UrbanMonique

Langdon Cook – The Mushroom Hunters

In the late 1970s, I went to work in the woods, on Washington State's Olympic Penninsula. This began a seven year stretch of wildland firefighting interspersed with more or less regularly attended winter and spring quarters at the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources. For varying stretches during those years, I lived in trailers, World War Two era shacks, tents, and a couple of log cabins. In addition to working for the forest and park services, there were a couple of logging stints, setting chokers and chasing around Forks, mostly high lining. Whenever I could, I was mountaineering, skiing, rock climbing, fishing for trout, steelhead and salmon, hunting deer and elk, and foraging, mostly for mushrooms. Were I to pick the top three meals I've ever eaten, like the protagonist of Langdon Cook's, The Mushroom Hunters, I would say they were meals I cooked in the woods or on the beach, and all three included wild mushrooms. Specifically, there were chanterelles, chicken of the woods, and black trumpets, combined with salmon, elk, and trout, respectively. Other than that, there was salt, pepper, butter, and olive oil. The settings for those meals, a beach off La Push, shoreside on Lake Crescent, and on the bank of Goodman Creek, certainly contributed to the magic, but the fact remains that wild food, freshly caught and gathered, and simply seasoned, was the heart of the matter.

Langdon Cook's marvelous book brought those meals back to mind for me, some thirty years after the fact. Great books do that; they ignite passions, or rekindle old ones. The Mushroom Hunters is such a book, a must read, a page burner, in fact.

If you're not yet familiar with Cook, this young northwest writer and wild food lecturer won the 2014 Pacific Northwest Book Award for The Mushroom Hunters; he's also written Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager, which I've got on the way. He has the gift, like Rowan Jacobsen and John Geirach, of leaving you wanting more. Reading The Mushroom Hunters revived that old passion in me, frankly. I still fish, hunt, camp, and hike, but for God knows what reason, I'd stopped foraging, and that makes no sense. Our property here on Lummi Bay is rife with edibles, and there are many, many more an easy drive and hike away. Monica and I are going to get back into the woods; I really miss fresh watercress, miners lettuce, and mushrooms…

In 1998, I was frequenting La Conner Chef extraordinaire Thomas Palmer's restaurant. One night he stopped by the table and, after a brief chat, asked what we were eating. When we allowed that we hadn't decided yet, he uttered those magic words, “Let me cook for you,” and he did. I don't recall the whole meal right off hand, but I do remember the fresh wild mushroom appetizer, simply sautéed in butter, deglazed with a splash of white wine and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. We happily fought over the last bites. Wild mushrooms add an unmatchable, solid base note to so many dishes. It's that thing you can't quite place but gotta have; wild, earthy, deep, whatever you want to call it. I've spent too many years letting somebody else bring them to me; it's time to go back in.

The Mushroom Hunters follows denizens of the commercial wild mushroom trade here in Washington and up and down the Pacific Coast. Like Cook himself, it's as much about the passions of cooking and the outdoors as it is about the mushroom trade. A good writer accurately recounts a place, an experience, a thing; a great one puts you there. After reading Cooks magnum opus, (so far, that is; I've no doubt he's just getting warmed up), I bought updated foraging and mushroom guides and cleaned the climbing gear out of my trusty day pack.

Followers here know I'm not one for faint praise. If Langdon Cook got me this fired up, he'll do so for you as well. Go get his books, and check him out on his website, where you can keep abreast of what he's got cooking, including appearances and classes.

Posted with Blogsy

Bourbon Maple Pecan Glaze

We've had a bunch of requests for “that glaze” on our Thanksgiving turkey, so it's time to stop procrastinating and bring it out.

Bourbon Maple Pecan Glaze is a truly decadent delight. It adds a sweet, smoky, savory touch to poultry, ham, or pork, as well as on veggies such as Brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots, or cauliflower. Make the glaze so that it has about an hour to sit before it's applied; this will allow the flavors to marry nicely, and also generates the perfect state to simply brush it on your chosen host.

You can make this a day or two ahead and refrigerated as well; just bring it back to room temperature before you baste it on.

If you do decide to cook the glaze in, set your oven temp at 325° F, and bake for about the last 15 minutes of whatever you're making; watch it closely, as the high sugar content can burn quite quickly.

3/4 Cup Apple Cider, (local, fresh)

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 Cup Pecans

1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup Bourbon

3 Tablespoons Brown Mustard Seed

1 Tablespoon fresh Sage

In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine cider, bourbon, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Simmer until the mixture is reduced by about 30% and coats a spoon well, about 5 minutes.

Chiffonade Sage. Process pecans into a rough crumb mix.

In a sauté pan over medium high heat, combine pecans and sage and dry sauté, stirring steadily with a fork, about 2-3 minutes, until the nuts have a nice toasty scent.

Process mustard seed in a spice grinder until evenly powdered.

Combine all ingredients in a glass mixing bowl and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes prior to basting.

Posted with Blogsy

Post Apocalyptic Thoughts

Many of you know that I spent about 20 years in public service, pretty much evenly split between firefighting and law enforcement. I’ve been debating saying something about this storm we’re in, and now I guess I will. It should go without saying that these are my thoughts, not gospel, but I’ll say it anyway.

There are definitely problems with our system. Injustice is certainly primary among them. Frankly, I see a lot of signs that lead me to believe that we’re probably not much of a democracy anymore. Our world is, in many ways, controlled by the 1% super-rich, politically motivated. Government is tacitly run by these poeple, and to a slightly lesser degree, big business in general. The buck speaks far louder than our protests. These people as a population are not at all like the rest of us. What we face every day means little or nothing to the majority of that minority. They live above law, justice, and the ills that beset the rest of the world. Even if they do good, like a Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, being a billionaire means they have no idea about what day to day living is about. They fear literally none of the things we do, simply because they never deal with them.

That said, the injustices we face are far broader than the media would have you believe, and no media facet is free of that truth, not NPR, BBC, or Al Jazira, or U.S. News & World Report. The media is absolutely, with no question, guided by the same tenet I outlined above. The buck speaks loudest. They report what pays them, in income, listeners, readers, watchers. The sooner we as a people stop listening to and depending on popular media to get a grasp on what’s happening, the sooner we can affect a solution. Media as an unbiased vehicle for the reporting of events is broken, perhaps irrevocably in its current form. It exists predominantly as a voice for the money and power behind any given perspective represented. The sooner we admit and accept that, the sooner we can start fixing things.

Our government, all three branches, legislative, judicial, and executive, is broken. It is bloated, ineffective, and out of control. Like the stock market in the summer of 1929, this government reflects only itself; it has almost nothing to do with us. The kind of people who are drawn to this form of service are not like us. Oh, there are a few good eggs, certainly. I know several who have and do serve faithfully, with the best intent, and do an admirable job; they are, unfortunately, very much a minority. Look at the blatant politics of the Federal judicial branch and tell me what you see. I see a reflection of those One Percenters I spoke of, again, with a few notable exceptions. Look at the Federal Legislative branch. About 47% of the members of both the senate and house are millionaires; is that what your neighborhood looks like? And what about the things our government does for us. Yes, Social Security and Medicaid takes a good bite out of the annual budget, and frankly, I think that’s as it should be, (call me a socialist if you like, but I prefer Agrarian Anarchist). About 1% of the annual federal budget goes to education. About 2% goes toward science and research. Infrastructural upkeep gets about 3%. Virtually all forms of non-military international aid get another 1%. On the other side of things, the military gets 19%. I also have friends serving, past and present, and that’s not at all a condemnation of the job done by folks like us. It is, however, a very telling emphasis, is it not?
Plato noted that, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” While ‘inferior’ might seem a harsh term, the ethics, morals, and general decorum we see displayed in government these days would indicate that he’s still not far off the mark. William Tecumseh Sherman famously said, “If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.” That can be seen either as a derivation of the adage that the nature of the job dictates that those most qualified to serve would not, or possibly that the man knew his place in the scheme of things and chose to remain there. Would that more of our current ‘leaders’ had been so wise…

What are we to think of the latest wave of bad behaviors by cops, protestors, prosecutors, governors, and the like? The government representatives among that list are reflecting what I wrote above. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that’s a fact. The media is helping to paint all cops as murderers and psychopaths, all protestors as rabid looters, all prosecutors as crooked, and all governors as ineffective. All of that is, quite frankly, crap. Especially among the cops and the protestors, I can assure you that most are frustrated, scared, basically decent human beings. The fringes are not the whole cloth; if you hear anything I’ve written, hear that. I have friends on facebook, people I like and admire, painting all cops as sadistic killers mindlessly ruling a police state. Frankly, every single one of those folks that have posted some picture or quote or statement to that effect have just about zero idea of what actually being in such a position entails. For the record, I personally do not like what I have seen and heard about the two cops currently in the klieg lights; I don’t trust either of them, and I don’t believe them, and I don’t defend their behavior. I do not care for the management or tactics of either department either; I think they’re genuinely abhorrent. That said, none of you, not one that I have seen fomenting this rabid attack on the nature and behavior of all cops, has even a remote clue about what it is like to genuinely fight for your life. Three times in my career, an unarmed man or men went for my gun. On one occasion, a guy much bigger than me was literally picking me up off the ground by yanking on the grip of my weapon, trying to get it out of the holster; thank God for dependable retention. I did not shoot anyone in those instances, but believe me, the thought was definitely on my mind, and if I could have, I probably would have. I’d tell you that, were you in that situation, you well might have too. You people don’t seem to understand one very important truth: you pay cops and firefighters to deal with the shit that you can’t deal with. What you run from in terror, we run toward, to figure out, in the heat of the moment, what the hell is going on, and what we need to do to stop it. If you screw up at work, something bad happens; when we do, people die, sometimes for all the wrong reasons; it’s the wrong reasons that need to be addressed. The old adage that either of those jobs is 99% boredom and 1% Holy Shit is absolutely true. And after we’ve dealt with that 1% as the fallible humans we are, you endlessly dissect, critique, condemn, and castigate without a second thought. Armchair quarterbacks are always right…
So, back to those two cops; I don’t like them or trust them, but I can sure understand how things get out of hand. It’s not right, at all, but then again, neither are all the rest of us humans a fair share of the time. The system, just like our government, is badly bent, and needs straightening. If and when it does get fixed, keep in mind that you’ll still need people to do those jobs.

And then there’s the race card. I personally believe that we are all one; differences are skin deep and no more. None of that means that I don’t have biases; I do, as we all do. America has a race problem, without a doubt. It is blatant at times, sometimes subtle, but always there, and always a problem. I’m a WASP, so my forbearers stormed this country and took it by force, (you don’t need to read Gun, Germs & Steel to better understand that, but it can’t hurt). White Americans, regardless of our personal stripe, are colored with the bloody cloth of that past. There is no glib, snappy answer to solve that problem. I’ll go so far as to say that, at root cause, race issues among humans are likely not solvable. That statement is predicated on my belief that Robin Dunbar is likely correct; a hundred and some social relationships is the limit for us. Whether its Shiite versus Sunni, Dinka against Nuer, or Czechs and Bosnians, give a group of humans enough members and they’ll find a way to be at each others throats. Religion, politics, skin tone, language, food, land, anything and everything will be a bone of contention; it’s in our nature. I suppose one could infer from that synopsis that we’ve not come very far from our primal roots, and I’d say that’s absolutely true.

I’ve heard folks say this reminds them of ’64 in the south, or the Arab Spring. I personally hope that it is that kind of moment in history, because God knows we need it. I decry the events that lead us here, but sometimes, that’s what it takes to wake up a people and a nation. And since I’m on a roll, I’ll ask, where is religion in all this? In the 60s, the Protestant faiths were exactly that, protesting what was going on, an exhorting their flocks to get involved in making changes. Remember the Berrigan brothers? Where are our modern incarnations? The fact is that American religion has been through roughly two decades of a concerted attack by hard core right wing politics. Just as they did with governance, the rabid right attacked church after church, dividing and conquering, until at this point of critical need, the voice of faith is heard only dimly, a shadow of its former self.

Now the question becomes, what are we gonna do about it? Are you willing to wake up, step out of your routine, find ways to constructively and effectively change what’s broken? If not, I’ll politely invite you to clam up. If so, then right on; let’s light this candle, because it sure is past time.

Homemade Sesame Oil

We've been delving deeper into oils and fats, springing from a couple of questions Christy posed back a week or so. Her tongue in cheek caveat for asking was that she's “always looking at that little bottle of sesame oil and wondering…” She hits the nail on the head with this observation; sesame oil is one many of us have but use quite sparingly, and as such, it's prone to being well past its prime when we next reach for the bottle. Fortunately, you can make your own at home, and enjoy a fresher, more robust product completely free of additives as well.

Sesame oil is derives from sesame seeds; the nutritional value of the oil closely mirrors the seed form, containing important trace elements like calcium, copper, zinc, iron, and magnesium. Extracting your own oil is a bit labor intensive, but also a fun exercise in cooking chemistry. Here's how to do up a small batch without the need for a $150 manual oil press.

1/4 Cup fresh white Sesame Seeds

1 Cup fresh Sunflower Oil

In a preheated 350° F oven, dry roast fresh white sesame seeds on a clean, dry baking sheet. After about 10 minutes, give the seed a good stir, then continue roasting, watching carefully, for another 5 to 10 minutes. When the seeds have turned light golden brown and release a distinct nutty scent, remove them from the oven, and place them on a plate to cool.

Non-pressed, reasonably effective extraction of sesame oil is achieved with moderate heat and sunflower oil, at a ratio of .25:1 cups sesame to sunflower. In a heavy sauce pan over medium-low heat, combine the oil and seeds. Stir occasionally and allow to heat through for 10 minutes.

Remove the mix from heat and, while still warm, pour carefully into a blender. Process in short pulses until the seeds are evenly broken up into a slurry with the oil.

Transfer the slurry to a glass bowl, cover with a clean cloth or paper towel and allow to steep and cool for 2 hours.

Strain the oil blend through butter muslin into a clean bowl. You may require two straining passes to clarify the oil adequately if you use a cheesecloth of lesser density.

Store the extracted oil in an airtight glass container for up to 3 months.

Posted with Blogsy

Storing Oils & Fats

Follower Christy sent another great question, “Which oils/fats need to be refrigerated and which do not. Also, shelf life. I'm always looking at that little bottle of sesame oil and wondering…”

Heres another topic that simply doesn't get the attention it should, from both a food quality and food safety perspective, so let's have a look.

Air, heat, light, and age all can and will negatively impact the quality of most edible oils. High storage temperature and oxygen exposure are the primary causes of spoiled oil. Rancidity will result rather quickly if not properly stored. The same compounds that provide the smells and flavors we like in a given oil will cause unpleasant changes if we're not careful. That means, naturally, you should store your oils in a cool, dark, dry place, and in an airtight container. As such, cruets or open top pour spouts are not the best choice, even in a busy home kitchen. Additionally, exposure to direct sunlight causes a substantial loss of antioxidants, especially tocopherols, meaning many of the benefits of healthy oil choices are lost as well.

Rancid oil generally won't do you serious harm; nonetheless, it's obviously not a desirable pantry guest. When your oil looks, smells, or tastes off, it is, and should be discarded. Smells described as winey, metallic, or skunky are clear signs that something is amiss.

As for shelf life, the method of production for the oil in question has a bearing. Most unrefined oils, (cold or expeller pressed), will keep for 3 to 6 months, properly stored. They may be refrigerated, and will last a bit longer as a result, though they'll tend to solidify and will need to return to room temperature to liquefy again. Too many such cycles can impact the chemistry of the oil, and the need to re-liquefy might inhibit spontaneity, so you're probably best served buying smaller quantities and storing carefully at room temperature. If that sesame oil Christy mentioned is older than 6 months, it's time for it to go. Refined oils, (oils obtained from heat and solvent extraction), tend to keep twice as long as unrefined oils; at least 6 to 12 months if stored properly. Oils high in polyunsaturated fat, (walnut, safflower, and hazelnut oil, for instance), have a much shorter shelf life than high monounsaturated, (think peanut), or saturated fat oils, (like canola). Again, refrigerated storage is an option, but small containers of fresh oil at room temp is best.

Most solid fats traditionally used in cooking are animal based, (lard, ghee, duck fat, schmaltz, etc), however tropical plant oils such as coconut oil, (one of my favorites), are also solid or semisolid at room temperature, as are vegetable shortening and margarine, (made from plant oils and solid due to the hydrogenation process). Many solid fats also contain a higher proportion of saturated fat than liquid fats do; as such they're generally quite stable and will keep well for at least 6 months. Solid fats will absorb the flavor or scent of other foods readily, so should be kept in airtight containers.

Our industrial food system has lead us all, to some degree, toward keeping things longer than we should. Just because something can last 6 months doesn't necessarily mean that we really want to cook with it. I'll guarantee that, whether the ingredient be oil, fat, spice, or even flour, fresh will always taste better than many moons old.

Posted with Blogsy