HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

Of Truffles & Rabbits: Hunter Gather Cook Videos.

Tuber Aestivum: Sussex Black Gold, October 2014.

Last January, there was a new addition to the our family: a scruffy mix of Norfolk terrier x Jack Russell. B was a mere 10 weeks when we got her, having never hada dogs before, it was a daunting prospect indeed, but it was to prove one of the best decisions we ever made. As the propreiter of a Foraging and cookery school, i felt it would be great to involve B in the business somehow- the obvious choice for a terrier would be for rabbiting or ratting (the later unlikely to feature on the menu...), but why not a truffle dog? A lot of people  thought the idea of training such a ferret to hunt truffles was a ridiculous notion and unlikely to come to fruition. As it turned out, I like a challenge...

Along with a bit of help from a friend and the queen of truffles herself, Melissa Waddingham, who introduced me to the forager's holy grail back in 2011 for an article I did on her for the independent, I set about 7 months of intesive truffle dog training.

After, moving training from the living room to the garden and then to the woods, I felt that B was ready to embark on her first truffle season- she was working well and it was time to upgrade. Its hard to put into words the first foray to the truffle grounds with the little ferret and quite the elation I felt when she found her first truffle and the dozens she has found since. She has come a long way in her first year, and we couldnt be prouder of what she has achieved, so much so that we honoured her by making her a Hunter Gather Cook Instructor. It has never been my intention to sell the truffles she finds, they are primarily for use at the school and whatever is left goes to friends or our local- The Ram inn in Firle, in return for beer and fillet steak for B. Bartery is still a valuable currency round these parts. 

B may be a working dog, but she certainly enjoys her work, I think the video below illustrates that perfectly- she's a happy little soul and when she isn't tearing it about at 100mph, she is at least semi professional- but we still have a way to go!

 

On Another note, we at Hunter Gather Cook have had the pleasure of doing some videos with Vice Munchies, here is the first installment from earlier this year on how to butcher and cook wild rabbit at our Treehouse HQ, pleased to say it has racked up an astonishing 63,000 hits! Not bad for some feral folk from the woods...

Lets Cook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kickstarter: Tree House HQ at Hunter Gather Cook.

Happy Spring Everyone!

Finally the end of winter is nigh and already the hedgerows are bursting with early spring greens. Hunter Gather Cook is a hive of activity at the moment with menu planning for our 2014 courses, we have also just launched a Kickstarter campaign for a very special new HQ...

Kickstarter treehouse HD from Nick Weston on Vimeo.

 

Ever since building a tree house and living in it and off the land, it has always been a dream to go back to the roots of where Hunter Gather Cook began and build a tree house HQ in which to run all our courses. Today the project went live on kickstarter, we are looking for £5k to build a 9m by 4m tree house in the woods with a brand new off-grid kitchen. Please have a look at what our tree house vision is here including a nice little video of what we have planned- we have some pretty awesome rewards too, so we may see you up in the trees in May!

As for the arrival of spring, here are some damn fine recipes to get stuck into at this time of year, personally, I would strongly advise the Nettle beer!

• Nettle beer: a refreshing brew that comes out at 6.4% tastes like a cross between cider and a white wine spritzer...ready in 2-3 weeks.
• Wild stinger Pesto Balls: Ideal for those that are vegetarian, even better for those that want something to go with their meat! Goes very well with saddle of rabbit.
• Red Dead Nettle: a spring side dish- coming into season now.
• Potted Rabbit: Now the suns out, rabbit will be out in the fields lining up for the gun- a great recipe to make the most out of your bunnies!

Wild Stinger Pesto Balls.

All our courses for 2014 are online and filling up quickly, so do check out the website to see if anything tickles your fancy. The Deer in a Day course seems particularly popular this year and there are only two dates available- so get in quick! 

We will once again be headlining the deer stage at Wilderness Festival this year, foraging too and we are also doing the Kids camps on the friday and saturday with a limited number of 120 places for an overnight wild food adventure for 8-14 year olds- due to go on sale soon through the Wilderness website soon.

Look forward to seeing you in the woods soon...to the TREES!!

Hunter Gather Cook: New Tree House HQ 2014.

Sketch of the new tree house HQ at HGC.

Wow. My 200^th post on this here blog. And what a post to celebrate it with!

In January 2009, I began plotting an escape. I had no idea where it would lead or what would happen, but what I did know was that my present situation at the time was in need of an overhaul. The issue was with my working life: 50-60 hours a week doing set design and cheffing for a variety of overbearing bitchy, employers and phsycopathic chefs in London’s events industry was taking its toll on my enthusiasm after 4 years. I had seen some things and learnt some stuff too, but I wasn’t cut out for city life. Concrete jungles did little to inspire me having grown up in the depths of Sussex.  I was out.

Adventure was what I was looking for, but not one that involved a physical journey from A to B. I wanted a sedentary adventure, an existence in a single  place where I could create a simple life that cost virtually nothing but time and effort. Knowledge of the natural world and how to best utilise the landscape around me would be key- but this was nothing new to me and I felt confident that striking out into woods of Sussex with the right tools and a few basic staples, I would not only survive but thrive. Wild places still exist in the UK and you don’t have to go far to fined them.

The Original: The Treehouse diaries. June 2009.

Little did I know, it would be my choice of accommodation that would be central to my way of life. I wasn’t interested in yurts, teepees or benders, I wanted something fancy and different. In a bid to recapture the days of my youth, I opted for something I had always wanted, but as a boy never had the skills or tools to create. A Tree house built from natural and recycled materials.

That’s where the adventure began and my life changed forever. I became a 21^st century hunter-gatherer eating my way through the wild larder. Life was simplified and other than my stomach and living arrangements I had virtually set myself free from the system. Columns and news reports followed, a book was commissioned. Suddenly there were critics and even enthusiasts, I was relatively unbothered by the all of it- I certainly couldn’t deal with it- no wifi in the woods!  I had set out to do something that I wanted to do for myself in whatever way I chose and so that what I carried on doing.

Special Branch: Front cover of Sunday Times Home Section.

Hunter Gather Cook foraging and cookery school was set up in 2011, the plan was to establish the school at the original tree house, a place I had got to know extremely well with a mental map of where to find every wild ingredient and plenty of room for roaming including a river full of fish. Unfortunately, my original bid for freedom and desire for secrecy made logistics of running courses in such a location impossible. Fortunately, with the use of a bit of countryside networking, I soon found the perfect place in which to settle and after 3 years in the same location, a place we still like to keep a little secret only revealed to course attendees, more plans are afoot.

Building the first HGC HQ in 2011.

The HGC off-grid kitchen has been one of the greatest kitchens I have ever had the pleasure to work in. Other than gas rings for heating oil and emergencies, all cooking is done on, in or well above fire. The results produced using various contraptions we’ve built and the finest wild meat from within 5 miles of Hunter Gather Cook speaks for itself. Being at the forefront of what we do means that we are constantly evolving, experimenting and establishing the best techniques for outdoor cookery and how to produce the best food using our native flora and fauna. Our HQ is no exception…

A Treehouse HQ has always been at the forefront of my mind, going back to the roots of where everything began and paying homage to it for giving me a life I never thought could exist is something I will always be grateful for. I have met some truly wonderful folk so far and no doubt will meet many more. Hunter Gather Cook is not just a foraging & cookery school, it is a way of life for those that work there and for those that spend their time there, we live and breathe it and what makes it so worthwhile is to be able to share it with those that come on our courses in the hope that wild food, be it meat or plants, will be used more regularly in kitchens across the country with sustainability in mind.

Sketchy: ideas for the new Kitchen Unit under the treehouse HQ.

Over the last three years Hunter Gather Cook has grown at an exceptional rate, festivals, pop-ups, weddings, stag & hen do’s and wild banquets as well as all our fixed seasonal and specialist day courses are all part of what we do. It feels like the right time for a tree house, we need more space at our ground floor HQ, heading to the trees gives us a split level workspace: upstairs for dining, a bar and overnighters and downstairs for the greatest of outdoor, off-grid kitchens and prep areas with just about every wood-fired appliance you could imagine. It’s going to be epic, but then what else would you expect from a 30ft treehouse?

As ever, Natural materials will feature heavily, recycled? probably not this time! The new Treehouse HQ is being engineered with the help of the wonderful gents at Blue Forest and being constructed by myself and the rest of the HGC team. The aim is to create a unique workspace to engage and inspire everyone who comes down to our neck of the woods.

 So if you booked into come and see us anytime from Mid-April, expect a day amongst the leaves! All our courses for 2014 are now online, visit www.huntergathercook.com or if you would like to enquire about a stag or hen do, corporate day, family day or private overnighter please email [email protected]

 

…to the TREES!!!!

   Illustration by Patrick O'Leary of treehouse life for Flamingo Magazine.

 

Truffle Hunting: The Ultimate Forage...

Proudly displaying my first 'Black Gold'. Sussex. November 2013. 

I do like a bit of a forage- having a nice fondle of the hedgerows for your supper is a timeless activity that all humans, regardless of anything, will always take pleasure in. I wouldn’t say I’m a forager as such because I also forage for my protein, be it meat, fish insect or crustacean, just as much as I do for plants, fruit, nuts and mushrooms. So, for me, Hunter-Gatherer seems more appropriate, forager has murmurings of vegetarianism, although I doubt you would meet many that were, but lets not split hairs!

I’m incredibly happy with the fact I eat meat and even happier that I source most of it myself- I would like to wear a badge that says ‘carnivore’ or have a window sticker that says ‘No Meat, No Meal’. Screw it, I’ll even stick a flag on the top of my house. Its not that I don’t like my greens, because I love them equally, I just think they need something to go with them and vice versa. Eggs are meat too just in case you were wondering, or at least that’s how I treat them. If a mushroom fills the void between protein and veg…

…whats a truffle?

Other than a type of chocolate, it is a subterranean Ascomycete fungus of the genus tuber. So technically it falls under ‘mushroom’, the void between meat and vegetables. I’m sure I don’t have to go into a detailed description, many of you are aware of what a truffle is and that they are synonymous with fine dining, hence spenny to purchase. Gordon Ramshank managed to charge a fortune at his restaurants by putting it on everything, that and fois gras. Lets face it, folk don’t go to his restaurants for his personality.

I’ve never really understood just why it is truffles and people are attracted to one another? Its not like you would substitute it for perfume, but it is one that really appeals in a culinary sense- then again 70% of taste is smell. Truffle aroma is primarily made up of two things: Sulphides and Phenolic ether. It is the balance between these two, the muskiness of the sulphides and the savoury notes of the Phenolic ether. Pure sulphides will smell like canned farts so balance is everything and they can vary from truffle to truffle. To read more about truffle aroma visit this awesome website that will tell you everything you will need to know: http://www.delectations.org/aroma.html

I first got drawn toward truffles a few years ago, after hearing stories that truffles existed in the South Downs. Trying to track down if it was true or not, I went to the local information centre, otherwise known as the pub. There were a lot of blank faces, but then there were also a lot of ‘this one bloke told me…’

Truffle hunting with Melissa. Sussex, 2011.
 

The internet proved more forthcoming, and after reading an article that was in Sussex life, I had a name of a local truffle hunter: Melissa Waddingham. I like to dabble with scribbling from time to time so suggested the possibility of a truffle hunt to the Independent, who agreed. You can read about the adventure that ensued here. 

After spending a wonderful day with Melissa learning about everything Truffle, I was hooked, although there was one major issue, I didn’t have a dog, let alone a pig that I could use as a truffle detector and as such felt it would be a tough one to pursue. What Melissa did explain to me is that there are natural indicators that can narrow things down and put you right on the money. Her first find was without dog or hog. So if you are a bit of a truffle fancier, I would strongly recommend going out with Melissa on a hunt, or if you have a dog, she can train it to do the hard work for you! Get in touch with her here and join one of her next hunts. 

The other day I had a call from Melissa saying that it was a good year for truffles so far and I might want to X and do Y. The South Downs covers a fair amount of land and beyond said murmurings, I had heard about X before as a possible location, so thought it might be time to strike out and lose my truffle virginity.

  The Truffle orchard/haystack: Location X. Sussex. 

When gathering mushrooms and wild plants, you have the pleasure of being able to wander the woods, fields and meadows and spot what you are looking for. Quite how you are supposed to turn up in a wood and find something you cant even see because its underground adds a whole new dimension. Needle in a haystack this ain’t, because the needle’s been buried and the haystack is vast.

This truly is hunting, but not for anything with a vertebrae, a certain amount of ‘tracking’ is involved in the ultimate foray that will lead you to the buried treasure of ‘black gold’. But where do you start?

Melissa putting Zeb to work around a brulee. Sussex, 2011.

Make no bones about it, to hunt a truffle, even if you do have a porcine/canine detector or simply going solo, you are going to need to have a firm grasp of the natural world around you- think of it as putting yourself in the ballpark. Soil, Trees, Vegetation and animal activity all play a large part in tracking a truffle down. Below is my summary of how to track truffles- alas, I am an amateur and I am simply stating my findings- not the courts. Hit up Melissa for professional advice.

The type of truffle we hunt in the UK is the Summer Truffle or tuber aestivum perhaps not of the same quality as a Perigord truffle from France or the white ‘Trifola d’Alba’ from Italy, but personally I couldn’t give a shit: It’s an English truffle and that’s all you need to know.

HGC Instructor Dave 'Smells the earth' on the exact spot of the first find.

Soil.

Calcareous. That means chalky. So naturally, that’s where your ballpark starts. Soil type. Fortunately I live slap bang in the middle of the South Downs between Lewes and Glynde- I have more chalk and flint in my veg patch than I know what to do with

Trees.

This can vary slightly, but some are better than others. Beech is king, but also hazel, hawthorn, ash and elm are quite happy to harbour a truffle or two as long as the soil is calcareous.

Vegetation: Brulees or ‘Burnt areas’.

So you’ve ticked off the first two, now the tracking begins. Once in your chosen woodland on the right soil, you have to observe the vegetation. Most woodlands in the UK have a standard set of ground level plants: Dog’s mercury, brambles, grasses, ivy and moss are all to be found. What you are looking for is a complete lack of this. These spots are called ‘Brulees’ or burnt areas, because nothing grows there. They can be around a tree or in amongst a bunch of trees, size wise- they can go from anything 5 ft to 30ft or be in a strip.

The reason this is such a good indicator, and will likely get you in the vicinity of buried treasure, is because the truffles growing beneath the surface let off VOC’s or Volatile Organic Compounds, basically- potent herbacides that inhibit the growth of any plants, which is why you get a ‘Brulee’.

Examining a brulee: note the lack of vegetation.

Animals.

Once you have found a likely looking brulee, simply stand and have a good look over it for any kind of disturbance. As truffles don’t surface like mushrooms, they don’t have a direct method of spore dispersal. This means they rely on fungivores (animals that eat fungi) to send out their spores. Simply put- animals dig them up, eat them and then shit out the spores somewhere else. Doubtless, we could do the same. Most woodland critters that can dig like rabbits or squirrels are responsible for this. Fresh diggings or slightly older ones that might be visible are good indicators within a brulee that there are truffles below your feet.

Scraping.

Now this is perhaps the most sensitive issue of all and involves a bit of care. All of the above have pointed towards the possibility that you are right on the money, so know the ‘digging’ begins. I must point out at this stage and stress the need for sustainability at this point. The woodland floor is a delicate ecosystem with strands of mycelium, bugs, grubs and a whole host of other things going on. You don’t want to upset this wonderful balance: ALWAYS make sure that any leaf matter or soil you disturb goes back into its rightful place, this is not only good for truffle futures, but makes your impact minimal. As humans, we’ve managed to screw everything else up, but lets not screw this up. Yes?

When looking buried for treasure, it is customary to have some sort of digging instrument, preferably a trowel. Lightly scrape back the leaf litter around your animal diggings until you find bare earth: the truffle likes to be in the soil but will quite often have the top 5^th of it exposed above the soil- think iceberg, so do this delicately and lightly.

Sniffing.

Truffles have a strong smell, familiarise yourself with it. Take some truffle oil with you to hone your sense of smell and get in the mood. When you scrape back the leaf litter you might get an almighty whiff if you’re lucky, otherwise just a tickle. As you scrape sniff the soil: if it smells sweet or truffle like then you are close- keep sniffing the earth. This is a grubby business and you are the truffle hound!

With any joy (and what a joy it is!) you will uncover your first truffle, which could be anything from the size of a marble to a golf ball, or bigger! After you’ve done a little jig and finished fist-pumping the air, REMEMBER to recover any area that you have scraped back as if now one was ever there.

  Trowels out at dawn: Black gold. Sussex, November 2013.

So that’s a basic rundown on truffle hunting sans animals (although they do actually come into it). Its not an exact science and expect a lot of false starts before you may hit the jackpot. You will get proper grubby, sniff more earth than is probably healthy and get very wet knees (not a good look for me and HGC instructor Dave when we went for a celebratory ale afterwards: two lads in from the woods with wet knees and dirty hands? Hmmm.)

Finding your first truffle IS the ultimate prize in foraging. I have never found or shot anything that has caused quite the same level of elation- the buried needle has been found in the vast haystack. It requires patience, observation and a synergy with the natural world around you that can lead to a culinary treat that will have you eating like a king for days. There most certainly is gold in them thar hills…

As for recipes for this one? All you need is some eggs and a mandolin (not the thing Mumford & sons use). You do the maths (yes there is an S there- I’m not a yank).

Heaven.

 

Black Gold on top of the bible.

 Other stuff: 

With Christmas on its way (I know, its November), Hunter Gather Cook Gift Tokens are flying off the shelves- If you want to get one for some lucky person to embark on an adventure in wild food, please contact: [email protected].

The Hunter Gather Cook Tools of the trade.

Wild Infusions, Sous Vide Style: Elderflower Vodka.

I’ve always struggled with Elderflower, it’s good stuff don’t get me wrong- one of the best inductions for many a blossoming forager. The versatility of this deciduous shrub is quite astounding: flowers, berries and even the official host of the Jew’s ear fungi. That’s quite a claim to fame. Here’s my issue, and as pathetic as it may sound, many of you will concur: just like a moody teenager whose favourite band has gone mainstream, the elder has sold out. You only have to ask God (google) for recipes and the results are astounding, but for good reason, and I shouldn’t whinge: It’s damn fine shit.

Over the years, my loyalty has shifted towards Meadowsweet (just coming into season now), something that we have to thank for the birth of aspirin, the flavour is better, but then here I am raving about my favourite band to a small collection of enthusiasts.

So, there are many ways of using Elderflower, especially when it comes to making cordials, infusions and liqueurs. The methods we have are traditional, old school and out dated. No longer do we have to wait two weeks for our homemade version of St.Germain, two hours is sufficient using some of the ‘technology’ we have available to us in this day and age.

At Hunter Gather Cook, Wild cocktails & Wild Brewing are part of the job, so we’re always playing with new methods of getting the best flavours out of wild and getting them into our desired tipples. The age old method of mascerating such things as elderflower, Japanese knotweed and beech leaves is perfectly acceptable and still very relevant, but there is a new method that can be utilized by the wild cocktail afficiendo: sous vide.

Sous vide (meaning literally ‘under vacuum’ en Francais) was first developed in the 1799 by one Sir Benjamin Thompson (although air was the preferred heat transfer medium). It wasn’t utilised again until the 1970’s when it was rediscovered by industrial food preservation experts. Since then the likes of Adria, Heston and Keller have been enjoying its versatility in the Michelin star stakes. This is also damn fine shit. Clearly.

I have been very lucky with my education in mixology: My brother, the same fellow that taught me snaring, fires and shooting (although I always had the upper hand at fishing) now runs Bamboo, a creative drinks strategy agency, based in London and New York, that has got quite the head for such capers. Bartery with wild ingredients have gained me brief access to their drinks lab and wealth of knowledge. Maceration was used as standard in 80% proof to help draw out the flavours naturally as quickly as possible, but sous vide also got a look in.

When you start playing with sous vide and liquids another chapter opens: spirits, cordials, fruit juices and vinegars suddenly become fair game. Essentially what sous vide does is A) speeds up the whole process (allowing for plenty of room for experimentation) and B) It simplifies the entire process whilst removing any danger of losing any delicate flavours to the atmosphere. In simple terms, real simple terms, you simply heat some water to 40˚C, maintain the heat, pour your liquid into a ziplock bag, add whatever you want to infuse it with, suck the air out of the bag, seal and stick it in the 40˚ C water and leave for an hour or two.

What you end up with is a purest product you could hope for in the shortest amount of time. You can go crazy adding different flavours and messing about: Wild horseradish and ground ivy vodka for the perfect bloody mary; Beech leaf and yarrow gin; Sorrel vinegar; haribo cordial (seriously, don’t bother), It becomes quite addictive and no doubt could turn you into a Doc Brown lookalike  with a massive drink problem, its all in the risk assessment. A word on alcohol selection- buy the cheap stuff, your’re going to flavour it anyway.

To accomplish sous vide, the essential component is to be able to heat the water that you put your ziplock of ingredients into and sustain it for a long period of time. You could put it in a pan of water and fiddle around with the hob, but then you would also have to make sure the bag was off the bottom of the pan. Ball ache…big time.

The other option is to fork out up to a grand on a waterbath (expect to pay at least £500 for a bottom end version). Spenny to say the least. Fortunately there is a way around having to stump up the dough: A deep fat fryer, basically a waterbath without a digital temperature adjustment.

A deep fat fryer will cost you no more than £30 the only other things you need are a couple of bamboo skewers, and a cooking thermometer. Fill it with water as opposed to the usual oil, place the thermometer in the water attached to the side of the cage and then fiddle with the heating dial until it keeps a constant 40˚C. Might be worth pointing out, the reason it is 40˚C is because any hotter than that and you run the risk ‘overcooking’ the infusion. The bamboo skewers are used just to lift the cage off the heating coil on the bottom, just in case the bag has any contact.

Pour your chosen spirit into a medium sized ziplock bag (double bag for safety) and chop or tear up your ingredients you want to infuse and add to the bag. At this point you must partially zip up the bag and suck out all the air, be wary: chugging on a bag full of vodka or gin can make you slightly lightheaded! Seal the bag and place into the ‘water bath’.

An hour and a half is, in my experience through a few botched timings, the perfect amount of time to get a solid infusion that isn’t over powering or lacking in scent and flavour (remember 70% of taste is smell). For the perfect wild cocktail, you don’t want to screw up your delicate infusion by chucking in a load of sugar…your not trying to make skittles vodka. Once you have your infusion you can always add a drop or two of sugar syrup when it comes to mixing up your desired drink.

The best way to truly enjoy your infusion is as a martini, straight up over ice or with the customary dash of vermouth.

Get experimenting!

So what else has been going on? I recently went out to Burgundy to see my good friend Mr Tom Kevill-Davies (also known as the Hungry Cyclist) to plot for next year: A week of cycling in the Burgundian vineyards, tasting fine wine, wild plants and fungi and even butchering a wild boar…whilst cruising around on a bicycle, chilling by the pool or plucking cherries straight out of the orchard.

Yes it going to be good. Be sure to check the website in the New Year to book. To see how the Hungry Cyclist lodge is being renovated by Tom and the amazing stuff he’s getting up to, visit http://lodge.thehungrycyclist.com/

Busy few weeks ahead at HGC with 4 weekends of private courses, Glynde food festival and then the big push for our foraging & butchery workshops and wild cocktail lounge at Wilderness festival.

We also have a new specialist course coming online next week: ‘Fish, Forage & Feast’, a day of learning how to fly fish on the gin-clear waters of Chalk Springs in Arundel, followed by a forage around the fishery and a series of taster dishes from all the fish you’re going to catch. Taking place on Saturday 28^th of September, check here for more details.

Quick Cured Fish & Chasing Mullet.

I do like fish. I must confess that my I much prefer the catching to the eating, coming from ‘hunter-gatherer’ that might sound strange, but then this is the 21^st century- things have changed somewhat in 8000 years, but the thrill of the hunt still has its rewards and as far as I’m concerned that usually means damn fresh and proper free range, like…wild…man. What you shoot or what you pull out of the water is undoubtedly the finest of flesh: wild meats, even wild plants to a certain extent these days are at an all time high, when it comes to wild meats especially and if you’re buying, expect to pay a premium.

This is where we can have the best of both, by hunting or fishing, we don’t only get to indulge in primeval roleplay and flex the natural instincts, we also get to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Anyone can fish, you just need a rod & tackle, a rod licence and the occasional involuntary donation to the water, unless you stick to the coast- then it’s free!

A fine brace of Ouse Mullet that fell to the spinner/ragworm technique.

Shooting might not seem as easy, but can be if you are willing to put a bit more into it: A .22 air rifle doesn’t require a licence of any kind, but you will need somewhere to use. Someone once told me land is the best thing you can own because they don’t make it anymore. We can’t all pay the price for a little slice of countryside- its spenny to say the least. That said, everyone knows someone who knows someone or knows someone else that knows someone rural, I mean proper rural, with land, farms, woods, whatever…land means things to hunt and more often than not these landowners all have pests that they would be happy to be rid of. That means Rabbits and pigeons- both excellent wild meats. Its always worth asking around, someone might even barter you a wood to build a tree house in and live there for 6 months…

  Believe it or not, Turtles and Mullet are closely related...

It also allows you to lose yourself in a bit of nature for a while- always a good thing, you can switch off for a while and enjoy an environment that doesn’t always conform which in itself means there will inevitably be some sort of excitement.

So that’s why I like hunting and fishing, but especially being a brother of the angle- better known as a fisherman. Doesn’t take much to qualify as a fisherman either: get the above and you’re a fisherman (I’m not talking about the crazy fellas that take on the north sea- that’s a whole different kettle of fish).

The best fish scaler you will ever own, plus its a good excuse to drink three beers.

Well, onto the main course, in fact this is more of an apero or starter. In terms of wild ingredients in this one we’re just talking fish, fortunately the one used in this recipe is the most common and easy to seek out around our coastline, harbours and upper tidal sections of most rivers. The Grey Mullet: difficult to catch certainly, pound for pound they fight extremely hard and are therefore the ultimate prize. They are often referred to as the English Bonefish, having caught a Bonefish off the flats of little Cayman, I can whole heartedly agree- Mullet wear jetpacks and on light tackle will give you one hell of a scrap.

Bone fishing in the Caribbiean circa 2009.

I prefer to fly fish with a bit of bread crust. Check out the post I did on how to fish for them here, it was done in France, but French Mullet don’t have the same arrogance or culinary curiosity as there two-legged counterparts living above the surface. They speak the same language as the English Mullet (anyone reading this in Basque country- please understand I am referring to a fish, not a hairstyle- just want to avoid any confusion on that point).

Mullet are bloody fussy eaters, their natural diet is based around sucking up mud and filtering out the microscopic edibles, other than that they like a bit of sea weed to sift through, not easy to cater for. Where converted they will take bread, but most of the time making contact is tough. There is one method that I have been introduced to recently by a fishing buddy of mine that is killer. Apparently its no secret and this article from Angler’s Mail will tell you everything you need to know.

The Killer Mullet Rig: small mepps, weights two single hooks in tandem baited with a ragworm.

In simple terms in consists of using a spinning rod with a few small weights to get style and distance, a small mepps spinner (treble removed) with 6 inch length of line tied to the end and a small single barbed hook attached. The single hook is then baited with a few ragworm. THe way in which works is that the mullet will be attracted by the spinner and follow it, then they see the trailing ragworms (presumably something they eat from the mud from time to time) and snatch at it- fish on! Except they usually end up snatching at the trailing ragworm (expect to rebait every few casts!). A good tip, again from my fishing buddy, is to attach ANOTHER single hook with a short piece of line to the eye of first single hook, so that it sits at the same point as the end of the trailing ragworm. I found that success rate increased dramatically- everytime the mullet snatched at the ragworm it found itself hooked- cunning.

The one that didnt get away: the extra single hook nails them everytime- just make sure your knots are up to scratch!

Fish in the kitchen has always caused a bit of an issue for me, I’m not the biggest fan of baked, poached or pan-fried, but I love it raw, smoked or cured. Ceviche is king (see the post on ceviche here). I think it has something to do with texture, perhaps the added excitement of an age-old process between the obtaining of the main ingredient and the eating. In the case of raw- its all down to the fish gods and your skill to get it as fresh as possible (although luck does play a part, any fisherman who is lying out of his arse).

This is one of the most incredible recipes I have ever come across, and thus, certainly can’t take credit for, but then again neither can Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall- despite it being in his River cottage fish book (Highly recommended).

Clearly it is so good, that he obtained it from the genius that created it: Adam Robinson, former chef/propreiter of the Brackenbury in Chiswick. Mr Robinson used to make it with cod although most white fish will agree:

Bass, Sea Bream, Grey mullet, Pollack, whiting, ling, brown trout, perch and pike are all useful fish, I daresay rainbow, trout and salmon would be perfectly happy to get involved with this quick cure treatment too

Mullet fillets in the herb garden ready for curing.

The recipe calls for shallots, slow roasted tomatoes and a dose of thyme. The best thing about this recipe is in the cure: with this you can go crazy: perhaps a nice far east version with spring onions, a drizzle of soy sauce quick pickled cucumber and generous helping of chillies, chopped ginger & garlic…

And here it is:

Slow roasted tomatoes.

Very easy to do and will keep for sometime in a jar of olive oil. Cut the tomatoes in half, de-seed with a spoon and then cut them into quarters. Arrange on a roasting tray drizzle, with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and a few sprigs of thyme. Roast gently in the oven at 140C for 2 hours.

Quick Cure.

I say quick, but this actually takes about 6-8 hours! Depending on the size of your fillets, the recipe is based on a fillet of 400-500g or two of around 250g each.

• 150g salt
• 50g white granulated sugar
• 2 bay leaves finely shredded (or lemongrass if going oriental)
• 5g of freshly ground black pepper

Mix together the ingredients for the cure, and sprinkle a handful on the bottom of a rectangular tuppaware. Place the fillets in skin side down and then cover with the remainder of the cure. Cover and place in the fridge for 6-8 hours, anymore and they will be over salted, the smaller the fillet- stick to 6 hours.

Pre-cure.

Once curing time is up- remove the fillets, give them a good rinse and pat them dry. Prepare the fish by thinly slicing from the tail end- as if you were slicing a side of smoked salmon.

 

After Cure, and below: stiff as a board (almost).

The next stage is up to you- but whatever you are mixing it with be it the traditional version or the oriental one, allow a least an hour for the fish and the other ingredients and oils to marry and mingle before serving.

 

The Oriental version.

Bon ap. 

NEW WEBSITE & 2013 COURSES.

We have a brand spanking new website at: 

www.huntergathercook.com

Please drop by and check out who we are, what we do and our epic courses for 2013!

Ethiopia Part 2: Heading North to the Antsokia Valley. #foodfrontline

Know your onions: Harvesting Red Onions, Antsokia Valley.

After flying into Addis Ababa late in the evening, I arrived to a refreshingly cold ‘St. George’ beer and my accommodation which was better than some of the places I’ve lived (treehouse, cow shed, desert island etc.), I was out like a light.

Up early the next morning, I got a crash course in Ethiopian Date & Time settings: So, It’s 2005 here- I’m 7 years younger. Also, there are 13 months in a year and each month is exactly 30 days long, except the 13^th, which only lasts 5 days. Finally, the hours in a day are slightly perplexing to say the least: an hour after sunrise its 1 o’clock and so on throughout the day till sundown…

  Twister: Freak dust storm/tornado set off by a bus on the drive north.

Day 1 saw us head 6 hours north to the Antsokia Valley. Those of you who remember the devastating famine of 1984, will be familiar with the area. Antsokia was one of the worst affected areas and many of the news reports and images of food drops were from here. The drive up was a flickr stream of Ethiopia drive-by snapshots- getting the feel of a place as they whizz past the window. Euculyptus trees, euculyptus scaffolding, eucalyptus timber frames, thatched roofs and beasts of burden- donkeys & camels. My eyes were glued to the window for most of the journey. My first thoughts on what I was seeing was that this was how England used to be some time ago and knowing what it has become, probably still should be.

We eventually arrived in the town of kimbolcha our base for the next few days. Whilst in Antsokia we were due to visit a number of Area Development Programmes (ADP’s) set up and run by World Vision. What has happened here in the past 30 years is quite astounding. Firstly, this is Development on a grand scale- NOT aid and has been played out in 3 distinct phases:

Phase 1: Relief (1984-85)- Food drops, Feeding centres and emergency health care. Around 4m people affected.

Phase 2: Rehabilitation (1986-89)- Infrastructure, Agriculrural development and child sponsorship.

Phase 3: Development (1990- present)- Livability, sustainable incomes and phase out of ADP’s.

Some of the projects we have visited have included irrigation schemes, Fruit farms and Dairy farms. This is not on the vast scale that you would expect in the UK, but smaller cottage industries: smallholders in the real sense and not some H E Bates fantasy realized by a city dweller. The people here have grafted hard with the unfaltering support of World Vision to turn Antsokia from a dust bowl into a fruitful, fertile Oasis. 

Ethiopian smallholding: Fruit farming in Kamisi, Antsokia Valley.

The Utility room: Ethiopian Smallholding.

Underneath the Mango tree: Smallholder Seada Kamal, 36.

Ripe Apple Mangoes, Kamisi.

Fresh Oranges, on Seada's smallholding, Kamisi.

First taste of 'Tela': Ethiopian Homebrew with bits in, instead of hops they use 'Gesho'- twigs, leaves and berries.

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Ethiopia part 1: Back to Africa.

People are amazing creatures. All individuals, all slightly tweaked versions of one another, yet all drawn to different things as we grow up. As kids we’re pretty much the same, easily pleased by similar things, yet as we grow we start to become different, interests develop, pastimes are forged, firm friends are made, experiences are had and you start feeling the things your parents used to talk about called ‘draughts’ (not the game), but that’s only one side of the coin.

On the flipside is the other person that is developing: the ‘professional side’. Be it school, college or university, there's always a goal in place for you. I still remember when I did my ISCO test I got career options such as tree surgery, jewelry design, graphic design and armed forces. Mainly because I was interested in making stuff and the outdoors, accuracy at its best- I can almost hear David Cameron reading me the results.

Many of us follow down the route that has become common place over the last 80 years, the so-called normal life: 9-5 job in a obscure occupation suggested when you were 17, or one you fell into because you didn’t have a clue what you really wanted to do at the time.  Married at 30, kids at 32, buy a house and live out the days doing the same thing everyday.

Us lucky people, the choices, the opportunities and the double life.

A few years back I opted out, I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do and what I was doing was repetitive and dull. I wanted to do my own thing, so I settled for the woods, a treehouse and the simple life of a hunter-gatherer for six months, with very little idea where it would take me. Living off about  £8 a week on staples, foraging, hunting and growing veggies to make ends meet and with a bartery deal of occasional farmhand work for the land use, I became a free man.

That’s not to say I’m into all that crusty, hippy commune bollocks. It’s not really, like…my bag, man. But what that experience taught me is that there are, as there always have been, four main ingredients to life: food, water, shelter, fire. If you have all those then you are living. We fill our lives with a lot of things we don’t really need (yes I have an iphone- because they’re like a Swiss army knife- useful), but how attached to these things do you need to become beyond using it as a tool and means of communication?

This isn’t a hard hitting post about how fortunate we are in the UK and how less fortunate they might in my next destination. The thought of Ethiopia conjures up one thought from my past- food, and the lack of it. I was two years old when the famine hit the country big time. So what’s it like thirty years later and how have things changed?

I don’t tend to hit up London much these days, when I do it is always a fleeting visit before heading back to the sticks, but one thing I can imagine is that I’ll be bumping into a lot more cheerful folk than I would on the London underground. In my experience of visiting places in Africa and the South Pacific in the past, people who have less are often happier. Their lives aren’t as cluttered with the unnecessary rubbish that we in the UK like to fill it with.

Talking of luck, World Vision UK have very kindly invited me out to see what has happened in Ethiopia 30 years later. I will be spending a week or so visiting some of the organisation's ADPs (Area Development Programs) this month. From projects around the capital Addis Ababa, heading north to the Antsokia valley and south to Lake Assawa. Having downsized myself a few years back a vast step beyond the idyll of Whipping-tool’s ‘River Cottage’ series, I’m eager to see how these people live, how they cook, what they eat and how they produce it, what they do for meat? I’ve heard rumours that hunting and gathering is not an option in Ethiopia, from a legal point of view. So beyond an agricultural or pastoral existence- what options are open to the people of Ethiopia?

I’m sure there’s going to be some epic things to see, some great people to meet and some fine experiences to be had. Myself and two other writers will be reporting back what we see- Helen Graves of foodstories.com and Jo Middleton of slummysinglemummy.com

I’ve travelled a bit and I’ve been to some places and seen some stuff. I have also had my reservations about NGO’s, being a keen reader of Paul Theroux’s books, he paints the picture that they all drive around in big white 4x4’s and are responsible for creating a circle of dependence from giving aid. But that is simply one man’s opinion. I get to see it for real and pass my own judgement- not just from something I’ve read by a man I don’t know. World Vision run a very different scheme- Child sponsorship, an entirely different model. What I am there to write about is their 'Enough food food for everyone IF' campaign which is a collaboration of a variety of charities and organisation that are aiming to end the world hunger crisis.

I know what its like to be hungry, thanks to 3 months on a desert island with Channel 4 and living as a caveman for a week for Reader's Digest, but certainly not to the extent that the people of Ethiopia have in the past.

But I suppose what this all comes back to is food. Here, we live in a world where foraging is an ‘option’, Thrift is a mindset that’s tough to get into for some, buying ‘organic’ vegetables from expensive farmers markets simply because they still have a bit of dirt on them has become fashionable. It’s ridiculous, but the worst thing is, deep down, we know it.

 

When did our lives become like they are? A slave to the system of working in order to buy the food we need to survive (yes, I use the supermarket- can’t deny, but I still haven’t cracked the ‘secret’ recipe for Lea & Perrin’s and rice doesn’t really grow that well in Sussex). Back to the coin and its flipside, I do forage a lot of my food, shoot it, hook it and grow it- mainly because its fresh, I know where its come from and above all its pretty much free. And that makes me happy. I’m not a rich man, not by a long shot, but happiness can be found in the most unlikely of places.

  Last visit:Okovango Delta, Botswana.

I don’t know what I can expect, but I hear world vision have been doing some pretty impressive stuff out there, their sponsor a child program hits at a grass roots level and helps give many children the chance a lot of us have taken for granted. Education can lead to many things and hopefully an ISCO test isn’t one of them!

So we shall see what the next week produces- I hope to be doing live updates every day whilst I am out there with plenty of photos for you good people to see. Check-in same time tomorrow…

 

Peas x

Stag Do’s: Hunter Gather Cook Stylee.

Here at HGC, we like to cater for everyone and a group of lads looking to experience something unique as a send off for their condemned friend is no exception: The Hunter Gather Stag was born.

Trying to blend in: stag wears stag.

No longer are the men of today content with the “Prague, Tits & Beer” of the past, stag do’s are becoming more sophisticated (sort of…), paintball and go-karting don’t quite cut the mustard like they used to. Men want to be men and do manly stuff, collectively they want to unleash their inner caveman once unchained from the desk: they want to eat meat off the bone, they want to make fire, they want to sup a few ales and roar with laughter at each others expense. So where better to go than a Hunter-Gatherer School to let it all out?

 

In reality it seems that man has changed little over the last 10,000 years when it comes to the basics, some things just remain the same…

Being based only an hour from London and 20 minutes from Brighton, HGC HQ is ideally placed for those looking to experience a bit of outdoor adventure during the day and then head off to the bright lights of the city for a bit a bit of nocturnal revelry. No Stag group is the same, some have headed to Brighton, some to Eastbourne and quite a few to Lewes for some serious Ale tasting in the shadow of Lewes Cathedral (also known as the Harveys Brewery).

Racking up the Venison Kebabs.

 So what can you expect from a HGC Stag do?

Without further ado and not wanting to give the game away (a little smoke & mirrors never hurts…) here we go:

Bromance: How many stags can you fit into a 2 man shelter...

HUNTER:GATHER:STAG.

Come and join us in the woods to celebrate your staggy with a day of time-honoured manliness:

Deer butchery and Cook off

Fish trapping

Fire Starting

Shelter building

Wild food wander

Bush tucker trial

Cider tasting

HGC Challenge

Based on the South Downs near Brighton, expect a day of great banter and hands on outdoor action. The stag will receive a special gift from the HGC team as a ‘stagmento’ from his time in the woods.

Arriving At HGC HQ at 10am for a run through the order of play: The day is designed for your group to learn the basics of self-sufficiency and put them to the test!

We begin at HQ where you will learn how to skin and butcher an entire deer for your lunch using flint tools, then skewer up the meat to cook over the fire with a selection of HGC marinades and wild taster dishes. During lunch there will be a spot of cider tasting (we provide 5 gallons of cider for the day), then it is off into the wild to identify & taste some of Mother Nature’s bounty from the hedgerows. We can also provide supper, consisting of pit roast Haunch of Venison and all the trimmings.

After walking off the deer, you will embark on a tutorial of basic fire lighting, trapping and shelter building before the bush tucker trial where the stag will have to eat his way through insects, squirrel cock, deer testicle and fish bits.

Then it is time for the HGC challenge, which only the best man (or men) are allowed to know about…

Hunter Gather Cook will unleash the hunter-gatherer within and ensure you pick up plenty of tips for your next adventure into the wild!

If you are interested in booking a Stag do with us, please get in touch and send us an email: [email protected] for more information, prices and available dates.

‘Staggy staggy stag stag.’

The Hunter Gather Cook Buckshot: Venison in a Mug.

We get through a fair amount of Deer at HGC HQ throughout the year, from beastly 70kg Fallow to dainty 25kg Roe. All the deer that come the the HGC kitchen are locally stalked and hung for the best part of 2 weeks before they appear on our table. In most cases its down to Ash, one of our instructors, to teach the delicate art of seam butchery with our guests. They all get stuck in be it removing the pelt, pencil fillets, backstrap, neck fillet or dissecting the haunch into a variety of fine cuts: The tender sirloin, top and bottom rounds, rump and the slightly tougher shank.

High Quality Banter plays an important role in our Butchery sessions.

HGC instructor Ash with one peice of backstrap ready for the camp kitchen.

Butchery is an important part of what we do and making it go as far as possible is firmly engrained in the Hunter Gather Cook ethos. Once Ash has finished with his apprentices, the meat is divvied up: Dave gets a fillet to make smoked biltong, I get the pencil fillets for carpaccio, haunches are put aside for the underground oven or split into cuts, antoher fillet is marinated and put on hazel skewers and all the offcuts are minced by hand. The 2 front haunches either end up in the freezer, go to my landlord or go home in a lucky course attendees rucksack. One deer, dealt with…

…not quite.

One Roe deer done: the remains of the carcass in the foreground ready for roasting.

What we are left with is not necessarily going straight to our very well fed foxes and buzzards (although the buzzards are more partial to picking apart rabbit pelts on a large fallen oak), but into our stockpot for plenty of future HGC meals. It works especially well in our Jelly Ear Broth with Sorrel.

First we fire roast the bones over the hearth on a bed of Oak and hornbeam before dismantling the ribcage and placing it in the pot with all the necessary goodies to form the basis of a fine stock: the holy trinity (onions, carrots, celery), a few crushed bulbs of garlic, salt & pepper, a good slug of red wine, crushed juniper berries, a sprig of rosemary, dried Wood Avens roots and an inch of cinnamon.

HGC instructor Dave roasts the remains on the fire ready for the stockpot.

Left to simmer away for the afternoon and reduce, by the end of a day course we have one hell of a stock and as most of the deer we get are virtually fat free- no need for skimming!

What we’re focusing on hear is a hearty, warming drink similar to the better known Bullshot (made using beef stock). The Buckshot is the far superior cousin and that little bit wilder. We served this wonderful concoction, a hot version of a Bloody Mary if you like, on our Fungal Foray & Feast’s back in October after a good two hour, drizzle-ridden yomp in search of ‘shrooms. By jingo did it go down well!

HGC course attendees filleting, mincing and mingling.

If you don’t happen to have a deer carcass to hand, try asking your local butcher and he might be able to get hold of some bones for you or substitute the venison stock for beef stock (then you have a bullshot). Without  further ado…the buckshot:

Ingredients.

(Serves 4)

500ml of Venison Stock (reduced)

300ml of Homemade Tomato passata

160ml of Vodka (Whisky can prove to be an interesting alternative!)

Juice of half a lemon

1 TSP Horseradish sauce

1 TSP red wine vinegar

a few drops of Tabasco (add more if it’s a cold day)

a drizzle of Worcester sauce

Salt & Pepper

Heat up the Venison stock and Tomato Passata in a saucepan, then add the rest of the ingredients and heat gently. You may wish to adjust seasonings to suit your taste, being a Tabasco addict, I like mine extra hot, but have to restrain myself when serving to guests!

Final thought- don't mess about when trying to manhandle a large deer carcass that weighs more than you into the back of a jeep. Trust me... 

If you would like to take part in any of our courses for 2013, please email:

[email protected]

Element Fall collection Video: In Sussex.

For over a year now I have had the pleasure of working with the largest skatebrand in the world: Element. As one of their advocates I have tought wilderness skills on their skatecamps around Europe as well as advise on all things wild when needed. Not only have they been a great brand to work with, they also kit me out in some rather fine threads: their jackets, backpacks, waterproofs, T-shirts, trousers and shoes have all been put though their paces down at HGC and even clothed the rest of the team. Just as well- bushcraft clobber is banned when it comes to staff. We are certainly the most stylish and best dressed instructors in the country!

In May a film crew came over from France to film a short video to introduce Element's Wolfboro Collection and shoes for 2012. We shot in some great locations in Sussex: Firle, Cuckmere Haven, HGC HQ and even revisited the Treehouse. I put together a rather brooding script...like, we went deep man. Below are the results, shot on a Canon c300. Enjoy!

 

We have a few spaces available for our Autumn 'Fungal Foray & Feast' Course if anyone is interested, drop me an email- [email protected]

 

Wild Camping in the Pyrenees & Brown Trout Sashimi.

Ever since I first set foot in the Pyrenees last year, albeit with a snowboard strapped to them in 4 ft of snow, I have been looking forward to summer to come around again to get up into them thar hills and explore the crystal clear mountain lakes and enjoy a spot of wild camping.

For those of you familiar with the Tour De France (yes, the one in which us Brits smashed everyone else in last week- fine work Wiggins & Co), the Col du Tourmalet is the most famous climb on the Tour, it is also the highest road (2,115m) in the Pyrenees and the area which I chose to explore. Planning a trip like this wasn’t too difficult- the internet is a wonderful thing and Google Earth is even better- being able to map out and print satellite images of your desired spot certainly helps when you find yourself up in the mountains. The only thing Google Earth won’t help you with until you find yourself in the thick of it, is the terrain which isn’t obvious from a bird’s eye perspective.

Now, the Pyrenees really don’t dick about.

The route up in Red and return journey in Green. Birds eye view can be deceptive.

It’s not easy to find people to coax up a mountain. Hiking isn’t everyone’s cup of coffee. I must admit- It’s not really mine, for me there has to be a purpose: a reason to venture off into the unknown. More often than not, that reason has scales, a penchant for worms and makes damned fine eating. Fish. The area I had picked out in the mountains, just south of the town of Bareges, had a good cluster of lakes at around 2,200m (quite high up- Ben Nevis is 1,344m) in all shapes and sizes. Perfect spot. But who would be game?

I met Dustin at Wilderness Gathering last year, when Ash and myself took HGC HQ on the road to showcase the Foraging school. Dustin runs the company www.bushcrafttools.com and specialises in Fire Pistons, which he designs and produces himself. Having recently relocated to Perpignan on the Med side of the Pyrenees and a keen brother of the Angle himself, he was the perfect companion. So, through that wonderful invention used by ex-pats across the globe, we arranged everything over Skype and planned to meet at midday on a Tuesday. The plan was to have one night in the mountains and the second night in the valley by one of the rivers. Three hours drive from the Beach and I was up near La Mongie and the Col du tourmalet. Boom.

As I’m not really one for following sport, I was surprised to learn that the Tour De France was actually passing through the very day and the very place we chose to hit the mountains. Bugger. Traffic, Gendarmerie, lycra and sweaty people creeped through the mountain passes in 30C heat. Not the best start…but eventually we made it to the start point.

'Mountains Gandalf! I want to see mountains...' The path up to the Refuge Du Glere. 

Rather than regale you with tales of elation, woe, steep climbs, desperate fishing, Kamikazee sheep, cows with bells on, French folk dumping behind rocks, great banter, useful hipflasks, chopping down dead pine limbs with an axe on a cliff edge, Bushcraft discussion (apparently Ray Mears doesn’t do bushcraft anymore because its ‘too commercial’- who on earth would you hold responsible for such a thing?), contemplating rolling large boulders into mountain lakes and dodging rock falls, I’m just going to present a series of pictures….painting a thousand words and all that. The only thing I will say, and perhaps the best thing about hiking up in the Pyrenees, is not having to take any water with you: you just fill up as you go along from all the fast flowing mountain streams. Who said Evian was Naïve spelt backwards?

Couldnt go a few metres without treading on Juniper. Easy ID: Crush the berries- smells like Gin.

First lake 2,150m- now onto boulder hopping.

The Englishman abroad never forgets the Colemans. Or the mora knife for that matter...

Bordeaux Superieur. Tent pegs and forks make great bottle openers.

The View North at 8.30pm. Silence.

Dustin Establishes Base Camp. Bivi bags, Fishing rods and a few rocks. 

Fishless supper- Chorizo, onions and peppers.

Breakfast- Who forgot the caffeine? Pine needle or juniper tea?

Good spot for Lunch.

Lac Det Mail: Good spot for Fishing. 

Camp No.2 Banks of the Gave De Pau. 

Much to his delight- Trees for Dustin's Hammock.

Dustin's Pyro Piston worked a treat. Available from www.bushcrafttools.com

Fish on.

Wild Mountain Brownie gutted, filleted and filleted some more.

Portable sushi Kit + Trout=Pyrenees Sashimi.

Epic Evenings and Big hills.

Hunter:Gather:Cook Courses 2012.

If you would like any information or interested in booking a course with us at HGC HQ in deepest, darkest Sussex, please drop me an email: [email protected]

Next "Book on" course- Saturday 18th August: Group Day course (max 14 people: £80.00 per head). Full

Next 'book on' Course:

October Fungal Feast: A day of Mushroom ID and Cook off with Seasonal Game on In Mid Sussex (max 14 people: £85.00 per head). Sunday 21st October. 10 spaces remaining

We cater for individuals, groups, schools and stag & hen groups. All our courses are privately arranged, giving you the flexibility to book your day course or overnighter when you wish.

...to the trees!

 

There has been a nice bit of press recently in the Telegraph about HGC, to have a read click here. And to read an article I did for the Telegraph on my take on what the Weald is all about, click here.

Elemental Awareness- Underground oven video.

This year I was pleasantly suprised to become an 'Element Advocate' for the skate brand Element. Rather strange perhaps to be sponsored by such a brand for doing wilderness skills, but this is all part of 'Elemental Awareness' of which I am a proud to be supporting and teaching to others. Here is a video showing a few of the things we got up to at Skatecamp in Spain this summer:

 

Foraging in Sussex: Hunter:Gather:Cook School 2011.

What a year its been- I never expected when I started this website 4 years ago it would go from an online world of posting recipes, experiments and experiences and turn into something, real, interactive and informative. The first year of HGC school has been great fun and a I feel I have learnt almost as much as all those who have attended the courses (I think the best tip I received was from one Alan Paterson who told me to use washing powder to soak and clean burnt eggy pans- works a treat)! I cannot thank those who attended enough for making our first year a great success.

Throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn I was consistently pleased to see that I had really had found the perfect place for the school, the flora & fauna of the surrounding landscape not only provided rabbits, squirrels, pigeon, fallow deer and carp for the HQ kitchen’s meat store (even allowing a few attendees to dispatch them on the day), but the plants and fungi were just as forthcoming: Giant puffballs, bay boletus, parasols and chicken of the woods all put in a timely, yet surprising appearance.

2011 saw HGC doing privately booked bespoke courses as opposed to days you ‘book on to’, this will still be the case for 2012- But fear not! In 2012 we are organising a series of group days, which you CAN book onto. These will have a predetermined structure and a bit cheaper than the private days

 

Private days and overnight courses will still be available- I still feel that the learning experience for the attendees is much better and on a more personal level than having larger groups, this also enables you to choose your desired date and we can design the course around what you wish to learn about. We have started taking bookings already for next year- May and June are gradually filling up so please get in touch if you fancy becoming a 21^st century Hunter-gatherer. There will be more dates to following for June, July and August.

Obviously all our courses are based around foraging and cooking, but that still means you have to know how to source it and how to cook it when you are off the grid and in the woods. This is how the HGC curriculum evolved- we do so much more than plant identification and ensure that you WILL get your hands dirty! As pictures are worth a thousand words, here are a few snapshots of what we have been up to this year on our courses at Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ and what YOU could be experiencing next year!

Humble beginnings- HGC off-grid HQ gets off the ground, all built from natural or recycled matrerials.

The HQ Kitchen- designed in the perfect kitchen triangle, Oak tables constructed from Oak from the very wood in which we reside.

 

Off-Grid Ice Cream- its amazing what you can do with a bit of plastic, a power drill and a couple of buckets. Blackberry & wild mint ice cream.

Staggy- Yes, we do Stag and Hen do's aswell! It only seemed fitting to get them a roebuck for Lunch, do a bush tucker trial and shelter challenge at the end. All washed down with 10 gallons o'cider.

Trapping & Knapping- how to catch your fur with a fig.4 deadfall and of course, you will need something to cut it up with: flint.

Deer in a day- from processing to smoking, underground ovens and slow roasting. Too much meat? Never.

Cooking- Dutch ovens do more than just stews. Muurikka Skillets and good ol'fashioned Smoking tripod always make an appearence.

Hunter:Gather:Shelter Overnighters- If you are spending the night with us, we will take you through how to build a comfy nest for the night.

Clay Oven Cookery- Our clay oven produces the best Rabbit & nettle pesto pizza and the spade we used to make it is excellent for fry-ups.

Rabbits- Once we have taken you through how to remove their furry packaging and joint them, they transform into pan fried saddle of rabbit wrapped in pancetta and sage on a wild salsa with puffball base.

Pigeon- Plucked, Pan fried and relaxed- either with a wild leaf salad and blackberry jus or Carpaccio'ed with baby horseradish leaves, elderberries and wood sorrel.

Mycological Munch: Plenty of fungi found on the farm for a fun-filled afternoon of feeding. Bay boletus, puffballs and chickens.

Man's greatest discovery: Fire, without which we would only eat cold food. At HGC we cover all the basics from wood selection, fire management, fire by friction and the all reliable flint and steel. (Sorry about all the F-ing).

Pots & Pans...and Rabbits too.

Chub Ceviche & Hot Air Balloon Foraging…

I have had some bizarre requests in my time, but creating a wild taster menu and teaching a foraging lesson from a hot air Balloon for Mazda, tops the list (or living as a caveman for a week might be closer…) Whatever will be next? Building a Tree House on the Eiffel Tower? Foraging in the Amazon Basin? Yak shooting, skinning and gutting in the Himilayas? I’d probably do them all- well, why not? Sounds like fun!

When it came to planning and plotting the menu, I delved into the HGC archives to ensure they would be receiving the finest fodder the countryside had to offer. Obviously, whatever was in season would make the cut and then it was down to digging out what was going to be exciting, tasty and inspiring. Elderflower was first to be binned- yes in season and yes as about inspiring as a BNP conference. For the last few years meadowsweet has long been the new elderflower for me and only that would make the cut- so I was pleased to see it out in full force.

Pigeons and Rabbits were de rigueur for any of my feasts, Mushrooms were still to appear (my source of chicken of the woods was looking a bit ropey on last inspection) and as far as something fishy was concerned, I wanted something different, but more native Britain than a Sunday roast. Trout- although pleasant I feel they are great to catch, but nothing special- you would also be hard pressed to find a truly ‘wild’ fish anyway these days and If you did the last thing you would do is take it home for tea.

I had my sights set on Carp or Chub. Having already been crucified by the nation’s anglers after writing an online piece about tucking into Native freshwater fish for the Guardian Word of Mouth (see it here), I was more determined than ever to continue my crusade to get more people to try our lesser-known fish. I mean, what kind of bell ringer writes a comment saying: “If every one of the 3 million anglers in the UK to a fish home for supper, there would be none left”. Yeah right, of course that’s going to happen you anus. Daft comments aside, there were some well-informed comments, all reeking of hatred for my suggestion (honestly, where the hell does HF-W get his silver lining from?!) and plenty of rants about light-fingered eastern European ‘gangs’ taking fish. I hadn’t expected such a racial assault from Guardian readers…

Obviously when eating native freshwater fish, it’s important to adhere to the Environment agencies guidelines- provided you have the owner of the water’s consent you may remove X-amount of fish on any given day. Lucky for me I have a good source of both fish and consent, so it was down to how I would cook the buggers. The food was all going to be pre-prepared and nothing served hot. Simple: Ceviche. Contrary to popular belief, Carp are NOT muddy fish, provided they are under 5lbs. This myth has been developed by cunning piscators that would prefer not to have their favourite sport fish eaten- carp fishing is BIG business these days. Ever wondered why our Eastern European counterparts are so fond of carp flesh?

Chub however, is a fish that has never enjoyed a culinary reputation of any kind. Quite simply it’s known as being inedible…until now. Even back in the day, Izaak Walton said the chub was like eating cotton wool stuffed with pins. Catching them is not too difficult, being omnivores, they will take bait, fly and even spinners. They can be found in almost every river and even some still waters and are greedy fish- smaller fish will spook less easily, but the bigger fish are big for a reason (not that anyone bothers to take them home with them).

5 Years back- 1st attempt!

In the past I have tried to cook them- on gutting they have the same firm white flesh you would expect from a bass, on cooking they turn into fishy mash potato...

It was my Friend Tom (aka the Hungry Cyclist) that suggested Ceviche as the only form of ‘cooking’ that might render the chub edible. And he was spot on. So off I went with the fly rod to my local spot to try and entice one of the beasts home to the kitchen. The mayfly nymph rarely disappoints and before long I had a good size fish in the bag.

Processing a chub is a bit fiddly: the bones along its flank are the main issue. First, de-scale the fish with the back of a knife or fish scaler, gut the fish and then fillet. Once you have the fillets, you will need to remove the pin bones that were the ribcage. As long as you have a pair of pliers, it is a case of feeling your way along and then pulling them out. Once washed, chop the fillets into thumbnail size chunks and you are ready for Chevy-chasing.

Chub Ceviche:

 

• 4 medium sized chub fillets (or 2 big ones)
• Juice of 4 limes (or lemons)
• 1 shallot (finely diced)
• ½ small red chilli (finely diced)
• 1 stick of celery (finely diced)
• 1 carrot (finely diced)
• ½ cucumber
• ½ red pepper (finely diced)
• ½ green pepper (finely diced)
• Salt & Pepper

Once you have cut up the chub into small chunks , place them in a bowl with the lime juice and a sprinkle of salt, mix well and place in the fridge to ‘cook’ for 15 minutes- you will notice the flesh turn from translucent to opaque. The citric acid from the lime juice breaks down the proteins in the fish and renders it ‘cooked’.

Finely dice all the other ingredients, season well and mix them in a bowl. The cucumber is going to be used as the base for serving the ceviche canapé style. Cut it into ½ inch wide pieces and, using a teaspoon, scrape out some of the middle to make a bowl in which to place the ceviche.

Once your chub is done, drain off the lime juice and mix the chub in with the rest of the ingredients, season to taste and then scoop into the cucumber resepticles. Et Voila!

So there I was, 2000ft in the air feeding chub ceviche to Radio 1 DJ and all round good lad Reggie Yates. He certainly tucked in! I’d never been in a balloon before, and being a tree dweller I didn’t think I would suffer from vertigo. At about 1500ft, I had a brief moment when I looked down and realized there was nothing but an oversize hamper between me and the Buckinghamshire countryside far below. Shit my pants and freak out? Or are we ok? Fortunately there was no rising panic and I was actually quite blown away by the gentle silence and the stunning views. Let the feasting commence!

The rest of the menu read like so:

Potted Rabbit and Rabbit and Roe liver Terrine wrapped in stinging nettles. Served with three cornered leek doughballs.

Oak smoked, pan fried pigeon breast with elderberry and blackberry coulis served with a mixed wild leaf salad and  a pine needle vinaigrette (horseradish leaf, yarrow, dandelion, bittercress, sorrel, Jack by the hedge and ox eye daisy).

Meadowsweet and mint cheesecake.

To wash it all down: meadowsweet cordial and nettle beer.

 

Here is a short Video of the Adventure courtesy of Mazda:

 

I am currently out in France enjoying life with the Mrs and putting my outdoor skills to use at the Element Skatecamps in the hills south of Bilbao. I am back in August for a busy month of courses at Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ and then to Wilderness Gathering to show Bushcraft keenos how to cook Wild food- cant wait!

 

Igel Jokoa- Basque Bar Game.

If you fancy booking up a HGC course in August- Get in touch there are still dates available. Drop me an email with your dates and requirements and we will arrange a tailor made Hunter-Gatherer Experience just for you…Hasta Pronto!

 

 

 

 

 

The homemade Ice Cream Machine: How to build one & make Ice cream.

Childish excitement aside, the prospect of ice cream is a wonderful thing. I must confess I was more of a sun lolly kid myself- ingeniously designed like a PG pyramid tea bag to prevent kids on a sugar high flipping the contents out onto the floor, that was the problem with Callippos. And as for Mr Freeze? Well, raspberry and cola all the way.

Ice cream isn’t really something I have in my freezer, but that’s because its so chock full of various parts of fish, fur and feather there simply isn’t the room. It just so happened that I had a craving for it during the summer we had a month ago. I decided to google how it was made after having a chat to a friend of mine about hand cranked Ice cream machines and the possibility of involving them down at HGC headquarters.

As I scrolled through endless useless links, the only instructions I could find were how to make it with a couple of plastic bags- nothing on putting together a traditional hand powered beast of a machine: It was time to hit the workshop and get tinkering…

The principle behind making I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream is both keen and cunning, a process evolved and developed over 100’s of years. It is not exactly clear who is credited with hitting the nail on the head. Most countries have been messing about with their own versions of frozen pud for time, however it was the Arabs that were the first to tuck into the dairy and use milk, sweeten it with sugar, flavour with rose water and fruits & nut. Before that it was all sorbets- in 62AD the Roman emperor Nero used to send slaves up to the Apenine mountains to collect snow to be mixed with honey it has even been claimed, in the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan enjoyed ice cream and kept it a royal secret until Marco Polo visited China, pinched the technique and high tailed it back to Italy. Well thank you Wikipedia. I like to maintain a ‘plagiarism free’ blog…

So where to start? Firstly you don’t actually even have to make a contraption, for the simple ‘bag method’ all you need is:

• 1 large ziplock plastic bag
• 1 small ziplock plastic bag
• ½ cup of whole milk
• 2 TBSP caster sugar
• 2 trays of ice cubes.
• 6 TBSP salt.

And follow this link for a video on how to do it. Not to be rude, but this isn’t amateur hour: the ice cream is far from perfect- for that you need a proper hand-cranked, Macgyver issue machine…give me two buckets, a plastic box, a piece of wood and a hand drill.

The science behind making ice cream is the same for both the ‘bag’ method and the ‘pot freezer’ method. This involves mixing salt with ice. In simple terms…bear with me sciences were never my strong point:

 Lets say you have a glass of water with crushed ice in, ok? For ice to melt, energy must be drawn in from the surrounding water to break the hydrogen bonds that keep the ice frozen. The energy that's taken is in the form of heat, which is why ice makes the water cold, since it's taking the heat to melt. Salt upsets the balance and makes the melting rate slower, because the ice requires more energy to melt. This draws more heat from the solution, which results in a larger temperature drop.

That took me a long time to understand too. For more info on why check out this link. So a combination of ice and salt will lower the temperature allowing your mixture to become ice cream, water isn’t needed. It took me a couple of failed attempts before I had perfected the machine.

 

Overnight Solstice Banquet at HGC HQ.

 
 
Greetings folks, Its that time of year once again- the true start of summer! To celebrate this wonderful time of year Hunter:Gather:Cook is putting on a wild banquet at our fine Woodland HQ. The event gives you the chance to experience being in the woods at a magical time of year and you certainly get a bang for your buck! The banquet takes place near Lewes in Sussex.

Arriving at 2pm on Monday 21st June the rest goes as follows:

• Foraging ID walk 
• Underground oven building
• Shelter Building (you're going to have to sleep somewhere!)
• Catch first course- Carp from the lake
• 4 course wild food taster menu including pit roast Leg of lamb around HQ oak table.
• A few jars of Cider and buckets of merriment...
• Up early to see the sunrise!

The evening is designed to be relaxed and enjoyable for all, do feel free to bring a bottle and if shelters aren't your cup of tea- tents are welcome! For Breakfast- the kitchen will be up and running so you wont go hungry.

Tickets are £70.00 and there are a limited amount of places available, so if you are interested please email me: [email protected]

Also, many thanks to Devour Sussex for featuring the Hunter:gather:cook on their website and referring to me as a 'jedi' forager! See it here.

Heres a few pics to show what we've been up to:

Deer in a day, using a fine Sussex Roebuck.

HGC HQ off-grid kitchen.

NB. Rabbits of this size are left to grow bigger before being used at HGC. 

 

Apple & Cheddar and Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ.

Apples have always been a favourite, as a boy, apple juice was the drink of choice, hands down. Unfortunately, being about as cack handed as a retarded Quasimodo, I regularly spilt any liquid within grasp- hence having to get up from the table and go and have a sup in the kitchen by the sink (I think I even had to eat and drink on the floor once or twice to limit damage control- no shit!). Parents can be cruel- but it certainly taught me a thing or two, this is why they have all the problems with ‘Yoofs’ these days: lack of proper discipline!

So, apples and cheese- a match made in heaven. Few things can match the sweetness of a good apple cutting through the salty creaminess of a fine chunk of cheese. Be it cheddar or stilton (mature cheddar preferably), the two were born for one and other.

It was my friend Dan who re-instilled the values of this combination as a tasty snack. Of course I have had them together before- mostly on a cheeseboard, but there was something wonderfully farmerish, holes-in-the-jumper, big ‘ands and bailing twine about the way Dan preferred his: Quite simply an apple and a chunk of Cheddar.

During April, as the pair of us toiled to get Safari Britain up and running for the summer and between chat about local gossip, gambling landlords, back-end sheep harassing teens and setting fire to defunct livestock-Sussex banter at its finest, dirty hands would devour the pair often. Now, it was something that Dan said that gave me this little, ludicrously simple idea:

“I wish there was someway you could grow an apple with cheddar inside, or perhaps even combine the two into a Jekyll & Hyde monster of a mouthful”

I pondered this for a moment: “Couldn’t you just core an apple and stuff it with cheese? Ooo…or even bake it with a some pickle!”

Dan wasn’t stupid: “Don’t you pinch my idea…OR blog it you bastard!”

Well…think of it as the highest form of flattery.

I managed to bake an egg in a tomato whilst bored one afternoon in London- this is much more inspired! A perfect snack or addition to that wonderful platter, the ‘Ploughmans’ of which the origins are not clear (1870’s England seems to be the best I can give you).

First slice off a ‘lid’ and then simply core your apple (Braeburn or Cox’s) a little wider than usual, fill it 1/3 with grated mature cheddar, 1/3 branston pickle or piccalilli, 1/3 mature cheddar and replace the top. Eat.

Now one thing I will make clear is that there is a danger when consuming such a trinket: Lock jaw, chin strain or chin cramp (which I believe is the technical term), taking a large bite out of an apple loaded with such a delectable filling is not recommended. Full stop.

Other Stuff that has been going:

This Friday I will be collaborating with Kerstin Rodgers aka Msmarmitelover, author of the recently published and hugely successful “Supperclub: Recipes and notes from the underground restaurant” to put together a wild food supper, there are still a few tickets left so don’t miss out: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/105047

Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ has become a second home and perhaps the best kitchen I have EVER had the pleasure of working in, something about that kitchen  ‘triangle’ and the fact it’s wood fired AND in the middle of the woods methinks. As for courses, give me a call or drop me an email with when you want to come along and we can accomodate! I have decided that perhaps fixing dates for courses is too regimented and doesn’t fit with the way I like to do things- tailor made is much more preferable for both parties. I have been a bit overwhelmed with the feedback so far and the surprise at just how much fits into the day- so thanks to all of my hunter-gatherers so far! Also we have been tucking into plenty of carp which we/you catch from our pond- tastes of mud my arse! Absolutely amazing fish...

Off-grid kitchen fired up and ready...

Rabbits and pans: if there's a nail, hang it.

Carp with lemon, bay and Jack-by-the-hedge, wrapped and cooked in Burdock leaves.

 What kitchen would be complete without the twin pillars of Tabasco and Colemans?

At long last, on my weekend off, I managed to sort out the patch at the new pad and filled it with salads, runner beans, peas, potatoes, pak choi, spinach, radishes, carrots etc- just got to wait for them to grow and keep slugs and rabbits at bay.The produce will not only supply the house but keep HGC headquarters in the freshest, local grub around.

Patch. Done.

Final note- I have recently become sponsored by Element for my work in all things wild. Element are a global skate/surf brand that are branching out into the great outdoors with their non-profit organization “Elemental Awareness” and run Skate camps in Northern Cali and Bilbao. I will be spending a bit of time in July and August doing workshops in Bilbao and putting the kids through a Hunter-gatherer masterclass- exciting stuff!

Oh and in two weeks time, I will spend a week living as a caveman with absolutely nothing, for a feature I'm doing for Reader’s Digest with my friend and adventurer Al Humphreys. Thankfully James at Native Awareness (runs courses in Primitive skills) has been most helpful with tips, stone age gizmos and clothing. Hmmmm, I'm always up for a challenge...

 

Treehouses & Clay Ovens...

By gad...what a week! I haven't stopped for little more than food (not sure that anyone says 'by gad' anymore- I certainly don't, but I'm taking back!). Since coming back from France its been non-stop: Building a tree house for the Times Home Section in two days (I'd recommend building one in four), It was a superb weekend with James and his family all getting involved- never seen a 4 year old using a power drill! Also been doing the build at Safari Britain, where I managed to receive a double blow to the head from a pair of ash rafters dropping out of the crown whilst setting up the yurt...not recommended.

 

Things are moving along nicely at  moving along at HGC Headquarters. I have been lining up some interesting posts to follow, but with so much on at the moment just a quick update...pictorially.

The clay oven has come along nicely- a bit of a step up from the my last effort whilst tree- dwelling, I just have to do a bit of nip and tuck on the entrance. Thankfully I had the help of some fine instructions from this lad: Simon Brookes guide to building a clay oven.

Knowland's wood- where the HGC headquarters resides is looking beautiful, wood anemones first followed by the delightful onslaught of the bluebells. My new landlord very kindly helped me out with some timber for the HQ, we spent a morning cutting some oak trunks from the wood- so far everything in the off-grid HQ has come from the wood- making me feel particularly smug about my carbon footprint! (save all the fires I will be burning throughout the summer...)

Hope you are enjoying spring and the gradual transition to summer, if you fancy a day or even an overnight course in becoming a 21st century hunter-gatherer- get in touch!

Hunter:Gather:Cook- Off-grid HQ begins...

Inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places, looking back I think mine was stumbled upon at the Giant’s Cup in the Southern Drakensburg, South Africa. Granted the place itself could quite easily be inspiration enough: the flat topped, jutting peaks and the grassy plains full of howling baboons echo exploits of Hemingway- especially striking out in a boat in search of Trout, the great white hunter lives on…. 

 The view from the boat house at Giant's Cup. December 2006.

But it was not so much place, but a person. Wolf Avni the proprietor of our breath-taking surroundings was a fisherman foremost and writer second. His eccentricity was only matched by his wit, and it was only after getting a copy of his book “A Mean-Mouthed, Hook-Jawed, Bad-News Son-of-a Fish” that I realized this chap spoke like he wrote- bizarre perhaps, but certainly unique.  His prose was magical- Shakespeare meets Izaak Walton and then goes on a bender with Bill Hicks and a couple of Trout. I liked it a lot- I wanted to write…big time.

My brother and I spent plenty of time flogging the water chasing the fish- from the enormous lake to the pleasant trickle of the Umzimkulawana River; we had three days of wonderful South African landscape, but very little bite. The Trout of the Southern Hemisphere were too cunning for my liking. It wasn’t until sometime afterwards that I noticed Wolf had added a brief inscription in the front of his book that said:

“For Nick. Nil Illigitimi Carborundum.”

Now whether it was a reference to our fishing or a valuable lesson for life, the common Latin phrase translates as “Don’t let the Bastards grind you down”. And I think it was then that my life began to take a more alternative route that I wasn’t entirely prepared for and quite frankly never will be. But such is the rich tapestry of life!

So after living on a desert island, a Tree house and a cow barn, this year is all about two things: Hunter:Gather:Cook HQ and the Frenchies and their food. Bouncing between two countries is perhaps not the most settled of living arrangements, but with a ‘river cottege-esque’ pad in rural Sussex and an apartment and fiancée on the beach in Southern France- I can hardly complain.

Heavy- Serious Cable laying plant.

This weekend saw not only the start of the great British summer, but also a flurry of activity in a small corner of Sussex woodland. Starting a business is not easy- as many will no doubt agree, but in this case a weekend frolicking in the woods building your office is a perk to say the least. Having just finished a rather regal composting Thunder box for a private client it was time to begin work on my own grand design.

Oak pegs for the A-frames. 

Trying to define exactly what Hunter:Gather:Cook is all about ain’t easy. First and foremost it is a foraging and cookery school, dedicated to educating participants in the rich variety of food that exists around us in the wild, but I wanted it to be so much more than that. It’s about lifestyle: wild food isn’t just about plants, fruits and fungi, its about protein and how to catch it, its about cooking it and how to create and utilize fire for more than just a BBQ. It’s about understanding the landscape you are in and how to create a comfortable existence within it in the most simplistic of ways. And that, ladies & gentleman, is what Hunter:Gather:Cook is all about- sometimes its useful to look to the past in order to see where you are going and our Hunter-gatherer ancestors have led the way. This is about learning to live off the land and how to live with it.

Hunter Gather Cook: Sussex Foraging School.

Here we go! This year Hunter Gather Cook goes from being a blog to a bespoke outdoor experience centered around wild food and cooking. This is not your run-of-the-mill foraging experience: expect off-grid kitchens, underground ovens, hunting & trapping lessons, home brewing and how to use the landscape to your advantage. Not quite bushcraft, not just foraging. After a day spent at the school you will go home laden with goodies you have made yourself from the freshest wild ingredients Sussex has on offer: jarred, potted and bottled and a little closer to being the ultimate 21^st century Hunter-gatherer.

The day course covers a huge range of plant Identification, but the focus is on the how you can use them with everyday standard ingredients and add that little bit extra to every meal. Protein is just as important as plants, so you could be cooking anything from squirrels, rabbits and pigeon to perch, chub and pike. This course is extremely hands-on even down to taking apart the animals yourself!

Many of the regular followers of the blog will know all about my days of Tree house dwelling? Essentially, this is what the school is about: creating a comfortable existence and feeling at home in the great outdoors- this is NOT about survival.

The first dates for Spring are available below and all courses are based in Mid-Sussex:

The cost for the day (9am-6pm) is £75.00 per person (max 12 people per group- discounts on group bookings). I do still run exclusive courses and overnighters for a more personal touch (max 3 people).

April:

Saturday 30^th April

May:

Wednesday 4^th May

Wednesday 11^th May- places available

Saturday 14th May: (Wild food Supper club @ the Underground Restaurant- Londinium)

Wednesday 18^th May- places available

Saturday 21^st May- full

Wednesday 25^th May- full

Many more course dates are to be confirmed for Summer and Autumn, do please get in touch if you are interested- Look forward to seeing you out in the woods soon!

Honesty boxes

 

 

High summer sees vegetable plots across the country bursting at the seams with fresh produce, most people grow enough to furnish their own tables from time to time, but there are a handful of green-fingered wizards that have taken their patches to the next level and have enough surplus vegetables to tie in bunches and place in a ramshackle box outside the front gate available to anyone who might happen to pass by.

The Barn- My new home.

 

 

At last my home is complete. I say home in the broadest possible sense, there are a few things missing, but it hardly seems to matter at the moment, winter could be a different kettle of fish altogether. So who, what, when, where and why? (the typical list of facts any male story ever comprises of).

About 4 weeks ago as I was just about to cover the bender with the tarpaulins, I quickly realized I would be living in a greenhouse of sorts and that as far a security went, my kit (what little there was and still is) would be about as safe as a virgin in a brothel, on top of that (no pun intended) if I do happen to be here in winter and not out in the land of garlic, snails, champagne and public urination than I would need somewhere a little more robust. The heat that day was ridiculous, so I took a load off and sat in the cool shade of the barn planning my next move. I didn’t have too look far I was sitting in the exact spot I should’ve been building in all along…cue an hours destruction of the last weeks work and a further 3 hours of sweeping, shoveling and removing cobwebs and evicting 8-legged occupants.

The Bender comes out…

 

   

What a week. Searing temperatures have made building a home in the space of a week difficult. The biggest pain has definitely been the topsoil of six inches: everything has had to be screwed to the pallet and sterling board I have as my flooring.

Getting my grubby little mitts on natural materials has been a piece of pee…other than running from a large bull, knackers swinging, unnerving erection and probably eager to smash me to bits or bugger me…wasn’t sure which, but the hazel for the frame and the hawthorn for the door handle came easy. The recycled materials have been a little harder.

The Cow-barn diaries?

 

 

It seems conventional living isn’t really my cup of tea...I mean, wheres the fun? Since moving out of the tree house last October I have been plotting and scheming my next move, a new build, perhaps ON the ground with a few more amenities than the last one. There are few things more exciting than building a place of your own: being able to shape it yourself and have everything the way you want it in terms of aesthetics and functionality are just two of the reasons why it is worth doing. If money is no object it can be even better (I barely have any!), so you have to see what other avenues are open for exploration to provide you with a home you can be proud of…back to begging, borrowing and recycling we go! I have got around to adding video to the blog- so I will post the ongoing build and lifestyle elements as we go- apologies for the amateur quality…early days! It begins with an epic session of clearing and learning to use a strimmer...

Chasing Ghosts on the flats of Little Cayman.

“Every angler is entitled to consider his own methods are best, so long as he can catch fish with them.”

G.W Maunsell, The Fisherman’s Vade Macum.

This is somewhat a delayed post considering it took place over the back end of 2008, but I came across the photos and felt it was a worthy adventure to write about: Caribbean Island, palm trees, tropical fish…in December. 

Sussex Graffiti

 

As a person with a degree in Archaeology, I obviously have a bit of a soft spot for old stuff. The fact I chose not to squander my time digging, sifting through bags of mud, counting the amount of different shell types from shell middens and touching myself during repeats of time team was something I realized after my first year of the course. Why didn’t I change courses? Because I had a real fascination in the subject and I suppose I felt it would make me a more knowledgeable fellow, certainly I found whenever I had banter with the generation above they would always show interest, often ending with “Gosh, that takes seven years to qualify doesn’t it?” Err no that’s Architecture…another drink sir?

Micro Adventures: Pillboxing

It was Saturday afternoon. The problem with living in Sussex is that the majority of friends still reside in the city, hence not many people to play with. Whilst reading through my Afterword for the book for the hundredth time and finally deciding that it was actually finished, I decided I wanted to do something spontaneous…

The micro adventure was coined by Al Humphreys, still inspired by the series of adventure talks from last week, I felt I should try one on for size. Micro adventures are quite an ingenious concept and opens you up to a whole world of experiences waiting to be had, in short, just go somewhere on the spur of the moment and do something for the hell of it…