High summer. Hot, hot days -- it's averaging well over 100 degrees now -- simple cooking, a lush garden and lots of time on the water. It's also a time when we start planning in earnest for our fall hunting seasons.
I am doing all of that, and I have also decided to forge ahead with my next book, come hell or high water. For those of you for whom this is your first HAGC newsletter, let me fill you in. Last month I let newsletter readers know that my venison book is in big trouble: My former agent is coming after
me for 15% of the profits from the book, which I had been planning on self-publishing; the New York publisher who made me an offer turned out to be a poor fit for this book. We are trying to settle things so I can move on with my life. But for now, the venison cookbook is being held hostage. I am hoping to get some resolution as soon as possible.
Whether that happens or not, I press on with my next book -- with your help. I plan on launching a Kickstarter campaign this fall to raise the money I will need to publish the cookbook. If you are not familiar with
Kickstarter, it is a "crowdfunding" website where entrepreneurs can ask the community for help finding their projects. It works a lot like a public radio fund drive, with different contribution levels, each with rewards ranging from a copy of the book to me flying to your house and cooking you and your friends a fancy dinner. I'll give you the details about the campaign after Labor Day.
What happens if I am blocked from publishing my venison book? Well, I had already been planning to at some point write a cookbook covering small game: Pheasant, quail, rabbits, turkeys, etc. So if I
can't do the venison cookbook, I will do this small game book, which I've tentatively titled Roosters to Rabbits, A Comprehensive Guide to Cooking Small Game. I am as excited about that book as I am with the venison cookbook. Regardless of which comes first, I will need your help, so stay tuned.
Classes and Schools
As newsletter subscribers, you get first crack at some of the schools and classes I am planning for later this year. First up will be a one-day class covering everything you need to know about harvesting, processing and cooking with acorns. You'll learn how to collect the best ones,
how to store them, process them to take out the bitter tannins, how to make acorn flour and how to cook with acorns. I want to do two classes, one in the Sacramento area and one elsewhere. Details are TBD, but if you email me at scrbblr@hotmail.com I will get you on the list.
In December, I am teaming up with the California Waterfowl Association to host a duck school in Northern California. It will be a three-day school, with two duck hunts, lots of hands-on instruction on how to process your birds, cooking how-to, and great meals served up by yours truly. The school will
be around the weekend of December 18 and space is limited to 10 people. Email me at scrbblr@hotmail.com I will get you on the list.
Then, in January 2016, I will be back in Texas with Coastal Wings Outfitters to do the same basic duck school there, only the Texas duck school is a day longer, with three hunts. We are planning that weekend around January 9. Again, space is limited, so email me at scrbblr@hotmail.com I will get you on the list.
Out and About
I will be cooking some special dinners this summer, too. On July 17 and 18 I will be in Eufala, Oklahoma to cook a special dinner at Carlton Landing with my friends from Ludivine, an Oklahoma City restaurant that
happens to be one of my favorite in the country. Friday night will be a casual, community dinner and Saturday will be a fancier affair, with very limited seating. More details are here.
On July 23 I will be cooking from my cookbooks for a benefit party for the Sacramento Library, to be held at Mulvaney's Building &
Loan in Sacramento. You can buy tickets to that event here.
On August 16 I will be back at Mulvaney's in Sacramento, only this time for the third annual Have an Offal Day event. Several of us will be cooking very special dishes each featuring a different wobbly bit. Which bit will I choose? You'll have to come to the event to
find out. You can buy tickets to the event here.
Finally, on August 26 and 27, I will be up in Truckee, California working with my friend Chef Jacob Burton to do two pop-up dinners at his restaurant Stella. The dinner will be a celebration of summer in NorCal, from local farms and from the wild. Seats are limited
to this event, so reserve your spot here.
What's in Season
July is a busy month. Fishing is in high gear, and gardens are booming. For me, July is Salmon Month. I load up on king salmon in the Pacific as best I can, so I can make loads of smoked salmon and salmon candy for the hunting season, and eat loads of fresh salmon all summer.
(Here is my salmon and trout recipe collection.)
Tomatoes are starting to come in heavy, and the hot weather means you can make concentrated tomato paste, an Italian product called estrattu. This is what regular tomato paste wants to be when it grows up.
Grilling is king right now, and my weekly rotation usually includes these faves:
Foraging in July is mostly about berries. Blackberries, elderberries, raspberries, wild plums, wild currants and gooseberries are all great in July. Go to the seashore too, and try to
find some sea beans or dig some clams. Your other goal should be to find yourself some of the hot weather greens that like July: lamb's quarters, amaranth, orach and New Zealand spinach.
That's all for now. Wish me luck on this whole book mess. It's been pretty depressing. I hope to see you out there
someday soon -- and meanwhile, enjoy this wild, edible world we live in!
~Hank
