Sausage (continued)

Qing Kuo waved his hand. "You guys should go back inside and stay there. It's cold outside, no need to see you off."

Banjiu wiggled its little tail on Ban Ming's shoulder. "Jian Mo."

The Qing Kuo family left quickly.

Jian Mo looked at the two large vats of meat in the yard and said to Wu Jiong, "This meat seems alright. Let's see what to do with it tomorrow."

Wu Jiong glanced at it, but didn't refute it. However, he also didn't seem to agree much with the comment that "the meat is alright."

Jian Mo laughed and nudged him, "Come on, come on, let's take a shower and go to bed first. We've been out all day, I'm exhausted."

Wu Jiong: "You wash first."

Jian Mo didn't refuse. "Then bring me more water."

Last night, because she was in a good mood, Jian Mo found the two large vats of meat quite pleasing to the eye.

When Jian Mo tried to clean it up the next morning, she smelled a fishy odor and realized it would be difficult to handle.

Wu Jiong didn't like this meat; he thought it was just so-so and didn't particularly enjoy it.

With so much meat, I wonder when we'll ever finish eating it?

Should we trade it to someone else? But every family in the tribe has received their share of the Hairy-Horned Beast meat; who would trade it?

Jian Mo a little melancholy.

While they were sunbathing in the open space, Qing Kuo, knowing what he was thinking, said to him, "Didn't you say you could make it into cured meat? It should taste better if it were cured meat."

Jian Mo: "I doubt it will work. It's too lean and lacks fat. It might lack flavor when made into cured meat."

The others were curious when they heard that Jian Mo know how to cook the Hairy-Horned Beast meat, and they all offered suggestions:

"Fry it into chunks of meat? If fish chunks can be fried, meat chunks should be no problem too!"

"It seems like it could be cured into salted meat too. When you want to eat it, you can slice off a few thin slices and eat them with the stems; it tastes quite good."

"I think boiling it in salt water is also fine."

"Haha, isn't your family known for not being picky eaters? This method probably won't work for someone like Jian Mo who's an excellent cook, right?"

Jian Mo thanked everyone for their suggestions, cupped her hands in a gesture of respect, and said, "I'll make it into sausages instead."

As soon as he said that, almost everyone perked up their ears.

Qing Kuo: "What sausage?"

Jian Mo: "Didn't you guys make this before? You just stuff meat into sausage casings to make sausages."

Qing Kuo asked in confusion, "Isn't that just cured meat? Didn't you say you didn't want to be made into cured meat?"

Jian Mo shook her head. "It's not cured meat, it's sausage. I have to mince it first, season it, and then stuff it into casings."

Jian Mo initially wanted to make starch sausage, but then she thought, starch is so precious these days, where would she find extra starch to make starch sausage? She decided to add more meat and make pure meat sausage instead.

With nothing else to do, everyone became interested when they heard about the new food and expressed their desire to come and see.

Jian Mo took them home, intending to get the meat to process.

Jian Mo: "It's really difficult to cut by hand. I'm thinking of taking it to the mortar and pestle to pound it into minced meat. It's a bit hard to remember, but it's much better than cutting it at home."

Qing Kuo watched him load the meat into the basket and said, "What's so difficult about that? I'll call Ban Ming over to help carry it."

Qing Kuo went outside and shouted, Ban Ming quickly brought the young beastmen over to help carry the meat.

Seeing that there were many people, Jian Mo specially went to the cave to retrieve the frozen fatty meat he had prepared earlier.

He had wanted to render oil from this fatty meat, but he had been too busy to do so. Now he could finally use it to make sausages.

Everyone crowded around Jian Mo towards the stone mortar, asking, "What do we do next?"

Jian Mo glanced at it and said, "First, wash the mortar and pestle clean."

Before Jian Mo could even lift a finger, someone nearby immediately fetched water and deftly scrubbed the stone mortar clean with dry grass. "And then?"

Jian Mo: "Then put the meat in and pound it into mince."

Actually, this step can be done by hand, but it's too troublesome, so it's better to just take it to the mortar and pestle.

Jian Mo took the fatty and lean meat out of the basket, put it into the stone mortar, and poured in fruit wine and seasoning powder. "Just pound it."

The beastmen who had come to watch volunteered, "Jian Mo, you guys rest for a bit, we'll do it."

The young beastmen were strong, and soon they were pounding the meat inside, stepping on the large wooden poles.

Jian Mo stood to the side with a large wooden stick. Every time they pounded the meat, he would stick the stick in and turn the meat over.

When flipping the leaves, quick eyes and hands, and perfect teamwork are essential.

After watching for a while, everyone said they understood, so someone was arranged to take turns with Jian Mo.

While turning the objects over, Jian Mo's hands were almost numb from waving the wooden stick so much.

Now that someone has replaced him, he's happy to have someone else help him.

After pounding for a while, Jian Mo signaled everyone to stop, then reached in with his clean hands to pick out the tendons and membranes from the minced meat.

The flesh of the Hairy-Horned Beast is very coarse and contains a lot of fascia; he quickly picked out half a basinful.

Qing Kuo peeked inside. "Are we going to throw these away?"

Jian Mo was reluctant. "Give it to Jiujiu shouldn't mind."

Qing Kuo: "Raising a Flying-Winged Beast would be nice."

After removing the fascia, Jian Mo asked the others to continue pounding.

Soon, the chunks of meat underneath turned into a fine paste, so fine that it couldn't be picked up by hand.

Jian Mo used a large spoon to scoop the minced meat into a wooden basin, then placed it in the snow to cool it down before pounding the second batch of meat.

The others worked together seamlessly and quickly resumed pounding.

Jian Mo brought over the sausage casings and asked everyone to help clean them, scrape off the fat, and then stuff the minced meat into the casings.

Later, when his family ran out of sausage casings, other people brought them from their own homes to give to him.

These are things that people are used to doing, and they are not very difficult to do.

Soon, batches of minced meat were transformed into pure meat sausages— Jian Mo didn't add much starch.

Looking at the pink sausages, Qing Kuo asked, "And then, are you going to dry them?"