Hank Shaw's Blog, page 72

How to Make Fish Stock

One of the bedrock skills you should have as an angler -- or, really, anyone who cooks fish. If you can make a good fish stock, you can get more out of the fish you bring home and boost the flavors in your seafood cooking.

The Hands of a Gatherer

When you forage, fish or hunt, it takes a toll on your hands. But in this age when we are so divorced from the natural world, so distant from finding our own food, it's becoming ever more important to earn some of those cuts and scrapes on your own hands.

Blackberry Syrup

Blackberry syrup was my favorite at the International House of Pancakes when I was a kid. It's still one of the few syrups I still make every year, mostly to mix with seltzer water (or vodka) for drinks. Here's how to make it.

Spicy Spanish Clams

Clams steamed in a spicy Spanish tomato sauce. This dish is a knockout. Eat it with a fork in one hand, a hunk of crust bread in another. A damn good appetizer or light dinner.

Smoked Bluefish Pate

Ah, the unloved bluefish. I grew up catching and eating these oily, oceanic piranhas, and I love them still. Smoked bluefish is one of my favorite smoked fish, largely because I can then make this pate from it.

Wild Mint Leaf Ice Cream

Mint ice cream is pretty common, but usually it's made with mint extract. But if you make your ice cream by infusing the mint leaves into the cream overnight, you get a much stronger, more herby mint flavor you will not forget.

How to Clean a Gaper or Horse Clam

When life gives you big ole' gaper clams, whether they be horseneck, Washington or just really big steamers, you need to clean them before making chowder. Here's how to do it, complete with a video!

Wild Herbs: Monardella Mints

Mountain pennyroyal is a widespread mountain herb in the American West. Think of it as a combination of mint and marjoram. It is one of our most spectacular native wild herbs.

Italian Spinach Dumplings

Called strangolapreti -- "priest stranglers" -- in Italian, these dumplings made with breadcrumbs, cheese and a green thing (spinach, amaranth, chard, etc) are easy to make and are a great vegetarian main course or side dish for something meatier.

Loving the Unloved: Pukekos

Pukeko. Such a cool bird, yet so unloved by the New Zealanders. We hunted and cooked a bunch of this cross between a pheasant and a coot on our trip to Kiwi Country, and learned to love this fascinating game bird.