Back to the 70s: My Childhood Sweetheart Spoils Me Rotten-Chapter 59 - 58: The World of Foodies

Cai Meina had never made smoked products before, but she had previously pickled meat. Although not in large quantities, she did have some experience.

But when it came to the actual process, Cai Meina had no experience, and she felt a bit anxious.

Here, obtaining rabbits wasn’t too difficult, but getting the right seasonings was not easy. If the spices were wasted, that would be the worst thing.

"I remember that before you have to soak the meat in water for a few hours to get all the blood out."

"It seems like you use salt, Sichuan peppercorns, and cinnamon to rub into the rabbit meat, marinating it for a few days so that the flavors can soak into the rabbit meat."

"Then you hang it up properly and smoke it with wood underneath."

"I remember the fire shouldn’t be too strong; it’s best to have smoke."

"You have to smoke it for about ten days."

Zhan Jing didn’t expect that she would remember this, which made her pleasantly surprised, "Ah, I can’t believe I still remember."

Zhan Jing still remembers that taste. "Back when Zhao Gang and I just got married, he had to go on a business trip, so I went along to Sichuan to visit relatives."

"I even remember a distant relative gave us cured meat to eat and showed me the whole process of making it."

Zhan Jing still remembers that taste, but unfortunately, after returning home, not only was work busy, later they had a son, and more importantly, the source of ingredients couldn’t be solved, so they completely put it aside.

After coming to the Northeast, even though there was no worry about rabbits, she never thought of this.

"If we really make this, it would definitely become another source of income for us." Zhan Jing was excited.

There was a bunch of gold in the cellar, but can it be used? Obviously not, but selling rabbits would be cash, easy to use without drawing attention.

"Yeah, yeah," Cai Meina was equally excited. After all, Zhan Jing still had her natal family to rely on, but she and Zhao Gang really had no relatives.

"But we don’t have Sichuan peppercorns here." Cai Meina wasn’t fond of spicy things, especially since they didn’t have Sichuan peppercorns here.

"Then just use some star anise, add some cinnamon, and it’s done. I remember we have some at home," Zhan Jing had found them wild in the mountains. Locals didn’t use them for cooking, but Zhan Jing would occasionally pick and dry them, which seemed useful now.

Gong Ruini listened by the side, stunned, thankful she hadn’t boasted earlier, otherwise, she’d really have lost face.

After just starting it, she hadn’t done anything else, leaving Gong Ruini quite frustrated.

"Ni Zi, you’ll make it with Mom next time. After all, you’ll be the little chef for the four of you," Cai Meina said to her daughter, who had lowered her head, knowing she wasn’t happy.

"Okay, I’ll try my best to learn with Mom." Yeah, she was silly to not know, but could she expect Zhao Xuran to do these?

Since coming to the Northeast, Gong Ruini had never seen the Zhao Brothers cook. Oh, Zhao Xuran would occasionally heat things up, but as for Zhao Guangran, don’t even think about it.

"I’ll learn too, I want to help my sister with the work." Gong Ruwen couldn’t bear to see his sister do so much work.

"I’ll learn too. In the future, we can help Mom and Dad, then we can also smoke wild boar meat," which someone had previously mentioned wasn’t fatty enough.

If anyone disliked it, making it smoked would highlight its flavor, not bothering anyone anymore.

"Later we can make smoked sausages too."

"Smoked wild boar," Zhan Jing thought of the delicacies she ate on that trip back home and felt hungry. Since the family had enough members and they were researching the methods for smoking rabbits, they could also make sausages.

"If stored correctly, these can last a long time," Zhan Jing remembered her mom mentioning how during the busy farming season, when there was no time to cut meat, they could eat smoked meat.

In the Northeast, during the busy farming season, they would start working at dawn and finish after sunset. By then, they wouldn’t have the energy to cook good food and would rely on smoked products as staples.

Sausages, those are good things, can be used for cooking rice or as cold dishes. "We shouldn’t have taken that wild boar to be sold." Gong Ruini felt a bit reluctant.

"Yeah," Zhan Jing was a bit regretful too, "but it’s okay. In the future, we’ll keep track, and we’ll raise a few more pigs, secretly."

In fact, the village wasn’t strict on these matters, and the management hadn’t been tight for the past couple of years. As long as no one reported it to the commune, no inspections would be conducted, and no issues would arise.

Everyone was trying to raise more poultry beyond the set quota. This not only meant having more oil and water for the year-end but also eating better regularly, and most importantly, having more money.

"Yes, and raise more chickens. Weren’t there quails in the neighboring village?" Cai Meina was now full of motivation to make money.

Before, no matter how much work was done, the salary was limited. Moreover, there were many watching their money, leaving no hope for them.

Now, it’s different; the more they work, the more they earn, and life gets better.

Cai Meina wondered how the Gong Family and Cai Family would react if they knew the supposedly struggling family was living richly here, and imagined they would regret it deeply.

"Quails?" Gong Ruini hadn’t expected such a good thing here. Even though they looked small with little meat, they were easy to raise.

Their eggs could be made into tea eggs or just boiled as they were, but the meat tasted quite fresh. If raised in large numbers, eating a bit at each meal would definitely be rich.

More importantly, these things reproduced quickly and could be sold for money.

Gong Ruini suddenly felt a sense of despair that wasn’t normal—in the past, seeing these, she’d think about cooking them into delicious meals, but now she was considering how to turn them into money.

Oh my, Gong Ruini was really worried if staying in this village much longer would make her more worldly.

"Yes, quails. Ni Zi, have you seen them?" Cai Meina described what quails looked like to Gong Ruini.

Gong Ruini couldn’t remember if this body had seen quails, but the safest way was to say she didn’t know; she shook her head to indicate no.

Zhao Guangran heard about something he wasn’t familiar with and asked first, "Is it tasty?"

"Delicious, even the eggs can be eaten," Gong Ruini said with feigned displeasure. Ah, truly a foodie of a child.

Regardless of knowing or not, the first thought was if it was tasty, everything else could wait.

"Really?" Zhao Guangran’s eyes lit up as he heard it tasted better than chicken, starting to plan in his mind.

Even though more chickens being raised at home was fine, they couldn’t always eat chicken. But quails, which were said to reproduce quickly, could possibly be eaten continuously.

Don’t underestimate Zhao Guangran as a foodie; once it’s about food, he becomes fully engaged with it.

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