Culinary God in Wilderness

After filleting the two sides of the fish, he ran his hand up from the tail end against the grain. He could feel a large, thick bone at about every finger’s width.

With a fish this large, it was difficult to pull the bones out with just his fingers. Even if he managed, it would most likely tear the flesh to shreds.

But that was fine. This time, he didn’t need to keep the flesh intact anyway.

He made a cut into the meat at the tail, then slid the tip of his knife along the skin toward the head. As he cut, he grabbed the skin and pulled it back, quickly separating it from the fillet.

Then he went back to feeling for the bones. When he found one, he sliced down to its base, grabbed the bone, and pulled it out sideways. Repeating this process, he soon had two perfectly deboned fillets.

He put down the small combat knife and picked up the Engineer Shovel. First, he heated it over the fire, then washed it clean with snow. Finally, he boiled some spruce water and soaked the shovel in it to sterilize it.

CHOP... CHOP... CHOP...

The sharp axe blade became a giant cleaver, mincing the fillets to a pulp in just a few strikes.

He showed no signs of stopping, continuing to chop until the fish was a fine paste. Only then did he finally stop.

King Salmon is the pinnacle of the salmon world. Its fat-to-meat ratio is perfect, so there was no need to add any other meat as a filler.

He boiled some water. While it cooled, he used his fingers to stir the fish paste clockwise. As he stirred, he could feel the paste gradually becoming sticky. At that point, he could start adding the cool water, a little at a time.

"The purpose of stirring is to release the collagen from the fish, making it stickier. It’s the same principle as using a stand mixer for ground meat."

"Adding water helps keep the fish tender during cooking, preventing significant moisture loss from the high heat. This is especially true for fish like salmon, which has a more tender texture raw than cooked. If you want to cook it through while still preserving its texture and flavor, it really tests a chef’s skill in handling the fish."

"I’m guessing the viewers who are sticking around are probably at least a little interested in cooking, right?"

He paused here and added a bit more water to the fish paste.

As he continued to add water, the sound of stirring the paste grew louder, and a distinct layer of white fat stuck to the sides of the pot.

"Chinese-style marinating is completely different from Western-style. Western cooking mostly uses spice rubs or sauces to marinate ingredients, but it doesn’t involve much fine-tuning of the ingredients themselves."

"Chinese cooking is different. The marinating technique is determined by the final presentation of the dish."

"Adding water to meat and stirring continuously is one of the most common marinating methods. The principle behind it relates to the state of the meat during cooking."

"First, I want you all to ask yourselves: how many of you know why, given the same recipe and the same cut of steak, one person can pan-fry it to be tender while another’s comes out tough and chewy?"

"Temperature." He paused for a good five seconds before continuing, "Temperature determines the texture of the meat."

"Tender meat is simply meat that has retained plenty of its moisture. Tough meat has lost too much moisture. This is why you use a smoking hot pan to sear a steak—the principle is to create what’s called a ’sear’ to seal it."

"The principle of marinating meat in Chinese cuisine is an extension of this. The difference is we choose to inject extra moisture into the meat before cooking. When the meat hits high heat, the moisture starts to escape. But anyone familiar with Chinese cooking knows that it often involves high-heat stir-frying or deep-frying before stir-frying."

"The intense heat for a short period cooks the surface of the meat quickly, forming a crust that securely locks in the moisture inside. This way, even if some moisture is lost, the overall texture remains very tender."

"This is just the first step. Next comes the second step."

"Starch!"

"I’m sure you’ve all had fried chicken, right?"

As he spoke, he grabbed a bit of his homemade potato starch and sprinkled it in, mixing it quickly. The surface of the fish paste was soon covered in a light, white slurry.

"Why is fried chicken so tender and juicy? The principle is the crispy crust on the outside. That crust is like clothing for the chicken, preventing the juices inside from escaping. There are many recipes for this crust, but they mainly use flour or starch."

"Once you add the starch, it’s like the meat is wearing a coat. As soon as it hits the heat, that starch coat rapidly solidifies into a shell, and then the moisture inside can’t get out."

"Meat marinated using a combination of these two techniques will be exceptionally tender—tender beyond your imagination."

"If you’re working with an ingredient that’s already rich in fat, this is enough. At most, you might add seasonings during the marinating process. But if the ingredient is lean, you’ll want to drizzle a layer of oil over it after adding the starch."

"I’m making salmon patties. Besides locking in moisture, adding starch will also make the fish paste softer and more tender. And because it’s so viscous, I won’t have to worry about the patties falling apart when I pan-fry them."

"If you have the ingredients, you could also add an egg, or even some onion or something. I don’t have anything like that here, so I’ll just make them plain."

By the time he finished mixing, the fish paste was completely transformed. It was viscous and whitish all over. If he had to describe it, it had the look and feel of shrimp paste—completely different from what he used to make when he worked at a restaurant.

He portioned the fish paste into roughly eighty-gram servings, rolled them into balls, and arranged them neatly on a wooden board. Covering them with spruce branches, he took them to the storage room to freeze.

"It would freeze faster outside, but the wind is too strong. It would dry out the fish, and all that work I did marinating it would be for nothing."

After preparing the breakfast ingredients and washing his tools, he walked to the door and looked at the world outside.

The sky had long since grown dark. The yard was pitch-black, and the world beyond the fence was like a black hole, utterly devoid of light.

"Can you believe it? It’s probably just a little after five, maybe close to six right now, but it looks like midnight."

Peering through the dark night, he could faintly see a weak light flickering in the direction of the Yukon River Shore.

"Looks like that guy Andre has already started working. With his skills, he could probably get a rudimentary storehouse built tonight."

He brought a full pot of snow inside and set it on the torch to melt. He had no intention of going to help.

’That’s his part of our deal, anyway.’ Besides, the forest at night belonged to the wolves. He had no desire to brave the frigid -10 or -20 degree temperatures and trek a long way to do manual labor. Only a fool would do something like that.

’If Andre gets eliminated because of some accident, it’s none of my business.’

The snowmelt quickly came to a boil, a full pot reducing to about half. He scooped up a few more handfuls of snow and mixed them in, both to cool the water down quickly and to add a bit more volume.

GULP... GULP... GULP...

He downed nearly half the pot of sweet snowmelt in one go. Only then did his parched throat begin to feel some relief.