booktalesy Chapter 49: Lassoing, Fishing, and Smoked Meat Rack!
Chapter 49: Lassoing, Fishing, and Smoked Meat Rack!
High-end ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods. After two busy hours, Chef Yuan, who had just arrived at Black Bear Bay, began to enjoy his meal. Fresh grouse paired with freshly picked wild mushrooms created a delicious dish of grouse stewed with mushrooms.
Apart from a little salt, no other seasonings were added to this grouse stew with mushrooms. But for Yuan Linghan, the delicious taste of grouse paired with wild mushrooms still whetted his appetite, and he ate the whole pot of ingredients, even drinking all the soup.
After finishing their meal, Yuan Linghan glanced at the still-recording camera and feigned regret, saying, "I was originally planning to save some of this delicious food for breakfast. It's a pity, though; the grouse stew with wild mushrooms was just too amazing, so delicious I couldn't stop eating!"
These words allow viewers to imagine just how delicious the dish must be, thus increasing the video's appeal. Some viewers might even think that Yuan Linghan, who doesn't know how to be frugal, certainly won't be able to last until the end.
Because once the snow season arrives, athletes who haven't stockpiled supplies simply won't be able to survive. Even if they build shelters, how long can an athlete endure hunger and thirst without proper nutrition?
In fact, the other nine contestants who arrived at Black Bear Bay had all gathered some food today. Some had caught fish, some had picked berries to eat, and some had even hunted grouse and hares.
However, all the participants discovered traces of black bears and wolves near their respective camps. This indicates that to survive here for 100 days, in addition to finding ways to gather food, they must also be wary of attacks from black bears and wolves.
After crawling into his sleeping bag and turning off the camera, Yuan Linghan woke up again to find the campfire outside the temporary shelter had gone out. Stepping out of the tent, Yuan Linghan couldn't help but shiver, a testament to the low temperature in the forest.
"It seems the temperature in the jungle this morning is only a few degrees Celsius. After it snows, the temperature here will drop sharply. It seems we need to carefully consider building a fireplace when constructing the shelter. Trying to tough it out physically will probably take a heavy toll!"
After muttering to himself for a while, Yuan Linghan quickly took care of his hygiene and washing up nearby. He relit the fire and boiled another pot of water. He threw in some pine needles as usual and drank a cup of water that warmed his stomach and body.
After finishing a bowl of pine needle tea, Yuan Linghan stood up and said, "Although the temperature in the jungle is a bit low now, visibility is much better. To avoid going hungry in the morning, I need to check the traps I set yesterday."
Repacking his bow and arrows and hunting knife, Yuan Linghan headed towards the berry bushes where traps had been set. Passing through the same jungle he'd traversed the day before, he noticed some fresh footprints, suggesting the jungle had been quite active last night.
Upon arriving at the berry grove, Yuan Linghan quickly broke into a smile and said, "Wow, it seems I'm quite lucky. I've already made a profit with my first trap. Just as I guessed yesterday, quite a few animals come to this berry grove to forage every day."
As he spoke, Yuan Linghan quickly walked to the trap he had set. A wild rabbit weighing less than two kilograms was tightly bound by an umbrella-shaped rope, its body now stiff. After untying the rope, Yuan Linghan discovered that it was a North American snowshoe hare.
Although these hares are not large, they reproduce extremely quickly. This area is home to a large berry field, making it a frequent haunt for snowshoe hares that love to forage for berries. But Yuan Linghan's arrival instantly transformed this place into an extremely dangerous place.
Walking around the area where he had set the traps yesterday, Yuan Linghan found that the harvest was quite good. Although the snowshoe rabbits were not large, he was still pleased to have caught five in the morning. The rabbit meat could be smoked and stored as food later.
After rearranging the triggered traps, Yuan Linghan, carrying the five rabbits he had captured and picking some ripe berries along the way, returned to the temporary shelter. Before sunrise, he needed to collect all the rabbits.
Using a rope, Yuan Linghan hoisted the captured rabbit up. He then used his hunting knife to cut open the rabbit's four legs, and with swift movements, he slit open the rabbit's soft belly until he had peeled off the entire rabbit pelt.
The entire process was seamless, and the later video broadcast amazed many viewers. The five rabbit skins were peeled off remarkably cleanly and intact, and Yuan Linghan had even stretched them open with tree branches; these pelts may be used later.
Although rabbit fur is small, it is very thick, and making it into rabbit fur hats or gloves would be a good choice!
Carrying the skinned rabbit to the stream, Yuan Linghan thoroughly cleaned its internal organs. He didn't throw away the edible parts, but collected the rest.
"After breakfast, we'll move our temporary campsite to the one I found yesterday, and then we can try fishing. These rabbit entrails should be more effective than lures for catching carnivorous fish."
That's right! Yuan Linghan planned to use the innards, which he wasn't going to clean out for food, as fish bait. Based on his previous understanding, many of the fish inhabiting Black Bear Bay were carnivorous.
For fish like rainbow trout, hardhead trout, and pike, Yuan Linghan believes that using rabbit entrails as bait might be more effective than using artificial lures. In fact, once the river bends freeze over after heavy snowfall, fishing will become much more difficult.
If you want to catch as many fish as possible to stock up on food, then the time before the snowfall is undoubtedly the best for fishing!
Back at the shelter, Yuan Linghan put the selected rabbit entrails directly into a soup pot to stew. She then roasted one rabbit over charcoal. The remaining four rabbits were sprinkled with a little salt to marinate, to be smoked later that evening.
While waiting for the rabbit meat to cook, Yuan Linghan quickly dismantled the shelter he had built the day before and repacked all his belongings. After confirming that the roasted rabbit meat was edible, he ate it all, along with a berry and offal soup.
"This is a way of digesting the food with the broth; when staple foods are scarce, we can only eat more meat to ensure we get the necessary nutrients!"
To the audience, his consumption of a whole rabbit and the entrails of five rabbits in one meal might seem somewhat wasteful. After all, any wise person knows that it's better to have more food reserves to last longer.
However, Yuan Linghan believes that if he can't even get enough to eat in the early stages, and is only eating half a meal every day, how can he ensure that he can take on more challenging environments later on? He doesn't care what the other contestants do, but at least he must ensure that he gets enough nutrition in his three meals a day.
After finishing breakfast, Yuan Linghan shouldered his pack again and headed towards the campsite he had chosen the day before. After walking for more than half an hour, he finally saw two towering trees that resembled a gateway, and he immediately set up a temporary campsite next to them.
With the timber prepared in advance yesterday, a brand-new temporary camp was quickly set up. After the temporary shelter was rebuilt, Yuan Linghan found some more materials and built a smokehouse next to it.
Although the temperature in Black Bear Bay is low at this moment, and there has been no snowfall yet, all freshly hunted meat must be smoked into dried goods for preservation. The wild rabbit caught this morning, and any fish that may be caught later, all need to be smoked into dried goods.
This means that a smoked meat rack is essential. Making it in advance will prevent the need to set it up temporarily later when there is too much meat hunted. In addition to the smoked meat, he also plans to dry the wild mushrooms and berries that are picked later.
After all, if we don't collect and dry these fiber-rich foods now, they'll be hard to find once the jungle snows. Eating meat every day may seem enjoyable, but if we eat it continuously for months, it could cause health problems.
Besides berries and wild mushrooms, Yuan Linghan will also try to find some starchy foods to ensure he can replenish his carbohydrates every few days. Now that he's alone in the wilderness, he doesn't want to deprive himself too much!