Chapter 51 - Smoking Meat (2/2)

“I know a method to preserve meat.” Zhou Ji said.

“What method?” The priest immediately asked, looking at Zhou Ji curiously––Although Zhou Ji’s body wasn’t very good, the Beast God had probably found him pitiful and taught him many skills, such as identifying plants and other such things.

“You can use less salt when you prepare the meat, then light a fire and use the smoke to dry it.” Zhou Ji explained. Cured meat required a lot of salt in order to preserve it properly. During ancient times in his original country, only people in coastal areas would use a lot of salt to preserve meat. In other places, they were unable to do it this way.

In other places, people would smoke their meat.

They would first marinate the meat with a little salt, then smoke it over a fire so that all the water content in the meat would dry out. Meat prepared in this way could be preserved for a long time, and it also carried a unique taste.

Of course, some people would feel that meat carrying a smoky flavor was unpalatable.

But in short, they could make do with a lot less salt if they used this method to preserve the meat instead.

Zhou Ji had only seen this kind of meat preservation method on TV shows. When it came to exactly how to do it, or how to make the meat taste good, he really had no clue.

However, the people in the Big Bear Tribe probably wouldn’t be concerned about whether or not the meat was tasty, right?

So, they just needed to use the smoke to dry out the moisture in the meat.

“Can meat really be preserved longer with this method?” The priest was curious.

“Yes.” Zhou Ji added, “It is the same principle as drying the meat out in the sun, which allows it to be kept longer. Using smoke is just faster than the sun.”

“I’ll go and try it!” The priest immediately agreed.

There was no lack of firewood in the tribe. Even if there was… There was an entire mountain full of firewood over there waiting for them to pick up!

The priest looked for some people and soon had a fire lit up in a pit. He smoked a piece of meat over the fire and made a piece of charred, blackened jerky.

This piece of meat had a smoky flavor and tasted quite bad, but it was dry and should last a little longer…

The entire tribe immediately busied themselves and began to make smoked meat.

Picking up meat, smoking meat, eating meat… The people of the Big Bear Tribe were busy for five consecutive days, and everyone grew one size bigger from all that eating.

And then, the tribe officially ran out of salt.

Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye had no salt left, either.

After the collective stores of salt in the tribe had run out, the priest had asked everyone to take out the salt they had stored for themselves. It could be considered as the tribe borrowing salt from everyone, and they had all naturally taken it out for everyone’s use.

Zhou Ji didn’t care much about this. Xiong Ye was injured and couldn’t go out hunting, so he went out every day to walk around and secretly ate some vegetables and fruits, bringing some of it back to the cave. Since he was too lazy to cook, he naturally didn’t need to use salt. As for Xiong Ye…

Xiong Ye completely didn’t mind eating the roasted meat sent over by the tribe every day. He now ate at least fifteen to twenty kilograms of meat daily, so his stomach was bulging almost every day. Not only had his human form gained weight, his animal form had suddenly gotten a lot bigger as well, his fur coat especially glossy.

The bodies of the beastmen were really very good, and the meat that was filled with abundant energy was quite well suited for their diet.

The only thing to be depressed about was that Xiong Ye was injured in so many places that many parts of his body were missing fur…

Xiong Ye was a little annoyed about it, but Zhou Ji found that this hairless bear was also quite good looking.

That day, all the meat in the tribe was finally cleaned up.

The valley was still filled with the smell of blood and rotting meat, but it was much better than before… Zhou Ji had made several flowerpots out of wood and planted a few pots of fragrant flowers in their cave, which made the air in their cave smell a lot fresher.

That night, the priest decided to hold a meeting in the valley.

Zhou Ji had rested for a few days and all of his injuries were already healed. Correspondingly, Xiong Ye’s injuries had also improved a lot with his help.

Only, Xiong Ye was unable to use that energy properly. It was a pity that out of all the energy he sent into Xiong Ye’s body, only about one tenth of it was utilized.

In order to avoid being discovered, he wasn’t able to heal up Xiong Ye’s wounds any faster.

The ground in the valley had been soaked in blood these past few days. It was sticky when trod on, but not muddy––the earth here had been trod on so much that it was very compact!

“Zhou Ji! Xiong Ye!” The people of the tribe smiled as they greeted Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye. They had a very good attitude towards Zhou Ji.

Although Zhou Ji was very weak, the priest had said that the method they had used this time to smoke the meat was something he had come up with!

The people in the tribe were very grateful to Zhou Ji at the moment. Even those who had other opinions about Zhou Ji didn’t give him any bad looks––Zhou Ji had helped them save so much meat!

They really hadn’t expected that Zhou Ji, who had originally been so foolish and weak, would actually become smarter.

The people in the tribe all felt very thankful to Zhou Ji, and the priest even gave Zhou Ji a tribute––an extremely big, vibrantly red flower wreath.

Zhou Ji really didn’t want it.

However, Xiong Ye quite liked it and happily hung it around his own neck.

The little bear who had a flower wreath around his neck was very cute… Zhou Ji’s gaze fell on Xiong Ye, but Xiong He had solemnly begun to speak about proper things––the tribe was going to go out to trade for salt again!