Different ways to cook fish

Over the weekend I went to Twin Eagles Fall Harvest Festival where I led a workshop on the different ways to cook fish. The first method was the butterfly fillet that I showed on the previous blog. This time I didn't have enough time to smoke it, so I just made a bigger fire so it would cook faster. That worked really well. The second method was clay-baked trout. This involved wrapping the fish in clay and putting it on the coals to cook inside of it's clay shell. I forgot to put seasoning with the fish, so this turned out a bit bland. The third method was Flat Rock, which is basically the same as cooking it in a frying pan, except you use a flat rock. I made a keyhole fire pit and elevated the flat rock with two smaller rocks over the small area of the keyhole. I then scooped coals under this to heat the rock. I put butter on the rock and cooked the fish. This turned out very well, it was some people's favorite.

It is getting very hard for me to eat only wild foods because I have a limited supply of everything. I end up eating the same thing over and over and that gets boring. It would be different if there weren't other foods around me that my family is eating. For dinner today I was eating bland amaranth, while my family was eating Risotto.  When I see and smell regular food, I remember the best taste of it, and because I haven't eaten it for a while it gets even better.

At this point I don't think it is practical to just eat wild foods. I think it is better to cook your food with wild ingredients, but also with local and organically grown foods. I am so used to the variety of foods that we eat, that it is really hard to give up something that is so available, easy and delicious.

I will do my very best to make the best food yet in the coming week. I still have a wild turkey that I got with my brother, Nathen. As a Thanksgiving, I am planning to share that turkey and some of my other wild food with friends.