Buying Meat

Before going out today, Lan Shu had already asked around at home and knew that the pork stall was under a big tree along the market street.

The market street was not long. From the start to the end, it was only about a hundred meters. The two of them quickly arrived at the pork stall.

At a glance, there was only half a pig's worth of meat on the stall.

Although this was a market that was held once every half a month in the nearby villages, as there were usually very few people buying meat, the meat sellers did not dare to sell too much.

"I'm selling the pork for 70 cents per catty!"

The owner of the meat stall shouted. People gathered around and chose the cut they liked. Most of them chose the fattier cuts.

The fatty meat could be refined into oil. When the lard was poured into a bowl and congealed, they could use a little bit every time they stir-fried dishes. The dishes made would be very fragrant!

It was unrealistic for them to eat meat every meal, so they would instead use some lard. It was enough to satisfy their cravings, so fatty meat was the favorite of most people in the 1980s.

It was the same for the people in the countryside, the county, and even the city.

Lan Shu didn't ask for the fatty cuts of meat. She waited for the owner of the meat stall to finish cutting the meat for the people in front of her. Then, Lan Shu pointed at the lean meat and said to the owner, "Give me five catties of tenderloin meat and three catties of pork belly. How much are the ribs?"

Hearing that someone wanted to buy eight catties of meat at once, the owner of the meat stall immediately smiled. "The pork ribs are two cents a catty. If you want them, I'll give them to you at one and a half cents."

So cheap!

In Lan Shu's era, the price of pork ribs was more expensive than other cuts!

Nowadays, everyone only bought a little bit of meat at a time. Who would buy pork ribs that only had bones and not much meat?

Therefore, the price of pork ribs was very low.

Lan Shu had not eaten braised pork ribs for a long time. She would feel sorry for herself if she did not buy more at this price.

"Ten catties for the ribs," she said.

"Okay!" The owner of the meat stall immediately cut the meat according to her request and cut off ten catties of pork ribs.

The surrounding people who were also planning to buy some meat saw a young lady buying so much meat. She even wanted to buy bones. Many people widened their eyes in surprise!

A few older women kindly reminded her.

"Miss, it's not good to buy so much lean meat. It's better to eat the fattier cuts!"

"That's right. These bones also weigh too much. They seem cheap, but in fact, there's not much meat on them."

Although the people who persuaded her had good intentions, to Lan Shu, lean meat was good.

She had already thought it through. The tenderloin was tender. She could buy it back, cut it into slices, fry it, or mix some flour to make fried crispy meat.

The pork ribs could be stewed in soup while the rest were braised. When she thought of the taste of braised pork ribs, she could not help but drool…

As for the pork belly that was both fatty and lean, she could either stir-fry it or make it into a dumpling filling.

Oh right, if she wanted to make buns, three catties of pork belly was not enough. If her brother ate with all his might, he could eat five to six big buns a meal!

At the thought of this, Lan Shu said to the owner of the meat stall, "Five catties more of pork belly."

When the old women around her who wanted to persuade her to buy fatty meat heard this, they immediately stopped talking.

They could tell that the young lady was rich and could afford to eat meat every day. She did not care about the oil refined from the fat.

With a 'big client' like Lan Shu, most of the pork in the stall was all sold out!

13 catties of meat and 10 catties of pork ribs came up to a total of ten yuan and 6 cents. The owner rounded it off and only took ten yuan.

After calculating the price, Lan Shu took out the money from her pocket and handed it over.

When the others saw that the young lady was so generous, the people who were browsing for meat behind her stopped searching and bought half a catty from the stall.

When the meat stall owner saw that his business had become so good, he was so happy that he could not close his mouth!

Before Lan Shu left, he did not forget to say to her with his best attitude, "Take care, young lady. Come again at the end of the month!"

…

When the two of them returned from the market in the afternoon, they were carrying a full load.

Fortunately, Xiao Bai had accompanied Lan Shu today. He was strong and could help carry the meat.

Otherwise, Lan Shu would not be able to bring so many things back alone.

In addition to buying meat, Lan Shu also bought a bag of rock sugar and some soy sauce.

After returning to the village, she bought a bunch of green onions from Aunt Wang's courtyard next door. She planned to make pork and green onion buns for lunch.

Xiao Bai usually cooked by himself in the Lan family's kitchen, but Lan Shu was with him today.

Xiao Bai was in charge of starting the fire and helping out, while Lan Shu was in charge of cooking.

The tenderloin meat was cut into strips and marinated for 15 minutes with oil and salt. Then, it was mixed with flour and fried in a pot.

After chopping the ribs into pieces, she took out half of them and added ginger slices, onion shreds, and peppercorn to stew them in a clear soup. The remaining half was stir-fried with the rock sugar she had bought today. She added onions, ginger, peppercorn, and a small amount of soy sauce to braise it.

The soy sauce was fermented with pure soybeans. The taste was especially fragrant!

It also made up for the lack of other seasonings.

In addition to the crispy meat and pork ribs, more than half of the eight catties of pork belly bought at the market was chopped into minced meat by Xiao Bai and mixed with chopped onions. He added a small amount of warm water, salt, and soy sauce before mixing it.

After the dough was kneaded and left to rest, they could make dumplings with meat fillings.

After the steamed buns were prepared and steamed over a pot for 20 minutes, lunch was ready.

At noon, Lan Dazhuang came back. Before he even entered the house, he could smell the fragrance of meat wafting in the air.

He was not the only one who was attracted by this fragrance. Several neighbors near his house walked out and stood outside their respective courtyards to take a deep breath.

"Who made this delicious food? It smells so good!"

The neighbors who smelled it were envious. Then, according to the direction of the fragrance, everyone quickly confirmed that the fragrance of meat came from the Lan family.

"The Lan family is living so well. They're eating meat again!" someone muttered.

"It's not a big deal to have money to eat meat now. In the future, they might not be able to eat meat anymore because they have to pay the village money for their land contract," someone jealous said.

Regardless of whether the villagers were envious or jealous of the Lan family, none of this affected Lan Shu's family.

When Lan Dazhuang returned home, he saw a plate of enticing pork ribs and a large plate of steamed buns on the open main table. Lan Dazhuang finally knew where the fragrance came from!

"Xiao Bai made delicious food today?!" Lan Dazhuang was so excited that his footsteps became much lighter.

Hearing Brother Dazhuang's voice, Xiao Bai walked out of the kitchen with a plate of fried crispy meat.

As he walked, he said, "I didn't make lunch today. Sister Lan cooked everything herself."

When Lan Dazhuang heard this, he was instantly dumbfounded!

"What? Sis… Is the food she makes edible?"