Fan Tianyu grabbed a few sheets of paper to start the fire, tossed them right into the stove, then stuffed in some thin kindling. Before long, the stove was blazing. Once the fire was going strong, Fan Tianyu added bigger pieces of wood. All in all, it was the kind of flame you'd need for cooking. During this time, the Ji brothers didn't stand around either—they got the meat prepped as Mei Mengzhen had instructed.
The first dish was the most time-consuming: potato stew with pork belly. Pork belly went in the pot first; after it was almost cooked through, the potato chunks were added, then water to boil. Only when the water boiled down and dried up was the dish considered done.
The first dish was pork and cabbage stewed with vermicelli. The vermicelli needed to be soaked beforehand. Once the pork and cabbage were stir-fried to the right point, toss in the vermicelli, give it a few quick stirs, and it was ready to go.
