Chapter 539: Oil and Smoked Meat

This time unloading the meat, the four of Wang An don't unload the meat as meticulously as they usually do when going into the mountains.

Because usually when hunting wild boars or bears, they try to separate the bones and meat completely, then take the meat and throw away the bones.

Of course, when there is little prey, they will also bring back some bones with meat.

Although in this way, a lot of meat stuck to the bones is wasted, but in order to reduce weight and volume, this is also a helpless move.

After all, the entire skeleton of a big animal is truly not light in weight, which undoubtedly adds a lot of burden to the horses pulling the sled.

Furthermore, every time they go into the mountains, the distance is not short, and the saying "don't bring needles for a thousand miles" is not limited to people; it is actually the same for mules and horses.

Four people work together to unload the meat, just doing a simple division, so the speed is also very fast.

After unloading the entire big bear, Seeing Mu Xueli says to Wang An: "Brother-in-law, should we lead the horses over to carry the meat, or should we move the tent over directly?"

The reason Seeing Mu Xueli asks this is because whether it is the location for panning for gold or the location for digging for gold, it is very far from the tent.

So moving the tent once, although quite strenuous, is truly a once-and-for-all thing.

Wang An looks at the quite large amount of brown bear meat and says:

"Sharpening the knife doesn't delay the woodcutting; leave the meat here, let's move the tent."

After Wang An finishes speaking, Feng Chengmin also agrees:

"Yeah, this back and forth is several miles; a bit of effort is wasted on walking."

As they speak, the four walk toward the tent together.

With many people, many horses, and many things, when the four people move everything, including the tent, to a suitable location, more than two hours have passed.

In this deep mountain and old forest, if one wants to simply deal with a night, one can just find a place sheltered from the wind.

But if one is camping for a long time, especially from this season until late autumn, it is best to find a relatively suitable geographical location.

It must be sheltered from the wind, have an open view, and cannot be chosen in a place where the terrain is too low.

Most importantly, there cannot be pits and bumps near the tent; for example, places with many rat holes or rabbit holes won't work.

Although these things are known to anyone who often goes into the mountains, for those who haven't been into the mountains or have been very few times, it is crucial.

And the reason there are so many things to consider when going into the mountains is actually quite simple: only two words, "safety."

Sheltering from the wind has only one purpose, which is to keep warm, and a place sheltered from the wind is not a place without wind; as long as it is not in a wind gap, it is fine.

And the purpose of an open view is to let people notice the surrounding situation at any time, so as to be prepared or guarded in advance.

The reason the terrain cannot be too low is because in the mountains, any simple heavy rainstorm can cause mountain torrents.

And as long as mountain torrents appear, even if people can run away, if the supplies are washed away, that is also dangerous; the most basic problem is, what to eat?

One must know that in the face of this kind of natural disaster, people are not powerless, but desperate.

Furthermore, the place where Wang An and the others are is by the river; it is well known that as long as there is a flood, the river will inevitably rise or even burst its banks, so the height of the terrain is very critical.

Finally, the reason there cannot be pits and bumps near the camp is very simple.

On one hand, it is convenient for people to enter and exit when walking; on the other hand, places with pits and bumps have more rat holes or rabbit holes, which easily injure horse legs.

One must know that in these deep mountains and old forests two hundred miles deep, if there is no horse for transport, it will be strenuous when wanting to go out. Wang An and the four walk around the meat pile for a large circle before finding a relatively suitable location, which is actually on a hillside; immediately following, these four people start to re-set up the tent and build the stove.

After finishing everything, the four people move a large pile of bear meat to the vicinity of the tent.

At this time, although insects like flies and mosquitoes haven't come out, such a large amount of bear meat will definitely attract the prying eyes of carnivorous animals, so the four decide to process all this meat.

And the simplest processing method is oil and smoke.

Both of these methods can cover the bloody smell of the meat itself and can also be stored for a long time.

The mountain animals at this time can be said to be the thinnest of the year, because this time is the time of year commonly known as "the time when the green doesn't meet the yellow."

Of course, for rural areas and even all Chinese people, it is the same.

Grain has bottomed out, and stored dried wild vegetables and mushrooms, as well as cabbage and potatoes in the cellar, are also about to be eaten up.

But wild vegetables and mountain treasures that can be used to satisfy hunger in the mountains haven't grown yet.

That is to say, this time is truly the most difficult time to endure.

Actually, precisely because of this, this big bear is only 1,300 or 1,400 jin; if it were late autumn, then this big bear would be at least 1,500 or 1,600 jin to be considered normal.

So the big bear, although big, doesn't have much fat; as for oil, there is a lot of cracklings, but little lard.

This point can be considered a lucky coincidence that fits the minds of Wang An and the others.

One must know that when hungry, chewing a few cracklings is fragrant and satisfying; the sense of happiness can instantly be collected and quickly spread to every corner of the body.

After the four people cut a large pile of firewood, they start to get busy.

The four first cut the meat into strips together; when the meat strips fill the large iron pot and overflow, they add a few large handfuls of salt and a little water, and then build a wood fire under the iron pot.

Remember, when oiling, one must add salt, otherwise, whether it is cracklings or oil, it will soon become cured meat and cured oil, commonly known as "rancid."

A wood fire doesn't need to be watched all the time; one only needs to add two pieces of wood after the wood burns out.

So after building the fire for the iron pot, the four of Wang An continue to cut meat strips together; when the four people cut another pot of meat, they start to cut wide meat strips.

Wide meat strips are used for smoking.

Actually, before making smoked meat, one normally needs to cure it, but in these mountains, there is fundamentally no such condition.

So the four of Wang An just rub the meat strips with salt and hang the meat strips over the fire.

Some might ask, how do you hang meat over a fire?

It must be said that this question is asked well! However, this question is fundamentally not a question.

Three wooden poles on the left and right lean against each other diagonally; according to the height, tie a rope at the intersection of the three wooden poles; in this way, two three-legged supports are formed on both sides.

Finally, place a tree trunk horizontally between these two supports, and this tree trunk can be dry or wet, and it doesn't matter if it's thick or thin.

It's just that simple.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 540 =====