Wild Dinner challenge....

[Barry Smith]

Hello. I have accepted a challenge from my mate an his partner to cook them dinner from food, mainly, gathered from the land.

I am going to be doing this in a couple of weeks and was looking for some suggestions...

I was thinking of Pike fish cakes, as described in the river cottage cook book as the main course, and a starter and desert if possible.

I would love to serve up squirrel but dont own an air rifle or live in a place where setting traps is that easy.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[martin]

Why not try perch, lovely tasting fish. If you can get hold of the large version of "Food for Free" (IBSN 0-00-220159-3) it is set out by season.
Look in the back of "The River Cottage Cook Book" there's a firm selling squirrel (page 439). Hope this helps.

 

[MartiniDave]

I've never eaten them myself but am told that zander are excellent eating if you can get anybody to part with them.

Dave

 

[WoodWhite]

hmm... desert, you will probably have to go with something very small, i think wood sorrel has a suitable tap root

 

[Toddy]

Pike might be good food but it's full of bones and can sometimes be all too easy to get it wrong and spoil things when serving for a dinner party.

Why not ponasse a fish or two ? easier, more in line with the bushcrafty theme, and you can season it with wild herbs and make a mushroom sauce.......thickened with one of the plant starches of course
Though I'm sure if you asked nicely someone on here would help you sourcing the squirrel or rabbit, or even venison.
We flash fried ransom bulbs in butter and then did thin slices of hare and venison in the jus one time we met up..........seemed to go down very well.

Wild fruit, like brambles, damsons, rosehaws, etc., for pudding, maybe a cranachan if you want simple, or a nutty fruit cobbler ? or wild pears poached with a hedgerow wine, served with a drizzle of rosehip or bramble syrup..........with little wafers made using toasted hazelnuts.

Acorn or dandelion coffee with wild fruits and nuts to dip in molten chocolate goes down very well.

If you want a soup for starters then cut down a crop of nettles now, and they'll throw up a , lateshort set of leaves while there's still enough daylight, and they'll be fine for a pot. The old ones just aren't, by now they're full of micro crystals that aren't good for the kidneys. Nettle soup works well before fish too...or rabbit.......

I am still foraging saladings but I know my area, I don't know how well you know yours to advise collecting.

I think I'll go and make dinner I'm sort of in the notion

cheers,
Toddy

Nice idea for a thread.................what would the rest of the folks on here fancy ?

 

[Gwhtbushcraft]

wow, oldthread

 

[spamel]

Indeed, before my time!

 

[Bernie Garland]

And way before mine.

Bernie

 

[Bernie Garland]

Must have cooked a few meals by now surely

Bernie

 

[Toddy]

I saw it come up and thought, "Well, why not ?"
No one will be screaming Off Topic or offended that his thread is taken over, so have at it.......what would you serve for dinner ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[stovie]

Shrew stuffed inside a Mole, stuffed inside a weasel stuffed inside a squirrel, stuffed inside a wabbit inside a brock inside a Hmmmm.....

you get the picture

Wild game pie, fresh greens and a drop of home brew...

An old thread indeed....

 

[sam_acw]

Just cos it's old don't mean it's bad. I've often thought of this challenge myself. Has anyone done it?

 

[Bernie Garland]

Just cos it's old don't mean it's bad. I've often thought of this challenge myself. Has anyone done it?

Nearly every night,if your allowed to count the produce from your garden or allotment.

Bernie

 

[Toddy]

Nearly every night,if your allowed to count the produce from your garden or allotment.

Bernie

Cool

What about the stuff we forage though ?
What would you serve from what you can find now for dinner to non bushie type friends ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[spiritofold]

Everytime i go out, i try and make a mental note of whats about thats edible, of course my preference is the stuff that grows away from the roads. If i had been hard up for food then today i would mainly have been eating silverweed with a garnish of plantain, with a final sprinkling of clover. Yum...

 

[Bernie Garland]

Cool

What about the stuff we forage though ?
What would you serve from what you can find now for dinner to non bushie type friends ?

cheers,
Toddy

Well thanks to Gary Wayland,at the Midland meet i know a few more fungi for the pot,and intend to get up to the meets in Scotland at Morch's,and hope to learn some forageing from you Mary.

Bernie

 

[robwolf]

you could try road kill, squirrels dont go off as quick know its cooler

 

[crwydryny]

you could try road kill, squirrels dont go off as quick know its cooler

just make sure it's a squirrel and not a rat, cat or anything else. then again when it's road kill who cares it all looks the same a meat pancake lol

 

[Jumbalaya]

If you're making up fish cakes from pike it's probably worth partly pre-cooking the meat to make removing the bones easier as you flake the meat. Once you've formed them into cakes and fried them, try serving with a sauce made of pulverised sorrel leaves as an alternative to lemon.

Marcus