HUN Chapter 59: Making Blood Bait and Rendering Fat

The fiftieth day, Lin Yu'an got up early and began making tanning agent.

Soon, after most of the bark had been processed into small fragments of various sizes, Lin Yu'an took out the largest ceramic pot he had previously fired.

Lin Yu'an loaded these processed bark fragments layer by layer into the ceramic pot, occasionally using a thick wooden stick to tamp them down, packing the bark as tightly as possible until reaching the pot's rim.

"To extract tannic acid, the finer the bark is processed, the larger the contact area with water, and the higher the tannin extraction efficiency."

"Then comes the long boiling process."

He moved the heavy ceramic pot onto the stove opening and added sufficient hardwood dry fuel to the combustion chamber below.

"I need to boil as much tannic acid as possible from the bark into the water, forming a high-concentration tanning solution."

"This process usually takes several hours, during which the water must be kept continuously boiling."

Time passed bit by bit with the "gurgle gurgle" of boiling water and the crackling of burning firewood.

The liquid in the ceramic pot began to undergo significant and wonderful color changes, transforming into a deep, rich reddish-brown liquid.

"The tannic acid should have dissolved into the water to the maximum extent. This concentration is definitely enough for me to tan this large deer hide!"

He then brought another ceramic basin of the same size, preparing to filter.

Then he pulled out a cotton short-sleeve shirt, the same one he had used to store beaver jerky, turning it into a simple yet effective filter.

Using a temporary ladle folded from a large piece of birch bark, he poured the concentrated liquid from the ceramic pot spoonful by spoonful into this cloth bag filter.

Lin Yu'an explained to the camera while filtering, "Plant tanning is very different from the brain tanning I used on beaver hide earlier."

"It requires a much longer cycle, needing to soak for several days in this tannic acid-rich tanning solution."

"During this long soaking process, tannin molecules from the bark will chemically react with proteins in the leather."

Lin Yu'an spent the entire morning making tanning agent, pouring the filtered and cooled plant tanning solution basin by basin into the tanning pool.

The deep reddish-brown liquid pooled at the bottom, quickly accumulating to a depth of about ten centimeters.

Then he retrieved the deer hide that had been soaking in stream water overnight and was fully water-saturated and expanded, removing most of the excess water.

He then slowly unfolded it completely, laying it flat in the tanning pool, preparing to soak it for several days.

During the long wait for the tanning solution to soak the deer hide, Lin Yu'an decided to render all the fat into oil for more convenient long-term storage.

Lin Yu'an gathered all the large chunks of suet-like fat he had deliberately trimmed from the deer's abdomen, back, and around the organs during butchering.

All were collected in a temporary container made from birch bark. These fat chunks were milky white and had begun to solidify in the cool air.

"This is high-quality animal fat."

He picked up a piece and showed it to the camera, his fingers clearly feeling its firm yet greasy texture.

"They've started to become hard. I must render them into pure deer oil. This not only greatly extends storage time."

"It also adds valuable calories to food during cooking."

"If you had to choose between ten pounds of fat and twenty pounds of lean meat, definitely choose the fat! In cold wilderness, fat is life."

First, he placed these fat chunks on a clean stone slab, carefully removing any remaining blood vessels, fascia, and small meat scraps.

"These impurities burn easily during rendering and affect the final oil quality. For purer deer oil, they must be removed as thoroughly as possible."

After cleaning, he cut each large fat chunk into pieces about four to five centimeters.

Then he carefully washed the largest ceramic pot with clean water and fine sand, ensuring no impurities remained inside.

He then placed it steadily on the circular stove opening of the stone house furnace.

All the cut deer fat pieces were added to the dry ceramic pot, piling up in a thick layer at the bottom.

Instead of using high heat, he slowly heated the ceramic pot with medium-low heat.

As the pot's temperature gradually rose, the fat chunks at the bottom began to change first.

Their milky white surfaces became translucent, seeping out crystalline oil droplets.

"Sizzle... sizzle sizzle..."

The pot began making slight but dense sounds, the sound of fat melting under heat and trace internal moisture evaporating.

Waves of unique meat fat aroma began rising from the pot, filling the entire stone house!

Lin Yu'an held a wooden stick, occasionally stirring gently in the pot to ensure even heating of the fat chunks and prevent them from sticking to the bottom.

As temperature continued rising, more and more fat chunks began melting, with increasing liquid fat in the pot.

Those originally solid fat chunks continuously rolled and shrank in the boiling fat, their color gradually changing from initial milky white to an enticing golden yellow!

The liquid fat in the pot became increasingly abundant, pooling into a clear, transparent golden liquid.

This rendering process lasted about an hour.

When most fat chunks in the pot had shrunk into small-volume cracklings, he judged the rendering was basically complete.

"Good, the oil has been basically rendered out."

He used a wooden spoon to scoop out the golden cracklings floating on the oil surface one by one.

After draining excess oil, he placed them on clean birch bark.

"These cracklings are absolutely delicious!"

He picked up a still-warm crackling, sprinkled a few salt grains on it, then put it in his mouth to chew.

"Crunch!" The incredibly crispy, rich fat flavor exploded in his mouth instantly, both satisfying cravings and providing calories.

He wrapped the remaining cracklings in birch bark, preparing them as emergency rations for future activities.

Then he carefully lifted the ceramic pot containing boiling deer oil from the stove.

He used a wooden spoon to transfer the boiling deer oil spoonful by spoonful into another clean small ceramic jar.

The reason for not cooling directly in the original pot was to perform another filtration during this transfer process, making the oil quality better and storage longer.

He covered this jar filled with boiling deer oil with clean birch bark, letting it cool naturally.

"Now, just wait for it to slowly cool and solidify."

"After a night of slow cooling, the liquid deer oil in the jar will completely solidify into a jar of fine-textured solid fat."

"Today, there's one more thing to do. I plan to make full use of some things left over from processing the deer earlier."

He picked up the deer lung and several chunks of coagulated deer blood.

"Like this deer lung, and these coagulated deer blood chunks, I'll use them to make some powerful fish bait!"

"I heard blood bait is banned in many fishing competitions due to its strong effectiveness, don't know if that's true."

"Deer lung, with its loose, porous structure, can perfectly wrap and fuse with deer blood while releasing scent."

"The rich fishy smell of deer blood is irresistible temptation for most fish species."

He placed the deer lung on a clean stone slab, carefully cutting it into various-sized small pieces with the sharp stone blade knife.

"For processing this soft tissue, a sharp stone blade knife is sufficient."

Those coagulated deer blood chunks, like dark red jelly, were also cut open.

Right on the stone slab, he mixed the cut deer lung pieces with the deer blood chunks.

Then he took some suet scraped from the deer hide's inner side and added it to the mixture.

"Adding animal fat allows the blood bait to exist longer in water, letting the scent spread farther through the water."

"Fat itself is also a high-energy substance many fish species crave."

He picked up a sturdy wooden stick, added a little water, and began vigorously and repeatedly stirring and mashing on the stone slab.

The deer lung was squeezed to release more fluids under mashing, the deer blood chunks were also mashed finer, mixing with melted deer oil.

Gradually forming a dark red, viscous paste that emitted intense fishy odor.

"Good, the super blood bait is complete. I'll wrap it in birch bark to ferment overnight, and test its power tomorrow!"

Lin Yu'an tightly wrapped the ceramic jar with appropriately sized birch bark, then placed it in a cool corner inside the shelter.

This day, Lin Yu'an hardly left camp, but his work was exceptionally fulfilling.

Making tanning solution, preparing blood bait, rendering deer oil... these seemingly tedious tasks were all preparations for longer-term survival.

He maximized the benefits of one successful hunt, converting them into resources for sustained use.

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