HUN Chapter 56: Wilderness Stir-Fried Deer Stomach

The forty-ninth day.

Lin Yu'an rose early and added the final batch of pine needles to the smokehouse fire pile. His main energy over the past two and a half days had been focused on observing the deer meat hanging in the dense smoke.

Starting from the evening of the forty-seventh day, this long and meticulous smoking work had continued for nearly two days and nights. He calculated that based on this smoking intensity and the size of the meat strips, they should reach the ideal preservation state by noon today.

While waiting for the smoked meat to finish, he began preparing breakfast. The deer stomach he had been soaking for a long time was today's main ingredient.

Lin Yu'an carefully lifted the deer stomach from the murky wood ash water while explaining to the camera, "Wood ash water is alkaline and can effectively remove most of the odor, making it easier to achieve that crispy-tender texture during subsequent cooking."

After cleaning the deer stomach, Lin Yu'an prepared for the next step of fine processing.

"For deer stomach, although it doesn't have the obvious black inner membrane like beef tripe, its inner wall is covered with a layer of rough mucous membrane that must be carefully scraped off to obtain the white, crispy-tender stomach lining."

He turned the inner wall of the deer stomach outward, using the blade close to the base of the stomach lining to scrape away piece by piece the thin, slightly tough inner membrane.

As the blade moved, those scraped-off membranes were casually discarded aside, while the exposed stomach lining presented a very clean off-white color, smooth and elastic to the touch.

Only when the entire deer stomach's inner wall had been processed to pristine whiteness did Lin Yu'an nod with satisfaction.

"Good, now this deer stomach is very clean. Next comes the knife work, cutting it into stomach strips suitable for stir-frying."

He used his multi-tool to quickly slice it into thin pieces about two to three millimeters thick, then stacked these thin pieces together and cut them into fine strips about half a centimeter wide.

"Stir-fried tripe requires extremely high heat control. As the saying goes, 'high heat quick stir-fry.' Even one second too long will make it tough and chewy, losing that unique crispy texture."

"So all preparation work must be done in advance. Once it hits the pan, it must be done in one go."

He scraped off a thumb-sized piece of milky white fat and put it into his commonly used stainless steel pot.

The deer fat melted almost instantly under high heat, making a violent "sizzling" sound.

Just as the deer fat completely melted and the temperature rose extremely high, with the oil at the bottom of the pot beginning to emit clearly visible wisps of smoke, "Now! Into the pot!"

Lin Yu'an grabbed the pile of cut white stomach strips from the stone slab and without hesitation poured them all into the boiling deer fat!

"Sizzle——!"

The moment the stomach strips contacted the scorching deer fat, they immediately erupted in a deafening, firecracker-like violent sound! Simultaneously, dense white steam rose up, making it almost impossible to see inside the pot.

Lin Yu'an grabbed the pot handle and, in an almost wok-tossing posture, rapidly and vigorously shook and flipped the stomach strips in the pot, ensuring each strip could heat evenly in the shortest time.

This stir-frying process was astonishingly fast, lasting only about ten seconds!

He quickly transferred the stir-fried stomach strips into a dining plate folded from birch bark.

The stomach strips at this moment were distinct and separate, white with slight golden brown, their surfaces glossy with oil, emitting the rich aroma of deer fat!

He sprinkled the chopped wild onion and that bit of salt over the just-cooked, still steaming hot stir-fried tripe, then quickly mixed it with chopsticks.

"Done! Wilderness version of deer fat stir-fried tripe, mission accomplished!"

He eagerly picked up a small bundle of stomach strips, which curled slightly from the heat, their surfaces still glistening with deer fat and onion bits.

Lin Yu'an first took a deep breath to smell it, experiencing the aroma that hit his taste buds directly, then blew on it to cool it and carefully put it in his mouth.

"Mmm——!"

Lin Yu'an's eyes immediately lit up, and his chewing became especially enjoyable.

"Mmm, this isn't just good, this is really delicious! The tripe is crispy and fragrant!"

"Really delicious. It would be even better with beef tallow hotpot base!"

After Lin Yu'an finished the deer fat stir-fried tripe, he continued tending to his 'smoking project.'

He would periodically observe the changes in the meat strips through the swirling smoke.

Those originally fresh red and moist deer meat pieces had completely transformed! They now presented an oily, glossy, mouth-watering deep reddish-brown color, their surfaces also becoming firm from dehydration.

They emitted an extremely complex aroma: wood char fragrance, pine needle freshness, birch bark's characteristic tar scent, and the deer meat's own aroma.

As the sun gradually climbed to the center of the sky, reaching noon of the forty-ninth day, Lin Yu'an judged that this batch of deer meat smoking was complete.

He stopped adding new smoking materials and fully opened the smokehouse door, allowing the accumulated dense smoke inside to slowly dissipate while letting those still-warm jerky pieces undergo final drying and "mellowing" in the circulating air.

He took down a smoked deer hindquarter meat strip with even color and firm texture, carefully displaying it before the camera.

Sunlight streaming through the doorway reflected enticing oily gloss on the deep reddish-brown jerky surface.

"After nearly two full days of smoking and fire treatment, my deer jerky is finally complete!"

"Look at this color, this firmness, and this tantalizing aroma... this is definitely the wealth code to the championship throne!"

He used the sharp blade of his multi-tool to cut a thin slice of smoked deer meat from the strip.

The cut cross-section showed consistent deep red color inside and out, with clearly visible meat fibers tightly condensed together. The edges formed a ring of darker color, thoroughly smoked areas emitting intense smoky aroma.

He put that thin piece of jerky in his mouth, closed his eyes, and chewed carefully.

"Mmm——!" Lin Yu'an's eyebrows immediately rose, his face showing surprised and intoxicated expression.

The smoked deer meat had a tough, chewy texture but was definitely not dry or hard. The rich smoky flavor first impacted his taste buds, then the deer meat's unique meaty fragrance slowly released in his mouth.

Although the meat was firm, because it retained appropriate internal fat, it was oily and sweet when chewed, becoming more fragrant with each bite.

He carefully took down all the deer jerky from the smokehouse, categorizing them by different parts and sizes.

These carefully smoked jerky pieces weighed at least one-third less than before, but each piece was concentrated with unique wilderness flavor.

He carefully wrapped most of the smoked deer jerky with clean large sheets of previously peeled and dried birch bark.

"Birch bark not only prevents the jerky pieces from sticking to each other and cross-contaminating flavors, but also provides moisture protection to some degree."

Then he neatly arranged these wrapped jerky pieces in his large waterproof hiking backpack.

He only kept a small portion for recent consumption, preparing to properly "taste" and showcase them before the camera.

The rest he put back into his space storage away from the cameras.

After processing all the smoked deer meat, it was already noon.

The breeze that had continued all morning by Chilko Lake gradually calmed down. The lake surface, which had previously shown some ripples, once again returned to mirror-like tranquility, clearly reflecting the distant snow mountains and shoreline coniferous forests in a magnificently picturesque scene.

Looking at the lake surface before him, Lin Yu'an knew it was time to visit that small island again.

[NEXT CHAPTER]