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Chapter 692: Chapter 689 Hot Pot Meat

In the icy Arctic Circle, Bi Fang wrapped in musk oxen fur, sat in front of the campfire, feeling the warmth that the flames brought, melting every frozen cell back into vitality.

“Campfires are one of the charms of outdoor activities. If constructed with the best wood, one can barbecue food over a forest campfire.”

“Many lumberjacks prefer to build a second, smaller campfire for barbecuing, but I don’t think it’s necessary unless you are in a large campsite where you need to prepare a large amount of food. Ordinary campers should decide based on their own needs. After all, various attempts are an important part of the fun of living in the woods.”

With a joyful expression and lively eyebrows, all of the audience could tell that Master Fang was very happy at the moment, having left the survival crisis far behind him.

After roughly flattening both sides of two pieces of firewood, Bi Fang placed them on the ground with one end a palm’s width apart and the other half a meter apart, creating a trapezoidal shape, making for a satisfactory outdoor cooking space.

For safety, Bi Fang also placed a few stones on the wider end and laid some hardwood rods on them as a barrier.

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“If possible, you can place a heat reflector on the wider side, so you can make full use of the heat instead of watching it be wasted in the air.”

“It also makes the barbecuing very even and usable in any weather. Bread, fish, game, or other meats can be cooked very well, and the operation is very convenient, small enough equipment to serve two or three people.”

Even though he had nothing, Bi Fang did not hesitate to introduce these things to the audience.

The campfire was just between the two logs, and barbecuing and frying were very convenient at the narrow end of the opening.

“If you have richer resources, you can use slow-burning green trees as base logs or end logs, using chestnut, red oak, ash hickory, red maple, persimmon, etc.”

“These are all hardwoods and are the best for cooking and heating because they burn slowly and produce a lot of heat, and they will burn into a pile of hot charcoal.”

Bi Fang picked through the flames, finding a large piece of black charcoal to prove his point.

“On the other hand, softwood catches fire easily and though it burns quickly and fiercely, it leaves nothing but ash afterward.”

[What is hardwood, and what is softwood?]

[Ah, isn’t it just the literal meaning?]

[What if there’s some hidden meaning?]

“No hidden meaning, it’s just as the word suggests. The woods that are hard, generally those that can’t be scraped by a small knife, are hardwoods. Those that can be easily cut through, are softwoods.”

Bi Fang explained simply while crafting a wooden basin and introduced the relevant wood material.

“Hickory is the best firewood in the north so far; it burns fiercely, lasts a long time, and forms large pieces of charcoal, maintaining a consistent high heat over a longer period.”

“Second to hickory is chestnut; lumberjacks also like to use basket oak, hornbeam, cornelian cherry, white wax tree, and others.”

“Among these trees, those that split easily include red oak, basket oak, white oak, white wax tree, and white birch. Some woods split easier when they are not dry, such as hickory, cornelian cherry, beech, sugar maple, white birch, and elm.”

“The hardest woods to split are Ligustrum, Bluebeech, cherry tree, sour gum, hemlock, sweet gum, and ginkgo. Among the softer woods, Birch is the best fuel, especially black birch, which is one of the few woods that burn well even when not dry.”

“Ironwood bark catches fire easily and burns fiercely, while birch wood can ignite quickly even when damp. Driftwood makes excellent kindling, and pine cones are superb for lighting fires.”

“Of course, in winter when there is less sap in the trees, even wood that isn’t dry burns rather well. Trees on high ground burn better than those in damp, low-lying areas. Hardwoods are more abundant on high ground, whereas softwoods are more plentiful along riverbanks.”

For the most part, many viewers had never heard of these types of wood, but Bi Fang spoke about them with such knowledge and ease—be it their pros and cons or how to find them—that even those with relevant experience were left speechless.

From south to north, from soft to hard, from texture to utility, it seemed there was nothing Bi Fang didn’t know; he looked like he could easily apply for a job as a professional lumberjack.

[Master Fang is still that same Master Fang, not a bit has changed]

[Another day of not paying attention to the lesson]

[My learning is wasted, wasted]

[To share something embarrassing, I have never distinguished any kind of tree by myself, let alone know their uses. Just the thought of it gives me a headache, not to mention distinguishing them]

[Add one, I probably recognize a ginkgo?]

[If it’s planted by the roadside as a landscape tree, I recognize it, but if it’s in the forest, I’m not so sure (funny)]

Bi Fang set up two sticks as a stand, then perched a wooden basin on top. With a small knife, he sliced the frozen-hard musk ox meat into rolls and submerged them in boiling water.

This was the belly meat layered with snowflake-like fat, unlike most wild animals whose bodies mostly consist of lean meat; whether roasting or boiling, it’s hard to avoid ending up with something as dry as tinder.

But the less-active, high-fat musk oxen were different. Even the loin, which has the least amount of fat, was streaked with oil, not to mention the belly of a fatty—it was enough to make your mouth water just by looking.

“If it were a normal lunch, a low heat would suffice to provide enough heat for the soup and for pan-frying food.”

“If there were an iron pot, you could just insert a branched stick into the ground, place a green twig at the split, with the other end held down by a stone, and hang the pot over the protruding stick.”

“But our conditions are limited, we don’t have ironware, so we can only cook with the method of setting up branches as a frame.”

The sharp dagger carved off a whole strip of meat. Inside the wooden basin, the pinkish beef bobbed up and down in the boiling water, intertwining, inseparable, emitting steady streams of steam.

Seemingly drawn by the delicious smell, Erha dashed ahead through the woods, racing towards Bi Fang, followed by his younger brothers, with their long fur swaying.

Bi Fang hurriedly protected the campfire to prevent the Three Fools from knocking it over; he then couldn’t help but slice up more musk oxen meat so that the three clowns could also get a taste.

Once the meat was cooked, Bi Fang picked up a big chopstick-full. There was no need to blow on it, just exposing it to the air for a moment cooled it to the deliciously warm yet non-scalding point. He stuffed it into his mouth, utterly satisfied!

The Three Fools also whined eagerly, so Bi Fang laid out three pieces of bark on the ground and fished out the meat onto them so the trio of big guys could enjoy the deliciousness together.

Viewers watched with envy at this method of eating meat akin to swishing slices in a hot pot.