Lies, Lust and a Golden Treasure
When a passerby asked recently if I’d found any chanterelles, I casually told him no, even though my pack was full of them. Hiding your secret spots is all part of living off the wild.
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Recent Posts
Recent Posts
Crab Risotto We’re in the thick of our Dungeness crab season here in California, and crab risotto is one of my favorite things to do with them.
Konigsberger Klopse, Wild Boar Meatballs Who doesn’t love meatballs? Konigsberger klopse is a classic German meatball recipe that historically uses veal, beef or pork. I made them with wild boar.
Pheasant and Dumplings I never used to think chicken and dumplings was worth making. But I was wrong, and the dish is even better with pheasant or grouse.
A Hopeful Endeavor Nothing is quite so driven by hope as the act of gathering food from the wild. Anyone who has ever hunted, fished or foraged knows the feeling that the bonanza could come at any moment.
A Teasing Taste Wapato, arrowhead, duck potato: Sagittaria is an aquatic tuber of American marshes said to be the equal of a potato. I have never found it. But a friend sent me some, so I got my first tantalizing taste.
Eating Everything But the Quack Duck season is winding down, and we’re in our groove: Hunting, plucking, dressing and cooking the waterfowl we bring home. Over the years I’ve found uses for every part of the bird.
Snow Geese, Lords of the Air Snow geese rule the winter skies in Northern California. They are among the hardest birds to hunt — and are among the most challenging to cook.
Of Trumpets, Hedgehogs and Yellowfeet The winter mushrooms of California’s North Coast are popping in earnest: Hedgehogs, black trumpets, yellowfoot chanterelles and candy caps!
Stifado, Greek Rabbit Stew Stifado, the iconic Greek rabbit stew, is a beguiling mix of sweet, spicy and savory. Sweet wine and lots of olive oil make this dish, as does a good brace of cottontails.
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Fruit Desserts
Gooseberry Sorbet
Wild gooseberries, really any gooseberries, are too tart to make a good ice cream, at least to my mind. Like lemons, they are more sorbet material. We get these crazy Sierra gooseberries up in our mountains here in California, which ripen to a delicious scarlet color. They have an aroma like Sweet Tart candy and [...]
Huckleberry Muffins
When I came home with a few hard-won cups of huckleberries recently, it did not take me long to figure out what to do with them: Make muffins. I’ve loved blueberry muffins for decades, especially toasted with butter. I ate lots of them when I ran the deli in the basement of the SUNY Stony [...]
Elderberry Ice Cream
I love ice creams. They are my main weakness when it comes to sweets, which I don’t normally go in for that much. I specialize in weird ice creams — herbs like yerba buena and oregano are favorites — and also berries you might not have heard of before. Elderberries fall into this category. They [...]
Blackberry Panna Cotta
Most recipes for berry panna cotta simply have you drizzle a little berry syrup over a normal vanilla panna cotta. This recipe is different. Here I infuse the blackberries — you could use raspberries or any similar fruit — in the cream to make a pretty pink panna cotta. You can also drizzle some blackberry [...]
Wild Plum Pie
What do you do when you are overrun with wild plums — or regular plums, for that matter? Make pies. Now those of you know I am not a pie maker by nature. My normal idea of a good dessert is just fruit with cream. But the thought of a plum pie called to me. [...]
Mulberry or Blackberry Sorbet
This recipe makes a smooth, deep purple sorbet sexed up a bit by the addition of a little liqueur. I make this sorbet with wild mulberries from a tree near my house, but blackberries would be just as good, as would black raspberries. As for the liqueur, try to find cassis, which is made from [...]
Fig Jam with Ouzo
This is an easy sweet to make when you have a lot of figs. I have a black Mission fig tree in my yard I planted in 2004, and it is getting large enough now that I am getting lots and lots of figs. Fig jam is wonderful on toast, and even better as a [...]
Become a Hunter
Want to Learn to Hunt? Start Now
Want to learn how to hunt but haven’t the faintest idea how? This should help get you started – but you need to begin your journey soon, as hunting season will soon be here…
