Her Food Livestream Broke the Galaxy

Chapter 88: Braised Pork Rice (Part 1)

After finishing her introduction, Jiang Qiuqiu glanced at the follower count in the top right corner of the screen. ’Young people sure are quick to act,’ she thought to herself.

The count had indeed reached a hundred million, though only thirty to forty million were currently active in the stream. As usual, the number would climb for a while after the stream started, likely settling at around sixty to seventy million people.

That meant pretty much everyone would have a chance to snag a serving.

"To celebrate the channel hitting one hundred million followers, we’ll be preparing thirty servings of Braised Pork Rice today!"

"For Braised Pork Rice, we’ll be using our old friend, Gugu Beast meat." She casually picked up a long strip of what looked like pork belly. The cut was excellent, with a perfect balance of fat and lean meat and beautiful marbling.

"You want to choose a marbled cut with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. That way, the braised pork won’t be dry and will feel like it just melts in your mouth."

To cook the meat, first you have to cut it.

Her slender hands picked up a large cleaver, the sharp blade crisscrossing over the meat. Soon, Jiang Qiuqiu had processed the long strip of pork belly into thin strips, each about the width of a pinky finger, and arranged them neatly on the cutting board.

Since she was making thirty servings today as a special reward for her one hundred million followers, Jiang Qiuqiu wasn’t about to be stingy with the portions. She made sure to prepare plenty of pork belly.

As a result, she spent over ten minutes just cutting the meat.

The small, cut strips of meat filled nearly six or seven whole plates.

Jiang Qiuqiu had a habit of preparing all her ingredients before turning on the stove. "Today, we’re making something like a meal set to be eaten with rice. Just having meat would be too plain, so let’s add some leafy greens."

The vegetable she chose was a tender, light green color with long stems. It was a type of long cabbage that turned slightly sweet after blanching. Its flavor wasn’t overpowering—it was fresh and crisp, a perfect complement to the rich, slightly oily braised pork.

The leafy greens blanched almost instantly in the hot water. Once they were ready, she set them aside, emptied the pot, and cranked up the heat to high, letting the high temperature evaporate any remaining water vapor.

She then poured in a thin layer of oil. The intense heat of the pot quickly brought the oil to a shimmer. "Now is about the right time to add the meat."

Pork belly is naturally rich in fat, and as it cooked in the high heat, its own oils slowly rendered out. The intense heat quickly released a captivating aroma from the meat.

The pork belly, in particular, became slightly translucent as it seared, shimmering like white jade beneath the rendered fat.

"Once the meat turns this pearly white color, we’ll take it out of the pot."

"With Braised Pork Rice, the star of the show is, of course, the braised pork. The meat should be a deep, soy-sauce brown, and the sauce should be rich without being greasy. To get to that point, we have to use the right seasonings."

Kitchen utensils moved with fluid grace in Jiang Qiuqiu’s hands; she was completely at home here.

She heated a clean pot and added oil, followed by the aromatics. The garlic and scallions were fried until they turned golden and crisp, their essence infusing the oil under the intense heat.

The once-plain oil was now fragrant with aromatics. At this point, she returned the meat to the pot.

"The meat is already cooked at this point, so you don’t need to fry it for long. Just stir it until it’s heated through and gets a little bit of a sear, then we’ll add a ladleful of water."

She added enough water to cover the meat, then mixed in a few pieces of rock sugar, some rice wine, seasoning powder, and soy sauce for color. Then she simply put the lid on, turned the heat down to low, and let it simmer for twenty minutes.

The cooking was going very smoothly today. With the lid on the pot and the meat simmering, she had a moment to spare. Jiang Qiuqiu glanced at the screen and noticed that there seemed to be fewer live comments than usual.

She commented casually, "Everyone seems a lot quieter today."

Through the screen, she had no idea—