The Top Fishing
Chapter 657 - 281: Cooking Bear Paws_2

Chapter 657: Chapter 281: Cooking Bear Paws_2

Lin Yang chatted with his online friends while occasionally adding fresh pine branches or shifting the meat pieces around, thoroughly engrossed in his task.

After dealing with the smoked meat, he returned to the cabin to add more firewood.

As he had anticipated, bear paws were not only challenging to cook deliciously but also physically tough to soften; the water in the field pot was almost dried up. He poked it with a knife, but it still hadn’t softened enough to eat, still far from the desired doneness.

All right, add water and continue cooking!

Busy until past one in the afternoon, Lin Yang finally finished making the smoked meat. He piled up the remaining pine branches for final cleanup, and the bear paw in the field pot was finally tender enough to poke through.

"Okay, I had promised everyone fish along with bear paw, but since the bear paw is quite substantial, it will be hard to finish in one go if I cook them both, so I’ll just try the bear paw first.

This time I cooked the fattest right forepaw, and the knife can now probe it. It’s quite mushy, so I’ll taste it on everyone’s behalf, I’m sorry!"

After announcing, Lin Yang prodded the bear paw with his army knife and started to gnaw at it.

Actually, when he was in Russia, Uncle Victor had treated him with bear paw; at that time, his first impression was merely of novelty rather than it being particularly tasty.

This time, after taking a bite of the bear paw, Lin Yang almost spit it out.

It was very gamey!

The initial taste was an odd mix of blood and fat, especially exacerbated by too little salt.

"Uh, I didn’t drain the blood or soak it in clean water beforehand, so this bear paw is a bit of a failure," Lin Yang managed to chew and swallow the bite before shaking his head.

"What does it taste like? Getting to gnaw on such a big bear paw must be satisfying, right?"

"Yeah, man, what’s the taste? Tell us? It’s one of the rare delicacies; I really want to try it."

"Really want to try, really want to try, I’m drooling!"

Lin Yang didn’t continue gnawing, but held it in one hand, and with the army knife in another, shaved off the outer layer in sight of everyone.

The outer layer mostly consisted of fat, and beneath it were more of the tendons and cartilage type tissues.

"Maybe in everyone’s mind, bear paw should be extremely delicious, but actually, it really isn’t so.

Previously, when I was in Russia, I also tried bear paw made by Uncle Victor; the experience felt similar to gnawing on pork trotters back home and lacking in fine processing and seasoning, the bear paw we’re cooking here honestly tastes very bad.

You can see the meat I cut open with my hunting knife, it has a very high fat content, and beneath it are cartilage and other collagen-rich tissues.

What I failed today initially tastes gamey, likely due to not draining blood promptly after the hunt and not soaking it beforehand; the second sensation is oiliness, it’s like eating a bite of raw pork fat back fat."

"Eh? Tastes bad? The legendary delicacy turns out to be unpalatable?"

"Looking at the camera, it indeed doesn’t look very appealing."

Lin Yang shook his head, "Saying all this, mainly I want to caution everyone, these legendary ingredients aren’t necessarily delicious.

You all know the current situation in our country. Wild animals are protected by national laws, especially valuable species like bears are under stringent protection. Unless absolutely necessary for survival under extreme conditions, don’t try these so-called rare ingredients out of curiosity.

I’m telling you in person here, it really doesn’t taste good, even with meticulous processing and cooking, the taste is similar to the pork trotters you can buy in the market. Protect the environment, love animals, it starts with all of us."

"So what will we do? It’s hard to come by, we can’t just waste it, right?"

Lin Yang glanced at the bear paw and answered, "In the wilderness, wasting any food is shameful; since it’s cooked, naturally, we have to eat it, but I really can’t eat it raw, so I’ll have to add some condiments to it, just give me a few minutes, and I’ll be right back."

Soon, he came out of the cabin and went to a small patch of low bushes near the woods, meticulously picking something from the bushes.

A few minutes later, Lin Yang returned to the campsite with a small handful of purple-red wild berries.

"These are wild berries, sour and sweet, quite relieving for greasiness, pairing them with bear paw could alleviate some of the taste, let’s eat!"

Lin Yang steeled his heart, hugged the bear paw, and started gnawing it again.

After the initial discomfort, he gradually adapted to the high fat content; whenever he felt overwhelmed, he ate a couple of berries. The secretion of saliva under his tongue diluted the strong gamey taste, and he continued gnawing.

Even after half a day, he hadn’t finished the bear paw, but Lin Yang felt his stomach was full, and he really felt like vomiting if he ate any more.

"Alright, my stomach is full but the bear paw is not finished, let’s save the rest for dinner, burp..."

While saying this, Lin Yang let out a satisfied burp; even having previously eaten half a rabbit and most of a fish, his stomach had never felt so full.

After lunch, he simply rested for a while, feeling much better in his stomach; the berries in his pocket were all gone, and after drinking some water, Lin Yang walked out of the cabin again.

The smoked meat on the tripod was completely done, the meat covered with a thick layer of smoke. He carried it in chunks back to his dwelling, hanging it on the side near the southern wall of the cabin.