Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 10 Harvest

The best and most suitable fish for making sauerkraut fish are grass carp and black carp, but they are not available here, so Zhou Xin could only use salmon instead.

Take a five- or six-pound salmon out of the freezer, thaw it over the stove, fillet the fish, slice it thinly, and chop the head and bones into small pieces for later use.

Clean the fish fillets thoroughly and drain them. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Then add minced ginger and garlic and mix well again.

Heat oil in a wok, fry the fish head and bones until slightly browned and golden brown, add the seasoning for Lao Tan pickled cabbage beef noodles and the pickled cabbage packet, add water and simmer, and finally add the marinated fish fillets.

A simple version of sauerkraut fish is ready.

I took a bite, and it actually tasted pretty good.

The fish is tender and flavorful, perfectly complementing the savory aroma of the pickled cabbage fish seasoning packet.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the first dish of sauerkraut fish ever made in the Alaskan wilderness," Zhou Xin joked.

After a busy day, Chef Zhou finally got to enjoy a famous Chinese dish with an exotic flair.

Today's TV program to watch while eating is Stephen Chow's classic movie "Kung Fu Hustle".

In a whirlwind, they devoured the succulent fish meat, slurping up the bones and heads, and soon the pot of sauerkraut fish was empty.

This salmon was quite large; one fish was already about 70% filling.

However, eating only fish and no staple food still leaves one feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

He put the remaining fish soup back on the stove to boil, then added a packet of bread and cooked it into a pot of pickled cabbage, beef, and fish noodles.

Thus, in the vast snow-covered forests of Alaska, in a wooden cabin by a frozen river, the traditional pickled cabbage and beef instant noodles were elevated to a higher level.

Slurping up a mouthful of instant noodles and taking a sip of the soup, Zhou Xin ate with great relish, sweating profusely.

With a warm shelter from the wind and rain, plenty of firewood and food, and visible rich gold deposits, the mood at this moment was wonderful to the extreme.

Zhou Xin ate the whole pot of pickled fish and instant noodles, leaving him completely stuffed.

He let out a burp, slumped onto the soft inflatable bed, and didn't want to move at all.

I'm exhausted after a long day of work.

So he simply took off his clothes, wiped his body with hot water, then lay in bed and watched the movie, added some firewood, and fell into a deep sleep.

I slept very soundly and didn't wake up until four in the morning, when it was already light outside.

He felt that his efforts in building the cabin were absolutely worthwhile, as it provided far better insulation than a tent, and the stove's temperature could be well preserved, eliminating the need to get up at night to add firewood.

During dinner yesterday, he thought of a very crucial question.

Although there seems to be plenty of food now, the food we've stockpiled is all protein and lacks carbohydrates.

Fish is delicious, but you can't stand eating it every day.

This is why eating only vegetables always feels a bit lacking.

The carbohydrates I brought were reduced to a small bag of compressed biscuits, half a pound of rice, a pound of flour, and a piece of instant noodles. That would last me at most a little over a week.

After finishing these, all that was left was fish and two boxes of luncheon meat, which were all protein.

Therefore, in addition to panning for gold, they now have another task: finding carbohydrates.

The most reliable source of carbohydrates he can think of right now is the grove of spruce trees around him.

After scraping off the outer bark of a spruce tree, you can see its light yellow cambium layer, which is rich in carbohydrates.

You can obtain carbohydrates by drying them, grinding them into powder, baking them, or cooking them directly.

In ancient times of famine, people ate tree bark, which is the cambium layer of trees.

However, this food still has a slight toxicity, and long-term consumption will inevitably have an impact on health; it can only be used as an emergency food.

Secondly, there is reindeer moss, which is found everywhere. When cooked, it can also provide some carbohydrates.

However, reindeer moss tastes bitter and is rich in acidic substances, which can only be removed by soaking for a long time.

Most importantly, it really tastes terrible, and Zhou Xin wouldn't eat it unless absolutely necessary.

The ideal carbohydrate source here is a plant root called Fireweed, which is rich in starch and tastes quite like a potato when cooked.

However, the ground is now covered with deep snow, and the fire grass is completely covered, making it extremely difficult to dig.

However, once the weather warms up and the snow melts, they will be easy to find.

For now, we can only try to eat the leftover carbohydrates sparingly and collect some spruce bark as a food reserve.

After the snow melts, take a little time each day to go to the edge of the spruce forest to look for fire grass roots.

Even if you can't find any carbohydrates, eating only fish for three or four months will be difficult, but you won't starve to death.

For the sake of gold, enduring these hardships is worthwhile, even necessary.

So, in order to save on carbohydrates, he didn't eat compressed biscuits or make pancakes as usual this morning, but instead ate fish.

While boiling water, he skewered a fish on a branch and put it into the stove. After grilling it until the surface was golden brown and crispy, he simply dipped it in chili sauce and ate it.

Next, it's time to officially start panning for gold.

He first went to the riverbank, broke open the river surface that had melted and then refrozen yesterday, and then examined the mud and sand that had been dug up yesterday.

Although the mud and sand had frozen, they were not frozen solid because most of the water had been drained away. They could be easily broken up by digging them out and adding a little water.

He then moved a small stool to the riverbank, put on waterproof gloves, and began panning for gold.

It has to be said that the feeling of panning for gold is somewhat similar to fishing. The process is rather tedious and boring, but the moment of finally reaping the rewards is extremely exhilarating.

He mechanically and carefully repeated the panning process, afraid of missing a single grain of gold.

They shook the gold pan again and again, slowly washing away the mud and sand.

As the silt decreased, bright gold particles began to surface.

The moment you see gold is like a fisherman seeing a fish bite his hook.

Continue washing away the mud, sand, and impurities until all the gold has accumulated at the top of the pan.

Collect them and put them in the bowl next to you, and that completes one gold panning cleaning.

At this time, Zhou Xin was not yet proficient in gold panning, and the whole process took almost half an hour.

And the biggest problem is that it's too cold.

The cold in Alaska is simply unimaginable.

Even with waterproof gloves on, his hands quickly became frozen.

Therefore, he had to build a fire nearby and take off his gloves every now and then to roast the food for a while.

Otherwise, his hands would probably be frozen solid in no time.

"Sigh, I was too naive. It seems I might develop severe rheumatism after this trip."

However, he also knew in his heart that making money always involves suffering.

He then continued to fill the gold pan with sand and began another round of panning.

Time passed little by little in this repeated gold panning process, and his skills became more and more proficient with each panning session.

Enduring the cold was worth it; he washed faster and faster, and eventually, he could wash a plate of mud and sand in less than ten minutes.

Meanwhile, the bowl containing gold beside them was filled with more and more glittering gold dust.

Roughly estimated, it weighs at least ten grams!