Langdon Cook's Blog, page 4
April 21, 2016
Pasta with Oyster Mushrooms and Smoked Ham Hock
My usual oyster mushroom spots aren't producing so well this year. Maybe it's the combination of record winter rain followed by record spring heat. Who knows? Fungi are mysterious.
I've gotten used to kicking off the spring mushroom season with oysters before heading to the dry side of the mountains for morels and porcini. So I tried something new: cultivated oyster mushrooms.
While in
I've gotten used to kicking off the spring mushroom season with oysters before heading to the dry side of the mountains for morels and porcini. So I tried something new: cultivated oyster mushrooms.
While in
March 15, 2016
James Beard Award Nomination
I'm happy to report that my article "Into the Woods" for EatingWell magazine has been nominated for a 2016 James Beard Journalism Award.
The article follows Jeremy Faber, of Seattle's Foraged and Found Edibles, on a mushroom hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Cathy Whims, chef/owner of Nostrana in Portland, OR, supplied the recipes.
For more on the secretive world and
The article follows Jeremy Faber, of Seattle's Foraged and Found Edibles, on a mushroom hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Cathy Whims, chef/owner of Nostrana in Portland, OR, supplied the recipes.
For more on the secretive world and
February 17, 2016
Spring Classes & Lectures Announced
The spring foraging season is just around the corner. I'm partnering with The Field Trip Society and Bainbridge Island Parks & Recreation to offer a variety of classes for beginner and intermediate foragers.
Due to high demand for these classes, some sold out immediately, before I could even post them here. I will try to offer more in coming months (stay tuned), although shellfish classes are
Due to high demand for these classes, some sold out immediately, before I could even post them here. I will try to offer more in coming months (stay tuned), although shellfish classes are
December 9, 2015
A Taste of Place
I first met travel and food writer Joe Ray a few years ago when the two of us read together at Seattle Lit Crawl. At the time, the New Hampshire native had recently returned from a 10-year stint in Europe and was living on Lummi Island near Bellingham, Washington, absorbing the culinary metaphysics of The Willows Inn and its young chef, Blaine Wetzel, who had lately jumped up on the radar of
November 12, 2015
Saffron Milk Caps
The saffron milk cap is a wild mushroom that most pot hunters leave to the Russians. That's too bad because it's tasty and abundant.
Saffrons, or ryzhiki in Russia, are actually a complex of species in the Lactarius genus, and much DNA work needs to be done to separate the North American varieties. They're called milk caps for a latex they exude when cut. Some milk caps bleed white, some
Saffrons, or ryzhiki in Russia, are actually a complex of species in the Lactarius genus, and much DNA work needs to be done to separate the North American varieties. They're called milk caps for a latex they exude when cut. Some milk caps bleed white, some
October 29, 2015
Wild Mushroom Strudel
A couple weekends ago, while attending the Sunshine Coast Mushroom Festival in British Columbia, I got a bite of a Wild Mushroom Strudel and immediately vowed to make it at home.
First, though, I had to find the mushrooms. So I visited a regular patch on my way to Yakima to speak to the Yakima Valley Mushroom Society. It's a patch frequented by Eastern Europeans, especially Ukrainians, who
First, though, I had to find the mushrooms. So I visited a regular patch on my way to Yakima to speak to the Yakima Valley Mushroom Society. It's a patch frequented by Eastern Europeans, especially Ukrainians, who
October 2, 2015
Halibut with Cauliflower Mushroom & Root Vegetables
It's another dry fall in the Cascades. The new normal. Even so, mushrooms are up if you know where to look. I visited one of my favorite mountain porcini spots the other day only to find a parched landscape with nary a cap or stem in sight. This is why a mushroom hunter needs a diversified portfolio of patches. The next spot, lower in elevation, with taller trees, a nearby watercourse, and more
August 31, 2015
Ikura
With nearly 7 million pink salmon forecasted to return to Puget Sound rivers this year, just about everyone I know has been hitting the beaches with pink fever. Earlier in the month I spoke with David Hyde at KUOW about the many charms of pinkies, traditionally the least appreciated of our five Pacific salmon species. Since then I've nearly filled my catch card—and the freezer, with a year's
July 6, 2015
Rock 'n' Roll
Seattle is bursting at the seams. Growing pains are being felt in all sorts of ways. Besides the traffic, an increase in fishing pressure is not just the stuff of grumbling old salts at the local. Take crabbing. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's web site, "Catch estimates for Puget Sound as a whole show that recreational [crab] harvest more than doubled from 1996 to
May 20, 2015
Bouillabaisse, Northwest-style
Fish stews—bouillabaisse, cioppino, chowder, bisque, fish head soup, and so on—are some of my favorite meals. Don't let the authenticity police scare you into passing on such hearty and satisfying fare. These dishes are meant to be simple, to let the ingredients speak for themselves, even when we gussy them up with pretension.
In Marseilles, partisans have been arguing over the ingredients and
In Marseilles, partisans have been arguing over the ingredients and
