The Island-Banished Noblewoman - Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Hunting (5)
The most important thing in sausage making is the casing.

You have to carefully extract the small intestine without damaging it, and then stuff it with minced meat without tearing it. The handling of the small intestine is what determines the success or failure of sausage making.

"Umm… I think the small intestine starts around here. Probably. Let's just assume so."

First, she cut out the part she thought was the small intestine.

However, since the Peryton is a mix of deer and bird, its intestines don't resemble either, making the task quite challenging.

After cutting out what seemed to be the small intestine, she began removing the membrane connecting the intestines. Removing too much might damage the intestine itself, so she decided not to dig too deep. Besides, she planned to use the membrane later, so she set it aside.

Once the small intestine was turned into a hose-like shape, it was time to wash it. Using the flow of the river, she flushed water through it and washed it thoroughly until it was nice and clean.

Now the outer casing of the sausage was ready. Next was the filling.

"This part's already minced without even needing to chop it."

The meat scraped from the hide was already well minced. That made sense, of course.

However, it seemed there wasn't quite enough, so she decided to use some of the unsalted meat chunks that hadn't been properly salted due to a lack of salt.

She split a relatively thick piece of wood using a stone axe to use as a makeshift cutting board. Using a knife, she began chopping the meat, but because the cutting board was too small, it didn't go very smoothly.

"I wish I had a proper cutting board..."

Despite her lament, Marylia figured out that doing it in small amounts would work, and she managed to produce something resembling minced meat.

After mixing the minced meat, she added a bit of salt and kneaded it until it became sticky. Once it was sticky, she mixed the minced meat with some blood.

"... I made too much minced meat."

It seemed she had overdone it, as the mixture became a solid mass of minced meat with very little fluidity from the blood.

Well, that would have to do. Since she was already in the mood, she also mixed in some finely chopped rosemary, hoping it would taste good.

Once the minced meat with blood was ready, it was time to stuff it into the small intestine.

So.

"I’ll have to make this work s-somehow... hahaha."

Marylia decided to use the membrane she had removed earlier. It would serve as the outer shell of a piping bag.

She made a tiny hole in the membrane and inserted a nozzle—a large, somewhat tough leaf that she rolled up to use as a makeshift nozzle.

After that, she placed the blood-mixed minced meat on the membrane, squeezed the membrane around the meat, and...

"Time to stuff it~"

She inserted the nozzle into the small intestine and squeezed!

… And so, she managed to stuff the minced meat into the small intestine.

However.

... In the end, Marylia had to abandon her attempt at making blood sausages halfway through.

Well... she simply didn't have enough materials.

Unfortunately, the makeshift piping bag didn't work very well. The membrane connecting the small intestine was weaker than she had anticipated. The hole quickly widened, and the nozzle slipped out, rendering the bag useless.

Although she managed to stuff some of the minced meat into the small intestine, resulting in about two sausages, the majority of the meat remained unstuffed.

So...

"This way is faster~"

Marylia decided to cook the remaining minced meat.

She placed a flat stone over the campfire, put the blood-infused minced meat on top, and grilled it.

"Mmm, yummy!"

The sizzle and the browning of the makeshift blood sausage—or rather, it should be called a blood hamburg steak—resulted in something that wasn't exactly sausage, but it was tasty enough.

Despite the blood, which might have made it taste gamey, it wasn't too bad. The chopped rosemary seemed to have added a nice touch.

"Let's fill up with this tonight. Hehehe..."

She had eaten quite a lot during the day, and now she was about to have another substantial meal for dinner. Marylia figured that if the food was going to spoil anyway, she might as well eat until she was completely full. So, she kept grilling and eating the minced meat.

"Salt is really amazing, isn't it?"

One reason for her hearty appetite was undoubtedly the salt. The salt she added while kneading the minced meat naturally enhanced the flavor. Until now, she had been adding saltiness by cooking with seawater, but now that she was using actual salt extracted from seawater, she realized that there was indeed a difference between seawater and salt.

She resolved to cherish the salt in the future. However, the fact that she had to use her only metal pot to make the salt was a bit of a burden.

… If she could find some metal plates in the future, she thought she might try forging them into a pot. Marylia strongly felt that "having a good pot is important."

With her stomach full, she faced the next day.

"Yawn... Alright, let's start with processing the meat again today..."

As soon as she woke up, Marylia began the continuation of the meat processing.

First, she headed to the beach to get salt from the golem that had been diligently making it. She also recharged its mana to keep it running. "Keep up the good work," she encouraged the golem. It didn't respond, but that was to be expected.

Next, she took a slight detour while carrying the salt to check for any flotsam that had washed ashore. She was hoping for metal plates, or maybe even a pot, but unfortunately, metal wasn't something that was conveniently found. However, she did find a spot where many shells had accumulated, so she gathered those, thinking she might have use for them later.

Marylia returned with the salt and the shells, and first retrieved the meat she had salted the night before.

The meat had released some moisture. The jar, which only contained meat, salt, and rosemary leaves, was now filled with a liquid mixture of meat juices, salt, and rosemary.

Marylia quickly washed the salt off the meat and began hanging it out to dry.

"The brick drying area has become more of a meat drying area than a brick drying area..."

… The best place to hang meat to dry was in a well-ventilated, shaded spot under the eaves. So naturally, she hung the meat from the beams of the brick drying shed's roof.

The sight of meat dangling and swaying from strings or wooden vines was rather peculiar, but this was Marylia's precious food supply, so she couldn't complain.

After finishing with the drying, she moved on to making more salted meat… With one jar and one pot already being used for salt-making, she only had two jars left. Moreover, one of those jars contained a stomach and a bladder, so she decided to take those out and hang them up to dry as well.

With the two jars now available, she set about making more salted meat.

Among the Peryton meat, the parts that resembled chicken were much moister than the parts that resembled deer. This meant they would spoil faster, so she prioritized processing them first. However, there was a limit to how much she could process, so she planned to deal with some of it by "eating it quickly."

As for the deer-like meat, she decided to at least coat the larger chunks with salt. She rubbed salt into the large chunks of deer thigh meat wrapped in large leaves, and then rewrapped them in the leaves… For now, this would have to do.

Having mostly finished the meat processing before breakfast, Marylia decided to cook the bird-like parts of the Peryton meat for breakfast.

"... Three meals of meat in a row is a bit much. But I suppose that's just being picky..."

Since the meat would spoil if not eaten quickly, she had to prioritize it. But when eating becomes an obligation, it can be a bit tiresome.

Even so, the food she ate nourished her body and kept her moving. With no other choice, Marylia ate the bird-like meat and grilled apricots for breakfast. At least, it was tasty.

Now then.

With breakfast over and the meat processing mostly done, Marylia turned her attention to the next task: processing the hide.

"Alright. Let's make some tanning liquid."

The first thing Marylia needed to do was make the tanning liquid.

She began by exploring the forest, keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Ah. Found it~"

There, on the ground, was a cute, round… acorn.

"Hehe, an acorn. This one might not be edible anymore, though..."

The acorn, half-rotten, probably wasn't suitable for eating. However, the fact that there were acorns lying around was a valuable piece of information.

"Hmm, there are traces of acorns scattered all over this area. That means... yes, just as I thought! These acorns fell from this tree."

Indeed, the acorns on the ground led her to the tree that had dropped them. The tree Marylia found was likely some kind of oak. Not bad at all.

"Alright, let's peel off some bark. Sorry, tree."

After politely addressing the tree, Marylia ran her knife along the trunk.

She made a circular cut around the tree's bark. Then, she made another cut about the length of her forearm lower on the trunk. Finally, she connected the two cuts with a vertical slit and began to peel the bark away.

The bark came off surprisingly easily. As she peeled away the strip of bark with a satisfying motion, Marylia felt a sense of accomplishment and happily carried it back to her base.

… Plants often contain tannins, which are compounds useful for tanning hides. These compounds are usually detected by the human tongue as bitterness or astringency.

For instance, acorns are known for their intense bitterness when eaten raw. However, the very compounds that cause this bitterness are perfect for tanning hides.

The highest concentration of these tannins isn't in the acorn itself, but in the tree's bark. By boiling this bark, Marylia could create a tanning liquid.

… But then.

"... I don't have a pot to boil it in…!"

She had no pot.

That's right! She didn't have a pot!

Moreover, as she thought about it more carefully, she realized she also didn't have a container large enough to soak all the hides. For small pieces like the skins from the deer's legs or neck, the jars she had cleared out after making salted meat might work, but the bird pelts would be more challenging.

Marylia pondered these issues... and pondered some more...

"I'd really like to keep the salted meat stored for a while longer... Hmm, let's stop making salt for now."

She needed the pot to make the tanning liquid. Marylia decided to head to the coast.

… As she trudged toward the coast, Marylia reflected on the importance of pottery. There were so many things she couldn't do without proper containers.

So, after tanning the hides, her next task would be making pottery, which meant gathering clay as well.

… There was so much to do!

Next: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110265525