American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 64: Fish Boiled in Deer Oil (Seeking first-time subscription support!)
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After his initial elation, Lin Yu'an looked at the enormous lake trout before him, and a thought suddenly popped into his head.

"Such fresh and plump fish, if we can make a hot and steaming meal, it would be perfect to make 'boiled fish'!"

He licked his lips, as if he could already taste the delicious, spicy flavor.

Once the idea took hold, it was impossible to shake off.

He made a quick decision to process the fish immediately to satisfy his appetite.

"Guys, today we're going to make a special dish. I'm going to cook this lake trout using Chinese cooking methods!"

"I will use the fewest ingredients possible—only fish, deer fat, wild onions, and salt—to make a minimalist version of wild boiled fish!"

He dragged the giant fish onto a large stone slab that had been washed very clean by the lake water; this became his temporary "cutting board."

Lin Yu'an took out his sharp multi-functional knife and rinsed the blade.

"For this type of large fish, the main goal is to obtain the two most valuable fillets from the sides of its body, while also preserving the useful head."

He started by removing the scales. The scales of lake trout are small and tightly packed. Starting from the tail, he scraped forward against the direction of scale growth.

"Boom blah blah..."

The fine fish scales fell off one by one as the knife scraped them off, like a small snowflake falling.

He scraped very carefully until the fish's skin was smooth and slightly sticky on both sides.

After scaling, turn the lake trout belly up, hold the fish steady with one hand, and use the tip of a knife to make a shallow cut into the belly with the other hand.

A strong fishy smell wafted over, and he quickly and deftly removed the fish's internal organs completely.

He examined it carefully and found that it seemed healthy enough without any strange insects. He kept the fish's belly and used the rest of its internal organs to bait the fish.

He placed the lake trout on its side on a stone slab and, with the tip of his knife, made a vertical and powerful cut from behind the gills, close to the pectoral fin.

You can clearly feel a slight 'click' when the tip of the knife touches the thick main spine in the middle.

Then, turn the blade horizontally, keeping it close to the top of the main spine, and smoothly slice it towards the fish's tail.

When the knife reached the fish tail, he twisted his wrist, turning the blade upwards, and completely separated the fish fillet from the tail.

Soon, he peeled a huge, intact, pink fish fillet with its skin still attached from the fish.

The thick fish meat, the clearly visible white intramuscular fat lines, and the jelly-like texture under the sunlight looked incredibly tempting.

He used the same method to cleanly and efficiently handle the other side.

The two huge fish fillets weighed at least ten pounds together, enough for him to have a hearty meal for several days.

He didn't throw away the remaining fish head, bones, and tail.

"These are all treasures; fish heads and bones are excellent materials for extracting fat from fish oil."

He wrapped the two fish fillets and the fish head and bones with large pieces of birch bark, and returned to the shelter satisfied.

It was already afternoon when we returned to the warm stone shelter.

Lin Yu'an couldn't wait to start preparing today's belated lunch.

He first used a knife to slice the huge lake trout fillet into thin, even slices at an angle.

Place the sliced ​​fish fillets in a ceramic bowl, add a little salt and wild onions, and gently mix with your hands to marinate.

Next, he placed the earthenware pot on the stove, added enough stream water, and waited for the water to boil.

Cut the wild onion bulbs, including the white part, into large chunks and put them into boiling water.

"We first boil water with wild onions to give the water a scallion flavor, which also helps to remove some of the fishy smell."

When the water in the pot started to boil, he poured all the marinated fish fillets into the boiling scallion water.

"After the fish fillets are put into the pot, they should not be cooked for too long. Once they turn white and curl up, they can be taken out immediately to maintain the freshest and most tender texture."

He used a large, homemade wooden spoon to quickly scoop out the fish slices the instant they were just cooked. All the fish slices were piled up like a small mountain in a ceramic pot, steaming hot and juicy.

"Now, here comes the crucial step in making this dish!"

Lin Yu'an placed another clean stainless steel pot on the stove and heated it over a high flame until it was scalding hot.

He scooped out a large chunk of the previously rendered, milky-white deer fat and threw it into the pot.

The deer fat melted rapidly at high temperatures and quickly became scalding hot, with visible wisps of blue smoke rising from its surface.

At the same time, he chopped some of the still relatively fresh wild scallions into finer scallion flowers and sprinkled them evenly over the snow-white fish fillets.

Seeing that the oil in the pot had completely liquefied, Lin Yu'an picked up the pot of boiling deer fat.

Without hesitation, pour it over the fish fillets covered with wild scallions!
“Sizzle——!!!!”

An extremely loud, chilling explosion instantly erupted inside the stone house!

The moment the scalding hot venison oil comes into contact with the tender fish slices and fresh onion flowers, it creates a violent sizzling sensation.

A rich aroma of scallions, released by the hot oil, instantly filled the air.

The onion flowers, drizzled with hot oil, instantly become fragrant and crispy, while the hot oil on the surface of the fish fillets locks in the juices and tenderness.

A huge plate of steaming hot, fragrant, and sizzling wild version of "Deer Oil and Scallion Fragrant Boiled Fish" is ready!

Lin Yu'an couldn't wait to pick up a slice of fish that had been soaked in hot oil.

He blew on it and carefully put it in his mouth.

"Well--!"

The tender texture and rich, oily aroma explode in your mouth!

The fish meat is so smooth and tender that it melts on the tongue with almost no chewing, making it incredibly delicious.

Wild onions, after being "fried" in hot oil, have their pungent flavor perfectly combined with the rich aroma of venison!
"It's so delicious! This is just as good as the braised deer tripe. One is crisp and tender, and the other is smooth and tender."

Lin Yu-an ate heartily while praising the food to the camera.

As the last bite of delicious fish slid into his stomach, Lin Yu'an let out a long, satisfied sigh.

He felt every cell in his body relax and rejuvenate because of the sumptuous meal!
He carefully used a wooden spoon to scrape out the remaining golden, translucent venison fat with the aroma of scallions and poured it into a spare pot.

After processing the remaining deer fat, Lin Yu'an's gaze fell upon the enormous lake trout head and skeleton.

"Fish heads spoil very easily and must be processed promptly. I plan to use these 'scraps' to make a pot of fish head soup."

"Make the most of anything that provides fat in the wild!"

He roughly split the huge lake trout head in half with a logging axe and put it into a stainless steel pot along with several thick pieces of the fish skeleton.

"Zi la——!"

The fish head and bones came into contact with the venison oil left over from eating boiled fish, instantly producing a loud popping sound and a large amount of steam rising up.

While stirring the fish head and bones in the pot, Lin Yu-an shared his cooking tips with the camera.

"Before boiling them in water, fry both sides of the fish head and bones in hot oil until golden brown."

"Not only can it remove most of the fishy smell through high temperature, but more importantly, it can make the soup that is cooked later more milky white and have a more mellow taste."

When the fish head and bones are almost cooked, pour them all into the still-warm "wild onion water" and simmer.

Lin Yu'an added a few more pieces of chopped wild onions to the pot, then covered it with the lid of the earthenware pot and simmered it over low heat.

While waiting for the fish head soup to cook, Lin Yu'an did not sit idle.

He plans to take advantage of the new rod's popularity and continue trying his hand at fishing!

(End of this chapter)