Chapter 1617 Fishing Day (10)

Since they arrived very early, even after fishing for a while, the morning light that penetrated the mist and was particularly cold had just dissipated. When the sun became brighter, everything seemed warmer.

Several people fished from morning to noon. Fishing is not a very physically demanding thing. The most physically demanding thing is the expectation. Often when they come back to their senses from that kind of focused expectation, their stomachs are already growling with hunger.

They started to rush back to the camp at noon when the sun was the best, carrying the harvest of the morning. Even though freshwater fish are easier to raise, these fresh fish cannot be eaten until the next day, so Schiller gutted all the fish before going back, emptied the internal organs, and processed them into fish meat that can be cooked directly.

Natasha was amazed at the sight, mainly because a fisherman would not want to show off his live prey. Schiller responded: "This is not something worth showing off. Our catch is very small for ice fishing. As Ivan said, prey at this time is more fragile and easier to hook."

Natasha looked down at the only fish she caught. It was a trout, not particularly strong. Judging from the shape of its abdomen, it should have consumed a lot of accumulated fat, so it was destined to not taste very good.

"Well, it seems that you prefer challenging fishing." Natasha hesitated for a moment, but still did not make the allusion in her tone clearer, as if she had some concerns.

While talking, Schiller had already started to deal with the last fish, and only then did Natasha have time to watch his movements carefully.

Schiller put a mat on the ice, sat cross-legged on it, grabbed a fish by the tail and slapped it on the ground, and hit the fish head with the handle of a kitchen knife, almost knocking the fish unconscious.

When he moved the knife, the fish's muscles still had reflexes, so the process of opening the gills was particularly cruel. After one cut, the fish's tail tilted twice, and blood gushed out. The tip of the Western kitchen knife turned backwards, and Schiller raised his wrist and slightly flipped the blade, and the fish's gills were shaved out.

Then he pressed the fish body with the base of his palm, and cut along the belly of the fish with the other hand holding the knife. The tip of the knife was inserted vertically, and all the internal organs were picked out effortlessly.

Natasha swallowed her saliva. It was really hard for her to ignore Schiller's movements. Even when her target, those wealthy businessmen, took her to extremely expensive and high-end Western private restaurants and visited the back kitchen, she had never been interested in the chefs' smooth slaughtering movements. After all, humans and animals are different.

But what fascinated her about Schiller's movements was that Natasha could fully imagine how he used the same hands and the same crisp movements to cut open the chest and abdomen of other equally strong animals and clean their internal organs.

Then, some phantom pains that Natasha had never experienced before began to spread from the center of her chest to her neck, as if the knife had cut her skin and the hand was picking out the internal organs that could be preserved in her abdomen.

Natasha shook her head vigorously. Schiller had removed the fish head and began to cut the fish meat into thin slices. The perch in his hand was the fattest one among their labors. The fish meat was slightly pink, and the color of the fat was lighter.

Natasha swallowed again and asked, "What do you plan to cook with this fish?"

"I think we can replace the luncheon meat in the borscht with fish." Schiller answered without hesitation: "You said that anything can be put in borscht."

"But I think that's a bit of a waste, because I don't think the other two groups can catch better fish than us, there must be a main course, right?"

"So what do you want to eat, ma'am?"

Schiller asked very directly and in a gentlemanly tone, so Natasha really pursed her lips and thought about it, and said, "Although 'shuba (salmon salad)' is not bad, sea bass doesn't seem to be suitable for this dish. I also like smoked fish jelly, but it seems that I don't have so much time to make this."

"Fried fish bread?" Schiller proposed a possibility.

"God, don't tell me you brought flour." Natasha shook her head and said as if it was unreasonable: "That's also a very time-consuming snack."

"But it's worth treating you."

Natasha had nothing to say, so she could only shrug and start to clean up the things on the ground. She picked up the fishing rod and said: "I'm not sure we will come here to continue fishing in the afternoon, so we have to take everything back, and you made a wise decision. We don't have to carry heavy water tanks full of water."

"Believe me, it's quite wise."

Soon Natasha found that Schiller's decision to kill the fish first was wiser than she thought, because when she returned to the camp, Steve was saying: "I only have two hands, so no matter how strong I am, I can't carry four water tanks at the same time. Half of Nick and I's harvest is still there, so we have to go back."

Natasha kicked the scattered ice next to her with her boots and said, "Can't you kill some of the fish first?"

"Jesus, ma'am, what nonsense are you talking about!" Nick looked at Natasha with an unbelievable look and said, "You don't know how many energetic fish we caught. How can we kill them before letting you witness their strength and vitality?"

Natasha was helpless to the extreme. She knew that these two fishermen who only had fish in their minds would not consider that lunch would be delayed because of their actions. Charles next to her saw her dissatisfaction and comforted her, "The temperature is lower than we thought, so it may take a while for the fire to rise. Sit down and warm up first, ma'am."

Natasha sat down on the fishing stool next to her, and Schiller came over to put down his box. Eric looked inside as if he was a little curious, raised his eyebrows and said, "You have already processed the fish meat. Finished?"

Schiller nodded and said, "I don't have that many trophies to show off. The two of us didn't get much, so there's no need to carry two heavy water tanks back and forth."

"I'll make grilled fish, what about you?" Ivan stood behind Charles and said while winding the fishing line, "I caught a big and strong guy, which should be the biggest among us. It's only suitable for steaming or grilling. It would be a waste to cut it into fish meat."

"I promised to make a fried fish bread for Natasha. I just brought flour and other seasonings, as well as some vegetables. I'll go prepare the dough first, and we'll confirm the menu when Steve and the others come back."

"We have to save a few for dinner." Charles said this, but his attention was not on the food at all. His eyes kept scanning between Schiller and Natasha, and then he raised his eyebrows at Eric.

"Take one out, we'll make low-temperature smoked fish." Eric seemed to be focused on the dish. He seemed very relaxed, and said in a strange German accent: "We just need some charcoal that is not completely burned, wrap the pickled fish and bury it."

"Or we can have some fish sausages." Schiller also suggested: "Since we don't have enough time, we can skip smoking and eat it with sauce. This dish can be made in the evening."

"But what about the casing? What casing? Don't tell me you brought intestines." Natasha stared at the fire, then looked up at Schiller.

After saying this, Natasha suddenly froze. She really hoped that Schiller would not understand this as a pun or encouragement about cannibalism. As it turned out, Schiller was really good at chatting. He just smiled and said, "I guess we only need to send a Russian to get enough bear intestines."

Ivan sneered, but Natasha was obviously relieved. She flipped the charcoal fire a little absent-mindedly and said, "In this season, hunting any bear creatures is not a good choice. They are usually hungry, but they will be very aggressive before hibernation. It will be even worse if you encounter a mother bear with cubs."

"Hey, look at these beautiful little guys." Nick's high-pitched shout came from a distance. The others turned to look at him and saw that he and Steve were carrying a water tank each.

The two of them did have the largest number of fish and the best quality among all the groups. Trout, perch, black fish, American eels, small squids, etc. filled four large water tanks.

"We thought we could catch the tail of the salmon," Nick said with a pun, "but they left immediately after spawning, maybe we were three months late."

"Don't be too greedy," Charles said, he looked around the harvest and said, "This is enough for us to eat, even enough for tonight and tomorrow."

"In fact, ice fishing is good for the surrounding ecological environment." Steve shrugged and said while opening the lid of the water tank: "The reduction in the number of fish helps the remaining individuals share more food, so that the population will increase next year and the offspring will be healthier."

"It's a bit redundant to talk about this here." Ivan took the last fish he caught off the hook and said, "This lake is too small, there is no large-scale population, and the dead bodies of starving fish can also make their peers The accompaniment was more full, at least you caught them, and then wasted. Fish, snacks are fried fish noodles. "" Seeing the ghost bread, and someone brought flour? ... well, Dr. Schiller went more everywhere than others. " Staring at the only white eyes left, the eyes were very obvious, and his eyes were inspected between Schiller and Natasha. Chop the tone. "

Nick leaned back as if he couldn't afford to offend Natasha, but at the same time he nudged Steve with his elbow. Steve was staring at the spoils in the water tank without blinking. It was obvious that he was the only one in the audience who was still paying attention to the fish.

"Come on, let our exquisite chefs show their talents." Nick stood up and clapped his hands, took off the glove of one hand and tucked it under his armpit, looked around and said: "But first, let's build a stove for them, work equally, and then enjoy the fruits equally."

Natasha rolled her eyes, mocking Nick for showing off his skills before an expert, but Nick still enjoyed telling similar jokes, and then he finally said seriously: "Let's leave those who are good at knife skills here to handle the ingredients, and the rest of us will go to the nearby forest to chop some wood and pick up some stones to make the campfire more prosperous."

"Let's get started, friends, the steaming meals are waiting for us behind the fishing season just like the fruits of the season."