From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 54 Fried Meat
Chen Zhou planned to erect eight wooden stakes around the center point, then nail a frame between the stakes and cover it with canvas.

To prevent the sea breeze from overturning the awning, he also had to drive wooden pegs to anchor the roof of the awning in the sand, and then find some rocks to surround the wooden piles and stabilize the structure.

The entire rain shelter has only a roof and no walls, so it is ventilated but not rainproof.

If the wind and rain come together, this shed cannot block the slanting rain blown in by the wind, but it can block some of the rain and prevent the rewards from being completely soaked.

Putting the toilet paper near the high woods, Chen Zhou cut down the trees, removed the branches that were in the way, sharpened the bottom of the wooden stick, and then hammered it deep into the sand with the hammer.

The biggest advantage of building a shed on the beach is that you don’t have to worry about flooding, and the biggest disadvantage is that the foundation is unstable.

The sand is loose, so no matter how deep the pole is inserted, it cannot be guaranteed to be stable.

In modern society, permanent buildings constructed near beaches have extremely deep foundations and commonly use reinforced concrete materials, which is sufficient to eliminate hidden dangers.

Temporary beach shops, barbecue stalls, beverage shops and other small buildings use integrated assembled houses.

Even the parasols at the beach are rarely planted in the ground. Usually they rely on heavy concrete blocks at the bottom to ensure that they do not fall over.

Chen Zhou realized this problem when he was hammering wooden stakes and pegs into the sand.

He knew that the awning could not withstand strong winds and would not last long.

But he can tolerate these shortcomings in order to protect future bonus items.

And every reward day thereafter, he would maintain the awning, trying his best to ensure that it could function and last throughout the rainy season.

After the rainy season, he would tear down the shed even if it could still be used.

The cannibal natives' tool of navigation was a canoe, and they could not travel far during the rainy season when storms were frequent, so it was impossible for them to reach the island.

During the dry season, when the indigenous people are active, we cannot leave such a conspicuous building on the beach. If it is seen by the indigenous people, we will be in big trouble.

After working for a whole morning, we finally built the rain shelter.

After nailing a few more long nails and moving a few stones to hold down the pegs, Chen Zhou felt that the shed was sturdy enough. He happily returned to the camp with toilet paper.

When he goes down the mountain today, in addition to getting the reward, he also wants to bring back some small bricks.

On the one hand, we need to prepare for the big stove, and on the other hand, we also need to build a flue leading to the small stove outside the cave, and try to stir-fry some vegetables or fry some meat.

The flat copper pot has been idle for three days since it was unloaded.

Seeing that the outer wall was almost built, Chen Zhou planned to try out whether this thing was as useful as he imagined.

……

After all, it was a huge structure that connected the upper and lower levels of the cabin. After the stove was dismantled, a large number of bricks were moved down, filling up the entire shack.

Chen Zhou made several trips back and forth, and it was not until dark that he had collected the required number of bricks.

Thinking it was not too late, he lit two oil lamps, one hanging under the outer cave ceiling and the other inside the kitchen, and used the light to study how to build a stove.

There is more than one problem facing us now.

The first is the flue problem.

Chen Zhou now has some ideas. He plans to burn some ceramic pipes as chimneys, then dig upwards about two meters, and then open a channel from the outside to the inside. He will connect the ceramic pipes in the channel to exhaust the smoke.

But the rainy season is about to arrive and the outer wall has not been built yet, so it is impossible to complete this huge project in a short period of time.

He could only simply build a small stove and use it for the time being.

The rainy season is long, and he has plenty of time to stay indoors, where he can slowly dig chimneys and fire ceramic pipes.

In addition to the flue, the stove and pot are also a difficult point.

The stove in the north is connected to the kang. The heat generated by the fire can be used for cooking and heating the kang. The kang can also warm the entire house and remove moisture, which is very practical.

Chen Zhou originally wanted to build a kang behind the stove.

But after living in the cave for some days, he found that the kang was not as practical as the fire wall.

Because the climate on the island was not cold, he had a bed and thick enough bedding. Forcing himself to sleep on a heated kang would easily cause him to get a sore throat, which was not good for his health.

If you want to remove moisture, the fire wall has a larger heat dissipation area, lasts longer, and occupies less space than a kang, which is more in line with the needs of a cave dwelling.

Fire wall is also a heating facility in the north in winter, and its principle is the same as that of kang.

Its appearance is like a hollow wall, with one end closed and the other end connected to a fire-burning stove. It shares a chimney with the stove and is quick and easy to build, requiring no advanced technology.

The reason why Chen Zhou found the stove difficult was not because he didn't know how to build one.

I have lived in the countryside for more than ten years, and every few years someone's kang collapsed and needed to be repaired.

There are also people who replace cracked pots and rebuild broken stove doors.

Even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen pigs run. The stove is not some high-tech instrument. The structure inside and out can be seen at a glance, so it is not difficult for Chen Zhou.

What worried him was how to use this big iron can as a pot.

If you build a normal stove, the rim of the iron pot will be too high when placed on it, making it inconvenient to add water, cook, or clean.

When digging downwards to build the stove, the rim of the iron can was too low and I didn't know where to build the fire wall.

After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Zhou thought that he didn't plan to use the iron pot to cook, but only to boil water, so a higher temperature would do. He would rather have a little trouble than hinder the firewall.

You can rely on it to hang clothes and dry quilts in the rainy season.

……

After determining the future construction direction, Chen Zhou mixed white mud with water and built a small stove close to the unfinished kitchen outer wall.

The stove's flue leads to the outside of the cave. After the fire starts, all the smoke does not stay in the cave but is directly discharged. After applying the mud and waiting for the surface moisture to dissipate, Chen Zhou moved the copper pot to test the size.

The size fits perfectly.

Unable to resist the urge to cook, he lit a bonfire in advance, took out four lemons, salt, dried kelp, seal oil and undried seal meat, and prepared to show off his cooking skills by making some fried steak.

After spending more than ten minutes in agony, he rubbed the gray mud on the stove with his fingers.

"almost."

I feel that the humidity of the mud on newly built stoves in the countryside is about this.

Chen Zhou cut some thin branches and placed them in the stove mouth, put a few pieces of burning charcoal in it, and then covered the charcoal with a layer of thinner branches.

Before long, the fire started burning and the cave became brighter.

Copper has a very high thermal conductivity, and once the fire is lit, the surface of the pot quickly emits heat.

Put two spoonfuls of seal oil into the pot, wait for it to heat up, and spread it evenly. Chen Zhou picked up the cut seal meat with chopsticks and spread it flat in the pot.

The meat is fried in hot oil, and the aroma is rising.

The color of the seal meat changed rapidly. Worried that the fire would be too high and the meat would be burnt, Chen Zhou quickly turned it over and sprinkled salt on it.

Seal meat that has been air-dried for a period of time lacks moisture and does not release water during frying like fresh meat.

But the aroma of the meat is not affected at all.

With the help of the Maillard reaction, the small molecular aldehydes and ketones in the meat are released, making it smell much more attractive than stewed meat.

Grape, who was tied in the kitchen, widened his eyes and leaned towards the stove with a surprised expression, as if he couldn't believe that such a wonderful smell could exist in the world.

The greedy ghost Xiao Huihui woke up from his sleep a long time ago and sat next to Chen Zhou waiting - he deliberately found a place far away from the grapes.

Lai Fu came closer, leaned against Chen Zhou's legs regardless of anything, and kept stretching out his paws to try to "shake hands" with his owner in exchange for a reward.

The meat was not cooked yet. Ignoring these greedy guys, Chen Zhou stared intently at the meat in the pot.

Turning it over again, feeling that the aroma had reached its peak, he broke a lemon, squeezed some juice onto the meat, and then sprinkled a little bit of chopped kelp residue on it.

The fresh scent of lemon temporarily suppresses the greasiness of the seal meat, and the kelp residue only serves as a decoration.

Insert a knife into the meat and remove it from the copper pot onto a silver plate.

Steaming hot and filled with fragrance, Chen Zhou couldn't wait to cut a piece of seal meat and taste it carefully.

Perhaps because too much salt was added to the seal meat before drying, it tastes a bit salty.

With this salty and fragrant background, as soon as you take a bite, you can feel the delicate fibers of the seal meat, taste the sour and sweet taste of the lemon, and experience a special flavor similar to the aroma of caramel or cream.

Chewing slowly, the perfectly cooked piece of meat has no bloody smell, only a full aroma, which soon fills the entire mouth.

It had been a long time since he had eaten fried meat. Chen Zhou closed his eyes involuntarily and quietly enjoyed this rare delicacy.

Lai Fu sat obediently on the side, his tongue hanging down, his crystal saliva forming a crystal thread that dripped onto the ground.

Xiao Huihui set his eyes on the few pieces of seal meat that had not yet been put into the pot, and was trying to muster up the courage to move towards them.

The firewood in the stove crackled, and Chen Zhou could only hear the sound of his own chewing.

He reveled in the aroma of the frying meat.

meow~
A strange and tender cat's meow made him open his eyes.

Chen Zhou looked at Xiao Huihui with a puzzled look as he stretched his claws towards the seal meat, with an unfriendly expression.

Little Gray withdrew his claws awkwardly. Feeling guilty for failing to succeed, he turned his head to look around.

After staring at the skin drying rack in the back of the kitchen for a while, it turned its head and squatted on the ground obediently. It curled up its body with great effort, combed its hair, and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.

Chen Zhou knew that Xiao Huihui was born with a smoker's voice, and his voice was hoarse. Even if he raised his throat, he would not make the same sound as before, so he turned his gaze to Tizi.

Tizi sat very dignified.

The food has been good recently, and its hair has become much more shiny and brighter than when it was first caught, and the hair on its chest looks dense and soft.

Its front legs are together, and its tail is wrapped around its body, covering its front feet, giving it a very ladylike demeanor.

The angle from which Chen Zhou looked was just enough to prevent him from seeing the unhealed scars on the back half of its body, allowing it to maintain its elegant beauty.

Noticing Chen Zhou's gaze, it gently narrowed its light green eyes, pursed its mouth, and made another charming and moving cry.

meow~
He blinked, tightened his tail, straightened his chest, raised his head slightly, and looked longingly at the half piece of seal meat left on the plate.

"Hey, how come Tizi is so good at acting like a spoiled child?"

I didn't expect fried meat to be so lethal that it even seduced the cool grapes into this state.

Unable to bear its eager look, Chen Zhou almost couldn't help but throw the seal meat on the plate directly to Tizi.

But he quickly realized that his meat contained too much salt and was not suitable for feeding cats or dogs.

He stroked Lai Fu's head to calm it down, and then told Xiao Huihui and Ti Zi to wait for a while.

He walked to the meat drying rack and took out a piece of meat that had been marinated for a short time and had a low salt content, ready to enjoy the fried food with the whole family, big and small.

It's just a pity for the little chinchilla, as it can't eat meat, so its meal tonight will still be hay.

(End of this chapter)