I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 13. Sausage Bamboo Tube Rice
The next morning.
When the So family came out to the courtyard and discovered the sausage that had been smoking all night, they all stood with their mouths agape.
The savory aroma had drifted through the air all night, and they’d wondered what kind of dish was being completed. But what was this lustrous, deep amber-red meat that looked so appetizing?
“Good heavens. How does the meat shine so glossy? And however did you make it so smooth, like a jewel?”
“The oil seeps out from inside. If we hang it in a well-ventilated place for about two weeks and dry it properly, we can keep eating it well into winter,” So Yeon-hui explained.
Hong gazed at the sausages hanging from the pole with trembling eyes.
The pieces of meat, each the length of a palm and strung together in a row, made it easy to imagine just how delicious they would be.
Against all odds, So Yeon-hui’s second dish had succeeded once again.
‘This appearance… even the picky palates of Capital City would seek this out gladly.’
The meat was plump and cylindrical, each piece roughly the length of a palm.
The surface gleamed with a glossy sheen, and the flesh was so taut it looked ready to burst at any moment.
It was as if someone had taken the most delicious part of a whole roasted pig and shrunk it down to this size.
“So then, what is the name of this dish?”
“It’s sausage… or in this region’s terms, it’s called Sausage.”
“Sausage. Is it perhaps something similar to Preserved Pork?”
“Yes, but the method for making sausage is much more complex, so I doubt anyone here has made it before.”
Preserved Pork—the method of salting and drying roasted pork to create a ham-like product—already existed in this era.
Without refrigeration, salting and drying was the best way to keep meat fresh longer when it spoiled so quickly.
But pig intestines were far more troublesome to prepare this way.
Unlike meat, intestines would spoil in just a day at room temperature.
To prevent this, when making the casing, one had to remove the fat and carefully clean away any residue, impurities, and fascia from the inside.
After that, the casing had to be salted in layers and left for at least four days before being dried thoroughly.
Even without smoking, preparing the casing itself is an incredibly difficult process.
‘I can manage this because I intend to sell it, but if someone were to make it as an everyday dish… oh, it would be exhausting.’
There was a reason the saying went, “Buy your sausage rather than make it.”
Moreover, if done properly, it should be aged for two weeks while drying thoroughly.
Of course, So Yeon-hui had no intention of waiting that long.
“Since I need to hand half over to the Butcher Shop, I’ll only use a quarter of what I made today.”
So Yeon-hui cut out just two segments from the long bundle of sausage as she spoke.
They were made for sale to begin with, so she couldn’t use much anyway, but considering the amount of fat used, this amount would be rich without being overwhelming.
“So what dish will you make with this sausage? You promised we’d definitely eat it for supper.”
“Hmm… well, what would be good?”
Freshly made sausage would be delicious no matter how it was prepared.
She was genuinely uncertain what menu would be best.
“Since we’ve already bought barley rice, why not make it as a rice side dish?” her grandmother suggested.
At the suggestion, So Yeon-hui quickly ran through various sausage rice recipes in her mind.
From stir-fried sausage with vegetables to the simplest grilled sausage.
If she sliced the sausage thinly and pan-fried it in beaten egg, it became a nostalgic, old-fashioned sausage pancake.
But such fine homemade sausage couldn’t be prepared that way.
So Yeon-hui’s eyes brightened as she spoke to her family.
“Have you ever heard of Sausage Bamboo Tube Rice?”
* * *
Once, there was a dish that took over social media—Sausage Olive Pot Rice.
You’d gently stir-fry soaked rice with onion and ham in oil, add stock and cook the rice, then pile sausage and olives on top and let it steam. A simple dish.
But for So Yeon-hui, who had lived in the Mountains, a large pot was cumbersome.
So she created a new dish by fusing Korean Bamboo Tube Rice with Sausage Olive Pot Rice.
That was precisely what the So family’s secret recipe became—Sausage Bamboo Tube Rice.
“Nutrition Rice already contains all sorts of ingredients anyway, so as long as it tastes good, it doesn’t matter if we add Western ingredients.”
So Yeon-hui recalled her memories of her past life, sliced the well-smoked sausage into rounds, and lightly stir-fried it together with soaked rice and minced vegetables in pork fat.
Then she placed the rice and ingredients into bamboo tubes that she’d prepared earlier by cutting into one-segment lengths and washing thoroughly, and poured her secret Chicken Stock over everything until just moist.
‘Fortunately, the Chicken Stock wasn’t as expensive as I feared.’
Of course, Chicken Stock was an ingredient that didn’t exist in this place, so a substantial fee was added.
But it was essentially just concentrated chicken broth that had been freeze-dried.
At about 7 Points per 50 cubes, it wasn’t prohibitively expensive.
Next, she wrapped burlap cloth around the opening of the bamboo tube like a lid and steamed it in a pot filled with water for about an hour.
As a result, evening had fallen and it became rather a late supper, but…
“Is this the ‘Sausage Bamboo Tube Rice’ you spoke of?”
“Yes. Soaked rice, seasoned vegetables, and smoked sausage all steamed together inside the bamboo tube.”
“Mmm, it’s quite savory and delicious. Especially this sausage—it’s truly remarkable.”
“Right? Once you taste it, anyone would be drawn to it.”
So Yeon-hui smiled shyly under the flood of praise from her family.
The sight of the whole family sitting together near a bonfire in the courtyard, not indoors, eating from the bamboo tubes.
Who could have imagined that recreating a memory meant only for herself with her family would fill her heart with such warmth?
Feeling tears prickling at her eyes again, So Yeon-hui quickly buried her nose in the bamboo tube.
The savory, salty grains of rice were so delicious she could hardly believe it.
“So you intend to make this Sausage Bamboo Tube Rice for the Butcher Shop as well?” So Jin asked.
So Jin posed the question to So Yeon-hui.
It seemed there would be considerable difficulty in two young girls transporting these bamboo tubes all the way to Jinseong.
The Tanghulu they’d shown this morning was still just small fruit skewers, even dressed in sugar syrup.
But Bamboo Tube Rice was quite heavy with just the bamboo tubes alone, wasn’t it?
As a Criminal, So Jin couldn’t leave this Village, and that fact was newly painful—the knowledge that he couldn’t contribute to the family business.
He could carve bamboo skewers for Tanghulu, but there was almost nothing he could do for sausage, which made it all the worse.
“That would be difficult, I think. The weight is simply too much. Even if we do decide to supply it, we’d only sell the sausage itself.”
The price had already been roughly decided.
30 coins per unit of weight.
Since the raw cost of sausage was about 10 coins per unit, excluding spices, they could make a profit of 20 coins per unit.
‘Considering the labor involved, the profit margin isn’t quite as high as with Tanghulu…’
But this was a long-keeping preserved food, perfect for eating as a side dish through the winter, so it would sell briskly from now on.
In terms of sales volume, it would become the So family’s flagship product, no less successful than Tanghulu.
Of course, that didn’t mean she had any intention of abandoning the Tanghulu business!
“Then next time, the whole family must pitch in and make it together, whether we like it or not. You shouldn’t have to struggle alone this time, Yeon-hui.”
At Hong’s remark, all the family members’ eyes went wide.
The woman who hadn’t offered So Yeon-hui a single word of praise even before their Exile—what strange whim was this?
So Yeon-hui glanced up at the sky, half-wondering if the sun had risen in the west.
Realizing her family’s surprised reaction, Hong cleared her throat lightly and continued.
“I’m confident with my hands for kneading and working, so I’ll take charge of washing the casings and pickling the intestines. Surely an old woman’s work would be neater than children’s, wouldn’t it?”
“Then I’ll handle mincing the meat and hanging the finished raw sausage on the pole for smoking,” So Jin said.
“Then we should stuff the intestines with the meat filling our eldest sister makes, just like yesterday!”
“It’s not very difficult, so we’ll be able to do it well next time too!”
Without anyone asking, each family member volunteered for a role, as if they were preserving vegetables together—the whole household stepping forward with one mind and one purpose.
‘Oh my. They must be tired from working in the fields all day, so I could handle it alone.’
That way she’d gain Virtue Points and preserve her family’s strength—wasn’t that two birds with one stone?
But…
‘Still, this warm, harmonious atmosphere isn’t so bad.’
Watching her family’s eager enthusiasm, So Yeon-hui let out a soft laugh.
“Once we make more money from Tanghulu, we’ll make sausage in bulk!”
So Yeon-u, finding the sausage particularly to her liking, shouted with sparkling eyes.
And once again, the whole family burst into laughter.
‘Ah, life really is worth living.’
So Yeon-hui smiled brightly, setting aside her worries and cares for once.
“Judging by that reaction, if I made Hot Dogs, you’d probably ask me to butcher a whole pig.”
A savory sausage skewered on a stick, coated in thick pancake batter and deep-fried until fluffy and golden—that perfect sweet-and-salty, savory snack.
If she made that, her younger siblings would surely adore it, wouldn’t they?
Of course, other children would love it too.
Just as she was seriously beginning to assess the business potential of the idea, thinking this might actually be quite profitable.
So Yeon-u asked with perfectly innocent eyes.
“What’s a Hot Dog? Is it even more delicious than Tanghulu?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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