careless," which fits well with the unorthodox style of Jianghu cuisine. The term "Xue Wang" refers to blood tofu, which can be made from duck blood or pig blood.

Some large restaurants, to cater to high-income groups, even add sea cucumber, tripe, eel meat, yellow throat slices, and luncheon meat slices to the ingredients.

Wang Fan also wanted to try top-notch Mao Xue Wang, but the price was a barrier he couldn’t overcome, so he could only use more affordable ingredients.

But affordable ingredients don’t mean it won’t taste good.

He makes duck blood by himself; the blood is fresh from the market. Freshness in ingredients is the most important aspect.

The freshly made duck blood tofu trembles as it’s placed in cold water in the pot, simmered on low heat for 20 minutes, when the bright red duck blood turns to a reddish-brown. After scooping it out and slicing it, it still retains a hint of pink.

Normally, duck blood needs to be blanched, with a little salt added as the base flavor. The good thing about Wang Fan’s homemade blood tofu is that he adds the base flavor during the making process, saving the step of blanching and preserving more of the freshness in the dish.

Duck blood is the primary ingredient; once this little thing is in place, everything else is just icing on the cake.

For this dish, Wang Fan also prepared three kinds of chili peppers, but it’s different from the chili chicken he made before.

The new generation from Neihuang, Guizhou bullet head, Chongqing Shizhu red; the color, aroma, and spice are all ready.

After Wang Fan finished cooking yesterday, he gained many auntie fans. After buying their groceries, they didn’t go elsewhere but stayed in the market to watch Wang Fan cook. Some even took out their phones to record, intending to replicate it later at home.

The aunties watched intently as Wang Fan began to fry the chili peppers, cutting them into knife-tip peppers, and making onion ginger aromatic oil...

"If I watch this young lad cook every day, I think my cooking skills would improve a lot."

"Looking at him fry dishes is more interesting than watching TV shows, and the aroma of chili and peppercorns is so comforting to smell."

"The main thing is, it’s all done in front of us, you can tell it’s clean. And look at him, while cooking, he even tidies up the stove. It’s pleasing to the eyes, unlike my husband at home - after cooking, it’s like a hurricane hit the kitchen."

"This young man is truly the kind of good guy who can cook up a storm and still be presentable. Maybe we can get his contact information, my daughter should find a boyfriend."

"Your daughter is only a freshman this year, isn’t she? You said you’d let her find someone after graduation. My daughter is more suitable; she’s already a graduate student."

The aunties’ chat mostly revolves around life’s little things, but watching Wang Fan, many with daughters felt a sudden pang of interest. Tall, can cook, looks like he has a good personality, isn’t he the perfect choice for a son-in-law?

Some young people in line poured cold water on them: "Auntie, give up on that alluring idea. He has a girlfriend who is very pretty, and their relationship is great."

During the idle chat of patrons, Wang Fan’s iron ladle hand was never idle; very soon he had today’s dish ready.

Mao Xue Wang is also quite spicy, Wang Fan’s usual practice was to serve the elderly only a ladleful, but it’s deep scooped and slowly raised, this scoop is packed with essence.

Grandpa Jiang held his thermal bucket and took a deep breath. The freshly cooked Mao Xue Wang still had a hot steamy sensation with the aroma of ingredients, chili, and peppercorn being stimulated to the utmost.

The rich fragrance of chili and peppercorn instantly made all the pores on his body celebrate.

Looking at the thermal bucket, Mao Xue Wang was brilliantly colorful, the red chili oil covering abundant ingredients, emitting an enticing sheen that made it hard not to feel hungry at first glance.

Tender duck blood, tripe, luncheon meat, and other ingredients were arranged chaotically, their color dazzling and ever so alluring.

Grandpa Jiang wasn’t in a rush to eat; instead, he dipped his chopsticks in the aromatic oil and put them into his mouth. Typically, aromatic oil doesn’t get flavored, only exceptionally skilled chefs can flavor the soup thoroughly.

Grandpa Jiang was very satisfied with this mouthful; this dish used to only cost a few cents per portion in his youth. After finishing work for the day, enjoying a bowl of this flavorful delicacy was enough to dispel the day’s fatigue.

As time went by and life improved, this dish gradually lost its original flavor, even turning into something unaffordable.

Full of flavor!

Smacking his lips, Grandpa Jiang finally lifted a slice of duck blood from the bowl.

The duck blood was cooked to extreme tenderness, made from scratch by Wang Fan without any unnecessary additives, making it exceptionally soft and bouncy.

Even held in chopsticks, it kept bouncing "duang duang duang," as if a slightly greater force would crush it. It looked tempting enough to bite right into. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Popping the duck blood into his mouth, it was enveloped in a layer of hot oil, and upon entering, it hit him with the rich and fragrant taste. This was the result of Wang Fan’s final ladle of hot oil before it left the pot.

As the tip of his tongue pressed down, Grandpa Jiang distinctly felt the duck blood’s springiness, the resistance making his tongue excited. As his teeth bit down, the unique elasticity truly transformed this little piece of duck blood into something transcendent.