Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Rendering Bear Fat, Pan-fried Bear Pork Belly

As the kindling gradually caught fire, Lin Chen continued to feed more firewood into it until the flames were clearly much stronger than before.

Judging by its appearance, the thing looked very similar to a stove back home, with tongues of fire constantly spitting out from the center.

Once the fire was stable, he no longer had to worry too much about it going out.

The torch was made entirely of wood, providing a continuous source of fuel. However, its high density slowed down the combustion rate, which extended its burning time.

He placed the frying pan on top of it without preheating and cut off a long, finger-thick strip of Bear Pork Belly, laying it inside.

The pan had limited surface area, and just two strips of the pork belly filled up most of it.

He didn’t dare cook too much at once. Setting aside whether the bear meat would have a peculiar taste, eating too much pork belly itself could be overwhelming. The first bite is always the most delicious; after the third, the deliciousness plummets.

This was especially true for someone like him, who hadn’t had enough fat intake for a long time out in the wild. The bliss of the first bite would certainly be more intense, but he would also get sick of it faster.

’There’s so much pork belly. If I ate it every day, I’d definitely get tired of it. I need to figure out some ways to add variety.’

The flames inside the torch grew stronger. Unruly, orange-red tongues of fire licked out from the sides of the frying pan, and a wonderful sizzling sound slowly began to rise from within.

’Maybe... I should render the fat?’

After thinking it over, this seemed to be the only way to collect and preserve the animal fat most effectively.

Oil heated to a high temperature has a longer shelf life and solidifies quickly. After being frozen in temperatures of ten or twenty degrees below zero Celsius, it could be made into solid blocks of fat, similar to butter.

’Oh, right! What’s left after rendering the oil is cracklings. That stuff is delicious with a little salt, and I can use it in stir-fries or add it to soups as a garnish. Great idea!’

In just a moment, dozens of dishes involving cracklings flashed through his mind.

Normally, traditional cracklings are made by rendering leaf lard. But most home cooks aren’t so particular and don’t need to render that much oil, so they usually just sauté some pork belly, and the leftovers are also called cracklings.

He glanced at the empty campfire pit nearby. Since it was just sitting there, he might as well set the stockpot on it, chop up a large pile of small pork belly cubes, and toss them in to render.

"I don’t know if rendering oil is a familiar or foreign concept to all you viewers, but for us Da Xia People, it’s a very common skill."

"You can take any part of an animal with a high fat content, cut it into small pieces, and toss it directly into a pot over medium-low heat. Once it becomes fragrant, turn the heat down to low and let it render slowly. This will gradually melt all the fat out of the meat, leaving you with a pot full of oil."

"Animal fat has a relatively high melting point and usually solidifies at around thirty-something degrees Celsius. It can be stored for a long time at low temperatures."

As he spoke, he slid his combat knife under the large slab of pork belly, lifting it into the air. The side that had been in contact with the pan was already lightly seared and golden-brown, and a small amount of clear grease remained in the pan.

"See? This is pork belly—the meat from the stomach. It has an extremely high fat content, and it’s already rendered this much oil after just a short time."

He used his chopsticks to flip the pork belly over, then reached over to the stockpot and gave its contents a stir to prevent the pieces at the bottom from burning.

Rendering fat out here was different from doing it in a kitchen. The fire was too intense, and the bottom would burn if he wasn’t careful. While stirring frequently, he also had to regularly move the pot off the fire or adjust its distance from the heat source to control the temperature.

He was most focused when he was cooking. Once the Bear Pork Belly was golden-brown on all four sides, he moved the frying pan off the torch.

Holding the strip of meat down with his chopsticks in his left hand, he scored the surface twice with his sharp combat knife, producing a crisp ’CRACKLE CRACKLE’ sound.

He sliced into it at an angle, pulled back, pushed forward again, and used a sawing motion to cut it into thick, pinky-sized slices, which he then spread across the bottom of the pan.

After being fully sliced, the Bear Pork Belly that had originally taken up most of the pan now formed a pile one and a half layers deep. The pan’s bottom was filled so tightly there were almost no gaps, and the extra pieces had to be stacked on the meat near the edge, letting the steam keep them warm.

He placed the frying pan back on the torch.

With more surface area now exposed, the pieces of pork belly, prompted by the small amount of grease in the pan, began to rapidly render their fat at a visible rate. Before long, a thin layer of oil had accumulated.

Once this layer of oil appeared, the sizzling in the pan grew exceptionally loud. What started as searing turned into a half-sear, half-fry. The aroma of meat and oil drifting through the air also grew richer.

After dealing with the frying pan, he still had to tend to the stockpot.

The pork belly in the stockpot had been cut into small cubes from the start, so the amount of oil in it had long surpassed that in the frying pan. The pieces at the bottom were almost completely submerged in oil, bubbling away.

By the time he was done with all this, he realized it had grown dark around him at some point.

The golden-red sun was gradually sinking below the horizon, dyeing half the sky a captivating wine-red.

’The sun is about to set. The nocturnal creatures should be getting restless soon, right?’

At this thought, a trace of anxiety rose in his heart. He glanced in the direction where he had buried the bear carcass, afraid that if he went too late, all his efforts would be for nothing.

A wolf’s sense of smell is even more sensitive than a dog’s. After all, dogs were domesticated from wolves and have lost some of their hunting abilities.

Between large prey and an enemy, any animal with a sound mind would choose the former.

Especially injured prey. As soon as they caught the scent of blood, a wolf pack would absolutely not pass up a free meal.

If they couldn’t store enough fat before winter, they would likely have a hard time surviving the ice and snow that could last for more than half a year.

Never mind wolves, even for humans, hunting in a snow-covered landscape without the help of a rifle would be incredibly difficult.

’The amount of bear meat I left behind probably isn’t even enough to feed a dozen wolves for half an hour.’

No, I have to hurry!

With that thought, he immediately moved the stockpot aside and placed the frying pan over the campfire.

The oil rendering could wait until he got back. Eating a full meal was the higher priority right now.

Licked by the fierce tongues of flame, the bear oil in the pan quickly came to a boil. Juices were occasionally forced out of the pork belly, dripping into the oil and setting off a series of crackling POPS.

Fortunately, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants, and his face was covered by the jacket’s built-in mask-like collar, so he didn’t have to worry about being burned by the spattering hot oil.

He didn’t need to cook it to perfection; as long as it was cooked through, it was fine.

After only a minute or so, he moved the frying pan away and poured the excess bear oil into the stockpot, which would help the pork belly cubes cool down faster.

He picked up two square pieces of meat that looked no different from grilled thick-cut pork belly. The fatty parts were fried to a golden, crispy brown, while the lean parts were a deeper, seared brown. One bite, and they would definitely explode with juice in his mouth!