Japanese salmon rice. Easy. Clean. Tasty. Works great with trout. Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: - With corn coming into season, my recipe for old-school Appalachian sour corn, fermented
to preserve it all year, is picking up steam.
- Although I've been seeing elderflowers all over the place in the Rockies and High Country, many parts of the country are heading into elderberry season. Here's all you need to know about harvesting
elderberries.
- If you are lucky enough to catch yellowtail in Southern California, or amberjack in the Gulf, you will want to make some classic Japanese hamachi sashimi.
- Believe it or not, wild hazel nut season is NOW. Yep, you pick these tasty nuts in summer, then let the husks dry before shelling. Get them before the squirrels do!
- Prickly pear agua fresca is the perfect thing to beat the heat of the Desert Southwest, and it's in season now. If you're not near prickly pears, make some cucumber agua fresca instead. So cool and refreshing on a hot day! Great with a little tequila, too...
- Salmon are running all over the West and Great Lakes, and this Japanese salmon rice
is a great dish for a hot day. Easy, clean, tasty.
Moving up the list: Midwestern potato fish cakes are getting super popular.
They work with any fish, and use either leftover or freshly made mashed potatoes as a binder, not breadcrumbs. Quick and easy for weeknights. Love these or any of my recipes? Please rate them while you're there so people searching for recipes know they're worth clicking on! Pickled blueberries with venison. Summertime marks the beginning of "put up" season. After all, we Celts celebrated Lughnasa this week on August 1, which is the traditional start of the harvest. That means, at least to me, the serios start to putting up food from the wilds and
garden. That includes fruits like blueberries. Pickled blueberries or huckleberries, especially red huckleberries, are amazing with wild game, and the time to do this is now, before the hunting seasons start. Pickled currants and rowan berries are also excellent options. Fun Fact: Most standard
vinegar pickles need not be officially "canned," if you have room in the fridge. You can simply make them, close the jar and stick them in the fridge for up to a year. I talk about fridge pickles with canning expert Marisa McLellan on my podcast. Anything without acidity must be pressure canned, although I find that if you pressure can things like tomatoes, they come out fresher-tasting because the processing time is much shorter. If you're new to pressure canning, listen to my podcast episode
on pressure canning basics. I'll return to canning a lot in this space as the summer turns to fall... Chanterelle season is here! It is
high season for chanterelle mushrooms in most of the country, and some other varieties are starting to show, like chicken of the woods and even the first summer porcini in the Rocky Mountain states. If porcini are the king of all mushrooms, chanterelles are the queen. Here's my primer on how to cook chanterelles to get you started. A few of my most popular recipes for chanterelles include: - A smooth, luxurious chanterelle soup. This is an old school French soup that is absolutely worth the effort.
- Pickled
chanterelles. Chanties are not good dried, so better to either sauté them and freeze, or pickle them for later.
- Classic German jagerschnitzel. Any pounded cutlet will work, from venison
to pork, veal, chicken, pheasant, you name it. The mushroom sauce that goes over it is, historically, made with chanterelles.
- Southern Fish (or shrimp) and Grits. A summer take on the classic, if you have chanties, they're great in
the sauce.
- Chanterelle risotto. Chanties and corn love each other, and they both play harmony in this summertime risotto.
I just finished the longest solo trip of my life, a two-week reset in Todos Santos, Mexico. I did this to get my head straight, to see what life in Mexico might look like, and to research my upcoming book on the foods of northern Mexico.
It's my latest essay on To the Bone. Being alone for so long let me get into my own head at my own pace, and I am glad I got that chance. I am,
well, a little neurospicy, so my brain works a bit differently than some. So it was good to a) acknowledge that, finally; and b) really get the chance to hone in on what works and what doesn't for me, so moving forward I can help you, my reader, better. I also got a chance to see what a life in Mexico might really look like. Short version: Nice, but it ain't all
sunshine and roses. So if you're thinking about moving there, you might want to read the article... I hope you find it valuable. If you like what you read, I'd be grateful if you would consider subscribing to To the
Bone. You can start subscribing for free, and upgrade to paid if you want to support my work. Thanks in advance for considering it. Utah. After I returned from Mexico, I spent a week exploring southern Utah, and, well, it is stark, arid, and absolutely, mind-blowingly gorgeous. It's one of the very few times in my life where geology trumps everything else. The rock formations need to be seen to be believed. I've also been eating a ton of Spanish and
Portuguese tinned seafood and fish, research for a new article on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook coming up. If you think these are the sardines that you used to eat for dinner (h/t Biggie), then think again... Next week I will be in Minnesota for a couple weeks. I will be house hunting, foraging, cooking and generally hanging out. No public plans, but
you might find me at No Neck Tony's in Stillwater... Afterwards, I'll be in Juneau, Alaska for a few weeks to fish salmon commercially aboard the
F/V Heather Anne. If you want to order some of the best wild, sustainable salmon in the world, hit me up in the comments. Generally speaking, you'd be ordering a fairly large amount -- small orders have a bad habit of thawing in transit -- but the quality is second to none. Check out this video to see the
pressure bleeding process we use. I'll post more details on ordering soon. ~ Hank Comments?Let us know what you think about Wild Bites by using our anonymous comment form - we love to hear from you, and we read every single comment. If you have a question, fire away and be sure to share your email address so we can respond. |
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