• Cree ways

    From JIM WELLER@1:123/140 to MICHAEL LOO on Monday, July 29, 2019 22:42:00
    Quoting Michael Loo to Jim Weller <=-

    Head chef of Quebec City's Fairmont Le Ch teau Frontenac studying
    Cree cooking methods / local herbs and plants Modat collected
    to flavour the fish - such as sweetgrass, juniper and spruce buds.

    Now that could be interesting.

    I collect and use juniper berries, Spruce buds not so much even
    though there's black spruce in my back yard. There are several
    grasses called sweetgrass but the famous one, the sacred smudging
    herb, doesn't grow up here. (I wonder which one that chef was
    introduced to because James Bay has baxically the same soil
    conditions (Canada Shield glaciated rock and muskeg swamp) and
    climate that we do here.)

    Bannock on a stick has been done elsewhere, too. One
    wonders whether there was slow but sure interchange of
    information or the clever idea was independently hit
    upon in different places

    It's certainly common throughout all the tribes from the Atlantic
    coast through to the Rocky Mountains, especially north of corn
    country. And meat on a stick has been a thing for at least 35,000
    years everywhere, so bread dough on a skewer is not a huge leap.

    The fur traders certainly spread new ideas and commodites
    around and the Natives were always highly mobile compared to
    Europeans. A Native guy could hop in a canoe and go freely where
    ever he wanted to, learn a new language, be accepted into a
    different tribe, and marry a local girl if he chose to while a
    European serf was tied to his master's estate and never travelled
    outside his home county unless sent on some silly and possibly
    deadly crusade or other foreighn war somewhere.

    Flavouring fish with juniper is popular in Scandanavia too,
    especially strong flavoured, oily fish like herring and salmon.
    This recipe is from Finland ...

    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Herring with Juniper Berries
    Categories: Scandinavia, Fruit, Herring, Sauces
    Yield: 4 Servings

    2 Herrings or
    4 Herring filets (salted)
    15 Juniper berries (dried)
    1 Red onion thinly sliced in
    Rings
    SAUCE
    1 dl White vinegar
    2 dl Water
    1 dl Sugar
    2 Bay leaves
    10 Allspice berries

    Soak the herring over night or if using filets for a couple of
    hours. Clean the herrings and fillet them. Cut the fillets in
    about 2 cm pieces.

    Put the sauce ingredients into a pot and bring to boil. Cook until
    the sugar melts. Take off from the heat and cool. Put the
    onion rings, herring bits and crushed juniper berries layer by
    layer in a glass jar. Pour over the sauce and store in a fridge at
    least for 24 hours before serving. Enjoy with boiled fresh
    potatoes.

    From: Kaari Jae

    MMMMM

    Cheers

    Jim


    ... Cheap gin is just basically juniper vodka.

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  • From JIM WELLER@1:123/140 to MICHAEL LOO on Monday, August 05, 2019 21:47:00

    Quoting Michael Loo to Jim Weller <=-

    There are several grasses called sweetgrass but the famous one,
    the sacred smudging herb, doesn't grow up here.

    The one I'm most familiar with (in its role of flavoring
    alcohols) is also called buffalo grass.

    That's the one. Hierochloe odorata. As I mentioned in the previous
    post I now possess an as yet unopened bottle of Zubroka. You
    probably know this already but the sweetness comes from coumarin.

    Title: Herring with Juniper Berries
    15 Juniper berries (dried)
    10 Allspice berries

    Another potentially peculiar flavor mix

    Both are good but I've never had them together. Suckers and ciscoes
    often get pickled in a manner similar to herring. Ciscoes are in the
    whitefish family but are sometimes called "fresh water herring".

    MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV 2.10

    Title: Pickled Sucker
    Categories: Fish
    Servings: 4

    4 lg sucker filets (cut into
    2 inch pieces)
    2 sliced onion
    Sliced lemon
    BRINE:
    2 c water
    1 c vinegar
    3/4 c sugar
    1 TB pickling spice
    3 jiggers dry vermouth

    Soak filets in salt water for 24 hours. (Add enough salt to water,
    so an egg will float just off the bottom of the pan.) Rinse several
    times with clear water and then soak in white vinegar for 24 hours.
    Add water, vinegar, sugar and spices to a saucepan and bring to
    boil. Let cool; add vermouth.

    Pack fish in jar in layers of fish, sliced onion and sliced lemon.
    Pour brine over fish and refrigerate. Ready in about 5 days.

    From: Southendwalleyeslayer.Com/Sucker

    MMMMM-------------------------------------------------


    Cheers

    Jim


    ... Heck, if it fried, sweet, smoked or greasy, I'll eat it.

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