Ray Mears' Wild Food (on television)

[falling rain]

Excellent programme. You just can't beat a beach barbie like they did on the programme. I've done this a few times with limpets, cockles, mussels and winkles but I cook my limpets upside down in embers rather than the flat hot rock (must give that a go next time) Steam or boil winkles, mussels boil or embers. Use a sharpened twig (de-barked because of nasties) to winkle out your winkles. Hunting prawns at night with a head torch is great fun too and cooking freshly caught fish on the beach is just about as fresh as it gets absoflippinlutely marvellous stuff Raymond. Looking forward to next week.

 

[Klenchblaize]

That was more like it!

Enjoyed it immensely and good to see the Professor becoming more relaxed on camera and ‘involved’. It is though, in my opinion, a 30-minute programme stretched to 60.

Cheers
Ps: Couldn’t he have found a camo plaster!

 

[loz.]

Don't forget people if you want to see this weeks episode it's on tonight (Wednesday) not Thursday this week.

Ah no !!!!! -

 

[Dougster]

Ps: Couldn’t he have found a camo plaster!

I bet the H&S bods made him wear a food preparation plaster!

Really made me want to get out and have a go though.

 

[Marts]

As said above - that was much more like it. NIce to see that even Ray cuts himself trying to get fire with flint and iron pyrite!

The question I came away really interested in finding an answer to though was how ancient man would get access to the razor clams - without the aid of a bottle of free-flowing salt. Anyone got any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Beer Monster]

It was nice to see Ray eat something that even he turned his nose up at, Gordon seemed not too bothered about the juice from the Sea-buckthorn berrie, the face Ray made after taking a sip of the juice is pretty close to the face I would make faced with the witchy grub raw or cooked.

Yep I found this highly amusing too. Although he apperently found the food in Mongolia pretty hard going to:- See here.

I thought maybe they could leave the pulp out to dry into a "fruit jerky" (maybe first bulk it out a bit with some other chewy food stuff ....... maybe the rush tuber). A paleolithic trail snack version of Soor Plooms!

 

[Beer Monster]

As said above - that was much more like it. NIce to see that even Ray cuts himself trying to get fire with flint and iron pyrite!

The question I came away really interested in finding an answer to though was how ancient man would get access to the razor clams - without the aid of a bottle of free-flowing salt. Anyone got any thoughts or ideas?

Yep I found this fascinating too. They were obviously getting them (as they found them in the old middens) but how ......... stealth and a (very!) quick hand scoop ....... or an accurate scoop with a wide digging stick?

The only other idea I thought of was a variety of "poison fishing" i.e. soaking a suitable plant in water overnight to release the toxins then using the water to pour down the holes ........ I would have thought the razor clams would want to get away from it as much as they would the salt!

According to the Primitive Ways website the Australian Aboriginals and Californian Indians use a similar method to catch octopus and lowtide shellfish so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. The question is what plant would we have used?

 

[stuart f]

The question I came away really interested in finding an answer to though was how ancient man would get access to the razor clams - without the aid of a bottle of free-flowing salt. Anyone got any thoughts or ideas?[/QUOTE]

Hi Marts, there are a couple of ways they may have done it. One way is to use a rod of some sort with an arrow shaped end on it,pop the arrow end of the rod down the clams burrow until you feel the clam, then with a jab and twist motion you pull the razor out of his home. What happens is that the arrow slides into the narrow top of the shell and by twisting the rod 90 degress it locks inside the shell and then its just a case of pulling the clam out of its hole. Apparently there's quite a knack to get it right. Or another way they may have gone about is to dive for them in shallow lagoons, if you can get to see Tv chef Nick Nairn,s programmes Wild Harvest and Island Harvest in which he sailed round the coast of Scotland trying out different foods, in one episode he dived for razors up in the Hebrides. This programme was made quite a few years ago though,i do have the cookbook to go with the series, it was printed in 1998. hope this helps

 

[falling rain]

Razor clams can also go down using the salt method if the sand under them is soft enough. They'll choose the path of least resistance so it's not guaranteed you'll score with this method. If the sub-strata is soft enough they'll go down, instead of up to your waiting mitts. Not sure about harvesting by the ancestors but I'd imagine they could easily recognise a razor clam hole/burrow and probably sneak up and burrow like fury to get the little blighters before they dug their way down........ Or did our ancestors know of salt and could they harvest it? If so maybe they used the same method

 

[falling rain]

Just found this interesting article on Razor clams - written from a bait collectors view but still applies if your going to eat them yourself http://www.worldseafishing.com/news/123/ARTICLE/1156/2006-06-17.html

hope that helps marts

 

[Phil562]

Just found this interesting article on Razor clams - written from a bait collectors view but still applies if your going to eat them yourself http://www.worldseafishing.com/news/123/ARTICLE/1156/2006-06-17.html

hope that helps marts

Great read, good find

 

[Marts]

Falling Rain, Stuart F and Beer Monster - my compliments to you all. Just goes to show what a great resource this forum is. Why only last night this very knowledgeable chap, Ray someone-or-other, was telling me he didn't have a clue how primitive people would get at razor clams. All I needed to do was ask on here.

Armed with this knowledge i've just been down onto our estuary-ish part of thames as we've got the lowest tide i've ever seen here right at this minute. Sadly there are no razor clam holes, just car tires and engine parts. Must take a trip down to the seashore soon and do some foraging - maybe have a little cook-up

 

[bilko]

Excellent viewing.
Could it be one of his finest?
I too was pleased to see Ray in less formal mode. It's obvious to see him coaching the other chap but i think they are working well together.
At last i know how to recognise iron and which nugget to harvest. Also very interested in that sweet root. Think i'll get the book and the dvd when they come out.
I laughed out loud when i saw the big blue plaster and it was then that i realised that Ray cuts himself just as much as the rest of us. Kindof heartwarming realy.

 

[Biddlesby]

Seems like this episode has been better recieved by you all. It certainly is more inspiring and relevant to me when episodes are in Britain. Can't wait for the next one.

Very interesting info about razorclams here! I have never tried the stuff but they look tasty. I am amazed at how well those limpet shells remained.

Also good to see the analysis on the buckthorn, and the method to collect the juice.

 

[nobby]

I too prefer the UK set programs but thought the ethno history(?) tilt of the series was helped by the stone age stuff in Oz. The old lady looking in the trees for the seedpods to find the yams was an interesting observation.
Ray has covered the gathering and cooking of shellfish in a previous series.

 

[Martyn]

Seems like this episode has been better recieved by you all. It certainly is more inspiring and relevant to me when episodes are in Britain. Can't wait for the next one.

Very interesting info about razorclams here! I have never tried the stuff but they look tasty. I am amazed at how well those limpet shells remained.

Also good to see the analysis on the buckthorn, and the method to collect the juice.

Ray made the point that all the old limpet shells were really small, which surprised him as he makes a b-line for the big ones. Perhaps the little ones are not so chewy?

 

[Quickbeam]

Ray made the point that all the old limpet shells were really small, which surprised him as he makes a b-line for the big ones. Perhaps the little ones are not so chewy?

Or maybe the big ones had been eaten already if it was a regular part of the diet.

Nick

 

[Marts]

Or maybe the big ones had been eaten already if it was a regular part of the diet.

Nick

Yep. I think he mentioned the fact that no-one really eats them nowadays, so they're free to keep on growing.

Perhaps the little ones are not so chewy?

Good thought too. I feel a test coming on this weekend.

 

[Heathenpeddler]

Re: razor clams, my partner said she used to get them with a long stick or piece of wire like coat hangar wire. She'd poke the stick down the hole and when it hit the clam it would clamp shut around it, then she just had to pull them up.

 

[wanderinstar]

Just managed to catch about half of programme tonight. Whats with BBC one prog. on Thursday repeated on Sunday. Next one on Weds. repeated on Saturday. Is the next one going to be on Tuesday repeated on Friday??

Are they trying to keep us on our toes or what.