mesbooks Chapter 68 Pan-fried Bear Ribs and Braised Bear Paws!
Chapter 68 Pan-fried Bear Ribs and Braised Bear Paws!
Yuan Linghan, carrying the bear skin and nearly 100 kilograms of bear meat, safely returned to camp, unaware that the hunting grounds he had left would soon become a battleground for jungle beasts, with many carnivores fighting for food.
The victors enjoyed the food left behind by Yuan Linghan. The losers could only leave unwillingly, some even becoming food for their fallen opponents. The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, was vividly displayed at this moment.
But for Yuan Linghan, who returned to camp, he simply threw the bear meat he had carried back, along with the bones he had specially removed, into the outdoor freezer for storing fresh meat. The enormous bear skin was quickly stretched taut and placed in a well-ventilated area to air dry.
The symbol that the black bear is male was carefully preserved by Yuan Linghan along with its gallbladder. He will take both items back with him after the show. He'll use the former to make medicinal liquor, and he imagines Wu Yue, Huang Bo, and others will be scrambling for it.
Yuan Linghan doesn't plan to cook the remaining four enormous bear paws for the time being. If possible, he'll cook one to try. The other three will be brought back through customs for his friends to sample.
Although this so-called one of the Eight Delicacies is a prohibited ingredient in Xia Kingdom, it can still be brought back as long as it is legally declared through customs and not used for commercial purposes. After all, it is both a spoil of war and a "local specialty"!
Looking at the bear meat and heart that he had deliberately saved, Yuan Linghan pondered how to cook them. Although he was a good cook, he was worried about wasting these top-quality ingredients since it was his first time cooking them!
"In the Xia Dynasty, there was an idiom called 'bear's heart and leopard's gall,' which was used to describe someone with great courage. I don't have leopard's gall, but today I found a bear's heart, and I plan to cook it up and try it as soon as possible, hoping it will boost my courage."
After soaking the bear heart in the melted snow water, Yuan Linghan began to extract bear oil. In the early days in northern regions, the extracted bear oil could be used not only as cooking oil but also for its effects of dispelling wind and dampness, relieving joint pain, and moisturizing the skin.
Some people even claim that bear oil can be applied to burns. However, Yuan Linghan doesn't know for sure whether it actually works. But he definitely wants to fry up the fatty meat he brought back as soon as possible and taste the bear oil cracklings.
In addition, Yuan Linghan also used the most prized part of the black bear, the tenderloin, for cooking. Although it could be refrigerated in an outdoor freezer, how could refrigerated bear meat taste as good as meat cooked right now?
"This bear tenderloin still has marbling; I'll pan-fry it later and see how it tastes. This big piece of tenderloin should be enough for several meals. If it doesn't taste good pan-fried, I'll try grilling it; if that doesn't work, I'll braise or stew it."
Even the audience didn't expect that after the fifth inspection day, Yuan Linghan's life would become even more comfortable. Not only was there a large amount of food stored in the camp, but they were also able to hunt ferocious beasts like black bears every now and then.
Although Yuan Linghan didn't manage to bring back all the meat from the black bear, he did bring back nearly a hundred pounds, enough to feed him for a while. In contrast, the other three contestants, while having food, are now facing a very monotonous diet.
Eating any food too often can become tiresome and even unpalatable. Even if contestants force themselves to eat, the process is like torture; perhaps only those who have experienced it firsthand truly understand.
In contrast, after Yuan Linghan hunted bear meat, his meat reserves expanded to include another type of meat. Later, many viewers noticed that Yuan Linghan rarely ate the smoked wolf meat he had previously prepared. It seems that other meats were more to his liking than wolf jerky!
To Yuan Linghan's surprise, when he woke up the next day and patrolled the camp as usual, he noticed that there were many more messy footprints around the camp.
Seeing the uneven and messy footprints, Yuan Linghan frowned and said, "It seems that wild animals have their eyes on my camp. Could it be that they smelled the meat refrigerated in the freezer? If so, I'm afraid I really need to be careful."
Fortunately, the barricades and snow-covered walls provided defense, and Yuan Linghan figured there wouldn't be many wild animals daring to break into the camp and steal food. Even if some animals could nimbly leap over the barricades, the snow-covered walls would stop them.
After all, the ice and snow city wall has two gates. In addition to the gate that is frequently used (the large gate made of solid wood), the back gate, which is rarely opened, is thicker than the front gate.
Unless wild beasts could scale the thick ice and snow walls, anyone wanting to enter the camp and steal meat stored in the outdoor freezers would have to break down the wooden door. In terms of camp defense, he had set it to the highest level.
Having just hunted over a hundred pounds of bear meat yesterday, Yuan Linghan still didn't plan to hunt today, even though the weather was nice. Instead, he gathered some dead trees nearby and carried them back to camp to increase their firewood supply.
Unlike yesterday, today he plans to cook bear paws. Although he has limited cooking utensils and seasonings, he still wants to cook them himself and see if the cooked bear paws are as delicious as he imagined.
Picking out a forepaw, Yuan Linghan threw the frozen bear paw directly into the embers of the fire pit to burn. Although it could be boiled and then the keratin, roots, and fur on the bear paw removed, that would be too troublesome.
First, it's seared over charcoal, then thoroughly cleaned before being simmered. To make the bear paw tender and flavorful, patience and time are required. However, Yuan Linghan believes that repeated simmering causes the bear paw to lose many of its nutrients.
"Forget it! We're in the wilderness, why be so particular? Just cook the food and taste it."
First, the bear paw is charcoal-grilled and then simmered for an hour. After being removed and frozen, it undergoes a second treatment. Yuan Linghan then specially brought out a frozen fresh grouse and, along with previously collected plant seasonings, continued to simmer the bear paw.
After working for several hours, seeing the bear paw finally plated, Yuan Linghan said with a hint of anticipation, "Bear paw was considered a delicacy in ancient Xia Kingdom, and only the powerful and noble could enjoy it. For me, this is also the first time I've cooked this ingredient."
But being in the wilderness, I've done my best to cook, and I can't guarantee how it will taste in the end. I can't promise the taste yet, but this ingredient is packed with protein and fat in every bite. Ladies and gentlemen, I'll start eating!
Cutting off a piece of the tenderly stewed bear paw and eating it, it did indeed have a melt-in-your-mouth texture. However, Yuan Linghan still frowned and said, "The meat is indeed stewed very tender. You hardly need to chew it. The texture is somewhat similar to pig's trotters."
After taking a few more bites, Yuan Linghan continued, "Perhaps my cooking method is wrong, or perhaps the ingredients are limited. This dish tastes worse than I expected. It's rich in protein and fat, making it very greasy."
Although the taste wasn't as delicious as expected, Yuan Linghan still devoured the bear paws that had been braised for hours. This video, later uploaded to the internet in China, sparked heated discussions among netizens.
Some say Yuan Linghan wasted such rare ingredients, while others say the bear paw tasted exactly as he described. But regardless, after these videos were uploaded online, no one doubted Yuan Linghan's wilderness hunting and survival skills.
What makes other outdoor video bloggers in China even more envious is that Yuan Linghan, who previously only had 10 million followers, has gained nearly 30 million followers on the Douyin platform by participating in the program "Living Alone in the Wilderness".
Based on this alone, Yuan Linghan is qualified to be the number one person in the wilderness of Xia Kingdom. And thanks to this surge in popularity, Douyin (TikTok) has gained millions more users. The exclusive signing bonus previously offered was considered extremely worthwhile by Douyin's top management!