Chapter 640: Nature's Gift (Part 2)_2

"Nevermind that for now, let's see what nature has to offer." Shiller walked over to the fridge, and upon opening it, he found that most of the freeze compartment items had thawed. However, the items in the fresh compartment were still fairly well preserved.

The frozen food mainly consisted of meat and seafood. In such a climate, these foods couldn't possibly stay fresh for very long. Shiller knew this and therefore, decided to take out all the meat that had started to melt and intended to deal with it all at once.

Many people know that in order to prolong the shelf life of the meat, one needs to use a certain condiment, and that is salt. However, the only salt they managed to find in the airplane's food storage compartment was a small container stored in a common Western spice bottle. The amount was enough to season the meat while roasting but not sufficient for preserving the meat with salt.

Fortunately, this island had both seawater and freshwater, meaning it satisfied the most basic conditions for salt production. By using the seawater salt production method, they could obtain table salt for preserving the meat.

At present, these pieces of meat could be stored for a short period of time in the relatively cooler cave environment. During this time, it should be possible to produce enough salt to preserve the meat.

Shiller had some theoretical knowledge about the seawater salt-making method but had never actually implemented it. When he brought up this idea, everyone exchanged looks with each other. After all, salt had become a ubiquitous condiment in modern society, and even Arthur and Oliver, who lived in Seashore City, had never made salt from seawater themselves.

Shiller planned to prepare a meal using the still somewhat fresh food, and afterwards, they would divide the work and start their real survival experience on the desolate island.

Among the four of them, only Shiller and Hal knew how to cook. The food produced by Arthur and Oliver was just edible and lacked any particular flavor, so the duty of preparing the food fell on Shiller and Hal.

The conditions inside the cave were quite limited. There wasn't a stove, only a single rock pot and a slab of stone they had found earlier. There weren't even grill grates or a stand to hold the rock pot.

Arthur sawed the wood they had brought back earlier into sticks, and set up a simple frame above the flame so that the rock pot could be hung on it for cooking.

Afterwards he tried to light the charcoal, but perhaps due to the peculiar characteristics of the palm wood, the charcoal struggled to maintain its heat. Thus, he constructed a similar frame to support the stone slab.

Although they could use the stream water outside, it contained impurities as it was not settled. Since they were all somewhat hungry and did not intend to wait for the water to settle, Hal climbed a coconut tree and picked some coconuts to use as the water source for cooking.

The coconut tree was not specifically cultivated for eating purposes, so the leaves were small and the coconut water barely had any taste. However, it was decent enough for cooking.

Using the metal saw from earlier, Shiller cut a hole in the coconuts, and poured the coconut water into the pot. He looked through the vegetables stored in the refrigerator and found some dry mushrooms. When the coconut water reached around fifty to sixty degrees Celsius, he threw the mushrooms in, then found a slab of stone to cover the pot.

After boiling for about one minute, when the water started to bubble, he removed the pot, disposed of the water, put in some chicken pieces that were cut with a stone, then broke some more coconuts and poured the water in to blanch the chicken. After pouring out the water, he added more coconut water, just enough to cover the ingredients, and started stewing.

The other types of meat were left for Hal to handle, but instead of grilling the meat directly on the stone slab, he had taken the defrosted oysters and prawns from the fridge.

Skinning the oyster meat and shelling the prawns, after frying the juices out, he minced the two ingredients together and also added peeled tomatoes, which he also minced and fried until cooked.

Then, the shrimp heads set aside earlier were fetched. They were placed on a high-heat stone slab to bring out the shrimp oil, which was then mixed with the previously made sauce, turning it into a vibrant orange seafood sauce.

"In Seashore City, this seafood sauce is used for seasoning in every restaurant. However, we usually use smaller clams and small shrimps that aren't sellable. Although these ingredients aren't as large, they are more flavorful."

Arthur and Oliver were nearly driven mad by the tantalizing aroma of the dishes being prepared by these two. Not to mention that stewing chicken in mushrooms was a golden combination already, that meaty and aromatic scent could permeate the entire cave despite the stone slab's lid.

The seafood sauce that Hal made was even more aromatic. Given that the stone slab had no cover, the scent of the food being cooked could stimulate the taste buds of anyone experiencing extreme hunger.

"I can't wait anymore. Hurry up. I want to eat now, my stomach is protesting from hunger..." Arthur squatted by the stone slab, eagerly waiting for the first serving out of the pot.

Although Oliver didn't utter anything, that was merely due to his last shred of dignity as a wealthy young master. He didn't want to appear uncultured, but having been hungry for several days now, he was obviously the one who wanted to eat the most.

However, Shiller and Hal, who had never cooked under such conditions before, found their creative spirits ignited by the challenging circumstances.

Shiller took out a few slices of bread, placed them on the lid of the stone pot, and toasted them. The fire, fueled by twigs, was strong. It engulfed the entire stone pot, causing the stone slab on top to become rather hot. Shiller toasted the bread until it was slightly hard, then began to tear it into pieces.

After breaking the bread into very small pieces and blending it with a small amount of coconut juice into a paste, he spread it out flat to make thin pancakes. He pan-fried the beef until it was medium-rare. He then chopped onions and peppers and spread them on the beef, rolling the beef together with cheese into the thin pancakes.

As the pancakes were quite small, instead of resembling tacos, they looked more like dumplings. However, due to the crust made from bread, which couldn't be pinched up, they also resembled miniature folded pizzas.

Seeing this, Hal knew he had to show off his skills too. He took a piece of pork tenderloin and a piece of streaky pork, first using the streaky pork to get some oil, then cutting the pork tenderloin into minced meat and lightly frying it in the oil before mixing it with the previous seafood sauce.

He then fetched a larger coconut, cracked it open, and removed its upper half, retaining the coconut juice inside. He placed some dry pasta in it and put it on the fire underneath the stone slab to heat up.

The pasta softened rapidly, and before the coconut shell could start burning, the pasta was already cooked. He stir-fried the cooked pasta with the seafood meat sauce, divided it into four portions into previously used coconut shells heated slightly over the fire, put a small piece of butter at the bottom, and sprinkled shredded cheese on top, thus seafood meat sauce cheese coconut pasta was ready.

Seeing this, Shiller knew he had to bring out his real skills. Just as he was rolling up his sleeves, Arthur, who was already seeing stars from hunger, rushed forward to stop him, saying, "Professor, enough. This isn't a Michelin competition, let's start eating now...."

Shiller glanced at the triumphant Hal and said, "No, you must respect my culinary skills. Move aside. I remember there's still an entire duck in the freezer, which should have thawed by now. I'll make a clay oven and show you what a real roast duck is... "

Oliver, lying on the ground, nearly ran out of breath, and Arthur also lay down. Besides being helpless, he was literally too weak from hunger.

Half an hour later, Bruce found the cave following the trail of smoke. He stood in the cave entrance, utterly puzzled as he looked at the two nearly starved unconscious men and the feast laid out on the table.