Cookbook Review: Earth to Table

There was a ton of buzz about this Canadian effort by chef Jeff Crump and pastry chef Bettina Schormann on places like Twitter, and I was really looking forward to getting my copy. As the title suggests, Earth to Table: Seasonable Recipes from an Organic Farm celebrates the simplicity of bringing food from the garden or farm directly to your plate in a world where such a process is usually overcomplicated by corporate agriculture.

The authors run the kitchens at Ancaster Old Mill in Ancaster Ontario, and funny, thing I actually ate at this restaurant when I was 19 years old as it was where my uncle held his wedding reception. I remember it as being the swankiest event I'd ever attended in my life (there was an open bar!), and even 16 years later, it's still up there in the rankings.

But back to the book. The flap reads: "Having learned the secret of local cuisine working in world-famous restaurants like Alice Waters's Chez Panisse, Jeff Crump set about developing a network of farmers to keep his own restaurant's kitchen humming all year round. It was not long before he was out in the fields himself, alongside pastry chef and collaborator Bettina Schormann, planting onions and harvesting the heirloom wheat that would form the backbone of her menu's breads and desserts."

Starting with spring, Jeff & Bettina take us on their journey as their forage and farm their way through seasonal, local, and sustainable cooking. Also members of the Slow Food movement, their passion about their mission jumps off the page. Highlighting other chefs, restaurants, and their earth-to-table relationships in the USA, Canada, and the UK, the book exposes how a quiet movement is beginning to become main stream in the industry.

As a baker, Bettina's wheat story was particularly interesting to me. She sourced out an heirloom strain of wheat, planted it, tended it, harvested it, ground it, and baked with it. Her trials and tribulations were a fascinating read, and even though she didn't get much wheat in the end, what came across strongly to me was just how much we take a staple such as wheat for granted in our society.

As for the recipes, they are simple, not full of fancy ingredients, and I'm looking forward very much to cooking with this book. I have a whole bunch of recipes bookmarked for future reference, and with Thanksgiving coming up, I'm going to be trying some for our two family dinners.

Earth to Table is far more than a cookbook; the information about foraging, farming, and sourcing local ingredients is well-presented and I got a lot from reading the non-recipe sections of the book. Of particular interest to me was Jeff's explanation of the difference between dirt and soil - something I'd never thought of, and something I need to reconsider as I continue with my own gardening and earth to table journey.

This is an amazing reference book I'll definitely be keeping on my shelves.

Huckleberry Slump

The name is catchy, isn't it? When I first came across the Sour Cherry Slump recipe in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, I knew I just had to make it for the name alone. Alas, two pints of sour cherries are just not doable on my food budget, so I let this recipe go - until I went huckleberry picking this summer! This, in addition to the huckleberry pork loin, was one of my first ideas for using the berries in a unique way.

According to the book, a "slump" is "essentially a twice-removed cousin of the cobbler family, consisting of cooked fruit filling topped with a biscuit crust that's cooked entirely on the stovetop" (page 44). The slump refers to how the biscuit topping "slumps" over the filling as it cooks.

The recipe for the original sour cherry version can be found online here.

Huckleberry Slump (adapted by me from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito)

For the biscuit topping

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Raw sugar for topping (optional)

For the huckleberry filling

• 3 cups huckleberries
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• juice of half a lemon (use some zest if you have it, too; I didn't)

Make the biscuit topping

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir in the melted butter and mix until combined. Add 1/4 cup of the sour cream and stir. Add a few heaping tablespoons of the remaining sour cream, stirring between each addition, until the dough feels wet. You may end up using slightly less than the 1/2 cup of the sour cream. Set aside while you prepare the huckleberries.

Make the huckleberries

In a well-seasoned 8-inch or 8-1/2-inch cast-iron skillet, gently combine the berries, sugar, and lemon juice. (I used my nifty cast iron KitchenAid dutch oven and it worked great.)

Cover the skillet with a lid or a piece of tight-fitting foil and bring the mixture to a rapid boil over medium heat.

When the mixture reaches a boil, remove the skillet from the heat and scoop heaping tablespoons of the biscuit topping over the berries, covering as much surface area as possible. If using, sprinkle the top with raw sugar. Cover the skillet tightly and return it to low heat. Cook for about 15 minutes. Do not remove the lid. After 15 minutes, check the topping for doneness; it should be dry to the touch. (The topping will not brown the way it would in an oven.)

Serve the slump hot from the pan.

Can we all say YUM? Holy huckleberries, man, this was wonderful! Really quick & easy and totally delicious. The huckleberries cook down and thicken and you get an almost jam-like consistency. The biscuits, which are more like a dumpling, are light and tender. I'm only sorry I put off making this so long because it was super! I will definitely be making this again, and it's versatile, too; you can probably use any seasonal fruit you want to. Excellent!

Magazine Monday # 50: Chocolate Walnut Tart

My dad's friend, who lives near Kelowna, has a walnut tree and some time ago I was gifted with a bag of walnuts from it. Yeah, I said "a while ago" because I let the nuts - still in their shells - sit around my kitchen for over a month. Why? Because I hate cracking nuts. Remember my hazelnuts from last year and the blister I got cracking them all? Well, I wasn't too excited about a repeat blister or sore hands. But, I didn't want to let the nuts go to waste, so I got out my cracker and set to work.

Man...About halfway through the bag - which yielded me 1 whole cup of nuts - I had a blister and a bruised-feeling palm. I'd also made a mess: the nuts were harder to crack than the hazelnuts and I guess letting them "mature" over the summer wasn't a good idea and the shells flew all over the place as I cracked them. My kitchen table & floor were both a disaster. But I had my one measly cup of nuts, enough for this Chocolate Walnut Tart recipe that came from the Feb. 2009 issue of Taste of Home, which came to me via my good friend Pierce earlier this summer. My nuts didn't need to be chopped; I had such a hard time prying them out of their shells that they were all in pieces - but my fingers were nice and soft from the oil and smelled really nice, so it wasn't all bad...

Chocolate Walnut Tart

Pastry for 9" single crust pie
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 eggs
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

1. Press pastry into bottom & up sides of 9" fluted tart pan with removable bottom; trim off excess pastry. Sprinkle nuts & chocolate chips into crust.

2. In a bowl, combine the remaining filling ingredients & mix well. Pour into crust.

3. Bake at 350F for 25 - 30 minutes or until top is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers.

OK. This was a massive FAIL. FAIL, I tell you!

First off, I made this in a 9" square pan because I wanted to freeze most of the tart and cutting it into squares would be much simpler. A 9" square pan is 81" in total area; a 9" round tart pan is 63.6" in total area. I mean, this is basic math, here...Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, my point is the square pan is bigger than the tart pan, so the filling was spread over a larger surface area.

But my tart didn't set! At all! I baked it for the allotted time, at the correct temperature, according to my oven thermometer. I then put it in for an additional 10 minutes - twice. Then, I put it in again, only to take it out shortly thereafter because the crust was getting too brown, as was the top. Upon cooling, the filling still didn't set. The sides were OK, if a bit gooey, but OK nonetheless, but the centre was a different story altogether. I refrigerated it for several hours, and still it didn't do its thing. It was a mess.HMPH!!! I was not happy and couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong. The pan size shouldn't have made a difference. This is basically a pecan pie filling, and I've made tons of them before, and never had this problem. The only thing I can think of was that it was the recipe itself. Perhaps 2 eggs would have sufficed, instead of 3. I don't know.

I managed to salvage the squares around the edges and freeze them for our camping trip, and the middle I picked away at when I needed a sugar craving - but still, I found this to be a waste of valuable ingredients for me, not to mention the time I put into cracking all the nuts! Grrrr!

Peach Upsidedown Cake

I'm happy to report that my Pear & Apple Crisp went over very well with the residents where I work. Last week, once again, I came on shift & was confronted with a large quantity of fruit that needed transformation: this time, locally-picked peaches.

I didn't have a lot of time to get creative with these because there was a lot of hospital baking to do for the day, and that is my priority. I had to opt for something quick & easy, so I decided to make a Peach Upsidedown Cake using cake mixes my work always has on hand for when they are in a pinch.

Luckily, peaches are much easier to peel than your typical apple or pear, and the stone in the middle just needs popping out so there is no coring to do - excellent time-savers!

I mixed the sliced peaches with sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I put this in the bottom of a chafing dish. Then I made two French vanilla cake mixes and poured the the mixture over the peaches. Into the oven, and voila!Just under an hour later, this is what we got. I was a little nervous about this because of the fruit on the bottom. I was worried the cake wouldn't cook properly and it would be raw around where the fruit & fruit juice was. We'll see. It certainly smelled excellent!

Magazine Monday #49: Apple Tart

This is what I was hinting at on Friday's post about the transparent apples: Apple Tart. This is such a simple recipe I almost didn't think it would be all that spectacular. I couldn't have been more wrong, and making this brought home the lesson "less is more."

Recipe is here, from a back issue of Bon Appetit.

The crust recipe alone was an excellent discovery, and I used it in another upcoming post, and think it's a great go-to recipe for when you just need a simple single-crust pastry recipe, or a quick base for squares.

I didn't make the caramel sauce - I didn't have any whipping cream and I was lazy. So, instead, to give this some extra flavour, to keep the apples moist, and to add some visual appeal, I brushed the baked tart, still hot out of the oven, with melted butter. This melded wonderfully with the spices in the filling.

This is a very quick, very easy recipe to put together, and the results are elegant. And they also make a great breakfast, with some vanilla yogurt. Trust me!

OK, so this is my last time hosting Magazine Mondays, and Ivonne will be back next week. I want to thank all of you who participated for sending me their links! It's been a slice, guys!

Also, just to let you know, I'm away most of this week, so you will be enjoying posts courtesy of Blogger's scheduled posts feature, but I won't be around visiting at least until Friday. Have a great week!

Joining me this week with their Magazine Monday contributions are: no one. *sniff sniff*

Transparent Apples & Magazine Monday Reminder

First, the reminder: Monday is once again Magazine Monday, and this will be the last time I host, as our usual host, Ivonne of Creampuffs in Venice, will be back from her travels and will return to her MM hosting duties for the Sept. 21 edition of MM. So, if you've made a magazine recipe recently and would like me to feature it in my own MM post on Monday, send me an email at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca with the link to your post and I'll include it.

Onto apples. It's apple season here, and the other day my roommate said she'd spoken to the neighbour, who owns the house right next to ours, and the neighbour said we were welcome to the apples on the tree there. I didn't realize they were ripe as they were still a pale green colour, but apparently, that's just the variety. My roommate, J, said that she & her family call this particular type of apple "transparents" and some of her family members say that these transparents are excellent for apple sauce and apple pie. So, off I went to pick a bag full and bring them home.

The tree was absolutely laden with apples, and there were lots of the fruit on the ground, too. The apples on the tree were in generally good condition, not very wormy-looking. But it appeared that I'd gotten there a tad bit too late, because some of the fruit were rotting on the tree and the apples left were very soft. I picked a cloth grocery bag full and took them off home, where I planned on turning most of my booty into apple pie filling. I'm not a huge user of apple sauce, and I thought it would be cool to have some pre-made, homemade apple pie filling around over the winter for pies & crumbles.

Well...I had good intentions, for sure. But the apples wouldn't co-operate. After peeling & corning for what seemed like ages - and soaking the peelless apples in a lemony water bath to keep the browning at bay - and then slicing, I had two pots full of apples.

I added a bit of water, and a cup or so of sugar and brought the apples to a boil. I didn't think they'd disintegrate into much so quickly or easily. I added ginger, cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg, and let them simmer. I then made a slurry with some flour (cornstarch thickened stuff sometimes doesn't freeze well) and added it to the bubbling apples. The mixture tightened up right away, so I put the whole sha-bang out on the porch to cool down as quickly as possible. This attracted some wasps, even though the lid was firmly on the pot.

Here is what the end result looked like:

And here is the pie filling ready to freeze. I got 14 cups plus a little left over for snacking on.

Yes, it's mushy & doesn't look like the greatest pie filling in the world, but it'll do, and I was grateful for the free apples!

I also made a tart with the apples, but that is for an upcoming post, so you'll have to wait & see the results (hint: excellent)!

Pear & Apple Crisp for a Crowd

My lastest work project on the dessert front included a huge bag of locally grown pears, picked by the folks at the residents.

The cook and I mulled over the possibilities we had within our bugetary limitations, and decided simple was best: pear crisp. Who doesn't love a good crisp? And my strawberry rhubarb one from a couple of weeks ago was a hit, so we thought it would be a good bet. (Incidentally, the chocolate strawberry shortcakes were also a HUGE hit!)

What I hadn't anticipated was the nuisance of peeling all the pears, and I had some time restrictions to work around. After I'd made my daily muffin quota, I had to peel like a maniac to get enough pears for a crisp that had to feed about 35 people. The cook helped me peel, but I knew it wasn't going to work. Luckily, there was a whole bucket of apple pie filling in the fridge, so I decided to make this a pear & apple crisp.

I gave myself 35 minutes to peel as many pears as I could. To this I added 1 cup of brown sugar, 4 tbsp cornstarch, and some cinnamon & nutmeg.

Then I scooped in a whole pile of apple pie filling. This stuff is so good I could just eat it by the spoonful!

I then mixed the pear & apple fillings together in the pan.

Onto the topping: 4 cups oats, 1 cup flour, 1 cup packed brown sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg, and about 1 1/4 cups cold margarine (no butter at this place, but I make do).

It smelled great as it cooked, let me tell you! Alas, my shift ended before it came out of the oven, so I'll have to wait for my next shift to get any feedback. I'm pretty confident that they liked this, though!

Huckleberry Pikelets

As you might have read, I have an abundance of huckleberries kicking around my freezer and I'm looking for new and interesting things to do with them. I came across a post by Bellini Valli of More Than Burnt Toast, a fellow BC foodblogger, featuring blueberry pikelets, and my interest was piqued. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I went down and made them immediately.

For an explanation on pikelets, you can read Bellini Valli's information about this treat here. I also found an interesting article on pikelets here, baking up Bellini's assertion that there are a lot of contradictions around these things. The Hub UK site has a recipe for pikelets that uses yeast, and this seems far more crumpet-like to me than the recipe I used. I grew up in a pretty British household, but had never heard of pikelets before; I must ask my dad if he remembers them.

The pikelet batter I used, got from Bellini's site here, was very much like a pancake batter, though slightly thicker. Initially, I didn't use rings because I didn' think they would be necessary, but I had a bit of a disaster with my first batch that made me rethink that strategy. I then unpacked my English muffin rings, buttered them well, and had far better results.

These are, essentially, a thick pancake. They were wonderful! Not terribly exciting or exotic, as the name might suggest, but they were certainly yummy. Thanks Bellini Valli!

Full Flickr set here.

Pork Tenderloin, Starring....Huckleberries!

So this is my first kick at the can using my lovely huckleberry bounty, locally picked by yours truly. I wanted to do something different; muffins are so pedestrian! I whipped this pork tenderloin idea up on my own...divine inspiration out in the berry patch or something... My dad donated the tenderloins, of which there were two, and initially four were supposed to partake in the meal, but then plans fell apart, as they do once in a while. So, I knew there would be a ton of leftovers, I just didn't yet know if that was a good thing or not. Here's how it went.

For the rub:

1/3 cup brown sugar
ginger, cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, salt & pepper - all to taste (I didn't measure)

For the filling:

1 package (140g) unripened goat's cheese (i.e. not feta), softened
a whole bunch of huckleberries
4 cups of spinach
3 cloves garlic
1tsp or so of the rub mixture

I was going to just put the spinach in raw, but decided against it. In fact, I wasn't going to put any spinach in at all, but I had so much left over from a salad I made that I decided what the hell. When my SIL does pork loin, she usually puts spinach in the stuffing and it's always awesome. Anyhoo, I sauteed the spinach because I wanted to cook the water out of it first. It was worth it to spend the extra few minutes to do this, I think. I sauteed the spinach in olive oil and the garlic.After the spinach was wilted, I added it to the goat's cheese & huckleberries. What I got was not particularly appetizing...But this was an experiment after all, right?Yeah, great colour, eh? At this point I was thinking, Hmmm...was this a good idea? But I soldiered on, and stuffed the tenderloins, after making a cut along the length in order to flatten them out and create a pocket for the filling.After that came the rub...I realized too late I should have rubbed first and filled second, but we live and learn, don't we?

Then, truss truss baby. You can see my blue silicone trussing thingies in this picture. Very cool gadget.Then into a 375F oven, covered with foil for about half an hour, then off with the foil and continue baking until an internal temperature of 180F was reached. And voila...While my meat rested (it took about an hour to cook, and I set my fancy-wancy thermometer with probe 180F so it would beep when the temp was reached) I made a sauce, using, what else? Well, yes, huckleberries, but also POM! The last of my POM (I have one coupon left). This was the one with blueberry juice in it as well.

Pomegranate Huckleberry Sauce

juices from the roasted pork loin
about 1/2 cup POM juice
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
a whole bunch of huckleberries

I dissolved the cornstarch in the POM as the drippings, brown sugar, and ginger came to a boil in a small saucepan. Once the drippings boiled, I added the huckleberries and the POM. I simmered for a few minutes... And forgot to take a pic of the sauce. Sorry. It looked like...blueberry syrup. Use your imagination.

Slicing the tenderloin proved difficult - it was very delicate and the filling so soft that it squished out the sides. This is what I got:Yeah...presentation-wise, I don't think this is a winner.The overall verdict, however: a hit! I loved it right away. Everything went really well together, from the rub on down. The sauce was great. The spinach, however, I could have lived without. It didn't really add any flavour and made the presentation less than stellar. I'd leave it out next time. Additionally, I would use feta cheese the next time, for a couple of reasons. A) I think the flavour contrast between saltiness of the feta and tart-sweet of the berries would be killer. B) It's a firmer cheese and would probably slice & present better than this goat's cheese.

My dad took a bit more convincing. He's not used to having sweet things mixed with his otherwise savoury dishes, and I get that. It's not everyone's cup of tea. He did, however, have seconds, and by the end of the meal, he was converted! He has half of the second loin we didn't even touch for leftovers, as do I. (I served this meal, by the way, with a barley & bean salad that will be the subject of an upcoming Magazine Monday post.)

Definitely a successful experiment! With a bit of tweaking, I might just make this my signature dish! And - I still have a ton of huckleberries frozen for future kitchen experiments!

Enjoy!

Huckleberry Time!

On Saturday, I got to go out into the bush and pick huckleberries. You can read more about that here.

I got 10 cups of huckleberries! So, now what? Well, yesterday morning I made huckleberry pancakes, using Nigella's homemade pancake mix. The pancakes were totally excellent and I still think this recipe makes the best pancakes I've ever had.

So, now what do I do with all these other remaining huckleberries? Yeah, there's muffins and pies...But I want to do something different.

Hucklberries are quite tart in comparison to blueberries. I'm thinking goat's cheese; I'm thinking pork loin; I'm thinking spinach!

Any ideas? Let me know!

Full Flickr set from the berry-picking spree is here.

Lunch In Creston

I've had a busy couple of days!

Today, my dad and I went on a drive to Creston, BC, which is about an hour and a half or so from here. Creston is in a deep valley and is well-known for it's produce, similar to the Okanagan. Dad wanted strawberries and a sandwich from Creston Valley Bakery & Deli (no site, unfortunately). I wanted some Creston asparagus and to visit a place that sells chocolate-covered fruit (more in a later post).

Creston Valley Bakery & Deli makes a large selection of gourmet sandwiches and serves other light lunch items, including homemade soup and borscht. The bakery is excellent, too.

My dad had a reuben sandwich with extra hot mustard.I had the shrimp croissant. We got carrot sticks & dip with our sandwiches. The croissant was fairly average, but as a whole, the sandwich was pretty good.

I bought dessert, in addition to a selection of other items from the bakery (again, fodder for a future post). Dad had the Saskatoon Slice, which was like Black Forest Cake only made with Saskatoon berries instead of cherries. He really liked it.
I opted for the Mocha Missile, which was like a rectangular doughnut sliced in half and filled with mocha buttercream, topped with fondant, chocolate drizzle, and more mocha buttercream - YUMMY!

And just to give you a taste of some of the views we enjoyed on our drive over the Kootenay Pass to Creston, here are some shots of the lovely mountains we saw. The first two were taken at Kootenay Summit, which is 1774m/5826ft above sea level, and the last one was near the summit, on the western side of the pass coming up from Salmo.


Full Flickr set here.

Game Dinner 2009 Rundown

All righty: the post you've all been waiting for - the Nelson Rod & Gun Club Game Dinner Rundown, Food Edition! A rundown of the events of the evening aside from the buffet can be found over here.

So, I had assumed after my 2007 experience that the food would be terrible. In fact, I made sure I ate a big late lunch, and even suggested to my brother that we might need to nip out to the A&W down the street during dinner because the food might be that bad. We were told well in advance that the club ladies would be doing the cooking, which indicated to me that the food wouldn't be that great - maybe a bit like gamey camping grub.

I am thrilled to report the food was great, and unlike 2007, which featured mainly elk meat done in various ways, there was a lot of variety this year. Thank God. The club actually brought in a professional to cook all the roasts. Her name is Jennifer, and I recognized her as the owner and cook at Nelson's Vienna Cafe, a place I go to quite often when I'm Nelson, because it shares a space with a second-hand book shop. Vienna Cafe serves great lunches, great coffee drinks, nice baking, and does beautiful celebration cakes. The roasts last night (moose, elk, white tail deer, mule deer, turkey, bear ham, and salmon) were done to perfection, and I was impressed.

So, Let's get started, shall we?

As we entered the hall, we were offered appies, and as we circulated around the hall looking at all the prizes on offer (door prizes, bucket draws, silent and live auction items) appies were circulated. This alone indicated to me that things might be a bit better than my previous experience, and right away the tone for the evening was set: game meat at it's best! The appy platters were all the same, containing cheese, crackers, three different types of elk sausage (pepperoni, garlic coil, and one other I can't remember), big horn sheep meatballs in sweet & sour sauce, and, yes, you are reading this right, cougar meatballs in cranberry sauce. The elk pepperoni was excellent, and the big horn sheep meatballs were pretty good, but the cougar meatballs were kind of gross. The meat was dry and tasted funny, and the sauce wasn't very good. They were also cold. Now, I am actually not a fan of cougar hunting on any level for any reason, and I was reluctant to even partake in any cougar, but I thought - it's already dead, I might as well try at least one ball, if for no better reason to tell all my foodblogging pals that I actually ate some cougar. So, yes, I tried some cougar, I didn't like it, and I'll never try any again. It was kind of weird to be eating cat of any kind, especially when a stuffed cougar stared down at us from its place on the stage with it's glassy eyes. In fact, it was downright creepy.

OK, onto the buffet. Like I said lots of variety, and even some non-game offerings for those not totally into the whole game meat thing. There were also salads, buns, mashed potatoes, homemade pickles, and some homemade condiments - cranberry sauce, horseradish, and oregon grape jelly. I actually tried the oregon grape jelly and found it to be quite delicious! We have so many oregon grapes around here that I might have to pick a bunch and try making some jelly myself!



Exhibit #1: Mule Deer. I couldn't get a good picture because there was a lot of bustling action going on at the buffet table, but you're not missing much because this looks exactly like roast beef. I didn't take any, but my brother Jem did, so I tried some of his. He didn't care for it, and neither did I; very strong and gamey.





Exhibit #2: White Tail Deer & Turkey This year's non-game selection included Glace Ham (I didn't eat it or take a picture) and turkey. In this picture, we have the star of the show for me, the roast white tail deer. It was AWESOME! Cooked to absolute perfection and decently rare, it was the most tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat I had ever tasted in my entire life. It was like butter. I had seconds! Next to it, was the turkey, which was very moist and flavourful, but not wild - it was a Butterball. Well, who knew? Butterballs rock, obviously, because this turkey was fantasic! It went quickly and I never got any seconds.

Exhibit #3: Moose & Elk Nothing terribly exciting about either of these game meats, which I've had before (my dad used to hunt moose and I had my fill of elk at the 2007 dinner). I took some pictures but didn't try either.





Exhibit #4: Sockeye Salmon This was cooked to perfection as well, and stuffed with lemon. It's hard to do salmon well in a buffet situation where chafing dishes are used, but this salmon was the bomb and it went quickly, too, so there were no left-overs when I went up for seconds.





Exhibit #5: Cougar Stew and Cougar Meatballs Couldn't do the stew, for reasons mentioned above. My dad and my brother really liked it, though, and there wasn't much left over at the end of the night. The one appy meatball I had was enough, but they put of them out a pan after all the tables had gone through the buffet line because I guess there were a lot of leftovers.



Exhibit #6: Elk Meatloaf This looked promising, and elk is OK meat, but when I tried this meatloaf, I didn't care for it. It came with a creamy sauce that was sort of sweet, but the meatloaf itself just wasn't very good. This was quite a popular dish, though; this pan went fast and they had to bring another one out.







Exhibit #7: Bear Ham OH MY GOD. I couldn't do this one at all. It just looked absolutely grotesque - and fatty, too, for some reason. In fact, it was the fattiest meat there. I tried some bear sausage at the 2007 dinner and really didn't like it. There didn't seem to be any point in my trying this. And there was a stuffed bear looking at us as we ate (see above taxidermy pic)...









Exhibit #8: Tomato & Basil Elk Sausage This was OK. The sauce was good and the sausage was OK, though a bit on the dry side. This was also a very popular dish that went quickly.







Exhibit #9: Dessert I have absolutely no idea what this was. It was a very strange cross between lemon meringue pie and ambrosia. It had a cakey bottom, a lemon pudding layer, then all these marshmallows. It was OK, but it was very weird.





The full Flickr set from the evening can be viewed here.

I encourage you to read about the rest of the evening here, including how I became the proud owner of a Hot Lips Elk Call - with picture of me trying to learn how to toot the thing!