Completed Preservation With Smoke and Salt

[Ricky Maze]

Preservation With Smoke and Salt
Summer 22nd 496 AV, 21st Bell
Location: The Fisherman's Shack

It was quiet within the shack the fisherman and his boy dwelled in save for the crack of burning wood as the hearth heated up the place, both Burten and Ricky were both working together in the kitchen to cook their dinner before they would retire to their rooms for the rest of the eve. Burten had taken to show Ricky how to prepare fish just the other day, but the father now thought it better timing to introduce yet another lifelong skill applied to daily tasks. "Alright son, c’mon over ‘ere." Burt waved for Ricky to come over to the table while the boy watched the flames envelope the wood, of course Ricky didn’t hesitate to obey his father when it came to doing what he was told. Ricky stood next to the sailor with interest at what rested on the table, instead of a set up for descaling and deboning fish there were two large metal bowls set up. Next to it was a tray of slivers of fish that not only were cleaned and deboned, but prepped for cooking as well as Burt grabbed one sliver to show to Ricky.

"See this ‘ere?" Ricky nodded upon looking at it. "Yer ‘bout t’ learn how t’ preserve fish, and there are several ways t’ do this now. Ye’ll mainly be learnin’ the two easiest though." Burt explained further as Ricky looked to the bowls next, the sailor pointed to the right one first, it being filled with a white grainy content Ricky knew to be salt from previous experiences in the kitchen. "This is a bowl of salt, we’re gonna use it t’ cover most o’ these fillets."

"Why’s dat pa? Won’t dat make it taste sour?" He knew well enough too much salt spiked whatever it was added to, which tended to make it too sour to eat in turn.

"Yes, but that’s if we’re cookin’ it. We’re usin’ the salt t’ dry out the meat, keep it from goin’ bad so quickly. Now," he brought Ricky over to the front of him and handed the fillet of fish he held to the boy, "Ye’ll wanna take this and put it in that bowl there. Make sure ya cover all o’ it in salt now." He guided Ricky’s hands over to the bowl and allowed him to place the fillet in the centre of the salt, and then watched while Ricky scooped up the salt in his hands and piled it onto the fillet. "Okay, doin’ good. Now flip it over an’ make sure salt covers that side too." Ricky listened and did as he was told, he grasped the edge of the fillet and turned it up to let the piled on salt run off into the bowl, and then flipped it over to continue with the other side.

"Not bad, not bad. Still gotta practice a lot if ye’re t’ git better." He encouraged Ricky with a hand rub through the boys hair, Ricky of course smiled at the appraisal he received for starting out to begin with. "Now let’s work on the rest o’ these, an’ then Oi’ll show ya how t’ remove the salt off some an’ move ont’ smokin’ it."

"An’ den will we get t’ eat?" Ricky asked curiously as he felt his stomach start to grumble, Burt gave a little laugh and then assured the boy that they would eat after they’d finished preparations in preserving their next few meals.

[Ricky Maze]

Along with his father’s instruction and demonstration to follow through, Ricky watched and mimicked the steps Burt had taken, and used them as a guideline for his own practice as he salted the fillets he would grab. The process involved placing the fillet in the large bowl of salt, and then smothering the entire portion in salt until the red meat was dusted with the grainy substance. This gave the fillets a white powdery look to them as though they’d just been buried in white sand, which over course made Ricky think of the process similar to the stories where pirates buried their treasure elsewhere. Though the stories were told plenty by Odis he knew well enough that most weren’t true thanks to his curiosity, both his father and Odis have explained the little use of buried treasure save for the need to find it later on. Of course those were just stories to begin with, nothing real compared to the adventures both sailors shared abroad the sea.

"By saltin’ the fillets well enough, ya keep moisture outta de meat and also keep flies from ruinin’ yer stock. It’s a simple process t’ follow yet takes time when it comes t’ removin’ salt." Burt explained as they were now halfway through the fillet piles, Ricky looked up to his father in curiosity as the sailor then took one of the salted fillets and then pointed to the other bowl that rested on the table. Though the content was simply just water Ricky knew this second part of the lesson would be important, otherwise the water wouldn’t have been called as a necessity to begin with. "Now in order t’ remove salt ye have to soak it within water, as well as remove it wit’ yer thumbs. Here, watch me an’ den yew try." Burt demonstrated by bringing both hands into the bowl of water with the fillet, and started using his thumbs in a massaging manner to wipe the grain off the meat. In the process Ricky noticed how the water around the fish started to have a transparent white hue, due to the nature of the meat as well as quantity of salt being removed.

After he’d watched the demonstration closely his turn came next, thus Ricky repeated his father’s instruction with intrigue. He was eager to learn how all this was done correctly, thus wanted to make sure his father’s lesson would stick from here on after tonight. Upon placing the fillet in the water Ricky did his best to rub out the salt, in turn he’d also rubbed the fillet a little roughly to where the meat started to break apart and dissolve in the process. Burt of course enjoyed the fact his son was putting in a good effort, thus got a good laugh out of watching before he lectured the boy a little further. "That’s a good way t’ ruin the meat son," He assured the boy with a hand on Ricky’s shoulder, "The salt ain’t dat deep wit’in de meat. Yer use o’ thumbs is good t’ough, try t’ be a bit more gentle wit’ de meat t’ough."

Ricky nodded in understanding, determined to do better on the next fillet he’d grabbed. As he felt the grainy salt on the squishy meat wash off he soon started to notice the difference, and realized that once the meat had only the smooth squishy feel only then did the salt seemed to be washed off. Of course that was merely how the process of cleaning salted meat went, depending on the length of time meat would sit in salt usually led to longer periods of rinsing. That was what his father told him anyway, and generally when it came to life long lessons such as this, Ricky knew good enough that his father meant well in teaching him these things. Such was the case with fishing, even though Burten nowadays worked as a sailor. Since the first time Ricky learned how to properly fish he knew it was something he would always do, and perhaps one day he would learn to sail along with his father. Of course all that was to come in due time, for now though Ricky was to learn more about preserving his food to last a little bit longer.

[Ricky Maze]

Next was a process Ricky’s father referred to as “smoking” the fillets he had, which of course was the main reason why the hearth was on other than cooking. Rather than having Ricky partake in it though considering it risked burning himself in the process, Burt merely resorted to demonstrating with instruction while the child learned through eyes and ears. Sure enough hands on experience was the best way to learn but for now Ricky was too young to try and play with fire, thus any associates with the hearth were put off to a later date until the boy was at a more appropriate age to learn. "Smokin’ fish is anot’er good way t’ preserve meat son, wit’out de hassle o’ so much salt dat is. Instead o’ placin’ de meat where it’ll cook, we put it just above the hearth here," As Burt explained he pointed to a metal rod that rested above the fire, two rags grasped in on hand as he did so before continuing the demonstration, "Oi left dis one on here f’r a while so it’s gonna be hot. For times like dat its best t’ have a rag or cloth handy to handle the heat of the rod, from there we’ll put the fillets on t’ere ‘til dey’re ready."

After he held both rags in separate hands he removed the metal rod quickly upon lifting it, and brought it over near the table to rest it on the table to let it cool. It took about a quarter of a bell before he finally touched it again with his own hands, convinced that it was well enough cooled to be used for whatever method Burt was teaching Ricky now. The sailor then took a fillet and just slightly folded it to where one end would be pierced by the rod and then followed with the other end to remain on the rod, then slid further down to allow more fillets to follow when the process followed with the same repetition as the first. It helped to know that the fillets of fish needed to somehow remain above a fire pit or something to, probably explained why his father used an actual poker for the wood too after he’d finally set the rod back over the hearth. After a few moments of snaps and pops from the wood the flames that engulfed them soon flared just a little, and shortly after another log were cautiously placed within the hearth smoke started to fill the room.

It was enough to sting Ricky’s eyes a little as he watched but sure enough he knew good and well that the “smoking” method literally meant the use of smoke. Burt of course cracked the entrance door just a little to help ventilate most of the smoke outside. "T’ough strong, de smoke is what helps dry out de meat along wit’ de heat o’ de fire." Burten explained to Ricky just before he rubbed his son’s hair affectionately, the two remained watchful over the meat as the heat and smoke clouded over the fillets and started its intended purpose. Thus Burt started to put away the salted fish in the meat locker stored within the small and cramped kitchen closet they had. Once he'd finished doing that he'd gotten started on dinner while the fillets remained over the fire pit of the hearth, and Ricky watched all the while his father did the cooking.

Of course the fillets wouldn't be fully ready or prepared until morning time, as his dad explained that when fish were smoked it generally took a while for the flavor to settle in. Ricky did notice that in the time they'd spent waiting for dinner and eating that the meat already started to look a little dry, thus grasped at the concept that smoke worked the same as salt in regards to preservation. It dried out with whatever flavor smoke generally held and lasted longer in turn, just as salt did the same with its own process of drying out moisture. Come morning of course Ricky would learn then just how proper smoked fish would look, and eventually practice it on his own when he came of an appropriate age.

[Stefan]

XP Award!

Name: Ricky Maze

XP Award:

• +3 Food Preservation
• +1 Cooking

Lore:

• How to identify a bowl of salt
• Pirates and buried treasures
• Food Preservation: Be gentle, or you'll ruin the meat
• Food Preservation: Fish
• Food Preservation: Salting
• Food Preservation: Smoking

Notes: If you have any concern, don't hestitate and send me a PM.