Grilled Salmon Collars with Ponzu Sauce
This has been a memorable year for salmon fishing in California. I’ve caught quite a few chinooks already so far, and the first thing I cook on each one is the collar – the part behind the gills and head. Grilled like Japanese hamachi kama, it is spectacular.
Mountain Pennyroyal Chimichurri with Venison
Chimichurri is one of the best sauces for warm weather: It’s an herby, garlicky, tangy sauce usually served with beef. Here I am using wild mountain pennyroyal and serving the chimichurri over venison.
Crawfish Salad, Scandinavian Style
If there is a group that eats more crayfish than the Louisianans, it’s the Scandinavians. August is all about crayfish (or crawfish or crawdads) in Sweden and Finland, and this light salad is perfect for long summer evenings.
Crayfishing and Childhood
There is something naive and joyful about sitting on a stream bank, catching crayfish. I have vivid memories of catching crawdads as a kid, and jumped at the chance to catch them again in the Sierra Nevada.
Coming Soon: Duck, the Cookbook
I can finally announce it: I got a book deal! Topic? Something close to my heart: ducks and geese. Yep, I will be writing what I hope to be the definitive cookbook for both domestic and wild ducks and geese — and I am asking for your help in doing it.
The Great Hollyleaf Redberry Mystery
Hollyleaf redberry is sweet, pretty and abundant. It is also a mystery. I am confident about eating this berry now, but it took some research — the kind of research anyone who dares eat something unknown ought to do before popping it into your mouth.
Blackened Catfish with Maque Choux
Remember the blackened redfish craze back in the 1980s? I do, and I am here to revive that old dish, only this time with catfish caught in Northern California.
Reflections on Catfish
Catfish swim through a murky stream of race, class and regional rivalry. No other fish in North America defines where you stand in this world quite so much as the catfish. Eating one can border on being a political act.
Duck Prosciutto
This is one of the easiest charcuterie projects you can undertake, and it has been one of my more popular recipes. But I’ve learned a lot about making duck prosciutto since I first started doing it in 2007, and there is definitely a difference between good duck ham and great duck ham.
Classic Fish and Chips
If you don’t love fish and chips, you are bad American — and an even worse Englishman. I love fish and chips so much I make them at home, and have tinkered with my beer batter and my choice of fish for years. I think I’ve come pretty close to perfecting it.
