Chapter 84: Bicycle, Crystal Pork Skin Jelly

In front of Chu Yue was a wooden basin, filled with a pile of pig intestines, pig ears, and pig skin. All pale and raw, it was quite a sight. If someone more fastidious were to see it, they’d probably wrinkle their nose in disgust and turn away.

But Chu Yue didn’t flinch. She calmly kept washing as if it were nothing.

She used cold water, adding flour to it. Once the flour dissolved, the water turned murky and sticky, allowing the paste to cling to and lift off dirt and invisible grime from the pig offal.

Especially for the large intestines, they had to be scrubbed in the flour water four to five times—just like doing laundry—before they’d be even remotely clean.

Chu Yue had been at it for quite a while. Her hands had been soaking in the cold water so long they’d turned red from the chill.

When Chen Fengying saw the state of her hands, her heart ached.

“Chu girl, stop, just stop already! Look at your hands—they’re all red from the cold! If Commander Lu sees this, he’ll be heartbroken. This pig offal is really hard to deal with. I’ve been thinking it over and I really should have just given you some pork instead—I brought it here just for you.”

Chu Yue was almost done cleaning by then. She flicked the water off her hands, and little Lu Yuanbao, standing nearby, immediately handed her a towel so she could dry them.

As Chu Yue wiped her hands, she said,

“Sister Chen, really—there’s no need. If I wanted pork, I wouldn’t have held back yesterday at the supply and marketing co-op. These pig parts may seem gross now, but once I’m done with them, they’ll be real delicacies.”

Chen Fengying still held out the pork in her hand, but no matter how she tried to pass it over, Chu Yue refused to accept it. The back-and-forth was starting to get awkward.

So she asked directly,

“Chu girl, what are you making? Let me help. If you won’t take the pork, at least let me lend a hand—otherwise I’ll feel guilty.”

It was rare for Chu Yue to meet someone as warm and sincere as Chen Fengying, and it made her heart feel warm too.

She agreed, and the two of them got busy together.

The pig intestines and ears continued soaking in the flour water while Chu Yue leaned over to wash them again.

She had also bought a large sheet of pig skin, already roughly cleaned. It was ready to be blanched, and she asked Chen Fengying to help light the stove and work the bellows.

That bit of work was a breeze for Chen Fengying.

At the stove, Chu Yue cut the whole sheet of pig skin into four pieces and placed them into cold water in the pot.

She added white liquor, scallions, ginger, garlic, and a few Sichuan peppercorns to the pot.

These ingredients helped remove the gamy smell of the pig skin. The Sichuan peppercorns were especially effective, and the white liquor, when volatilized under high heat, would carry off the odors with it.

Once the water came to a boil, she covered the pot and let it cook for eight minutes.

After eight minutes, she opened the lid. The pig skin was bubbling and rolling in the boiling water.

Chu Yue picked up a chopstick and poked at the pig skin. If it was soft enough for the chopstick to go through, it was ready. If not, it would need more time.

Chu Yue had timed it just right—after eight minutes, the pig skin was perfectly soft and tender.

She scooped it out and placed it on a cutting board to cool.

Due to the cold weather, after sitting for just a short while, the pig skin had already started to contract and cool.

Next came a crucial step—scraping the fat.

What she needed from the pig skin was just the outer gelatinous layer, not the white fat clinging to the inner side. She had to hold the knife at an angle and shave off the fat bit by bit.

The trimmed fat wasn’t wasted either—it was saved in a small bowl to be rendered into oil for future cooking.

This step really tested one’s knife skills. If done carelessly, you’d cut away both skin and fat, wasting good pork.

Chu Yue’s technique was impressively efficient. Holding the kitchen knife in her right hand, she was quick and steady. She removed the fat cleanly, leaving not a single shred of skin on it. The pig skin was quickly and neatly prepared.

The whole sheet of pig skin already had a translucent, glossy appearance.

But this was just the beginning.

Next came a very delicate and patience-testing task—plucking pig bristles.

Because the pig skin had already been boiled, its surface was very sticky, and the bristles were not easy to remove. They had to be soaked in warm water, washed while gently pulling the bristles out.

Chu Yue had long prepared tweezers for the task. One for herself, one for Lu Yuanbao, and now that Chen Fengying had joined, she fetched another pair for her too.

The three of them gathered around a basin filled with warm water, grabbing pieces of pig skin and carefully plucking out the bristles bit by bit.

By this point, Chen Fengying picked up a piece of pig skin and gave it a sniff. The strong, fishy stench was already gone. If you didn’t sniff it directly, you couldn’t smell it at all.

While handling the pig bristles, Chu Yue not only plucked but also used a scraping blade, gently going against the direction of the bristles to remove any tiny, nearly invisible hairs, and directly cut the cleaned pig skin into fine shreds.

Seeing this, Chen Fengying immediately realized what Chu Yue was making.

“Chu girl, are you planning to make pig skin jelly?”

“Mm-hmm. Pig skin is full of collagen—it makes the jelly tasty and nutritious.”

Chu Yue spoke while multitasking, already placing the shredded pig skin into a large bowl.

Chen Fengying thought they were done at this point—that the pig skin had been fully cleaned. But unexpectedly, Chu Yue grabbed a handful of salt, sprinkled it over the pig skin shreds, and started dry-scrubbing them.

First dry-scrub, then rinse with warm water.

Then sprinkle salt again, scrub again, and rinse again.

Then repeat: salt, scrub, rinse…

To Chen Fengying’s wide-eyed disbelief, Chu Yue repeated this process four or five times.

Each time during rinsing, there was still a bit of oil residue that came off.

Only on the final rinse, when water was poured in and the pig skin soaked, the water remained crystal clear, free of any oil or impurities.

Now, it was truly clean.

Watching from the side, Chen Fengying was stunned. Was this level of detail really necessary to make pig skin jelly? Wasn’t this too clean?

In all her life, she had never seen anyone prepare it this meticulously.

Once the pig skin was completely cleaned, Chu Yue weighed it roughly—about three jin (1.5kg).

Next was the water-to-pig-skin ratio, which was 1:2.

So for three jin of pig skin, she would add six jin of water. One basin couldn’t hold it all, so she split it into two separate basins.

Then finally came the last step: steaming.

This step wasn’t hard—it just took a long time. The pig skin needed to be steamed for two full hours.

During this, Chu Yue added a single star anise to the pot, to enhance the flavor of the pig skin jelly.

Chen Fengying, who had watched the entire process, couldn’t help asking curiously,
“Chu girl, if you’re making pig skin jelly, you can just boil it directly. Why go to all the trouble of steaming it? That’s more time-consuming, and it wastes firewood.”

Chu Yue smiled mysteriously,
“Sister Chen, steaming has its own magic. Just wait until tomorrow—then you’ll see why.”