猪を捕獲、そして食す
いつもたくさんの鶏に囲まれていた鶏仲間が、鶏小屋に猪に侵入されて全滅していたことを知り、びっくりして急ぎ猪罠を仕掛けました。数日たった雨上がり、2頭の子猪が罠にかかり、慌てて対応しました。
A chicken friend, who was always surrounded by many chickens, told me that her chicken coop had been invaded by a boar and her chickens were down to zero. So I set a boar trap as a hunter license holder. A few days later, after it had rained, we succeeded in capturing two baby boars. We were lucky.
昨年の今ごろを思い出しました。我が家も、鶏餌目当ての猪に鶏小屋を何度も襲撃され、続いて侵入した猫に鶏が殺されて全滅していたのでした。ようやく安定して産卵するようになった烏骨鶏が惨殺された悔しさと言ったらもう。。箱罠を置き、餌を変え場所を変えつつ約1年試行錯誤した後、ついにくくり罠で捕獲に成功。捕獲隊隊長が鉄砲でとどめを刺してくれた、写真の右端に写る大きいお尻がそれ、体重８０kgほどの巨体の雄でした。これが、狩猟免許取得後初の獲物。怨念を晴らすべく、ハンター仲間の助けを借りながら内蔵を摘出、その後は一人で、皮はぎから精肉までこれも初めてやってみました。大山の工房で猪解体を見学した経験をやっと活かすことができました。
I remember this time last year. My chicken coop had been attacked several times by wild boar looking for chicken feed, and then our chickens have been killed by cats that had broken into the coop and annihilated it. It was extremely dissapointed that all silky who finally lay an eggs stably had been killed. After about a year of trial and error, I finally succeeded in capturing it with iron wire trap and a hunter group leader shot to kill. The big hip on the right side of the photo is the male, weighing about 80 kg. This was my first catch since obtaining my hunting license. I removed the guts with the help of my fellow hunters, and after that, I tried everything by myself, from skinning to butchering, for the first time. I was finally able to put to good use the exeperience of observing boar dismemberment at a workshop in Daisen, Tottori.
さて、今回の猪は若い雌だったので肉の量は少ないけれど質は最高。これはチャンスと、ご近所の元ベテランハンターに指導を仰ぎました。半身をお手本にお願いすると、鮮やかなナイフ捌きであっという間に美しく精肉されてさすが。お礼にその半身をお持ち帰り頂いきました。繰り返しやっていれば上手くなるとの言葉を胸に、残る半身で一人でじっくり復習しました。翌日もも肉をミンチにし、他の部位と併せて鶏仲間に進呈すると、大変喜んでくれて、後日手作りのマーマレードを届けてくださいました。これまた絶品。
Now, the boar this time was a young female, so the quantity of meat was small, but the quality was excellent. I asked our neighbor, a former veteran hunter, for guidance.He showed me how to cut a half of a boar, and with his brilliant knife work, he had a beautiful piece of meat lined up in no time at all. In return, he took home half of it. With the words, "If you do it repeatedly, you will get better at it," I reviewed it carefully with the remaining meat of half body. The next day, I minced the thigh meat and presented it along with other parts to my chicken friends, who were very pleased and later gave me handmade marmalade.It was also an exquisite dish.
今回、ベーコン作りに挑戦してみました。塩をして2日置き、オーブンで焼き熱を入れ、最後はフライパンで燻製するだけで無添加のベーコンができました。燻製に使うチップを作るためミニかんなで桜の枝を削りながらふと思い出したのが、小学校卒業時、手彫りの木の置物を手渡してくださった校長先生の笑顔。寒い寒いと縮こまっていた体が、ふっと温まった気がしました。
This time, I tried my hand at making bacon.I made additive-free bacon by simply salting it, leaving it for two days, baking it in the oven to heat it, and finally smoking it in a frying pan.While shaving cherry branches with a mini saw to make chips for smoking, I suddenly remembered the smile of the principal who handed me a hand-carved wooden ornament when I graduated from elementary school.I felt my body, which had been shivering from the cold, warmed up.
