Langdon Cook's Blog, page 5

Southern Morels

The Southeast has intrigued me for a long time for its diversity of plants and fungi, a diversity I'd mostly read about in books.



The last time I'd spent any significant amount of time in the region was twenty-five years ago, during a spring break from college that involved some sketchy camping and maybe a little foraging for beer. Earlier this month I had a chance to visit again and speak

Clay Pot Bulgogi with Wild Greens

The other day I scouted some of my early morel spots to see if there might be anything starting to pop, given the ridiculously mild winter we've had in the Pacific Northwest. But no, nada. Seems like the fruiting schedule of morels in my area doesn't vary much more than a week no matter how much snow falls in the mountains, although pickers down in Oregon have been talking about morels coming

Voracious Tasting & Food Awards

The Seattle Weekly's 6th annual Voracious Tasting & Food Awards will be held on April 23 at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. I've been to a few of these in the past and can say without reservation it's a chowhound's night.

Presented by the Washington State Beef Commission, doors open at 7:30 p.m. (6 p.m. for VIP ticket holders) with bites and booze from scores of Seattle's favorite

Wild Greens Workshop

It's that time again for those of us on the West Coast. The woods and meadows are waking up. Wild greens—tasty, nutritious, free—decorate the woods and forest fringes.







To ring in the spring harvest, I'll be teaching a foraging and cooking workshop at Heyday Farm on Bainbridge Island on March 27, with a focus on wild spring greens, especially stinging nettles. As I've said here before,

Razor Clam Weekend

Join me for the third annual Razor Clam Weekend, March 20-22. I'm partnering with Bainbridge Island Parks & Rec to teach a three-day class on how to dig, process, and cook these golden beauties.



We'll stay at Seabrook Cottages on the Washington Coast on Friday and Saturday nights, and take advantage of three razor clam openings right out the back door: Friday night (low tide 7:26 pm),

Smoked Salmon Candy

Last week I was forced to play the bi-annual standup freezer defrosting game. My freezer cost me zero dollars to haul away from some guy's basement, but you get what you pay for, and in this case it has a couple dents in the upper left corner that prevent a perfect seal when the door is closed, and though I solved this problem with stick-on insulation strips, over the course of a year or two,

Abalone Sushi

Happy new year, everyone. As you can see, FOTL has taken a vacation since early November. But that doesn't mean we haven't been out there, reveling in the wild bounty.

As in past years when the days turn dark and rainy, I made tracks for the promised land. This time, unlike previous trips in recent memory, the promise was fulfilled: what an extraordinary winter fungi harvest in California.

Pining for the Woods

Hard to believe, but I barely got out this fall. Work, kids, the newish book (which, by the way, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award), plus a new, new book to research—all this and more conspired to keep me on the road for much of August, September, and October.

Back around Labor Day, it looked like we might have another stellar fall mushroom season this year, on par with 2013,

Shroom

A new mushroom cookbook has popped up with the chanterelles and boletes this fall. With its up to date, globe-trotting recipes and solid advice, Becky Selengut's Shroom: Mind-bendingly Good Recipes for Cultivated and Wild Mushrooms is sure to delight foragers and fungally-inclined home cooks from coast to coast.

Becky happens to be a friend of mine, so I can personally vouch for the food

The Nagoonberry

I have a favorite new berry. It's called a nagoonberry. Haven't heard of nagoonberries? Well, you're not alone—and you probably don't spend much time in Alaska, where I happen to be right now.

Here in Cordova, just about everyone knows the nagoonberry. And now that I do, too, I could be persuaded to journey north just to get my hands on these delicious "arctic raspberries," never mind the