Noodles

Kuang Ning: "I definitely won't eat it! These past two years have been driving me crazy, I'm always itchy, and it doesn't look good either."

Jian Mo patted his shoulder gently, offering silent comfort.

Kuang Ning lowered his sleeves and looked intently at Jian Mo, saying, "Doctor Jian Mo, didn't you come here wanting garlic? I know how to remove most of the bitterness from garlic!"

Jian Mo looked at him in surprise.

Kuang Ning smiled and said, "You cured my ailment, and I don't have much else to thank you for, so I just wanted to teach you this."

Jian Mo: "Is this your secret recipe?"

Kuang Ning: "It's alright, as long as you don't tell anyone. Come with me to our cave, and I'll teach you."

Jian Mo hesitated for a moment. He really liked the aroma of garlic, and now that he had this opportunity, he couldn't miss it, so he agreed, "Okay, thank you."

Kuang Ning: "You're welcome. Come on, come on, let's go sit in our cave. We'll treat you to roasted pork with garlic leaves."

Kuang Ning led Jian Mo and Wu Jiong back to his own cave.

Although he has been in a relationship with an orc for many years, they still have no children and live a comfortable life together.

Their cave was clean, tidy, and exceptionally large.

Jian Mo entered, she saw the walls of the cave decorated with fabrics and various embroidered patterns, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Your cave is so beautiful!"

Kuang Ning immediately reached for the cloth on the wall. "Here, take it."

Jian Mo quickly stopped him. "Hey, how can you do that?"

Kuang Ning: "We traded this for cured meat from another tribe. We'll go back and trade again in a while. The cloth hanging on the wall will get smoky, but we can just wash it afterward. It's better than the cave getting smoky; it's really hard to clean up the smoky mess in the cave."

Jian Mo praised his wisdom in managing his life, but firmly declined. "Indeed. But you don't need to give us any. We have plenty of fabric at home; I'll find it and decorate when we get back."

Seeing that he really wouldn't accept it, Kuang Ning didn't insist, and said appreciatively, "I like to decorate the cave beautifully. A beautiful place to live makes one feel good."

After a few words, everyone became closer. Kuang Ning led them to sit down by the fire pit and went outside to find some frozen meat. "Some of our meat is marinated before freezing. It's especially flavorful and delicious when roasted."

Jian Mo gave a thumbs up. "I sometimes do that too."

Kuang Ning beamed, "Right? Sometimes when I want to grill, I don't need to defrost it. I can just put it directly on the fire, and it comes out very juicy and tender."

Kuang Ning's partner took the meat and placed it on the stone slab to grill, while Kuang Ning found a pot to wash and brought in a handful of frozen garlic roots.

Kuang Ning showed Jian Mo: "We also wash these large garlic roots before freezing them. I prefer to process them just before using them, as that makes their aroma stronger. If you process them and leave them for a while, their aroma will diminish significantly. I don't know why?"

Jian Mo, "It's evaporation. Once it's processed and not used, the fragrant substances inside will just escape into the air; it's basically gone."

Kuang Ning didn't quite understand, and said with a smile, "Anyway, it's meant to be made and used immediately. Actually, removing the bitterness is quite simple; just fry it in oil. After frying it until golden brown and crispy, remove the garlic roots and use them separately. Discard the oil; the bitterness of the garlic roots is all in the oil."

Jian Mo suddenly realized, "So that's how it is!"

Kuang Ning smiled and said, "It's that simple. There's a little trick here: when frying the roots of the garlic, you need to chop them up and wash them first, otherwise they'll turn bitter and become a different kind of bitterness that can't be removed with oil."

Jian Mo: "It'll taste bitter if it's burnt."

Kuang Ning: "Yes!"

There's nothing special about frying garlic roots; just wash them, chop them, and patiently fry them in oil.

As they fried, the whole cave was filled with a wonderful aroma; the rich fragrance of scallions and garlic was incredibly tempting.

Kuang Ning fried the food, he observed, "When the weather is warm, we fry it outside. When it's cold, there's nothing we can do but make do in the cave. But after we're done frying, we just open the window to let the smell dissipate, and that's about it."

Their caves also have windows, just like the Riverside Tribe before them; they use a large wooden board to block the window in front of it, and that's how they close the window.

Seeing that they were almost fried, Kuang Ning picked up the roots of the garlic cloves, put them in a stone mortar, added a handful of coarse salt, and while it was still piping hot, crushed it into powder. "Look, this is the garlic spice we usually use."

Jian Mo took the spice powder he scooped up, dipped her finger in it, and tasted it. "Truly remarkable, this is indeed the spice powder I'm familiar with."

Kuang Ning beamed, "Right? You can add other spices, and it tastes even better when combined. It's especially delicious as a dipping sauce for grilled meat."

Jian Mo gave him a thumbs up and said admiringly, "I've learned something."

Chapter 60 Noodles

The marinated meat sizzles and drips oil on the stone slab, the fatty parts curl slightly and become translucent, while the lean parts turn golden brown and firm, and the whole piece of grilled meat emits a rich aroma.

Jian Mo looked at the roasted meat in front of her and couldn't help but take a deep breath—it smelled so good.

Kuang Ning awkwardly used chopsticks to portion the meat for everyone. "These chopsticks are really useful; this way you won't burn your hands. Quick, dip them in garlic powder while they're still hot; they'll taste even better."

Jian Mo: "Then we won't stand on ceremony."

Kuang Ning: "Try it!"

Jian Mo was worried that the meat was too salty, so she only picked up a piece of meat and lightly dipped it in garlic powder.

The garlic powder was evenly coated on the grilled meat with grease. Jian Mo took a bite, and instantly the aroma of meat juices, grease, and garlic powder exploded in her mouth, like a symphony in her mouth.

Jian Mo hissed as she gasped for breath from the heat, "Delicious! So fresh!"

Kuang Ning: "This is my favorite way to eat it. Two more pieces, I'll eat all the garlic-roasted pork in one go until I'm full, and then drink a glass of ice-cold sweet leaf tea. It's so refreshing."