Venison

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.

Recipe

Swedish Crawfish Salad

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.

Recipe

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.

Berries and Fruits

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.

Fish

Blackened Catfish

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.

Charcuterie

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.

Fish

Halibut 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.

Recipe

Wild Ginger Ice Cream

A surprisingly wonderful ice cream from a surprisingly wonderful wild plant. Wild ginger grows on the forest floors of much of the United States, and, when eaten in moderation, is different - yet just as good - as the ginger you buy in the store.

Fish

Skate or Ray Wing with Brown Butter

If there is a fish in California waters more hated than a bat ray, I don't what it is. "Everyone" says the lowly bat ray is inedible, but I know better. After all, a ray is merely a narrow-tailed skate. And skate sells for $20 a pound -- when you can find it.

Recipe

Grilled Quail, South Carolina Style

Quail are one of the best game birds for the grill, and respond well to either high heat grilling or slow-and-low barbecue. Here I barbecue them slowly, basted with a South Carolina-style mustard sauce.

Foraging

Elderflower Fritters

Elderflower fritters are wonderful, but most recipes for them have a serious flaw: They simply dip the flower heads in batter, leaving the toxic stems attached. How to fix that problem? Make a beignet instead.

Preservation Recipes

How to Preserve Garlic

Garlic is available all year long, so why preserve it? This is why. This method for preserving garlic in oil will change your life. Imagine having roasted garlic at hand whenever you want. Yes, imagine it.