"It's your Uncle Desheng, come out quickly! Is it that cold? Can you freeze to death?" his father Li Deyou scolded outside.

Come out! Li Wen quickly slipped off the kang and put on his cotton shoes.

Just as I was about to go out, the straw curtain at the door was opened.

"Uncle, why are you here?" Li Wen looked up and saw Li Desheng walking in.

"Isn't this asking you to come over and help braise the meat?" Li Desheng said with a smile.

"Today is only the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, are you ready to cook meat?"

Li Wen was joking with Fourth Master and Li Junli yesterday! Today is only the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month, so we normally take action on the 25th or 6th day of the twelfth lunar month.

"I made it early and finished it early. The weather is relatively cold now, so I don't have to worry about it spoiling when I make it. I mainly plan to give some to a few relatives' homes," Li Desheng said.

"Yes! If the snow continues to fall for a few days, the road will be inaccessible. Be quick and help your fourth master quickly." Li Deyou also walked in and said.

"Okay, I'll do it early and finish it early." Li Wen said with a smile.

"Uncle, please go first. I'll be back in a moment. The braised pork cannot be cooked with the seasonings we use every day. I have to go to the room first to get the seasonings I prepared." Li Wen said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll go back and prepare first."

Li Desheng said hello to his mother Wang Chunmei and others who were weaving straw mats in the front hall and left with a smile.

Li Wen returned to his room and used the key to open the wooden box on his kang.

This wooden box was made by Li Wen a few months ago when he was nailing wooden baskets to the bungalow on the second floor of the space. It was so that he would have a good excuse to go back to the room to pick up things in the future.

Of course, for the sake of privacy. After all, his room has an unobstructed view, and there is no place to hide things! And the little ones at home like to run around.

After pretending to rummage through the wooden box for a while, Li Wen took out a package of braised pork ingredients wrapped in gauze from the space.

"Mom, why don't our family braise the meat tomorrow? There is too much water in the house, I guess I will have to work for two days to finish it." Li Wen came to his mother Wang Chunmei with a seasoning bag and said.

"Okay, it's getting late. It's already the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month."

"The braised pork will be sent to your grandpa's house tomorrow, and some to your aunt's house," the old lady said.

Li Wen did have this idea, nodded and walked out of the door.

Maybe it's not warm enough. The snow that fell yesterday is already showing signs of melting, so it's particularly cold today.

Carrying the material bag, Li Wen soon arrived at the home of Fourth Master Li Juncai.

Fourth Master Li Juncai’s house is made of mud and bricks, and its conditions are among the best in the village.

The fourth master's youngest son is Li Dejun, a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War. After liberation, he stayed in the army and took his wife and children with him.

Because the salary of being a soldier is good, Li Dejun pays a lot of money to the old couple every year.

The old couple saved all their money, and they saved enough in the past few years to build this mud-brick compound.

"Fourth Master, I'm here!" Li Wen shouted inside before he even entered the door.

"Awen is here!" Fourth Master Li Juncai and his wife walked out of the kitchen.

"Fourth Master, how are you, Fourth Grandma!" Li Wen stepped forward and asked with a smile. After all, these two are close friends, and the old man is his father's uncle. If you are not polite when you come home, you will be beaten.

"Come on, Awen, you are the chef today." The old man who will help you with our whole family said with a smile and narrowed eyes.

"Ha ha!"

Fourth Master, you are really embarrassing me. Come and work together. Looking at the sewage and pig heads that have been almost processed, Li Wen helped clean them up thoroughly.

"Uncle, let's make the stew first! Auntie, blanch the offal and pig heads." Li Wen began to instruct everyone to divide the work.

Li Wen took two large bones and asked Li Desheng to chop them open with an axe, then put them in water and started boiling them, skimming off the foam in the process.

Next, add the aniseed bag, add onions, ginger, garlic, salt, dark soy sauce, and rice wine to prepare the marinade.

Bring to a boil over high heat for an hour, then slowly turn down the heat until the marinade is almost done. Then put the blanched pig head and offal into the pot filled with marinade and start marinating.

Fortunately, the fourth master's pot is big enough to put more than 40 pounds of pork head and water in, otherwise it would be troublesome to stew it twice.

"Okay, let's just wait quietly when we come down. After fifty minutes, take them out of the water separately. After an hour and a half, the pig's head will be cooked." Li Wen gave instructions to several people.

"Auntie, after the pig head is braised, put it in the water and soak it for another hour or two. When the marinade is completely cool, you can take it out."

The pork was still cooking in the pot, and Li Wen didn't stop for much.

"Fourth Master, you are busy first. I will stop by Uncle Junli's house to see how their preparations are going." Li Wen said with a smile.

"Okay, Awen, I'll come over here when the meat is cooked. I've been busy for several hours, but I still have to taste the fruits of my labor." Fourth Master Li Juncai said with a smile.

"Then I won't be polite, Fourth Master!" Li Wen joked with the old man with a smile.

"Get lost! I'll save you food." Li Juncai laughed and cursed.

"Is Uncle at home?" Li Wen looked at the ajar door, knocked on it, pushed it open and shouted inside.

"Here, there he is!"

Li Junli, wearing an apron and rolling up his sleeves, leaned out of the kitchen and looked out the door.

"Awen, why are you here? Are you braised meat for uncle?" Li Junli asked with a smile.

"Yes! Isn't this what I promised you yesterday? How could I not come?"

"My fourth master's braised pork is already in the pot, and it will be cooked in a while. I'll come over to see if you've packed it up. Li Wen said shamelessly, turning his joke into

real.

"Not yet. I came back late yesterday. Your aunt caught a cold yesterday, so she didn't take care of her."

"Aren't you doing it right now? It's really hard to do it because it's freezing. Come over and help me." Li Junli quickly asked Li Wen to help him.

Li Wen walked into the kitchen and saw that Li Junli's two sons and one daughter were also cleaning. His wife, who might not be feeling well, was cooking a pot on the stove.

"Hello, Auntie! Brother Dacheng, Sister Chunlei." Li Wen went in and greeted everyone. By the way, he patted Li Chenggong, who was seven or eight years old and was brushing a pig's head. (nicknamed Goudan)

"Goudan, you work so hard!" Li Wen said with a smile.

It's really hard to brush this pig's head. There are so many hairs that it can't be done without using some force, the little guy said seriously.

"Here, I'll help you get it." Li Wen took the pig's head from the little guy's hand, pulled out a burning wooden stick from under the stove and began to scald the pig's hair.

After working for more than two hours, I finally packed up the sewer and pig heads. The main reason was that the sewer was frozen and difficult to handle. Li Wen asked a few people to start making bone soup and blanch the sewer. He went to the fourth master's house to get the seasoning packets.

This seasoning packet is generally used two or three times and there is no problem.

Li Wen arrived at the door of Fourth Master Li Juncai's house. Before he entered, the smell of braised pork was already spreading in the wind.

That is to say, in winter, if it were placed at any other time, the door would definitely be crawling with children.

“It smells so good!”

"Fourth Master, I'm here again!" Li Wen walked into the kitchen and happened to see Huang Chunyan fishing for pork.

"Ah! What a coincidence. I could smell the aroma at the door. Is this just out of the pot?" Li Wen smiled and took a piece of small intestine from the side and took a bite.

"Not bad, the taste is completely absorbed! It's soft and fragrant, very good." Li Wen commented after taking a bite.

"Just marinate it well, I'm afraid it will be ruined." The old man laughed when he heard Li Wen's answer.

"Dad, Mom, let me warm it up for everyone. I just happened to be hungry after working for a long time." Huang Chunyan said with a smile.

Huang Chunyan also took a bite just now. It was so delicious! It was much more delicious than the one made in the cafeteria some time ago.

She didn't even think about it. The last time Li Wen made it in the village committee canteen, he only used a small bag of ingredients. With the addition of the old boar's meat, it would definitely not be as good as today's.

"Auntie, don't pour this marinated soup. You can filter out the minced meat for a while, and you can marinate it for several times. You can also make steamed buns with this marinated soup and eat it," Li Wen suggested.

"Fourth Master, I'm not going to stop. I'm here to get the ingredients package, and I have to help Uncle Junli's family." Li Wen picked up a piece of sausage and walked out.

"You kid, you can go ahead and I'll ask your aunt to bring it to your house." Li Wen didn't reply, he had already walked away.

When they arrived at Li Junli's house, the pot was boiling by itself. The big bones were simmering, and Li Wen threw the package of ingredients in. Then he started to repeat the steps at Fourth Master Li Juncai's house.

After working for more than an hour, because Li Junli's wife was not feeling well, Li Wen helped stew the meat.

At this time, the sky was getting dark. Li Wen didn't stay too long and went home with a bowl of braised pork.

"You gained a lot during your trip, you caught two bowls of meat!" His father, Li Deyou, said with a smile as he looked at the braised pork in Li Wen's hand.

"Dad, you are wrong. I rely on my craftsmanship to make a living. And my bag of ingredients costs more than one yuan, so I have paid for it." Li Wen waved the bag of ingredients in his hand.

"Boy, hurry up and eat when you come back. It's getting late. Tomorrow we will also braise pork." Li Deyou said.

"The braised meat this time is good. It's similar to the one I cooked at home last time. It's much more delicious than the one in the big canteen." The family members commented while eating the braised meat.

"The bowl Awen brought back seems to taste better," the second sister Li Xia said.

"Well! This is because the seasoning is boiled once, and the flavor is fully stimulated the second time. So the flavor of the seasoning is more intense." Li Wen explained.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. After helping Li Junli's house clean up the water today, Li Wen was also very tired. He got into bed and fell asleep soon after.

Everyone got up early the next morning. Li Wen really didn't want to leave the bed, but he had no choice. He couldn't afford to offend the king and queen in the family!

Because there was too much water in Li Wen's house, his father went to the canning shop early to borrow a big pot. His second uncle built a temporary stove in the yard, and everyone was going to have a big fight in the yard today.

Today's pot of braised pork cost a lot of ingredients, including several kilograms of salt and soy sauce, and more importantly, a lot of rock sugar that Li Wen got from the cannery.

After four or five hours of work and two full pots of brine, all the offal and pig heads were brine out.

The aroma of braised pork wafted everywhere. To be exaggerated, half the village could smell it.
Chapter completed!