Butler Leipas also sent over a pork chop from a wild boar, which pleased me. It was! I was going to replace the pork with pheasant and guinea pig, but the mere presence of a pork chop is sure to brighten up the stew. As for why there are vermicels, it is because a few days ago, Kutz picked up a basket of potato from outside, which contains too much starch, and will be sweet after a period of time. Although this was usually coarse food for slaves, many orc tribes also stored this rich food as a substitute for food in times of great tribulities. Kuz liked to eat it raw, to satisfy hunger and thirst, and it was crunchy raw. Later I discovered that it was a bit like a sweet potato, except that the sweet potato had a very thick skin, which you had to break with a machete. To get to the crisp roots inside.
Seeing these sweet potato similar to the sweet potato, let me think of some of the past when I was a child, when the family was very poor, even if the New Year at home dumplings are difficult to afford a lot of meat, and the family is more, in the autumn, the mother will be ready to a large tank, the mashed sweet potato put in, filled with water and kept stirring, and then after the sweet potato dregs filter clean, Slowly wait for the water in the tank to settle, and then skim the water dry, leaving the purest sweet potato starch at the bottom of the tank. The wet starch is put into a small leak pot filled with small round eyes, and the starch paste flows into boiling hot water along the round eyes, and it will become vermicelli sticks. These vermicelli sticks are dried on the steamer and can be kept intact until the next summer. When the New Year comes in winter, even if there is no meat, just use shredded radish, vermicelli tips, and add a little shrimp skin and filling. Corn flour and wheat flour made of thirty-seven pieces of skin, you can eat a meal of vegetables. If it is the New Year's Eve dinner, if there is less meat in the dumplings, there will be some vermicelli, which is also delicious. When I grew up, maybe I was hungry when I was a child, I became a cook when I grew up. But since then, no dish will have the same taste as when I was a child.
In this new world, all my efforts have been just to prove one thing: I am still alive! I am still the original me, but no one can understand the loneliness in my heart, I miss those people and things, I am afraid that I will slowly forget them, I want to try to remember them, so I will see Kutz eat potato, can not help but do some vermicelles, just want to prove to myself. So Kutz and I made this bag of vermiculli, and Kutz was very curious about vermiculli, but because it was made from potato, it was usually a way of cursing someone in the caravan, and it was a way of saying that he was a slave. Convicts, paribles or destitute nomads, so I was a little worried when I decided to cook a pile of vermiculli with meat for this meal.
"Giga, do you think we can really?"
"Well, Kuz, you get rid of the guinea pigs. We don't want the entrails this time. We have too many guinea pigs to handle."
"I see, Giga, you said those people needed to know what we were feeding them..."
"It's vermicelli! Vermicelli, Kuz, you have to remember that this is the essence of starch that we have worked so hard to extract from some plants, and it is delicious and nutritious." I quickly brainwashed Kuz, if those people in the caravan found out that I had invited them to eat potato, I would not have a good time. Potato in human society, is for slaves to eat, this thing only in the famine will be taken out as food.
"All right! Vermicelli, is this really edible?"
'Kuz! I elongate my voice.
"All right! It's delicious, delicious! It must be. Giga, why don't we just make a pot of broth? You see how much meat we have, it's more than enough to make a pot of soup. In fact, I think we should add a little rice, it's wonderful." Kutz, drooling under his chin and holding a thin skin knife that looked like a crudely skinned guinea pig, tried to convince me to switch recipes. I've been wanting to eat this for a long time, and now I have this opportunity, I can't give it up. Besides, questioning whether a chef's food is delicious is definitely an insult to me, and I can't accept it.
Uncle Anlu, the fat cook, squatted on the edge of the stove, staring at me and Kuz with a big eye, and what we said he would not leak a word in the ears, I am worried that he has been around the two of us for a long time, Kuz's mouth will leak out, and I want to put the fat cook Uncle Anlu away for a while, and then said: "Oh, dear Uncle Anlu, you see this iron pot is too dirty, can you help me get a bucket of water and help us brush the pot?" So I play cute request cook Anlu.
When the fat cook Anlu heard this, he was a little reluctant at first, but a pair of huge toad's eyes turned and immediately agreed. He smiled and said to me, "I am honored to serve you, as long as you two little boys promise not to climb on the stove, Lord Leipus has given me the task of taking care of you both."
"Uncle Anlu, I will take good care of myself, and I will keep an eye on Kutz and take good care of him." I patted a small chest to ensure that fat Anlu looked a little skeptical, but did not refuse. With a fat belly and two huge buckets in his hands, he was slowly walking to the lake not far away, grumbling and not knowing what to say.
Holding the two round ears of the guinea pig in one hand, a gentle knock on the back of the guinea pig's head will kill it, but in this case, the blood will not be released, and the meat will appear a little dark red. He hung the front teeth of the dead guinea pig on a string, and with a meat knife in his hand, Kuz quickly peeled off the fur. Before I could even see what he was doing, Kuz had peeled off the whole rat skin and left it hanging, and said to me, "Jiga, let's make a plate with this skin. It's damp and warm."
Guinea pig meat needs to be dipped in cold water for a while to get rid of the earthy smell, and this delicate bone-chopping knife in my hand is one of three that Fred gave me, along with a scalping knife curved like a horn and a bayonet as sharp as a spear, which is used to kill large animals, like antelopes, by driving the bayonet into the heart of the rib cage along the gap between the collarbone, Even I can take care of a sheep tied to a tree. These three knives lie in a calf-skin knife holder, which I have kept very well.
I chopped the flesh of the bright red guinea pigs into fist-sized cubes, which gradually formed a small mountain of meat in a copper basin. I still have seven pheasants, and originally I thought I'd have a chance to smoke them and cook just a little bit of cured meat for Kuz to taste, but now I have to change my mind and contribute. Guinea pig meat will taste extra delicious with chicken.
At this time, the kitchen women in the dance company carried huge wooden barrels and came back from the lake one after another, and the food of the dance company was much more exquisite than that of the business group, and the variety was also better. Some of the wealthy drivers in many business groups will occasionally take out some copper plates to exchange food with the kitchen women in the dance company, Fred once invited me to eat a box of sweet rice. Their big wooden basin filled with water tender hair shepherd's purse, washed clean, the leaves are still hanging water. There was also a large basin of mutton, and the cook women were not very old, but each was strong enough to carry at least two buckets of water without too much difficulty. They were laughing and talking when they came to the stove and saw only Kutz and I preparing the food. The leader was a tall, fair woman with a few freckles on her face. She looked at me with her blue eyes and asked: "Why isn't Anlu that fat guy here? Who told you to play here, little ones?"
"Uncle Anlu went to the lake to fetch water. We are preparing our supper here, with the permission of Master Leipus, and my companion Kuz and I are going to treat the whole party to a stew, and here, you see, is the guinea pig we have caught, very fat and tender." I straightened up and smiled at the woman in front of me while holding a bloody guinea pig's hind leg in one hand, even though I didn't know her name.
"Are you bold? Are you a disciple of the Kuru witch doctor?" The woman's words do not know whether it is a question or praise, and then go to another big pot without saying whether or not, and put the wooden bucket in the hand on the ground.
I could only nod to the air, it seemed that she just needed to know that Kutz and I were not here to make trouble, and did not want to talk to me much, which was probably the pride of the cook!
"Is he the boy picked up by the old orc in the caravan?"
"I thought it was small?"
"Not bad looking!"
Women walked by me talking, and some looked at me from time to time, as if they knew I was there. Perhaps because the women were somewhat curious about the caravan's practice of sending two children to cook, they were very curious about Kuz and me. There was even a knife-faced woman who smelled of scallions running up to me and staring at me, which made me a little hairy. Later was a strong woman a hard look over, only resentfully moved back to that side.
The dance group's dinner was very rich, also because today's camp is very early, because the next walk is a long winding mountain into the Pai plateau. Before that, they will rest for two days at this lush lake. I saw a pale, slightly overweight woman pour water from the lake into the cauldron, roll up her sleeves to reveal her white, round arms, and stack the lumps of cleaned lamb into the cauldron from a large wooden basin, while someone lit a fire below, and someone sprinkled some fresh green Onions into the stockpot.
The women in the brigade are more aware of the value of fuel, after walking out of the mountains, it is difficult to get enough dead wood or hay on the grassland, so some dried rhino dung is also a good fuel, but these things are also scarce, and need to waste as little heat as possible. So everybody gets busy and moves very quickly. Everyone has a clear division of labor and works well together. Seeing the happy smiles on their faces, I could tell that the life of the dance company made them feel happy, and I thought to myself: there may be no shortage of happiness in any corner of the world, mainly whether we can find it.
Kutz is very happy, he is still staring at the guinea pig skinned clean, those pork chops and mountain chicken pieces in the copper basin drool, see me look back hurriedly, began to calm the cooked skin, Kutz said to me that guinea pig skin is not expensive fur, but very suitable for making sleeping bags, both warm and waterproof, and not take up space when rolled up. When traveling, many humans like to sew sleeping bags out of guinea pig skin.
I asked, "What kind of sleeping bags do orcs like?"
"Wolf orcs like to sleep on cowhide skins, and most of these warm guinea pig skins are sold to Terran travelers and traders. A sleeping bag is worth 100 pieces of white bread." Kuz told me proudly, then shook his bloody guinea pig skin against a wooden pole on one side. "I say there are enough guinea pig skins to make a sleeping bag for you, Jija!"
"I need a sleeping bag?" I was surprised that I didn't need to wear an extra fur jacket even in the harsh winters of the Dwarven country of the Neosiakis Mountains, because the fire poison in my body made me prefer colder places. The warm, humid south-eastern trade winds have been making me sick, and I never thought I'd need a warm sleeping bag at night.
Kutz thought about it, and did not understand why I would need a sleeping bag because I was never afraid of the cold, but still said obstinately: "Grandpa said for you to use, surely there will be no mistake!"
With all the ingredients ready, I began to cut up my collection of wild scallions and purple ghost ginger called brain boom. Kutz carried over to me the two clay POTS in my bag that had once been Uncle Fred's wine jar, except that when the wine dried, I had to fill one jar with white animal fat, the other with half a jar of honey. When I opened the jar, Kutz looked at me a little stunned: "How can you still have honey?" You didn't eat any of the honey you were given for your medicine?"
"I am not afraid of hard, naturally keep. This stuff is scarce. Look, I'll tell you a little secret, when the meat is cooked, put a few drops of honey into the pot, just a few drops on the line, the meat tastes delicious!" I proudly shared my secret with Kutz, the guy who had gone all alone to look for this jar of honey in a bear cave deep in the mountains, and when he came back, he was actually patted on the back by a sleeping earth bear. That day, watching Kutz climb up the Thunderbolt with a few pieces of beeswax covered in blood, I was completely scared. This guy made a stupid face at me. So sometimes I think friendship is priceless.
Thunder ox dung burning up has a light grass aroma, the whole pot of milky lard gradually melted in the pot, the oil temperature gradually heated, began a large number of smoke. Kutz, who had never seen anything like it, stood on the edge of the cauldron and craned his neck to look into it, Shouting eagerly to me, "Jiga, there's smoke in the cauldron, it's burning!" Kuz speaks Orc when he's in a hurry.
I call on the two of them to pour the whole pot of meat into the big iron pan. The fresh meat slides along the pan into the bottom of the pan, where it is fried and sizzled by the hot oil. After that, Kuz began to follow my instructions to stand on the pan, waving the spade in his hand to stir fry the meat, while I carried a colorful small pot, brain bang shredded and wild ghost ginger and some herbs similar to the taste of wild pepper also dropped into the pot, finally into the pot some honey, see Kuz a little distressed eyes, I decided to stop.
By the time the kitchen ladies at the dance company noticed that we were already cooking, Kutz and I had cut the meat, removed the fish, and thrown in all the spices. Then pour the next two large buckets of water into the pot. I'll let Kuz light the fire, and I'll handle the vermicelli.
Uncle Anlu had already brought the water back, and when he saw how well we were doing, he was happy to relax and make do with the chef of the dance company who stayed aside to watch the fun, and he was close to the two young chefs with his low and dirty old face. The young woman with eyes like bells and a knife face even sarcastically said to Uncle Anlu: "What, fat An, is it impossible to work as a cook? Master Leipus is willing to cook with two children rather than you, is it because your soup is too bad!" Well, I heard you used to raise pork-pigs in the country. Is it true?"
"Bah! Who's the one who buried me behind my back? What's so bad about my cooking fire? The caravan has always cooked like this, and dried meat and vegetable soup with black bread is just like this!" Anlu looked back at me and saw that I was concentrating on washing vermiculli, then he lowered his tone twice and said: "That boy Kuzi and Jijia are the people of the merchant witch doctor father, and these two children are usually diligent!" They are good children. This is not someone who caught a bag of guinea pigs in that pasture and offered to stew a pot of meat for our caravan. Ah, I also have help ah, just now I was to help them to fetch water, they are small, can not lift ah!"
The afternoon sun warms the camp, and not far from the stove there are a lot of people leaning on the small mountain of grain bags to bask in the sun. There will be a place to chat, the kitchen women while watching the fire, gradually came together to start talking, fat Anlu uncle is very talkative, although some people are obscene, but very able to say, sometimes inadvertently will throw out a dirty joke, women will not care too much, hee hee ha is a laugh and scold.
The aroma of lamb began to float from the company's cauldron, and it might not be long before the lamb was ready. The sheep soup has begun to turn white, the oil flowers are rolling in the water, and the other side of the SLATE has begun to bake a thin pancake. The white and delicate flour is slowly turning yellow on the hot SLATE, emitting the unique aroma of wheat flour. There is no such luxury food as white noodles in the caravan, only the dancing ladies in the dance company can afford it.
Kuz was sticking his butt out, holding a blackened stick in his hand, trying to make the cow dung fully burn, and the stockpot of our guinea pig meat began to emit a strange aroma, a smell that I remember, I don't know how long I hadn't smelled, and now wafted through the air, giving my bones a tingling pleasure. Kuz apparently also smelled the fragrance that could travel far, and the fire was especially hard.
I dropped the whole bundle of vermiculli into the pan with Kuz's plaintive eyes. It was as if I saw Kuz's heart: Giga, can we not put that thing...
Braised pork with vermicelli!