Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle

Chapter 1196 572: Master of Pork Cuisine

Whole Pig Feast, as the name implies, is a banquet made entirely with pork.

Qin Huai had never tried a complete Whole Pig Feast, nor did he know how grand the 36-course feast in Jiang Weiguo's words truly was. When he walked into the dining hall in the backyard and saw the table filled with 18 dishes, he already felt it was quite lavish.

It's safe to say, Qin Huai had never seen so many pork dishes at one meal.

The Jiang Family's house is quite large; as a self-built rural house, it's considered spacious. Qin Huai and the others were previously in the front hall, which is a designated guest area, showing little signs of daily life in either the living room or the front room.

The dining hall is in the back, adjacent to the backyard where the pig was slaughtered in the morning. Now, there is no trace of the morning's slaughter in the backyard, cleaned thoroughly with only the freshly processed strips of pork hanging under the eaves, showcasing Jiang Weiguo's excellent pig-raising skills.

Qin Huai noticed that the Jiang family's dining table was large, bigger than those 14-person tables seen in usual restaurants.

On the oversized round table were oversized bowls and plates with large portions, making the proportions seem quite normal. If not for the plates for the knuckles being so large that they could fit two Dongpo knuckles with room to spare for plating, Qin Huai might not have realized that everything from the table to the utensils to the dish sizes was oversized.

Jiang Jiankang stood cheerfully by the table, brimming with the joy of an anticipated feast. He dared not sit, humbly bowing as he ingratiatingly asked Jiang Weiguo, "Dad, where do we sit?"

Jiang Weiguo didn't spare a single glance at his third son, merely gestured at a seat indicating An Youyou sit before the knuckles, then gestured at the adjacent positions for Qin Huai and Shi Dadan to sit wherever, before directly sitting down next to An Youyou.

An Youyou, hungry all day and filling her stomach with gossip during the day, now saw the table full of dishes and wished she could immediately grab the knuckles and devour them. Of course, she sat wherever Jiang Weiguo indicated, happily sitting down.

As soon as she sat, she instinctively picked up her chopsticks.

Qin Huai sat next to An Youyou, Shi Dadan next to Qin Huai, and seeing this, Jiang Jiankang promptly sat next to Shi Dadan. Grandma Jiang sat next to Jiang Weiguo, Wang Xiulian sat beside her mother-in-law, and the slowest-moving Jiang Feng could only sit next to Wang Xiulian.

By rights, it's a round table, theoretically meaning Jiang Feng should sit between Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang. Yet the table was too big, and there weren't enough people; after everyone was seated, Jiang Feng seemed isolated, especially as the main dishes were placed before An Youyou, while before Jiang Feng were mostly cold dishes, leaving this youngest grandson at the table appearing rather forlorn.

Of course, the grandson himself didn't perceive it that way; Qin Huai noticed Jiang Feng eagerly grabbing chopsticks, seemingly quite happy.

Qin Huai scanned the array of dishes on the table, recognizing most of them.

Cold dishes included: garlic white meat, red oil pig ears, chrysanthemum kidneys, mustard pig heart.

Hot dishes included: sautéed intestine, Dongpo knuckle, sweet and sour tenderloin, braised ribs, braised pork, four happiness meatballs, mei cai pork belly, parsley explosion tripe, fried meatballs, sauce braised pig tail, sauce blast pork skin, stir-fried liver tips, casserole three whites.

The soup was seemingly ordinary, a huge winter melon meatball ribs soup.

A proper Whole Pig Feast, entirely pork dishes, not a vegetable dish in sight.

Qin Huai swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He didn't know why, but even though yesterday, eating Jiang Weiguo's braised meat, Qin Huai felt Jiang Weiguo's cooking was not exceptionally top-notch, merely excellent. If he were to rate that braised meat, it would be between Level B and Level B+.

But today's table of dishes looked particularly delicious.

Jiang Weiguo's overall cooking style tended towards home-style simplicity; even for a big dish like Dongpo knuckle, typically only found in restaurants, it looked homey with two knuckles forced into one large plate.

Moreover, this crammed fitting style appeared not only in the Dongpo knuckle but also, for instance, the four happiness meatballs dish, which theoretically should be called four happiness meatballs; but it contained eight meatballs instead.

Its true name should be Eight Happiness Meatballs.

The sweet and sour tenderloin was made beautifully, fried just right, the syrup coating the tenderloin was crystal clear, looking like amber from afar. Such a pretty sweet and sour tenderloin, if plated correctly, could definitely sell for 98-168 at Huang Ji.

However, the sweet and sour tenderloin on the table was piled into a small mountain, physically meaning a small mountain, from which Qin Huai could tell Jiang Weiguo had quite a bit of plating skill, as ordinarily, no one could pile sweet and sour tenderloin so high without it toppling over.

The braised pork needed no further mention, served in a soup pot.

Jiang Weiguo also realized today's dishes had inadvertently been cooked in excess, simply explaining before the meal began, "The kids at home can eat, it's a habit."

Jiang Jiankang couldn't wait any longer, "Dad, shall we start eating?"

Jiang Weiguo nodded slightly, simultaneously giving Jiang Jiankang a look indicating today he dared compete with guests for dishes, tomorrow he'd be relegated to the pigpen for sweet potatoes, scaring Jiang Jiankang into quickly redirecting his chopsticks from reaching for the knuckles to reaching for the fried meatballs instead.

Oblivious to all this, An Youyou cheerfully extended her first chopsticks toward the knuckles, pinching herself a large piece of knuckle skin-wrapped meat, not forgetting to dip a bit in the sauce, stuffing it into her mouth, emitting a satisfying sound.

"Mmm, mmm mmm mmm mmm!"

Qin Huai somewhat discerned An Youyou's implied meaning: Wow, Thirteen, your knuckles are even tastier after 50 years!

An Youyou then pinched a sheer lean piece of knuckle meat, continuing to devour in large bites.

"Try the braised pork, see if you like it," Jiang Weiguo suggested.

An Youyou quickly went to pinch the braised pork, stuffing it in her mouth, while furiously nodding, simultaneously chewing hurriedly to allow her mouth to keep up.

Shi Dadan steadily performed, a bite of dish followed by a bite of rice, the whirlwind cleared, ravenously inhaling the rice.

Grandma Jiang was smiling and slowly savoring the sweet and sour pork in front of her. While focusing on her meal, she also kept an eye on her little grandson in the distance, subtly turning the braised pork towards him, indicating that he should stop staring at the garlic pork belly and eat some hot dishes instead.

Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang, the couple, were each eating in their own way, their chopsticks moving quickly, giving the feeling of a chaotic battle, as if invisible enemies were competing with them for the dishes.

Everyone had a different eating style.

Qin Huai had not touched his chopsticks.

For some reason, he found it quite amusing. The food on the table was very tempting, and each person's eating style was also very interesting.

An Youyou seemed to be eating a lot, wolfing down the Dongpo pork hock in front of her, yet after a long time of eating, the pork hock only suffered a surface injury. Shi Dadan appeared to be eating slowly, but in reality, he was consuming everything like a whirlwind, eating with such finesse that while he was devouring his food, he ensured others at the table also had their share.

He even managed to help himself to four servings of rice without anyone noticing.

Jiang Weiguo and Grandma Jiang just lightly picked at their food with chopsticks, perhaps due to their age and smaller appetites, merely tasting.

Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian ate with a vigorous and uninhibited manner, exuding a grand momentum, seemingly the biggest eaters at the table, but still a bit inferior compared to Shi Dadan.

As for Jiang Feng...

Even though he had a small appetite and didn't have many good dishes in front of him, he seemed to be the happiest eater. Picking a bit from this dish and that dish, as if being able to eat whatever he wanted was the happiest thing in the world.

Indeed, the happiness of a student is simple.

"Boss, aren't you eating? This pork hock is really super delicious, and there's braised pork, and mei cai kou rou, and four happiness meatballs, and..." An Youyou stuffed a piece of braised pork into her mouth to shut herself up, mumbling, "Boss, have you gone past hungry? Just take a bite and you'll get hungry!"

Only then did Qin Huai pick up his chopsticks and grab the first piece of meat.

Braised pork.

A large piece of braised pork, with a perfect marbling of fat and lean meat, evenly coated with the sauce, showing a beautiful streak of pork belly from the side. The skin was bouncy yet firm, the surface of the meat shining with a beautiful glaze and not appearing greasy.

This was at least a 90-point braised pork!

At least Level A!

Qin Huai took in the whole piece at once.

Ooh.

The mouth was filled with the rich flavors of meat and fat, the savory taste mixing with its unique umami exploding in the mouth. A gentle press in the mouth and you could feel the fat melting on the tongue, and after thoroughly chewing, you could taste the tenderness of the lean meat.

Great meat!

Qin Huai already started imagining in his mind, wondering what kind of taste such a beautiful piece of pork would have if used to make Three Meat Buns and Five Fillings Bun.

Jiang Weiguo's braised meat skills might be above average, but when it comes to making such big dishes with fresh pork, his skills are definitely top-notch.

"Grandpa Jiang," Qin Huai instantly switched to a humble inquiring mode, "How do you handle this pork? If you were to make this pork belly into bun filling, how would you stew it to achieve the same soft, tender texture?"

Jiang Weiguo: ?

Jiang Jiankang: ?

Jiang Feng: ?

An Youyou: ! As expected of the boss!

Shi Dadan silently gave Qin Huai a piece of pork hock skin.

Jiang Weiguo: "Are you a chef?"

"Pastry snack master."

Jiang Weiguo suddenly understood and began to share his pork cooking wisdom with Qin Huai.

Two hours later—

Stuffed to the point of burping and having learned a stomach full of pork cooking insights, Qin Huai excitedly messaged Zhao Cheng'an:

Jiang Weiguo is simply a pork cooking master!!!

Zhao Cheng'an, receiving the message: ???

Weren't you going to eat pig-killing dishes???