Bacon wrapped Venison roast

 

So for tonight I was thinking of Bacon and Venison.....
with Maple Juniper glaze

I have a nice Venison rump roast, I have some good quality center cut smoked bacon, I gathered some juniper berries and a 1/2 bottle of well aged Tennessee whiskey, oh wait I mean some good Vermont maple syrup.
Take the roast (well trimmed)
drizzle about 1/4 cup of maple syrup over it, some fresh cracked black pepper, about 5 smashed juniper berries (smashed as in wrap in paper towels and hit them with a hammer, leave the whiskey alone), a little sea salt and then wrap with 5-8 slices of good smoked bacon. I like to weave them over the roast leaving a little space, the drizzle with a little more maple syrup. set in the fridge for a few hours.  Then roast of 400 degrees for 20 minutes, turn the heat down to about 300 and roast for another 30-40 minutes...do not over cook.  About 20 minutes before the roast is done, take it out of the oven to sit. Trust me on this NEVER carve any meat taken off of a hot pan or oven right away. slice thin and serve with a pan gravy, some mashed potatoes or Jerusalem artichokes....and then sip that whiskey to help settle your overstuffed tummy.
 A word about cooking game meats, yes they are lean, and no you do not need to add fat ( I just like bacon).   Your either cook them to medium rare or cook them til they are mush...easy.

Smoked Bluefish Spread/Pate

Smoked Bluefish is a New England tradition, going back probably thousands of years.  Native people in the region often preserved fish for winter by smoking them....and Blue fish is about as good as it gets for smoking.  The early English colonists learned about this treat and added the cheese......a perfect marriage in my mind ( and to be sure it was probably thru marriage that this was passed down thru the years).

Smoked Blue fish can be purchased in many good fish mongers here in the northeast, or better yet you can catch and smoke your own, but that's a post for another time.
Take about a 1/2 pound of good cream cheese (you can try the low fat varieties but I have found they don't hold up). Let the cheese sit out till its soft or use your microwave to soften it.
Carefully flake about 1/2 lb of  awesome smoked bluefish, and fold it into the cream cheese. 
You can try this in a food processor (its a mess) but I use a fork. I like it to be completely incorporated, but you can also choose to leave chunks of the Bluefish.   At this point I often add some lemon juice, smoked paprika and ground black pepper.  Today I am adding some crumbled bacon ( its bacon, it goes with everything).   Transfer it to a container with a lid and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge.
Then spread it on crackers or toasted baguette slices with a topping of chopped chives, or eat it with your finger when no-one is around.
...this also works as a stuffing for mushrooms.....

Periwinkles

My fist experience with periwinkles ( Littorina littorea) was in Scotland, when I was about 4, then again in England in my early teens. It has become an annual early spring gathering treat that I have passed on to my son. Every March we go down to the shore in Rhode Island to gather a bucket full. Periwinkles are found thru out the northern  hemisphere, along shoreline at low tide. As they are not filter feeders, but browse on algae and seaweed they can be gathered during much of the year but for me they are a late fall thru early spring food. Here in the Northeast there are both native and European species...most of the larger ones are the invasives, eat them....They are about the easiest shellfish to gather. Just pick them off of the rocks at low tide.
Periwinkles require a bit of skill to pluck from their shell, a pin is the usual in Europe, but any pointy thing will work.
To cook them, steam in a broth of white wine, garlic, butter and a little salt. Add some kelp or rock weed to the broth instead of salt, you will not be disappointed.  The taste is earthy, salty and full of the sea.
pluck them from their shell and enjoy, dipped in meted butter, or save them  for some chowder.
And for more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_periwinkle

seasons

One thing that a lifetime of gathering wild foods and spending time outdoors has taught me is, wait for it, everything in its season.   I know that sounds trite, but its true.  For each food there is a season, or for each season there is a food.  That is except here in the northeast, in winter.

Winter was the season of hunger for many cultures thru out history.  Here in the northeast it was a time when you hoped you had preserved enough food for the next 4 months, dried, smoked, salted, cured you name it this was when your food gathering skills were put to the test.

Few fresh foods were available (um, actually that's kinda the same now).  Jerusalem Artichoke and other tubers could be gathered before the ground froze.  But mostly it was a time for hunting. and this makes sense as meat provided the protein and fat necessary to survive the cold. Meats not eaten right away would be preserved by smoking and drying. A word about smoking; Today we do this mostly to add flavor, and many smoked meats are hot smoked, basically cooking them.  Think smoked jerky if you want to live thru the winter.  The smoke kept bugs away while the meat dried....and the creosote from the smoke also helped to kill off bacteria.

Venison Jerky
Take the flank or neck meat from the venison for this and slice into very thin strips.Build a small fire with a rack above it about 3 feet.   Drape the venison pieces on the rack and pile the fire with rotten wood or bark (hickory works well) and allow the venison to dry to a leathery consistancy.   Make sure its not raining out when you do this or it won't work.
OR
you could try this
marinate your venison strips (cut to no more than 1/4" thick)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4cup maple syrup
1-2 table spoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or some wild onion paste)
liquid smoke or smoked paprika to taste
ground black pepper and salt
you can also add a varity of other seasonings, savory (rosemary), hot (chipotle peppers) etc.

Keep in the fridge overnight. In the morning, remove from the marinade and pat dry.  Place on racks in an oven set at 160-200 degrees.  Crack the oven door open a bit and let dry for about 2-4 hours.  Check regularly to see when its done (leathery and dark in color).
When its done store the jerky in the fridge.
(please note that jerky is a RAW meat product and all safe food handling practices should be observed)

Maple and Venison...mmmmmmm

Maple syrup and venison steak....what could be better? (ok maybe lobster).   I have always used maple sugar or syrup in my marinade for venison jerky (that's another post) but for some reason not for steaks, until I was hanging out with my friends Leah and Jonathan at a Native outdoor cooking demonstration, and we grilled her maple marinated venison over the open fire, on sticks no less.   It was divine.

The basic marinade is about a 1/2 cup of  REAL maple syrup, some salt, or soy sauce, some garlic, and onion (powder works fine), for the steaks I added some red wine vinegar and a little olive oil.  Mix it well.  I put the steaks in a plastic zip lock bag with the marinade and left it overnight.  Then skewer onto some large green sticks and roast over a roaring open fire.  Or if you are at home pan sear them about 3-5 minutes on each side.  Then deglaze the pan with a little red wine. (you can also add a table spoon of venison demi or stock to the pan at this point)  Slice the steaks like a London broil and serve with wild rice or boiled buttered potatoes and a generous covering of the pan gravy.  One note about venison and other game meats, you generally do not want to cook them "well done" as they are very lean and this will ruin both the taste and the texture.
next time I'll post my maple glazed venison jerky ideas....

Here is a link to a basic overview of Brain-tanning (or actually tawing as the hide is not actually tanned).  Brain-tanning is a method of preserving hides (often deer) with the natural emulsified oils found in animal brains and then fixing those oils with smoke.   While the use of animal brains for this method is, I believe, unique to North America, oil tanning using fish oils or eggs has been practiced around the globe.  It produces a leather that is incredibly soft and has a multitude of uses, its also an amazing amount of work, trust me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckskin_%28leather%29#Wet_scrape_method

And don't even get me started on the merits of wet-scrape versus dry scrape.  Or for you Archaeologists out there about stone scrapers (they probably weren't used  on hides, just saying)

So the day before yesterday I had the chance to break down a young buck with 2 amazing chefs (I held my own I think) and it got me thinking about venison (deer meat to you who don't know).  So many hunters waste so much of a deer, when so much can be used for food, tools and clothing.  The hide makes braintanned deerskin, one of the softest and most useful tanned hides there is, the bones can make a wide variety of tools, and every part of the meat can be used.   We boned out about 40-50lbs of meat from a 150 button buck.  I took the shanks (lower legs) to make stew and venison stock, one of the chefs took the rest of the bones to make a venison demi (an aromatic, condensed stock). I now find my self with an abundance of venison.   As an aside, during the 18th century in the southern states there was a trade in native deerskins, one that rivaled the fur trade to the north, while at the same time Native people here in southern new England were writing to the colonial authorities that there were no deer to feed their families.   Not the case these days.

To make a good venison stock (can also be done with beef or lamb bones)
roast the bones (long bones are best cut or broken open to release the marrow) with attached meat in a 400 degree oven for about 1 hour.  You can also roast onions, celery and carrots with them.
Put the roasted bones and all the pan scrapings into a very large stock pot, cover with cold water.  Add some thyme, rosemary juniper berries and bay leaf.  Simmer for several hours over low heat.  And by low I mean just barely moving...no boiling
don't add salt....it will be too much as the salt won't boil off, just the water.
after 4-5 hours you should have a reduced liquid with a lot of meat floating in it.   Strain the stock thru a fine sieve, then return it to a low heat...at this point you can add a small amount of tomato paste or some further aromatic seasoning.....after another few hours you should have a wonderful shimmering stock....partition into small containers and freeze. Then you can use it as a base for meaty stews (venison) or soups or gravy...

here is a link about the Deerskin trade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deerskin_trade

here is the break down so far.  Chapters and contents.  Please note this IS NOT a guide book I am only writing about those things that I have personal experience with or that fascinate me...I can provide a list of really good guide books.
Introduction
Plants
Fish
Shellfish
Meat
Other (seasonings, teas, gardening, medicinal, etc)

PLANTS
Jerusalem artichoke
Cattail
wild berries (blueberry, blackberry, cranberry, grape)
wild onion
purslane
nettle
acorn
hickory
wild mushrooms (hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, puffball)
chenapodium (lambs quarters)
maple
Cucumber root
hog peanut
dandelion
queen anns lace
ground nut

FISH
freshwater
trout/salmon
walleye
panfish ( crappie, perch, bullhead)
catfish
eel
others
saltwater
bluefish
striped bass
blackfish (tog)
flounder/fluke
seabass
scup
tuna
sea robin
trash fish

SHELLFISH
quahog
steamers
razor clam
mussels
periwinkles
oyster
scallop
lobster
blue crab
dungeness crab
squid

MEAT
venison ( also moose, caribou, etc)
pheasant
wild turkey
frog
pigeon
bear
rabbit/squirrel

OTHER
teas/drinks
wintergreen, white pine, black birch, sumac
seasonings
juniper berries
spicebush
sweet fern
bayberry

cultivated foods
corn
beans
squash
pumpkin
peppers
cucumber
daylilly

A Book!

After several years of friends and family hounding me I am going to try to write a book about wild foods. This will not be a cook book, more of a journey about my fascination with nature and food. It will have some recipes but also historical, cultural and personal information about a variety of wild (and some cultivated) foods.  Knowing where our food comes from, how different plants and animals have been used thru time and in different cultures is important to me.  As is the idea that all of our senses are connected, and all creative endeavors are likewise connected. taste, sight, sound, touch; music, food, art, movement.  Its all one.   So now dear readers I need your help to make this happen.   Please comment , give tips, editorial remarks and ideas.  Onto the  "BOOK".....

Allium Canadensis, the veritable "Wild Onion", a pain to gardeners and lawn junkies.....but to those in the know a treasure for the senses, small but pungent. this time of year I focus on the bulbs as the green tops seem to have lost most of their flavor.....the bulbs are tiny little things, much smaller than even shallots or green onions, but very strong with an onion/garlic/ bitter aroma.

This year I decided to preserve mine in olive oil with a dash of salt and some small hot peppers, all chopped roughly and in a jar. I'll let them sit that way for a few days, then blend them in a food processor with the oil...something to drizzle over steak, or even fish. who knows...(btw took a tiny taste....wow now that's strong...)

falling leaves

So this fall (September to be exact)was a good year for wild mushrooms. I gathered, and was given several tens of pounds of both "Chicken of the woods" (Sulpher Shelf) and "Hen of the woods" (maitake). The chicken mushrooms have all been eaten....and I have about 2 lbs of the Maitake left in the freezer. Wild mushrooms (at least these ones) have an amazing aroma and vitality that just can't be matched by their domestic cousins.....worth a try most definitely.

Last year at this time I was also gathering and processing white oak acorns to make into acorn meal, a most amazing nutty treat....unfortunately this year doesn't seem to be working out for me in this area, as I think tropical storm Irene blew them all away.

As the year winds down into winter, and fall limps along with a lack of its usual flaming glory, I am pondering ways to gather fresh foods to see me thru the winter; walleye and fall trout, periwinkles and mussels, Jerusalem artichoke tubers, wild oyster (oh already had those), parched corn meal, actually I'll take anything that I can get before its all gone under a blanket of that cursed white stuff.....

CEVICHE...

so who's heard of Ceviche, or had some? If you like fish, citrus and spice this dish is for you. First off what the heck is it?
Ceviche is raw fish or shellfish "cooked" in highly acidic citrus juice with the addition of hot peppers, onions and other delectable things. The acidity breaks down the protein in the fish turning it from translucent to opaque, thereby "cooking it. that's the short answer.
Ceviche can be made with any fresh ocean fish with firm, white, non-oily flesh or with shrimp. scallops, squid or octopus. Do not use fresh water fish as the chance of parasites it multiplied tenfold. typically I will freeze fish for 2-3 days before using it for this dish as this reduces the chance of any parasites. please remember that Ceviche is not cooked, it is raw fish.
here in the northeast a very good fish for ceviche is Scup or porgy; fluke, and black seabass are also good. so you want to make your own Ceviche?

1 lb firm white ocean fish fillets, or shrimp
1/2 red onion
4-5 limes
1-2 green chilli peppers (or what ever hot peppers you have
1 stalk celery
1 small bunch of FRESH cilantro
1 orange
1 tsp salt

dice the peppers, onion and celery into 1/8" cubes (or finely slice the onion into very thin strips)
1/4 the limes and the orange and squeeze them into a non reactive glass or plastic bowl
finely chop the cilantro...NOTE this is one recipe where you have to use fresh cilantro, if you don't have it don't substitute.
slice the fish fillets or shrimp into 1/2" pieces
1/4 the peppers and remove the seeds and pulp. (you may need to add more peppers depending on their heat, you want a bite but not so hot you can't taste anything).
mix all the items together and refrigerate for 2-3 hours ( you can also keep this over night).
when the fish has turned white and firmed up, serve over a bed of fresh lettuce, preferably with a chilled wine or a margarita.

this is one dish that feeds your senses, the colors, taste and smell are amazing....

wild blueberries

so here in Southern New England, its the wild blueberry season, high bush blueberries to be exact. The high bush blueberry is a cousin to the domestic ones you buy in the grocery store, only its about 1/2 the size, tastes like a blueberry on steroids and its free. These delectable little guys grow on shrubs about 6-8 feet tall and near water or wet areas. They seem to love growing around the shores of local lakes and ponds. Not to be confused with low bush berries which grow in more arid, rocky areas like the tops of hills and ridges and are only 2-3 feet tall (and a lot harder to pick).
when it comes to picking wild blueberries its all about tenacity, you have to be willing to pick 10 from one bush and then 1/2 a pint from the next one, then 3 from the next etc....keep at it and you'll have a quart in about an hour.
I went blueberry picking at a favorite spot (secret) and got 2 quarts in about 1 1/2 hours. washed and frozen they are destined to become blueberry pie and maybe a treat sprinkled in pancakes....mmmmmm.

Cool Tastes for a Damn Hot Day

Someone at work put the idea in my head, cold cucumber soup. Trust me I know that right about now you are going "ewwww" in your head, but it really is amazing on a hot day. there are a ton of variations but this is how I make it; take it or leave it.....and yes this might actually be a recipe of sorts, which is very rare and difficult since I don't really use them.
ok
3-4 medium cucumbers from the garden (or a friends)
2-3 cloves garlic
2=3 stalks of celery
1 cup sour cream
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
optional
2 table spoons smoked paprika or chipotle powder
1 segment preserved lemon with juice
salt and pepper to taste

chop up the garlic, celery, sprinkle with the smoked paprika and sweat them in a pan till they are soft
peel and 1/4 lengthwise the cukes, cut out most of the seeds and chop them
when the celery and garlic are soft take them off the burner and let them cool for a bit.
put the cukes and celery/garlic into a blender in small batches and blend until smooth. you may have to add some 1/2 and 1/2 or chicken broth to make this work. it should be thick but smooth. add the sour cream and blend it into the soup. put it in the fridge for at least an hour....and then enjoy....its really very good.....try something new

Bluefish, oh you amazing yellow eyed devils

bluefish, often maligned, cursed and tossed away. Next to dogfish, the plague of many fishermen in the northeast. The yellow eyed devils cut lines, shred bait and bite fingers. There's an old joke that goes..."whats the best way to cook a bluefish? fillet it, rub it all over with garlic, black pepper and other spices, tack it to a cedar plank, and grill it over an open fire till its done. Throw away the bluefish and eat the plank"...Oh what poor fools they are who do this. Bluefish is a delicious food when prepared and cooked properly. There are three things to remember when you want to eat bluefish and enjoy it. 1) size (like everything else it matters). 2) freshness and handling (again see size)...3) cooking method....Ok we'll go in order
1)never ever eat a bluefish over about 10lbs, they are extremely oily. Here in the northeast the bluefish show up to feast on schooling fish,mostly herring and Menhaden. They do this for a reason, the high oil (fat content) that they need to make their fall migration both off shore and south. The bigger the fish the more oil. A perfect size is between 4 and 8 lbs, smaller fish called skipjacks are good too.
2) this is probably the single most important step in eating bluefish. Because of the high oil content they do not keep well. Never EVER buy a bluefish at the market, unless its been smoked. Bluefish do not keep well as the oil will start to flavor the meat with in hours and cause it to get soft and mushy. Fresh caught is the only way to go, and once caught it must be bled and put on ice. It makes me gag every time I see some tourist throw their bluefish on the sand where it sits baking in the sun, covered in sand for 3 hours. as soon as you can fillet it, and unless you are smoking it, skin it and cut out all the dark meat along the lateral line.
OH and please do not freeze it, it will thaw out into a mushy mess (unless you do a dry salt brine fist...more on that later)
3) Ok preparation. You have, lets say a 5lb bluefish, properly cared for, filleted, skinned and all the dark meat cut out.....now take some good kosher salt and rub it all over the fillets front and back and let it sit in the fridge for about a hour.....When you come back to check on it you'll find it sitting in a pool of oily liquid. This is good the salt has drawn a lot of the water and some oil out making the fillets firm and less oily. rinse the fillets under cold water quickly to remove the salt and pat them dry. Now you can cook them like any other thick flaky fish, baked, grilled etc with you favorite seasoning....or poached in white wine with dill.....OR you can freeze them ( for only about a month) or better yet smoke them to make ambrosia from the heavens....but that's for another time...:)

A life lived thru sensory appreciation

We, all of us, were born with 5 (or 6) senses. smell, touch, taste, sight, sound, and for some of us more evolved than the rest empathy. These senses are keyed into our evolution they helped to keeps us from eating bad things (like poison) and helped us to survive over several hundreds of thousands of years. Beyond mere survival, they have helped to create some of the most amazing testaments to what is good and right about humanity, they define us, they shape who we are both culturally and individually. Without taste we'd eat bad things...(not that some of us don't anyway), without sight we'd never create amazing works of art or zen gardens...(ok I do know of many blind artists), without sound how would we know when to get up in the morning? or how to appreciate Stairway to Heaven? without touch would we be able to procreate as a species? What would a world be without smell? And without empathy would we ever care about the world around us?
This blog is mostly just a way for me to share with the world my adventures with these 5 (6) senses...to explore what it means to be human.

Where to Start?

well I figured that I needed somewhere to start so why not fish? If you know me at all you know that I love fish and seafood, and I love even more when its something gathered with my own sweat. So tonight I looked into the freezer and pondered over the stacks of vacuum sealed fish......hmmmm what to make.....I settled on a macaroni fish salad.....kind of like a tuna fish salad but with white fish, flaky and subtle. Some elbows, bass fillets, onions, green olives, preserved lemons (more about those later), my special fish seasoning (don't even ask), celery (with the leaves if you please) lemon juice and just a dash of olive oil and enough mayo to bind it together....it will be just right tomorrow for lunch.