Reprize

Whenever we embark on a new endeavor it seems a little crazy. We never do quite as good of job as we want on keeping up with the basic details of home, work, school and parenting, so adding something new always seems a bit illogical. But setting logic aside and going for it can be pretty rewarding.

This project, and the blog associated with it, has been a lot of fun. By collecting for all the recipes in a year, we were pushed to do things we otherwise wouldn’t have done, practically every step of the way.

One of our very first endeavors was collecting elderberries on the MKT trail, on our bikes, right after church, on a blazing hot day. We wouldn’t have done it that day normally, but we made time to do it because elderberries were almost out of season, and we needed it for the recipe. The same story was repeated time and time again throughout the year – for rabbits, squirrels, mushrooms, fish, nuts, berries – we forced ourselves to take time to do things when we were otherwise busy because we had our deadline.

While this typically turned into a positive on the hunting and gathering things, it wasn’t always so for the cook. Many times Ann found herself cooking a weekday night after school, after work meal that was too gourmet for our schedule. But she’s fast in the kitchen, and she made it through it. I felt sorry for her for the stress it was putting her under at times, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the meals. I think for next year we might want to give Ann a break, and take on a challenge like eating our way through everything in the frozen food isle at Schnucks.

When people ask me about the highlights, the biggest plus for me was doing things in the Missouri wild that I hadn’t done before. Duck hunting was a big one. I live about nine miles from what has to be one of the best duck hunting places in the state, and I had never even considered duck hunting before this. Trout fishing was also something new for us, and all of four of us enjoyed that together.

Having an excuse to make time for all the hunting and fishing that I haven’t been doing in recent years was also a huge benefit of doing the project. The pressure to be successful was a little trying, but when I take time to hunt or fish I usually put that pressure on myself anyway, whether or not we have specific meal plans depending on my success.

The downside about self-imposed challenges is the lack of a huge payoff at the end. The completion was a big anti-climatic for us – there wasn’t a final prize or reward. After a year interest had waned in the blog, in both the reading and writing of it. But when we consider everything that we experienced in the past year that we wouldn’t have, had we not had this project pushing us along, it renews my hope for going for it rather than just taking things as they come. There was no big prize at the end, but the payoff was in the process.

Crawfish Vol-Au-Vent, page 112

From Fred:

Things I learned from this recipe:

You can buy frozen crawdad tails in a flat package of the frozen fish section in our grocery store.

They cost $20 per pound.

I have a hard time paying $20 a pound for anything, even though I know the money I sink in pursuing fish or game usually results in spending far more than that.

This recipe put those tails to good use. I have no idea what it was like to make the recipe, as Ann did it while I was at work. But I can tell you that eating it was divine. The meal was better than you would get at any restaurant, even those with the $50 entrée. So the $20 per pound crawfish tails  were a real bargain.

As you can tell from the pictures, Ann put on an elegant spread for the final recipe. This was a good one to end on.

Swedish-style boiled crayfish (kokta kraftor), page 113

This recipe was even simpler than the previous one. There are only two ingredients: crayfish and dill (I’m not going to count water and salt as ingredients). We made it the day after the island party, after we put away all of our stuff.

The boys and I had collected enough crayfish to try out this recipe, but not really enough to make a big meal out of it. So we bought some more at Schnucks. The only way you can buy them there is fully cooked, so the Schnucks crayfish weren’t part of the recipe.

We never did make it down to Table Rock Lake in pursuit of the big crayfish, so we just had the small mid-Missouri ones to work with. They were tasty, and the boys and I consumed and enjoyed a few, but we were all a bit more drawn to the big ones from the store. They certainly weren’t better, but they were so much bigger it was hard to pay much attention to our catch. The ones we caught were so small, they were fun to try, but not really worth the shucking if you were trying to make a meal of them.

Summer Black-and-Blue Pudding, Page 150

It’s not a coincidence that this recipe was almost the last one made. Ann didn’t think it was going to be very good. I can’t blame her, it only has four ingredients, and one is a loaf of bread, if you can call that an ingredient. The other four are blackberries, blueberries, sugar and a teaspoon of lemon Juice. It only calls for a cup of sugar, which doesn’t sound like much if you’ve ever made a blackberry cobbler or cherry pie.

A Pringles can with a speaker hooked up to my Android
 rocks the island during the dessert course.

But we should have known by now to have confidence in any recipe in Cooking Wild in Missouri. Ann made the dessert Saturday morning, put it in the fridge, then the cooler, and brought it out at  the island party Saturday night. It was gorgeous, and well received by both the kids and the adults. Ann whipped cream and served the pudding with a ring of cream around it, which was the icing on the cake. There was no part of this dessert left over.

The Munos in the moonshine (supplemental lighting provided by campfire).

Jim Low's Beast Feast Gumbo, page 76

The gumbo was well received by the 25 people who joined us for dinner on the island in the Missouri River Saturday night. We cut the recipe way back and still had an ample amount for the crowd, and enough left over for the four of us to have it for dinner Sunday night.

Having it on the island worked well. I made it ahead of time, and we just reheated it on the camp stove when we got there. Ann made the rice right before we left, and then wrapped the pot in a couple of blankets, and it stayed hot until dinner time.

After-dinner campfire time.

The weather was perfect, mild enough so that the desert island didn’t get too hot, but warm enough to get in the water, which is important when you’re using a fiberglass boat with a inboard motor to ferry 25 people and camping gear across the Missouri River.

End of Blog Blowout

Beginning to load the boat.

We're heading to the Missouri River to bring our Woods to Food project to a celebratory close. We'll spend the night on California Island, which is near Katfish Katy's, which is near Huntsdale. As a faithful blog reader, you're welcome to join us, of course. Since the island is public, I don't think we could stop you from coming. As for food, we might lean more toward the realm of sample than ample, so you might want to bring something. We'll be eating no fewer than two recipes from Cooking Wild in Missouri. I'm happy to ferry you back across the river if you don't want to stay the night.

The Low Down

I've never met Jim Low. This is unusual, because my wife has worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation for more than 15 years, and he's an MDC guy. It's even more unusual, because I've been working with Jim for longer than I've been married.

Jim writes news releases for the Missouri Department of Conservation, and does a fine job at it. I used many of his releases verbatium, or used them as background for a story I would write myself, in newspapers in Belle, St. Joe, Hannibal and Columbia. I worked with a lot of people in Jim's line of work, particularly in my job with the St. Joseph News-Press, and he was the best in the business. As equally valuable as his press releases was Jim's role as the go-to guy for information. He could always put me in touch with an expert source on anything related to Missouri outdoors.

Last night I started cooking "Jim Low's Beast Feast Gumbo." I like cooking things like stews, chilli, soups and gumbo, probably because they usually don't require a lot of precision. I think Jim's recipe fits that bill, as most of the ingredient list calls for items in quantities such as cups, quarts or pounds.

The recipe also calls for tasso. Being the outdoorsman that I am, I could have bagged a nice tasso last season, but I wasn't sure it met the minimum size requirements. Fortunately Ann followed the tips on page 77 and made a connection with an obscure meat dealer at the local career center, so we had tasso in the freezer ready to go, along with large andouille that would have been suitable for mounting.

The gumbo now rests in preparation for the exciting conclusion to our Woods to Food project.