Since they arrived very early, even after fishing for a while, the particularly cold morning light that penetrated the mist had just dissipated. After the sun became brighter, everything seemed warmer.
Several people fished from morning to noon. Fishing is not a very physical thing. The most energy-consuming thing is the anticipation. Often when you come back from the concentrated expectation, your stomach is already growling with hunger. .
They started to rush back to the camp at noon when the sun was at its best, carrying the harvest of the whole morning. Even if freshwater fish were better to raise, these fresh fish could not wait until the next day to eat, so Schiller put all the fish before going back. The fish is disemboweled, its internal organs removed, and processed into fish meat that can be cooked directly.
Natasha watched in amazement, mainly because she was amazed that a fisherman would not want to show off his live prey. Schiller responded like this: "This is not something worth showing off. Our harvest is on the ice." In terms of fishing, it should be considered very small, as Ivan said, the prey during this period is more fragile and easier to take the bait."
Natasha looked down at the only fish she had caught. It was a trout. It was not particularly strong. Judging from the shape of its abdomen, it must have consumed a lot of accumulated fat. It was destined not to taste very good.
"Well, it seems that you prefer challenging fishing." Natasha hesitated for a moment, but still did not make the hint in her tone clearer, as if she was worried.
While speaking, Schiller had already begun to handle the last fish, and only then did Natasha have time to watch his movements carefully.
Schiller placed a mat on the ice. He sat cross-legged on it, grabbed a fish by its tail, slapped it on the ground, and hit the fish on the head with the handle of a kitchen knife, knocking the fish almost instantly. Fainted.
When he moved the knife, the fish's muscles still had reflexes, so the process of opening the gills was particularly cruel. When the knife went in, the fish's tail cocked twice, and blood flowed out gurglingly. The tip of the Western kitchen knife turned back, Schiller raised his wrist and flipped the blade slightly, and the fish's gills were shaved out.
Then he held the fish body with the heel of his hand, and cut the fish's belly with the other hand holding a 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 difficult for her to ignore the movements of Schiller's hands, even when her targets, the wealthy businessmen, took her to extremely expensive and high-end Western-style private restaurants and visited the chefs. She has never been interested in the chefs' smooth butchering actions. After all, humans and animals are different.
But what fascinates her about the movements of Schiller's hands is that Natasha can completely imagine how he used the same hands and the same crisp movements to cut open the chests and abdomen of other equally strong animals and remove their internal organs. Processed cleanly.
Then, some phantom pain that Natasha had never felt before began to spread along the center of her chest to her neck, as if the knife had cut open 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 already removed the fish head and began to cut the fish into thin slices. The seabass in his hand was the fattest among the fruits of their labor. The fish was slightly pink and fat. The color is lighter.
Natasha made another swallowing motion and asked, "What do you plan to cook this fish into?"
"I think the lunch meat in the borscht can be replaced with fish." Schiller gave the answer without hesitation: "You said, you can put anything in the borscht."
“But I think that’s a bit of a waste because I don’t think the other two groups are going to catch any better fish than us, there’s got to be a main course, right?”
"So what do you want to eat, ma'am?"
Schiller asked very straightforwardly, with a very gentlemanly tone, so Natasha really pursed her lips and thought for a moment before saying, "Although 'shuba (salmon salad)' is not bad, seabass doesn't seem to be suitable for this dish." I also like smoked fish jelly, but I don’t seem to have enough time to make it.”
"Fish bread?" Schiller suggested as a possibility.
"God, don't tell me you brought flour." Natasha shook her head and said as if it was unreasonable: "That is also a time-consuming snack."
"But it's well worth it to entertain you."
Natasha had nothing to say, so she could only shrug and started to pack up the things on the ground. As she picked up the fishing rod, she 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 no longer have to carry a heavy tank full of water."
"Trust me, that's pretty smart."
Soon Natasha discovered that Schiller's decision to kill the fish first was wiser than she thought, because when he returned to the camp, Steve was saying: "I only have two hands, so even if I have No matter how powerful we are, it is impossible to take four water tanks at the same time. Half of what Nick and I have harvested is still where we are, so we have to go back."
Natasha kicked the scattered ice cubes next to her with her boots and said, "Can't you kill some of the fish first?"
"Jesus, madam, what nonsense are you talking about!" Nick looked at Natasha with an unbelievable look and said, "You don't even know how many energetic fish we caught, let you witness How can we kill them before they are strong and vigorous?”
Natasha was helpless to the extreme. She knew that these two fishermen who only had fish in mind would not consider that lunch would be postponed due to their actions. Charles, who was next to her, saw her dissatisfaction and comforted her: "The temperature is higher than We imagine it's lower, so it may take a while for the flames to come up, so sit down and warm yourself up, ma'am."
Natasha sat down on the fishing bench next to her, and Schiller then came over and put down his box. Eric glanced inside as if he was curious, raised an eyebrow and said, "You have already processed the fish." alright?"
Schiller nodded and said: "I don't have that many trophies to show off. The harvest between the two of us is not much. There is no need to carry two heavy water tanks back and forth."
"I cook grilled fish, what about you?" Ivan stood behind Charles and said while winding the fishing line: "I caught a strong big guy, probably the biggest among us. It is only suitable for steaming or grilling, and cutting it. The fish meat is wasted.”
"I promised to make a fried fish bread for Natasha. I just happened to bring flour, other seasonings, and some vegetables. I will prepare the dough first. When Steve and the others come back, we will finalize the menu."
"You have to save a few for dinner." Charles said this, but his attention was not on the food at all. His eyes kept glancing between Schiller and Natasha, and then he raised an eyebrow at Eric.
"Separate one, we will make low-temperature smoked and pickled fish." Eric's attention seemed to be all on the food. He seemed very relaxed and said in an English accent with a weird German accent: "Just some burning Not quite complete charcoal, wrap the marinated fish and bury it."
"Or we can have some fish sausages." Schiller also suggested: "Because we don't have enough time, we can not smoke it and eat it with sauce. This dish can be left to cook in the evening."
"But what about the casings? What are you using as casings? Don't tell me you brought intestines with you." Natasha stared down at the fire, then looked up at Schiller.
After saying this, Natasha suddenly froze. She really hoped that Schiller would not interpret this as a pun about cannibalism or encouragement. But it turned out that Schiller was really good at chatting. He just smiled and said, "I guess we only have to send out one Russian to get enough bear intestines."
Ivan sneered, but Natasha breathed a sigh of relief. She turned over the coals a little absently and said, "In this season, hunting any bear creatures is not a good choice. They are usually hungry, but they are not ready yet." It will become very aggressive during hibernation, and it will be even worse if it encounters a female bear with cubs.”
"Hey, look at these beautiful little guys." Nick's high-pitched shout came from the distance. Several other people turned to look at him and saw him and Steve walking back carrying a water tank.
The two of them indeed had the largest quantity and the best quality of fish among all the people in the group, with trout, bass, snakehead fish, American eel, small squid, etc. filling the four large water tanks.
"We thought we could catch the salmon by the tail," Nick said with a pun: "But they left immediately after laying eggs, so maybe we were three months late."
"Don't be too greedy," said Charles. He looked around at the harvest and said, "This is enough for us, even 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 schools helps the remaining individuals share more food. , so that next year’s population will increase and future generations will be healthier.”
"It's a bit redundant to talk about this here." Ivan said as he took the last fish he caught from the hook: "This lake is too small, there is no large-scale population, and there are many starved fish carcasses. It can also make their companions fuller, which is at least better than catching them and wasting them.”
Steve touched his nose in embarrassment. Americans are well known for their waste, and he really couldn't refute this. Nick saw his embarrassing situation, so he changed the subject and said, "What should we eat?"
"The main course has been determined to be grilled fish, the cold cuts are low-temperature smoked fish, and the snack is fried fish bread."
"Damn the bread, did someone bring flour?...Well, Dr. Schiller is more thoughtful than anyone else wherever he goes."
"This is to entertain a lady." Charles, whose gossip did not get a response from Eric, raised his eyebrows at Nick again, but fortunately Nick was not as ignorant as Eric, and he immediately stared at The only remaining eye with very obvious whites looked back and forth between Schiller and Natasha.
"Nick, did anyone tell you that you are like a Chihuahua sniffer dog?" Natasha said impatiently. She stuck the kitchen knife in her hand on the ice with a snap, looked at Nick and said, "Take care of it." Your fish, or I’ll chop them all up in one go.”
Nick leaned back as if he couldn't offend Natasha, but at the same time he nudged Steve with his elbow. Steve was staring at the trophies in the water tank without blinking. It could be seen that, He was the only one in the audience who was still focused on the fish.
"Come on, let our wonderful chefs show their talents." Nick stood up and clapped his hands, took off the glove of one hand and put it under his arm, looked around and said, "But first, let's serve them Build a stove, work equally, and enjoy the results equally."
Natasha rolled her eyes, somewhat mocking Nick for trying to do whatever he wanted to do, but Nick still kept telling similar jokes, and then he finally got serious and said: "We leave people who are good at knife skills to handle the ingredients here, and the rest The people went to the nearby forest to cut some wood and pick up some stones to make the campfire stronger."
"Let's get started, friends, a steaming meal is waiting for us just like the fruit behind the fishing season."
