In order to survive in the wild, learning how to preserve food is of paramount importance, especially meat that spoils easily.
Microorganisms are the key to meat spoilage. To prevent spoilage, it is necessary to use salt, high-proof alcohol, or various seasonings to marinate and sterilize the meat.
This is also what puts both families in a difficult position—there isn't enough salt.
In addition, the most commonly used methods are dehydration or maintaining a low temperature environment.
Maintaining a low temperature goes without saying; that means freezing, since there are no refrigerators here.
Farmers typically wrap meat in oiled paper and bury it in streams or tread it directly into muddy fields to keep it fresh for up to a month.
If none of these can be met now, then dehydration is the only option.
On the other side, Grandpa Xiaoman was also actively trying to salvage the situation. Since there was no salt, he thought of making smoked meat instead.
Jiang Zhi said to Xiao Man, who was searching for wooden sticks to hang the meat, "Uncle Chang Geng, there's no way to dry so much meat with the firewood we have at home."
Xiaoman's wrinkled face was full of anxiety. Looking at the pile of meat, he sighed, "Sigh! I have big eyes but a small belly. I can't eat it all. I can only smoke some of it. I can't let all my hard work last night go to waste."
Jiang Zhi said, "We definitely can't waste it. We have to smoke it into jerky, and it has to be smoked all at once."
"Lord Changgeng, we can use a charcoal kiln. It's spacious enough to hold all the meat, and the temperature is easy to control."
This was the solution Jiang Zhi came up with.
Charcoal kiln!
Everyone looked up, their faces suddenly filled with realization.
Xiao Manye raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead: "Hey, look how busy I am! I was only thinking about that tiny bit of fire on the stove and didn't even think about other places. That place can indeed be used!"
Errui's mother is right. We just need to hang the meat strips on the kiln wall and then use firewood to smoke them; they'll all be smoked.
Jiang Zhi actually wanted to use a charcoal kiln to make a large baking box and put the meat inside to dry.
However, charcoal burning involves high-temperature, air-isolated smoldering, while smoked meat jerky is baked at low temperatures for a long time.
Pork must not be dried at high temperatures, otherwise it will catch fire.
Considering that both Xiaomanye and Xu Dazhu knew how to burn charcoal and were skilled at controlling the temperature, based on their experience, even though they had never smoked meat in a charcoal kiln, they certainly wouldn't actually burn it into charcoal blocks.
You could try modifying the charcoal kiln.
Let's give it a try!
Jiang Zhi's words immediately excited the previously lifeless crowd.
Xiaoman, with her hands on her hips, directed several women to perform preliminary processing of the meat.
Xiao Manye, along with Xiao Man and Xu Errui, who were as energetic as if they had been injected with chicken blood, went to tidy up the charcoal kiln and start roasting meat immediately.
There is hope; the person who was originally exhausted suddenly felt refreshed!
Although it's hot now, fortunately the wild boar died in the cold stream, and the meat was cut yesterday when the temperature was lowest at night, which gave us time to process it.
Xiaoman's family's charcoal kiln is right next door. It used to be in use for many years and was well maintained.
Even though it had been abandoned for more than a year, it was cleaned up by Xiaoman's grandmother some time ago.
Now, Grandpa Xiaoman is going to put up a wooden frame inside to hang the meat.
The charcoal kiln matter is manageable, but Jiang Zhi and his group have the heaviest task.
Wild boar bristles cannot be plucked; they are thick and the skin is coarse, so they can only be discarded.
Dried meat can be divided into raw meat and cooked meat that can be eaten immediately.
There's no time to process cooked meat jerky right now, so we can only bake raw meat directly, which will need to be steamed or boiled later when we eat it.
So, the group first used knives to cut off the pig skin, and then set aside the clean meat cut into thin strips.
Because they hadn't slept the night before, Jiang Zhi and Chun Feng were noticeably slower at cutting the meat, but they couldn't stop to rest and had to grit their teeth and bear it.
Qiaoyun and Xiaoman moved quickly.
Three-year-old Nini was keeping two-month-old Caixia company as she slept peacefully, not distracting the adults at all.
Suddenly, Xu Dazhu's voice came from inside the shed: "Grandma, Chunfeng, get me out of here!"
Chunfeng thought he had something to do, so she quickly got up and went inside, only to find that Xu Dazhu was also there to work.
Xu Dazhu said, "Put me on the wooden carrying pole. Even though I'm a bit slow, I can still be of some help!"
"You're so tired, but Grandma can still do it!" Grandma Xiaoman felt sorry for her grandson and didn't want him to work on the ground like that.
Xu Dazhu insisted, "Grandma, I have the strength now. Aunt Jiang said I should practice more!"
Jiang Zhi: "...?"
Okay, she thought that would work too. One more person would shorten the time by one minute, and besides, Xu Dazhu would definitely do the work this way in the future.
With Xu Dazhu's insistence and Aunt Jiang's words, he was lifted onto a wooden plank, which was a makeshift bed made by Xiaoman's grandfather from two tree trunks.
With the wooden plank raised, Xu Dazhu could cut the meat with his hands hanging down. Although it was a bit troublesome, his presence provided extra strength.
After Xiaoman and the other two finished tidying up the charcoal kiln, tying wooden sticks together to form a frame, and preparing the firewood and charcoal, they came over to cut the meat, and their speed immediately increased.
Soon, several hundred kilograms of meat were evenly cut into strips two fingers wide and one foot long, and then placed in the charcoal kiln on wooden racks.
The remaining problem is how to cook it in a way that keeps the temperature constant inside, prevents it from going out, and also dries the meat.
Xu Dazhu said confidently, "Grandpa, Aunt Jiang, leave this to me. I will make sure nothing goes wrong with the meat."
The temperature inside cannot be controlled by adding charcoal, but rather by adjusting the ventilation level of the kiln door, which requires a high level of technical expertise.
This time, no one objected to Xu Dazhu's request, because he was the most skilled among them.
After Xu Dazhu started making charcoal at the age of sixteen, he rarely made mistakes, producing a lot of charcoal with good quality.
In Xujia Village, if he's second, no one dares to claim to be first.
After Xu Dazhu checked the quantity and moisture content of the charcoal pieces in the kiln, Xiaoman lit the charcoal pile with firewood.
Worried that he wouldn't be able to do it himself and that a kiln of meat would be ruined, Xu Dazhu had Xiaoman curl him up in a basket and then tie the basket to a wooden stake next to the kiln opening.
This way, he could observe the situation inside up close and also use mud to block the kiln opening to control the temperature of the charcoal fire inside.
But being so close, and with the inconvenience of moving around, the smoke and dust from the kiln blackened his face, making his body, squatting in the basket on his back, look like a mischievous child.
Feeling incredibly relieved to be entrusted with such an important task, Xu Dazhu's usually indifferent face was relaxed. He even made funny faces with black ash, making Chunfeng and Nini laugh.
Xiaoman's grandparents quietly wiped away their tears.
At this moment, Xu Dazhu seemed to have returned to the old days, and returned to the spirited young man he was before he was injured.
Xiaoman wasn't tired anymore. She circled around her older brother, listening to him teach her how to observe the fire from subtle details and how to sense temperature changes.
This requires practice. Even with guidance, Xiaoman, lacking experience, still couldn't tell the difference between having an extra layer of mud and having one less layer of mud, or the difference in the amount of charcoal inside.
Drying meat is a long process, but with Xu Dazhu there, the group felt at ease and went back to sleep.
Even Xiaoman next to Xu Dazhu had a dazed look in her eyes and yawned, saying, "Brother, they're all exhausted and need to sleep for a while. I can still manage. Call me if you need anything!"
Xu Dazhu didn't look at him: "Sleep if you want, I'll keep an eye on you!"
"No, no need... Huff! Huff!" Before Xiaoman could finish speaking, she had already slumped into the haystack next to her and started snoring.
Xu Dazhu smiled and then focused on the temperature inside the kiln.
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