King of the Wilderness-Chapter 64 - 63: Lake Trout Poached in Venison Fat

Chapter 64: Chapter 63: Lake Trout Poached in Venison Fat

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Lin Yu’an, after his initial excitement, looked at the massive lake trout before him, and a sudden thought popped into his mind.

"Such fresh and plump fish is perfect for making a steaming hot ’Water-Boiled Fish’!"

He licked his lips, as if he could already taste the delicious flavor, and once this idea formed, it couldn’t be shaken off.

Decisive and swift, he decided to handle the fish right away to satiate his appetite.

"Folks, today we are going to make a special dish. I’m going to cook this lake trout using Chinese style cooking!"

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

He dragged the huge fish onto a large stone slab that had been washed clean by the lake water, which would serve as his temporary "cutting board."

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

"For large fish like this, the main goal is to obtain those two premium fillets from both sides of its body while also preserving the useful fish head."

He first started descaling; the lake trout scales were tiny and closely set. Starting from the tail, he vigorously scraped against the growth direction of the scales.

"Shhhh shhhh shhhh..."

The tiny scales fell off under the scraping of the knife like a shower of silver snowflakes.

He scraped very thoroughly until both sides of the fish revealed the slippery, slightly tacky skin.

With descaling done, he flipped the lake trout belly up, holding the fish steady with one hand, and with the other poked the tip of the knife shallowly into the fish belly.

A strong fishy smell hit him, and he quickly and skillfully extracted the complete set of fish innards.

He carefully checked them; they looked healthy, with no odd parasites, leaving the fish stomach behind, while the rest of the innards would be used as bait.

He set the lake trout perpendicularly on the slab, and with the knife tip, made a sharp vertical cut right behind the gills, next to the pectoral fins.

He could distinctly feel the knife tip hit the thick central spine with a slight "click."

Then he turned the knife blade horizontal, letting it tightly hug the top of the spine, steadily sliding toward the tail.

When the knife reached the tail, he twisted his wrist, lifting the blade up to completely separate the fillet from the tail.

Very soon, an entire large fillet, complete with skin, pink and pristine, was peeled from the fish.

The thick fish meat, with distinct white intramuscular fat lines and jelly-like texture in sunlight, looked unbelievably tempting.

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

The two massive fillets weighed at least ten pounds in total, enough to fill him up for several meals.

As for the leftover fish head, bones, and tail, he didn’t discard them either.

"These are treasures; the fish head and bones are excellent materials for simmering fish oil and extracting fat."

He wrapped the two fillets and fish head and bones separately with large birch bark, and returned contentedly to the shelter.

Arriving back at the warm stone house shelter, it was already afternoon.

Lin Yu’an couldn’t wait to start preparing today’s late lunch.

He first took out the large lake trout fillet, slicing the meat at a diagonal angle into evenly thick fish slices.

He put the sliced fish into a clay bowl, adding a pinch of salt and wild onion, gently mixing with his hands to marinate simply.

Next, he placed the clay pot on the stove, adding a good amount of stream water, waiting for it to boil.

He chopped large pieces of wild onion, including the white part of the bulb, and threw them into the boiling water.

"We’ll first boil the wild onions to let the base flavor infuse with onion aroma, removing some of the fish meat’s fishy odor."

As the water in the pot started boiling, he poured in the marinated fish slices all at once.

"After placing the slices in the pot, do not cook too long; once they turn white and curl, scoop them out immediately for the tenderest texture."

He used a homemade large wooden ladle to swiftly scoop out the slices as soon as they were cooked.

All the fish slices piled in a clay pot, resembling a small mountain of steaming, tender, and enticing fish slices, ready to serve.

"Now, for the soul-stirring step of this dish!"

Lin Yu’an placed another clean stainless-steel pot on the stove, heating it red-hot with high heat.

He dug out a large chunk of previously refined creamy deer oil and threw it in the pot.

The deer oil quickly melted under high heat, soon blistering with visible wisps of blue smoke rising from the surface.

Meanwhile, he chopped some still fresh wild onion into finer onion sprinkles, scattering them evenly over the snowy white fish slices.

Seeing the oil in the pot completely liquified, Lin Yu’an picked up that pot of blistering-hot deer oil.

Without hesitation, he poured it fiercely over the fish slices covered in wild onion sprinkles!

"Sizzling —!!!!!!!!"

An exceedingly loud, scalp-tingling bang erupted instantly within the stone house!

The scorching deer oil, upon contact with the tender fish slices and fresh onion sprinkles, ignited a violent burst of explosions.

A thick scent of onion, enriched by the hot oil, rapidly filled the entire area around.

Onion sprinkles exposed to hot oil instantly crackled with fragrance, while the fish slices’ surface was locked in its juices, remaining tender and moist.

A hearty, large plate of steaming, mouth-watering wilderness version ’Deer Oil Onion Water-Boiled Fish’ was successfully completed!

Lin Yu’an couldn’t wait to pick up a slice drenched in hot oil.

He blew gently on it, carefully delivering it into his mouth.

"Mmm—!"

The tender texture and rich oil aroma exploded instantly within the mouth!

The fish texture was supremely smooth; hardly needing any chewing, it dissolved at the tip of the tongue, unbelievably delicious.

And the wild onions, after being "exploded" by hot oil, their spiciness perfectly merged with the rich deer oil aroma!

"So delicious! This is as good as the exploding deer stomach, one is crisp, the other is smooth."

Lin Yu’an, devouring happily, praised endlessly toward the camera.

After the last bite of delicious fish slipped into his stomach, Lin Yu’an exhaled deeply in satisfaction.

He felt every cell in his body relax thanks to the sumptuous meal!

He carefully scraped the remaining, golden-clear, onion-flavored deer oil out with a wooden ladle, pouring it into a backup pot.

Having processed the leftover deer oil, Lin Yu’an’s gaze fell upon the large lake trout fish head and skeleton.

"Fish heads spoil quickly; they must be handled promptly. I plan to use these ’scraps’ to simmer a pot of fish head soup."

"In the wild, make the most of anything that can provide fat!"

He took that massive lake trout fish head, splitting it roughly in half with the logging axe, and added several thick sections of fish skeleton into a stainless steel pot.

"Sizzling—!"

The fish head and bones, upon contact with the leftover deer oil from the boiled fish, erupted violently, sending up plumes of steam.

Lin Yu’an flipped the fish head and bones in the pot while sharing his cooking insights with the camera.

"Before water boiling, first pan-fry the fish head and bones until golden with hot oil."

"Not only does high heat remove most of the fishy smell, more importantly, it lets the subsequent soup color turn milky and enrich the flavor."

As the fish head and bones had been adequately fried, he poured them into the still warm "wild onion water" pot for slow simmering.

Lin Yu’an added a few chopped segments of wild onion into the pot too, then covered the clay pot lid for slow simmering.

While waiting for the fish head soup to be brewed, Lin Yu’an hadn’t idled.

He planned to take advantage of his new rod aura and continue trying to catch fish!