How-To (DIY stuff)
Looking for Mr. Brown
I've been spending long days by myself, combing the piney woods of the High Sierra, looking for Mr. Brown, the spring porcini mushroom. I am happy to say I've found him.
Foraging
Italian Marinated Mushrooms
Marinated mushrooms are a staple on any antipasti plate. They're not pickled so much as they are preserved. Here's how to do the technique the Italians call sott'olio.
Ducks and Geese
Wild Duck Jerky or Goose Jerky
Who doesn't love jerky? Good jerky - dry but not brittle, spicy but not overpowering - is God's gift to road food. Once made, this wild duck jerky will keep for months.
Foraging
Eating Santa’s Shroom
Amanita muscaria can be a hallucinatory mushroom, a possible symbol of Santa and his flying reindeer. But it also can be eaten safely, if you do it right. So I decided to take a Christmas trip down the rabbit hole...
Recipe
What to Do with All that Zucchini
This is my favorite way to use a surfeit of zucchini: It's an old Sicilian method where you dry the zukes and then saute them with oil, chile and mint.
Duck Jerky
Who doesn’t love jerky? I mean, really. It is a staple in the duck blind, and duck or goose jerky…
How-To (DIY stuff)
Acorn Eating Revisited
It's been another year of learning and experimenting on the acorn front, and the more I learn, the more I love working with "oak nuts."
Mushrooms
Cooking Chanterelle Mushrooms
Chanterelles vie for my favorite mushroom with the great porcini. Chanties are the light to porcini's dark, pheasant not beef, white wine not red. Our season has begun!
Foraging
Harvesting and Cooking Nettles
Stinging nettles are coming into season here in California, so it's time to play with the Weed That Bites. Nettle pasta, anyone? How about nettle pesto or nettle ravioli?
Recipe
The Mechanics of Eating Acorns
Everything you need to know using acorns for food. When to collect, what kind of oaks are best, how to leach out the bitter tannins, how to store the acorns, make acorn flour - and acorn flour pasta.
How-To (DIY stuff)
Drying Tomatoes Without an Oven
“Oh my Gawd, it’s like an oven out here!” This is a not-uncommon refrain heard in Sacramento in summer. Well,…
Foraging
Harvesting Elderberries
Harvesting elderberries is a rite of summer or early autumn for people all over the United States, Canada and Europe.…
