Chapter 36: All Sorts of Pork Offal

Boxes of pork offal were sorted and placed on shelves next to the entrance.

Stainless steel basins were already prepared. Before all the plastic crates could even be set on the shelves, a woman nearby eagerly began transferring the offal from the crates into the steel basins.

In less than two minutes, the once-empty counter was completely covered with trays of pork offal.

Li Xiao quickly told the other three to go inside and grab a table; otherwise, they might have a long wait for a seat.

Although there was a large crowd waiting at the entrance, the owner was clearly used to it.

There wasn’t just one line to pick out ingredients, but three.

So, despite the crowd, Li Xiao only had to wait a few minutes for his turn.

Li Xiao adjusted his camera, capturing the entire stall in the frame.

Pork heart, pork liver, pork lungs, pork tongue, pork intestines, pork kidney, pork diaphragm, pork ribs, pork blood...

Everything you could think of, and even things you couldn’t, was here.

And the shop had finely sectioned every part.

The various types of pork offal were all sorted and displayed. While it looked a bit gory, there was an alternative kind of beauty to it.

The offal had been washed beforehand and looked quite clean, not giving off a dirty impression.

Livestream Chat

"Wait, is this all pork offal? Why are there so many different kinds?"

"Oh my god, what am I seeing?? A still-beating heart? That’s terrifying!!!"

"One catty of offal costs 58 yuan??? This offal is more expensive than beef!!"

"This streamer is such a rip-off artist, right? Recommending such expensive offal. He must have gotten paid for this promotion!"

"The guy above doesn’t get it. Fresh offal really does cost this much. I’ve even had some for 78 yuan a catty!"

"No matter how fresh, it’s still just cheap pork innards. The price is way too high."

"So many pork kidneys. Just how many pigs did they have to slaughter?"

He pulled his gaze back and noticed the debate that had broken out in the livestream chat.

He quickly explained,

"The price of 58 yuan per catty isn’t actually expensive at all."

"That’s because every order of offal congee comes with a clay pot of plain congee. Plus, vegetables and other toppings are free."

"If it’s just two or three people, you can order half a catty for less than 30 yuan. That’s a late-night meal for only 10 yuan per person. How is that expensive?"

Hearing Li Xiao’s explanation, many viewers in the chat had a moment of realization.

"Oh, so the price includes other stuff. Now that you put it that way, it’s not high at all."

"I just had a great idea. A whole group of us could go, order just half a catty of offal, and then pig out on the free congee and veggies."

"The person above is a true genius at being cheap."

"That’s not being frugal, that’s just being a cheapskate!"

The auntie helping customers select their ingredients saw Li Xiao hesitating and was getting annoyed.

But when she saw he was livestreaming on his phone, she swallowed the string of curses that was on the tip of her tongue.

Still, she urged him on impatiently,

"Hey, young man, can you hurry it up?"

"There are a lot of people waiting behind you!"

Li Xiao felt a chill run down his spine from the resentful glare of the ingredient-picking auntie.

An apologetic look appeared on his face.

"Sorry, sorry! I’ll pick right now!"

Before the words were even out of his mouth, his eyes were already back on the offal in front of him.

"Give me fifty grams of each type of offal."

"Half a catty of ribs, and one pork kidney."

Hearing his order, the auntie explained with a deadpan expression,

"The offal pieces vary in weight, so I can’t be perfectly precise."

"I can only guarantee it’ll be more or less the amount you asked for."

Li Xiao nodded.

"Of course, no problem. Around fifty grams is fine. A little more or less doesn’t matter."

Once Li Xiao agreed, the auntie sprang into action.

Don’t be fooled by her age—she was over fifty, but her movements were faster than a young person’s.

With chopsticks in one hand and scissors in the other, the auntie started picking out Li Xiao’s offal.

The ribs couldn’t be cut with scissors, but a nearby chef’s knife skills were incredibly sharp. In the blink of an eye, a whole rack of ribs was diced into thumb-sized pieces.

The auntie casually tossed a pork kidney into the air. Without even looking up, another chef extended his hand, and the kidney landed squarely in his palm.

Livestream Chat:

"Is that the legendary ’Flying Pork Kidney’?"

"That auntie and the chef have amazing chemistry!"

"Am I the only one admiring that chef’s cleaver? It looks so sharp!"

"Do pork kidneys even need to be prepped? Where I’m from, we just grill them whole!"

"Pork kidneys have such a strong gamy smell. Anyone who likes them must have a really strong stomach!"

...

Seeing the viewers’ questions in the chat, Li Xiao turned his phone slightly, aiming the camera at the chef who was prepping the pork kidney.

"Actually, the main reason many people think pork kidneys taste so gamy and have a strong odor is because they aren’t cleaned and prepped properly before cooking."

"There’s a thin membrane on the surface of the kidney. This transparent membrane, along with some of the attached fat, is the source of a lot of that odor."

"If you completely remove this membrane before prepping, you can get rid of 30% of the odor."

As he spoke, the chef had already extended two fingers and gently pierced the membrane.

With a simple pull and tear, he easily ripped off the white membrane along with some of the surrounding fat.

The peeled kidney was immediately submerged in a nearby basin of water.

The chef held the kidney in his palms, pressing it repeatedly. Bloody water steadily seeped out.

After rinsing it for about ten seconds, the chef took the kidney out of the water.

The moment the kidney hit the cutting board, the chef pressed it down gently with his left hand. In the next instant, a flash of the blade cut the kidney in two.

Once the pinkish kidney was split open, the gamy core inside was exposed.

Li Xiao aimed the camera at the cleaver in the chef’s hand.

"This step is a real test of a chef’s knife skills."

"If it isn’t cut cleanly, the kidney will have a very strong gamy taste. But if you cut too much, you waste a lot of the meat."

The chef gently squeezed the sides of the kidney with his left hand, making the center bulge. Then, with the knife in his right hand, he deftly made a slice along each side of the white, gamy part.

The next moment, the entire gamy core was peeled away from the kidney.

With two more deft cuts, the remaining gamy parts on the kidney were completely removed.

Seeing the perfectly clean, pinkish-tender kidney, free of any impurities, Li Xiao immediately gave the chef a thumbs-up.

"Chef, your knife work is beautiful."

An ordinary person would need at least a few minutes to prep a kidney properly. Someone clumsy might even take ten minutes or more.

Yet, this chef before him had cleaned the kidney perfectly with just four cuts. His knife work could only be described as brilliant.

The chef prepping the kidney was clearly an extrovert; he probably spent a lot of time on TikTok.