In the Tang Dynasty, pork is cheap meat, no one likes to eat, this is different from the later generations of "second senior brother" rampant, meat is not popular, those pigs into the water no one wants it is not strange, in fact, many places do not eat pigs in the water, that is, more than a thousand years later, there are many places where people do not eat pigs in the water, take out the same directly and throw it on the ground, and then slowly change.

Pork is actually not unpalatable, mainly because many people in Datang do not know how to cook, at this time there are few seasonings, and the meat has a fishy smell when cooked, coupled with a poor image, it is disliked by the general public.

Others can't cook, but Zheng Peng can.

In Zheng Peng's eyes, it is an excellent cooking material, when Zheng Peng was still studying, the economic conditions at home were not very good, and my mother had to go to set up a stall after work, mainly fried some powder, made some pork offal porridge, and got some lo-mei to help with the family, my mother's craftsmanship is very good, especially the lo-mei is very good, the legend is that the secret recipe was taught by my grandmother, there are many repeat customers, and the sensible Zheng Peng will also help to work, at that time the most used is pork offal, mainly cheap, and easy to handle, Very popular with diners.

Under the guidance of his mother, Zheng Peng also learned the technique of making braised meat.

Seeing the discarded pig on the ground going into the water, Zheng Peng's eyes lit up, like seeing a mountain of gold that no one saw.

A person's life is inseparable from the four words of food, clothing, housing and transportation, among which food is the most important, this is the origin of the people's food, they have no capital, and it is best to make a fuss about these pigs that others don't want.

After killing the pigs, there is nothing good to see in the meat, the people slowly dispersed, and there were still a few people at the scene, Zheng Peng walked up with a smile, and said to the butcher: "Excuse me, are these meat sold?"

The butcher glanced at Zheng Peng and saw that it was a brightly dressed scholar, although his expression was a little surprised, but there was more respect in his words: "The meat is ordered, only these bone sticks, do you want Xiao Langjun?"

Ancient people like meat fat, the fatter the better, fat meat is not only delicious, but also can refine oil, very popular with the people, and the bones think that there is no meat, that is, it costs firewood to cook, usually used to weigh up, cut two catties of meat to send a big stick bone.

"How do you sell it?"

"I don't weigh it, I can pick any penny." On weekdays, it is given to regular customers for free, but now that someone wants it, the butcher casually says a price.

That is, the price of a hu cake, you know, in the future, bones are much more expensive than meat, but I didn't expect that it is now the price of cabbage, so cheap that I can't believe it.

Zheng Peng was not polite, picked two big stick bones, and said casually when he handed them to the butcher bag: "Do you still want that pair of pigs to go into the water?" Don't you want to give it to me?"

"No problem, Xiao Langjun likes to take it, but we are not responsible for bandaging." As he spoke, the butcher became familiar with tying up the bones with straw ropes.

After settling the money, Zheng Peng handed over the pig bones to Lu Shu, picked up the pig that was estimated to be about ten catties and went straight away, and heard some good deeds behind his back from afar:

"It looks well-dressed, but I didn't expect it to be a strong outsider, a poor scholar."

"That's it, I also eat cheap meat, I can't even afford to eat meat, I can't take the bones back to gnaw them, and I even want the pigs to go into the water, how hungry I am."

"How chilling it must be to pick up the pig and go into the water with a happy face."

Everyone, you don't say a word, and you don't deliberately lower your voice when you speak, Zheng Peng's heart is very firm, his face is still plain and his steps are brisk, but Lu Shuqi, who is following behind, clenches his little fists, his pretty face is a little red, and he is not worth it for his young master, but she doesn't know what to say for a while, she is full of questions, but she doesn't know how to say it for a while.

My own young master, it can't be that you want to eat meat and want to go crazy, right?

The market is not far from home, after returning home, Lu Shu just wanted to ask Zheng Peng why he picked up the pig that no one wanted, but before he could speak, Zheng Peng spoke first: "Lu Shu, you look after the house, by the way, wash the pig in the water, wash the mud and blood, I will go out for a while." ”

"Ah, young master, where are you going?"

"Buy something and I'll be back in a minute." Zheng Peng didn't wait for Lu Shu's reaction, and rushed out with an arrow step.

The pig water and pork bones are available, but to make it delicious, the ingredients must be missing, so Zheng Peng can only go back to buy them.

Lu Shu looked at Zheng Peng's distant figure, and could only mutter: "Young master, you come back early." ”

To marinate pig water, you need to use rice wine, salt, grain, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, licorice and other ingredients, through pickling, preparation of brine soup, blanching, marinating, cooling and other processes, Zheng Peng has a set of mature technology, marinating is not a problem, the problem is the lack of required materials.

When he arrived at the grocery grain and oil store, Zheng Peng began to have a headache, the seasoning was not only pitiful, but the price was also high and frightening, taking sugar as an example, the sugar of the Tang Dynasty is not a common white sugar or rock sugar, but a kind of gray and yellow starch sugar, in fact, it is Ganshu sugar, it is said that Tang Taizong Li Shimin sent an envoy to Magadha (now India) to obtain the sugar boiling method, the image is not very good, and there is a kind of Solomon sugar from Fanwai, light yellow, it looks a lot pure, but the price is expensive, a small pile of mouth will cost 100 Wen.

Counting the money in his pocket, Zheng Peng still chose to use Datang's self-produced caramel and spent eighty yuan to buy about three taels.

Not only sugar, but also pepper are very expensive, Zheng Peng knows that pepper can be used as a hard currency like currency in Datang, and its value is very strong, and he bargained for a long time before he asked for a small handful from the somewhat reluctant grocery store shopkeeper.

This is still the result of saying a lot of good things, the shopkeeper was a little annoyed by Zheng Peng, in his words, he has never participated in the transaction of less than the usual money, but he saw that Zheng Peng was a talent, a scholar, and kept saying compliments, which made an exception.

Some materials can be bought from the market, while some materials are not available in the market, so they can only be purchased at crude medicine stores, some are not medicines or seasonings, and they can only be found by themselves, and some of the seasonings that are not available can only be substituted with their limited pharmacological knowledge.

In order to prevent people from prying eyes, Zheng Peng also deliberately bought several more irrelevant seasonings and medicinal materials.

In the future, he will become famous, and he is not afraid of imitation by those who have a heart.

Tossed until the sun was about to set, Zheng Peng barely completed the preparations.

When Lu Shu saw Zheng Peng panting in front of her with two big baskets, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Young Master, why did you go for so long? And buy so many things, what's that big bag and little bag?" Seeing that Zheng Peng was struggling, Lu Shu hurriedly stepped forward to help take over a big basket.

"It's all spices, tools, etc., but I'm tired."

Lu Shu opened it and saw that it was some pepper, star anise and other things, these prices were not cheap, and asked cautiously: "Young master, these have to cost a lot of money, right?" ”

"Quite a bit" Zheng Peng sighed, and said a little depressedly: "It cost more than three hundred yuan, and the money bag was emptied, so I bought it after saying it." ”

What the? Sold out?

Lu Shu was taken aback when she heard this, the young master was too good at tossing, and finally saved this money, and spent all the effort in half a day, if you buy the four treasures of the study, it is not heartbroken, the problem is to buy food, buy such a precious seasoning just for those cheap meat?

No, there is no meat, it is cheap bones, and there are pigs in the water that no one wants.

Although he didn't say anything on the surface, Lu Shu's heart hurt so much that he couldn't do it: the young master just remembered to eat or not, and forgot the taste of starvation in front of him? All at once, what will I do tomorrow?

The young master is really a loser.