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Primrose Curd

4/25/2015

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Primrose Curd

Another wonderful recipe kindly passed on by a friend. And one that I must try making with my children.

Primrose Curd

Two generous handfuls of unsprayed clean primrose petals.

450grms sugar

450grms Bramley apple

125grms unsalted butter

4-5 large eggs

The zest and juice of two lemons.

Day One

Finely chop the primrose petals and place them with the sugar in a container and stir through the primrose flowers. Cover and leave for at least 24 hours (this will allow the flavours from the petals to be released into the sugar.

Day Two

Peel and chop 450grms of apples, put them in a pan with 100ml of water and the lemon zest and juice. On the hob, gently cook the apple until it is yieldingly soft and then mash it into a purée.

One third fill a pan with water and place a snug-fitting heat-proof bowl on the top of the pan. Add the apple, butter, lemon juice and primrose sugar mixture to the bowl. Heat the pan and stir the mixture until the butter has completely melted.

Turn off the heat and add the eggs to the mixture through a sieve. Stir the eggs in thoroughly with a balloon whisk.

Put the pan back on a gentle heat and stir the mixture for about 10 minutes until it thickens. (It will thicken further as it cools). Pour the curd into sterilised jars, seal immediately and store in the fridge where it will keep for up to a month. Sieve the curd whilst pouring the curd into the jar.

It looks delicious and apparently takes amazing. A superb and very interesting wild harvest recipe in my opinion.

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Foraged Dinner From the Bristol Frome

4/18/2015

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A Brown Trout from the Bristol Frome

Eva and I caught a wild from trout from the Bristol Frome this evening. We rarely take Trout from the Frome, but I took this small trout this evening for Eva's dinner. I tend to only take small fish (less than 1/2lb) for my children's dinner. All big fish go back.

We made a Wild Onion, Elephant Garlic, Smoked Elephant Garlic and Wild Garlic Pesto and Eva had it for her tea. She couldn't stop praising how it all tasted!

Eva also made a giant Lesser Celandine chain and we had a fire by the river. Happy days!!!

The Pesto ingredients;

Pine nuts

Hazel nuts

Olive oil

Vinegar (slash to preserve)

Elephant Garlic

Smoke Elephant Garlic

A small bunch of Wild Onion Leaves

Wild Garlic

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That pesto is bloody amazing!!! Probably the best that I've tasted! Hazelnuts and pine nuts pan toasted. Your elephant garlic and the smoked garlic, was added towards the end of the toasting. Parmesan. Wild garlic leaves, with a small bunch of wild onion leaves. Olive oil and a splash of vinegar, to preserve it. It's not at all potent, like you would expect, just a really nice taste!!
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Wild Onion & Garlic Pesto
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Wild Onion and Garlic Pesto
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The Bristol Frome
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Eva's dinner - Wild Bristol Frome Brown Trout, with Wild Garlic Pesto.
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Elephant Garlic
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Salad Made With Foraged Spring Plants

4/13/2015

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Foraged Salad Made With Edible Spring Plants.

A wild salad made up by Eva (my 9 year old) - Hairy Bittercress, Sorrel, Lesser Celandine, Wild Onion (Leaves & Bulb), Wild Garlic (leaves & buds), Young Hawthorn Leaves, Hedge Garlic, Ground Elder, Cow Parsley, topped with a handful of Sweet Violets and Primrose. We ate it with Merguez, Cooking Chorizo and Burdock Root.

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Foraged Salad and Biolite Stove
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A wild salad made up by Eva (my 9 year old) - Sorrel, Lesser Celandine, Wild Onion, Wild Garlic (leaves & buds), Young Hawthorn Leaves, Hedge Garlic, Ground Elder, Cow Parsley, topped with a handful of Sweet Violets and Primrose. We ate it with Merguez, Cooking Chorizo and Burdock Root.
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Foraged Salad made with edible spring plants. Merguez Sausages, Cooking Chorizo and Burdock Root cooked on the Biolite Stove.
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Wild Boar & Fallow Deer in the Forest of Dean

3/2/2015

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A Palmated Fallow Buck from the Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean has a wealth of history. It's been inhabited by humans since Mesolithic times. Archaeological evidence shows that it was used during the Bronze and Iron Age. It was used by the Romans and was the second largest Royal Hunting Forest (Crown Forest). The largest being the New Forest. So it has a long history of being used as a hunting ground and it's harvest used to feed humans. There is also evidence of it being used as an ancient sea port.

There are now large herds of Fallow Deer Present. I've personally seen all morphological types, Common, Menil, Melanistic and White Fallow Deer. With no natural predators the numbers of fallow deer have to managed annually.

Wild Boar became extinct around 300 years ago in the UK. The Forest of Dean population is the largest of the breeding populations that now exist in England. The original population established in woodlands near Ross-on-Wye after escaping from a wild boar farm in the area during the 1990’s. However, in 2004 a group of around 60-farm reared wild boar were dumped in an illegal release near the village of Staunton on the western edge of the Forest above the Wye Valley. By 2009 it was clear that the two populations had merged. The numbers are an estimated 800+ Wild Boar in the forest. The signs of the routing boar is clear to see, over much of the forest. The Boar also therefore require management. Much of the venison and boar meat goes into the human food chain.

There are also Muntjac and Roe Deer in the forest. I believe now a herd of Red Deer, although I haven't seen them to date.

It's a truly beautiful and wild place.

There are no natural predictors to either deer or boar. It is estimated that around 20% of the deer in the UK need to be culled each year the the UK to prevent deer numbers escalating to unsustainable levels and to prevent significant woodland and crop damage. If the deer were not managed, the result would be a loss of woodland regeneration and a loss of woodland flora. Recently some experts suggest that 50% of the deer in the UK should be culled, in order to stop the significant rise in deer numbers, that has occured over recent years. Each year there are around 70,000 RTAs on our roads involving deer, 500 hospitalisations and around 10-20 human fatalities. If deer are not managed, these figures could rise dramatically.

The aim is always to manage the deer & boar to suistainsble numbers and not to eliminate them. This is important to ensure a healthy population and a balanced ecosystem.

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Fallow Deer Forest of Deab
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The palmated antlers of the fallow deer. Forest of Dean.
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Wild Forest of Dean Boar
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Fallow Deer, in the game larder. Ready to go into the human food chain.
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A couple of Forest of Dean Wild Boar hanging in the game larder.
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Humans have been hunting in the Forest of Dean since Mesolithic times.
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A young fallow buck. The ideal cull animal.
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A loin from a Wild Forest of Dean Boar - delicious!
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Venison Pate - Made Wild Exmoor Red Deer Liver

12/31/2014

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Venison Pate - made with wild Exmoor Red Deer liver.

Ingredients:

Red Deer Liver - coarsely ground. I used a blender.

An equal amount of coarsely ground shoulder of pork. The butcher ground the shoulder pork up for me.

Local home cured and smoked streaky bacon. This was cured and smoked by my local butcher.

One small onion. Pan fried in butter until translucent.

A couple of cloves of garlic finely chopped.

Chopped Sage and Tyme.

Sea Salt and coarsely ground black pepper.

A handful of breadcrumbs. This is important to keep the pate moist.

A small glug of good red wine, I used Rioja or port.

Mix the incredients in a large bowl thoroughly by hand.

Line a pate dish or loaf tin with the streaky bacon. Layer the bacon over the top of the pate.

Cook in a Bain Marie (a dish with some water in it) for 1.5 hours in the oven on a medium heat.

It's ready. Cool and serve.

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The ingredients for the venison pate. Red Deer Liver (any species of deer is fine). Home cured and smoked streaky bacon. Coarsely ground pork shoulder. Sage and Tyme. Garlic Bread crumbs and a small onion are also needed. Red wine or port can be added as a option.
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The ingredients for the venison pate either coarsely ground or chopped.
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The ingredients for the venison pate are then mixed in a large bowl.
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A pate dish, cake or loaf tin are then lined with the streaky bacon. The ingredients for the venison pate are then added.
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The streaky bacon is then folded over the venison pate.
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Cook the venison pate in a Bain Marie in the oven for 1.5 hours on a medium heat. Let it cool. Refrigerate, turn it out and serve with crusty bread.
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The finished product. Venison Pate made with wild Exmoor Red Deer liver.
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Slow Cooked Muntjac Leg and Pan Fried Red Deer & Muntjac Loin

12/31/2014

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Pan fried Red and Muntjac Deer Loins

The Red Deer and Muntjac loins were marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper. Left to room temperature before cooking. Browned in pan, then about 8min in oven..

The haunch of muntjac was cooked in the slow cooker with Blackberries, vegetable stock, red wine and creme de cassis.

The loins were served with pretty much same, but the sauce on the loins much more reduced into a jus. They were served on a bed of sautéed leeks.

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Slow cooked haunch of Muntjac Deer
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The Red Deer and Muntjac Loins were marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper and left at room temperature before cooking.
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Andy's Multi Bird Christmas Roast

12/21/2014

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Andy's Multi Bird Christmas Roast - Turkey, Guinea Fowl, Mallard, Pheasant, Partridge, Woodcock, 2 Quail and a Wood Pigeon. All deboned.

This is Andy's multi bird Christmas Roast. All of the birds were deboned. But the legs and wings were left on the Turkey.

From the outside:

Turkey,

Guinea Fowl

Mallard

Pheasant

Partridge

Woodcock

2 Quail

Wood pigeon

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Spiced Pear Chutney

10/3/2014

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Spiced Pear Chutney

A modified supermarket recipe from a friend of mine - spicy pear chutney.

I threw in some ground cinnamon, cloves, plum tomatoes and cashew nuts. I didn't have star anise. Would probably reduce the sugar a bit if I made it again, because it's quite sweet.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 35 minutes    

Makes: 1kg (4 x 250ml jars)

Ingredients

1kg bag essential Waitrose Conference Pears

300g light muscovado sugar

500ml cider vinegar

2 medium red onions, roughly chopped

40g peeled, grated, fresh ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp salt

250g pack Waitrose LOVE Life Cherries, Raisins & Nuts

2 cinnamon sticks

3 star anise

1 X ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Put 4 x 250ml clean jars and lids on a baking tray and place in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes to sterilise. Remove the tray from the oven and set aside to cool.

2. Peel and core the pears then chop into rough chunks. In a large pan, bring the sugar and vinegar to the boil, then add the pears and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer over a low heat for 1 hour uncovered, or until thick and glossy.

3. Decant the chutney into the sterilised jars and screw the lids on. Allow to cool completely, then store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

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Jars labelled and ready to go!
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Spiced Pear Chutney in the pan.
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Sloe Gin - ready for Christmas I guess?
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Smoking your Wild Harvest

9/27/2014

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Hot Smoked Wild Sea Trout
There seems to be something of a mystery around smoking and curing foods, an ancient skill around since before the ancient Egyptians but now only seemingly practised by either niche artisan producers or large commercial enterprises.

Just to clarify - there's hot smoking which involves cooking your food directly with heat whilst infusing smoke for both flavour and providing some additional preservative properties and cold smoking which is an indirect method of preserving food which essentially remains raw.

I'm going to focus on hot-smoking as the kit, time and effort required is far less and results more instantly tasty. In just a few words I'll aim to show you just how simple this skill is and that, once learned, it becomes a "life skill" - applicable in so many situations from the kitchen to the woods or riverbank.. and with oh so many foods! 

The first step is obviously to have caught, shot or bought something to smoke - there's not much that won't joyfully take on the savoury, salty tones - from duck, goose, sea trout, chicken, an otherwise boring turkey drumstick or even a shop bought steak or portion of pork belly (pork tenderloin is especially good).


So where to start?

Simply - make a "cure" mix.

By curing your item you'll enable the smoke to penetrate and stick to the food. If you don't cure it there'll be the smoky smell but the taste just evaporates disappointingly in the mouth.

Nothing complicated here - get a large kitchen bowl and empty into it a bag of pre-dried vacuum (PDV) or table salt. Add exactly the same amount of demerera sugar and mix thoroughly.

Now you can also add additional flavour to this mix by adding crushed dried bay leaves, juniper berries, peppercorns... go wild and experiment but essentially this is your basic cure mix that'll keep forever in a sealed container and you'll only ever use a little at a time.

So, make sure your object of smoky desire is thoroughly dry using a tea towel and sprinkle a non-metal tray or tupperware with a little of the mix. Add the item and then sprinkle some more mix on top ensuring you pack any spill over into the sides.

You want to fridge the tray now for 15-18 mins for fish, longer for larger pieces of red meat e.g. venison.
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Sea trout fillets curing
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Medley of pintail, teal and mallard breasts curing
When the time is up take the tray out and rinse the cure off the item thoroughly and then, once again, pat it dry with a tea towel - you'll notice a change in texture and it should feel firmer from the moisture the cure has drawn out of it.

Now fire up your BBQ - almost any will do as long as it has a lid and preferably ventilation holes - the kettle-style made by companies such as Weber are perfect.
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Weber "Jumbo Joe" and chips/herbs ready for smoking - note the position of coals away from the cooking tray
Get your coals nicely ashed over and soak some wood chips for 5 mins. Almost any fruit wood (pear, apple, cherry) or hard wood (particularly oak, beech, hickory or hazel) will do - I collect mine after chopping seasoned logs for the winter woodstore.

I'd also recommend picking some fresh herbs from the garden to suit your food - bay, tarragon, fennel etc. for fish or thyme, rosemary and/or sage for red meat - they'll add an additional boost of lovely oily smoke on top of the wood chips.
You'll need a tray which could be a shop-bought aluminium one with holes (perfect) or as pictured a doubled up sheet of kitchen foil with the edges crimped up. Place the item on the tray, add the chips and then the herbs to the coals, cover with the lid and ensure there's some ventilation, but not too much - you want that smoke in there as long as possible but without losing the barbecue heat. 

You may need to shuffle the coals and chips once or twice to keep the smoke coming but essentially you're now only relying on your BBQ skills.

For fish you want to achieve the rich golden colour of smoked mackerel - firm but moist.

For red meat you'll need longer and cook to your preference but keep duck and goose rare, you can always finish off sensitive cuts like pork tenderloin in a pan rather than risk overdoing them on the 'cue.

Again you'll be looking between 15 and 30 mins depending on what you're cooking and it'll need a good few minutes resting afterwards.

For fish I can't think of anything better than freshly home-baked bread, salad from the garden with a light vinaigrette dressing... for meat, especially duck, slice rare and serve with a bitter endive and chicory salad with a fruity dressing.
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So there you have it, nothing too complex or taxing - just a short time in a simple cure mix and you evolve from average "BBQ Joe" to "Culinary Wizard". Perhaps take a pot of mix and a portable bbq the next time you go shooting or down to the beach with rod in hand... the possibilities are endless.

Happy smoking!

Jon
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Smoked wild duck, sour cream and chive dressing and garden salad... go on give it a go
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Plum Liqueur

9/27/2014

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Plum Liqueur

Plum liqueur:

1. Place the vodka, plums and sugar in a large saucepan.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

3. Transfer the vodka plum mixture into two bottles and store in a dark, cool place for 3 months.

4. Optional: Strain the plum vodka through muslin and bottle in 2 clean bottles; or keep plums in liqueur to make a compote.

INGREDIENTS

1 bottle of vodka

450 g plums, halved and stoned

225 g sugar

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