Working on Ugruk, Part 1

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So as I said before, Maija and I spent the day working on Ugruk. See previous post if you don't know what an Ugruk is. This is not a post for the squeamish, so if you are and you choose to continue reading that's your own fault. Maija has a post about our day also.




Ugruk, like walrus, have whiskers that are very stiff. They are almost like long strips of fingernail like stuff.




They also have long sharp claws for scratching on ice.




This is the meat shed over at Maija's where we will hang the meat after we cut it.




First you have to separate the blubber and skin from the meat. You need to cut around the head, flippers, and back legs and all the way down the front from neck to back legs.




Then you remove the blubber and skin from the meat. You don't want to leave blubber on your meat and you don't want meat on your blubber so you gotta be careful.




Here's my Alaska pedicure. No I didn't cut myself. I accidentally stepped in the carnage.




As you can see here we have removed the blubber and skin.





Here is the blubber. It still has bits of meat attached to it.




It is important to cut all the meat off the blubber. If you leave meat on there it make the seal oil funny. Taking the meat off the blubber is a crappy job so we make the kids and the inexperienced do it. That meant it was left to Zack...





...Elsa and Maddie.




So while those three are schlepping over the blubber Maija and I are cutting slabs of meat off the carcass.




Then we cut the slabs into large strips and hang them in the shed. We will let them dry a bit and cut them down smaller each day until they are the size and dryness that we want.




Here is the stripped meat hanging in the shed. We spread stinkweed on the floor to keep in fresh in there.




Here's a close up shot of the strips.




While we were working we threw a pot of meat, blubber and ingaloks (intestines) on the camp stove to boil.




Dinner.




Here are the ribs and the back legs hanging in the shed. We will take care of them tomorrow. Tomorrow I will teach you how to make seal oil.

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