Survival Guide: The Book All Survivalist and Preppers Need ( 3 in 1 ) (2016)

Book 3

SURVIVAL

Preparing Fish And Game For Cooking And Storing

When in a survival situation, it is important to know how to prepare game and fish for cooking and preserving. Improper storage or cleaning can render the game or fish inedible.

Fish

Stay away from fish that looks spoiled. It’s not a guarantee that cooking it will make it edible. You may be able to determine spoiled fish by:

*Peppery or sharp taste

*Slimy, instead of wet or moist body

*Dents remain in the flesh after pressing with a thumb

*Suspicious color (scales should be vivid gray, while gills should be pink to red)

*Peculiar odor

*Sunken eyes

Eating rotten or spoiled fish may lead to paralysis, itching, vomiting, cramps, nausea, diarrhea, or a metallic sensation in the mouth. The symptoms occur suddenly, about 1 to 6 hours after ingesting. If you experience these symptoms, induce vomiting.

Fish tends to spoil quickly, especially when it’s hot. Remove the gills & large blood vessels close to the spine. Catch fish that’s more than ten centimeters in length.

You may decide to spear the whole fish and cook it over the flames of an open fire. However, the best way to acquire the most value is to boil it with the skin on. The oil and fats are below the skin, and when you boil the fish, you can preserve the juice for soup.

Place the fish on a ball of clay, and heat on the hot coals until the clay toughens. Break the clay ball to remove the cooked fish. You’ll know when it’s done if the meat flecks off. Fry or smoke the fish if you intend to keep for later. For smoking, remove the backbone and cut off the head first.

Snakes

First, cut off the head of the snake and bury it. Now, cut the body down, starting fifteen to twenty centimeters from the head.

Next, peel out the skin, and hold the body and the skin in opposite hands. Cook the snake like you would cook small game. Remove and discard the entrails. Chop the snake to small bits and then roast or boil it.

Birds

Once you’ve killed the bird, skin it or pluck out the feathers. Open its body cavity and extract its entrails, setting aside the craw, liver, and heart. Cut the feet off, and then cook the meet by roasting or boiling. When dealing with scavenger birds, be sure to boil them for at least twenty minutes to kill off parasites.

Skinning & Butchering game

Cut the animal’s throat to bleed it out. If possible, do the dirty job near a stream. With the carcass placed stomach up, cut down the hide from the throat to the tail, leaving out all the sexual organs. For smaller animals, you can split it down into two by inserting two fingers beneath the hide on either side and pulling the pieces off.

For larger animals, separate the gullet from the diaphragm, and remove the entrails from the body after cutting around the anus. Reach for the lower abdominal cavity, and pull out the lower intestine. Pinch off and cut out the urine bladder using your fingers. In case the urine spills on the meat, rinse it well to avoid contaminating the meat. Set aside the liver and heart. Cut them open and look for signs of worm infestation or other parasites. In addition, inspect the color of the liver, making sure that the color is purple or deep blue, and the surface is wet and smooth. Discard the liver if it looks diseased.

Cut through the leg, from the last cut off point, to above the foot. Pull out the hide of the carcass, splitting any necessary connective tissues. Cut off the feet and head, and then chop the meat into smaller pieces. Four-legged animals do not have any joints or bones connecting the body with the front legs. Cut off the hindquarters at the adjourning point with the body.

Cut out the ligaments near the joint, and arch it backwards to split it. Get out the large muscles lying on both sides of the spine. Divide the backbone and the ribs.

Boil the larger pieces of meat or cook them over a split. You can stew the smaller pieces, or boil them, especially those that stick to the meat after butchering, and use as broth or soup. Body organs like the kidneys, spleen, pancreas, liver, and heart can be cooked in the same manner as muscle meat. Don’t be shy to eat the brain as well!