Wild Foods Feast

[urbanforager]

So the day before Thanksgiving, DH and I decided to invite our friends over for a wild foods feast. We've done this before, and everyone seems to enjoy it -- our friends all seem to be brave enough to at least try most of these wild dishes. This last feast was, I think, the best one yet.

 

Here's the menu: Lamb's Quarters, Cornmeal and Cheddar Cheese Cakes, Raccoon in Crockpot with Teriyaki-style Sauce, Raccoon with Sweet Potatoes (I defrosted too much coon), Shredded Venison, Highbush Cranberry Sauce, Mulberry Rice Pudding, Wild Gingerbread, and Elderberry Wine. I wanted to serve Spiced Nettle Latte after dinner, but everyone was just too full.

 

It was all pretty incredible. There wasn't anything where I said,"Eh, that's kinda yucky after all." The raccoon was unbelievably tender -- you just touched it with the fork and it fell apart. And the wild gingerbread was AMAZING. The recipe calls for flaxseed, but I used lamb's quarter seed instead. That gave it a delightful crunch, and whenever you ran into a chewy bit in the bread, your mouth just exploded with ginger flavor.

 

I'll post some recipes in a little bit, if people are interested.

[urbanforager]

Okay, I guess DH and I aren't going for a walk just yet, so I'll post the recipes now!

 

Lamb's quarter, Cornmeal and Cheddar Cheese Cakes (from The Wild Plant Companion, Kathryn G. March)

 

2 1/2 c water

3/4 t salt

3 c lamb's quarter greens, washed, chopped fine

1 c cornmeal

1 c sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 T butter

3 T olive oil

 

In a pan, bring salt and water to a boil. Add greens and return to a boil. Turn heat down to moderate and cook, covered, five minutes. Slowly pour in the cornmeal, stirring constantly, making sure to break up all the lumps that form. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes or until the cornmeal starts to come away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese and a few grindings of pepper. When cool enough to handle, form into small pancakes. In a skillet, melt the butter, then add the oil. Fry the patties until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve hot.

 

 

 

Raccoon in Crockpot

Place meat in crockpot. Pour over it a sauce made with: 1/4 c honey, 1 c chicken broth, 3 T wine vinegar, 3 T red wine, 2 T soy sauce, and 1/4 t garlic salt. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Can make gravy from cooking sauce. (We snarfed it up so fast I didn't have time to make gravy.) (Also, I'd like to point out that both the wine and the wine vinegar were homemade. )

 

Raccoon With Sweet Potatoes

Brown coon meat in a little olive oil in a Dutch oven. Lightly dust with seasoned salt. Arrange sweet potato chunks over meat. Cover and cook in 300 degree oven for 3 hours.

 

Shredded Venison -- I got this from my in-laws, so I didn't actually make it. I offered a choice with the shredded meat of either BBQ sauce or Spicy Highbush Cranberry Sauce.

 

Spicy Highbush Cranberry Sauce

4 c cranberries

2 c water

2 c sugar

1 grated orange rind

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t allspice

Place water, orange rind, sugar, and spices in a saucepan and cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes.

Cook the cranberries in a separate pan until fruit pops and juice runs freely. Run through a food mill or sieve to remove seeds. Combine with spice mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour into hot, sterile jars and seal. (When I make this again, I'll probably use half the water. I cooked it down for the entire afternoon, and it was still the consistency of a thick syrup rather than a conserve. Lord, it's good, though.)

 

Mulberry Rice Pudding -- I just made a pudding recipe and added a pint jar of mulberries, because I know one of my friends in particular really likes them. The original recipe called for half a cup of dried elderberries.

 

Wild Gingerbread

3 2/3 c flour

1/2 c lamb's quarter seeds

2 T lecithin granules

1 1/2 t wild ginger, ground (I had cut the ginger in chunks to dry it, and I could not grind the chunks. I softened them as best I could in boiling water (1/2 c boiling water, used less 1/2 c juice) which resulted in the chewy chunks of ginger in the bread.)

1 t baking soda

1/2 t cream of tartar

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t cloves

1/2 t salt

Mix all above ingredients.

2 c orange juice or other juice (I used apple cider -- foraged from behind Aldi's!)

2 t honey

1/2 c oil

Mix all above ingredients.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Pour into greased baking dish. Bake at 300 degrees for one hour.

This comes out like a spice cake. The seeds give it a truly delightful crunch. This is something I'd make even if I wasn't serving it for a wild foods feast.

 

Spiced Nettle Latte

To a handful of dried or fresh nettle leaves, add 1 cinnamon stick, 1 clove, and some grated nutmeg in a teapot. Cover with freshly boiled water and let steep 10 minutes. Heat milk and whisk to a froth. Add equal amounts tea and milk to a mug, sweeten, and top with cinnamon.

 

Homemade Elderberry Wine to drink, and our evening was complete. There was only one person who didn't have any raccoon, but he just stopped in, and he had already had supper (two hamburgers -- ecchh). He ate everything else, though, even though he'd already eaten previously. We didn't have much coon left over, either! Just enough for a planned-over dinner. I'm going to shred it and use it in a shepherd's pie.

[jeanettecentaur]

So the day before Thanksgiving, DH and I decided to invite our friends over for a wild foods feast. We've done this before, and everyone seems to enjoy it -- our friends all seem to be brave enough to at least try most of these wild dishes. This last feast was, I think, the best one yet.

 

Here's the menu: Lamb's Quarters, Cornmeal and Cheddar Cheese Cakes, Raccoon in Crockpot with Teriyaki-style Sauce, Raccoon with Sweet Potatoes (I defrosted too much coon), Shredded Venison, Highbush Cranberry Sauce, Mulberry Rice Pudding, Wild Gingerbread, and Elderberry Wine. I wanted to serve Spiced Nettle Latte after dinner, but everyone was just too full.

 

It was all pretty incredible. There wasn't anything where I said,"Eh, that's kinda yucky after all." The raccoon was unbelievably tender -- you just touched it with the fork and it fell apart. And the wild gingerbread was AMAZING. The recipe calls for flaxseed, but I used lamb's quarter seed instead. That gave it a delightful crunch, and whenever you ran into a chewy bit in the bread, your mouth just exploded with ginger flavor.

 

I'll post some recipes in a little bit, if people are interested.

 

Ok, so that Thanksgiving Dinner Menu of yours was kind of AWESOME!!!

 

Thanks for sharing...

[GirlNextDoor]

Wow. What does raccoon taste like? Pork?

[urbanforager]

Wow. What does raccoon taste like? Pork?

 

Hmm. Raccoon. It's a very dark red meat. It looks like it should have a very strong, gamy flavor, but it doesn't. It's not gamy, I mean. It has a very assertive flavor, though. It tastes like really fine high-quality beef, with the moistness of good pork. It's by far my favorite meat. It even beats ham and lamb, in my book. It's really exquisite stuff.

 

 

If you get your hands on some of it, and you also have Euell Gibbons' Stalking the Wild Asparagus, do NOT use as much salt to soak it as he calls for. Use about half. The amount of vinegar is fine. I always soak the meat before I freeze it, and I think that's why I've never had gamy coon.

[Mother]

Great sounding menu Urban Forager. Do you do anything special to the coon when butchering or before cooking, such as removing the fat, parboiling, removing scent glands, etc.?

 

I loved your recipes and can't wait to try them. Thanks

 

[GirlNextDoor]

OK, I googled the book and see two versions. Deluxe version and field guide. Which has more info.

[urbanforager]

Great sounding menu Urban Forager. Do you do anything special to the coon when butchering or before cooking, such as removing the fat, parboiling, removing scent glands, etc.?

 

I loved your recipes and can't wait to try them. Thanks

 

I just skin the coon and gut him, being sure to remove any scent glands. Whatever meat I have, I cover with cold water, then mix in -- oh, about 1 or 2 T salt and 1/4-1/3 c wine vinegar to about a quart of water. (More or less.) I let this set in the fridge for 48 hours, then take the meat out of the soaking water and lay the pieces snugly in a ziploc freezer bag, squoosh out all the air, then freeze it.

 

I don't boil the meat when ready to use, just thaw it, then toss in the crockpot or Dutch oven. The first time I did this, last winter, I used the vinegaring and salting instructions in Gibbons, and it was waaaaay too salty. But even with the saltiness, I could tell it was something I wanted to eat again!

[urbanforager]

Bah. Looks like I can't edit a post once it's been up for a while. GirlNextDoor, if you've ever had a real nice pot roast, where the beef is super tender, with long muscle fibers -- that's what coon tastes like.

[urbanforager]

OK, I googled the book and see two versions. Deluxe version and field guide. Which has more info.

 

 

Hrm. I'd expect the deluxe version would be more thorough.

[urbanforager]

Heh. I got back to work today after being off for deer season. I was telling a couple of my co-workers about the feast, and T asked with a grimace, "ooh, was it road-kill raccoon?"

 

I said, "Of course it was. I'm not proud." After some thought, I asked her why she had asked me that. "You know I hunt. Why'd you ask if it was roadkill? Even if you were right?"

 

She said she just had difficulty imagining me shooting a raccoon. And she's right. I don't think I could. They're so darned cute! But if I see one on the road that's not too banged up, you can be darn sure I'll scoop that puppy up. I just hate to see meat that GOOD go to waste! Sorry if this post offends anyone.

[PoGo]

I know of several people that utilize road kills. One should be careful though, as in some states gathering road kill is illegal.

[GirlNextDoor]

Urban forager, you only think they are cute until you see what one can do to a cat or dog. It's NOT pretty. A coon can get up to 50#. Not to mention they have hands so they can get into all sorts of stuff and do quite a bit of damage to your preps.

[urbanforager]

I know of several people that utilize road kills.

 

I don't think I'm the only one around here that does, either. Last spring I was on my way to work. It was a Sunday afternoon, and it was one of the last days the library was open on a Sunday (we're open on Sundays during the school year, basically). I saw four roadkills on the way to work -- three of them were unusable, but the fourth one looked in pretty good shape. (That road between home and work uses up a LOT of coons.) When I got to work, I asked DH to go out and get it for me. He told me no, that he had homework to do and didn't feel like going out.

Well, on my way home from work four hours later, I noticed the whole coon was gone, but the "road pizzas" still lay where they had fallen. I came home all excited, and thanked DH for going and getting the coon for me anyways. I was so bummed when he said he hadn't! So either that coon was just stunned, and made it off the road after all, or someone else is getting good meat "off the grille".