HUNTER-GATHERING: wild & fresh food

Wild Cocktails & Hedgerow Infusions.

I could never understand why my father insisted on picking sloes. Every Autumn the whole family would head for the hedgerows to fill our buckets with the small blueberry-esque tart fruit. My 7-year old self couldn’t grasp the value of such an astringent berry tucked away amongst such viscious thorns, but of course, I was a good few years away from my first sip of sloe gin.

Things have come a long way since then, both in terms of ingredients and methods.  The hedgerows have so much more to offer the booze cabinet than sloes, damsons and elderberries, there are flowers, wild greens and aromatics- even wood has a role to play. At Hunter Gather Cook, we always finish up our seasonal day courses by mixing up some wild cocktails on the top deck of our Tree house HQ. The key ingredient is you: get creative, have fun and by all means, make sure you do plenty of tasting!

Infused spirit or liqueur?

There is a big difference here, sloe gin, for example, is a liqueur. In simple terms any kind of infusion or maceration where sugar is involved in the process is a liqueur. An infused spirit is when you take your fruit, flowers or aromatics and add them to your spirit to infuse without adding any sweetness. It largely depends on what you want to do with the finished product: If you want to make cocktails, its always best to leave sugar out as you can add this later when mixing up drinks in the form of a cordial or simple sugar syrup.

Booze choices:

Choices, choices, choices! There are many hedgerow booze recipes that state you should use the cheapest supermarket own-branded vodka, gin or whisky. To some degree that is true, if you’re making a liqueur, the added sugar will help mask the quality of the final product. If you’re making a simple infusion then go for something a little more upmarket, as there is nowhere to hide! Always bear in mind that your final product is only going to be as good as the quality of the ingredients.

 

Vodka is certainly the best for most infusions or liqueurs. The main reason for this is because it’s a completely neutral spirit, it’s able to take on both light floral or heavy aromatic flavours with ease. For any liqueurs you can go as cheap as you like, but for pure infusions, a good quality grain vodka such as Absolut or Ketel One, will produce excellent end results.

It is possible to use vodka as a base spirit to make your own gin which is essentially a neutral spirit flavoured with a variety of different botanicals- the principal ingredient being Juniper. Other botanicals can include orange or lemon peel, caraway seed, cardamom, coriander seed, star anise, lemongrass, rosemary, bay and so on…

Gin can vary when it comes to which one to use- as its already been flavoured with various botanicals, its best used for fruits rather than delicate floral infusions. Cheap can be cheerful- its worth noting that Aldi’s own brand gin (which costs under £10) came second in the international spirits challenge last year, beating both Bombay sapphire and Hendricks. However, you can’t go wrong with Gordon’s or Beefeater.

Whisky is also best used for fruit such as blackberries, but also wood. Sounds weird? It does. Both whisky and bourbon can be infused with fruity woods such as Apple, cherry or plum. If you whittle down a couple of branches (remove the bark fist!), take the shavings and blowtorch them prior to infusing, the results are a delightfully smoky finish. The shavings, once removed from the infusion and dried out can then be used in the smoker for a whisky finish- thrifty. Again, don’t pull out the Oban or Laphroig for this, Famous grouse is a solid choice.

Infusing methods:

There are three different methods to go about your infusing, whilst traditional maceration will always be a mainstay, you can speed up the process with the other two methods using either heat or pressure:

 

1. Traditional Maceration.

A solid method and one which many of you will be familiar with: Take a kilner jar, half fill it with your ingredients and then top up with your chosen spirit. Seal and stick it in a dark place for anything from 2 weeks to 2 years.

2. Sous vide.

This method uses heat to speed up the extraction process and takes 1 ½ to 2 hours. Don’t feel you need an expensive sous vide machine and waterbath for this- a deep fat fryer filled with water and a thermometer will suffice- you could even keep a close eye on a pan on the hob. You will need some zip lock bags to put all the ingredients in for infusing.

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, you heat some water to 40˚C, maintain the heat, pour your spirit 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. A great method for berries and botanicals.

3. Cream whippers & Nitrous oxide:

This method uses pressure to aid extraction and dramatically reduces the length of time down to 2 minutes. Basically, it’s a flash infusion: the Nitrous Oxide forces all the air out of the ingredients you’re infusing and the spirit rushes into all the air pockets which then drags all the flavouring with it once the cream whipper is discharged.  This method works best with delicate floral infusions such as elderflower or meadowsweet. Simply half fill the cream whipper with your ingredients, add enough spirit to cover and screw on the lid. Charge once with a NO2 cartridge and leave to stand for one minute. Remove the spent cartridge and reload, repeat the process, only this time, shake it for one minute. Finally, discharge the cream whipper completely, unscrew the top and then pour out the infusion through a sieve lined with muslin into a receptacle.

 

HGC Drinks lab on test day... 

Here are a few recipes to get you started with some different ingredients coming into season in the wild larder over the next few months:

 

Meadowsweet Martini (makes 4 martinis)

Method: Cream whipper.

 

Meadowsweet flowers have a wonderful sweet smell to them with notes of vanilla and almond. Meadowsweet has very high levels of Salicylic acid, which was originally isolated in the plant and produced the first aspirin- so this might not give you a headache if you over indulge!

Take 4 flower heads of meadowsweet and pick off just the flowers, discarding any stalk and place in the cream whipper. Add 250ml of gin or vodka depending on your preference and infuse.

Strain the infusion into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice, add 75ml of dry vermouth and stir, strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a meadowsweet flower. Everyone has their preference as to their desired amount of vermouth, this is based on a 3 parts vodka to one part vermouth.

Best served sat on the riverbank where you picked the meadowsweet and enjoy while you wait for the evening rise to begin.

 

Rack em, Stack em and Pack em: Meadowsweet martinis lined up on the Treehouse HQ Birch Bar.

Bramble Whisky:

Method: Masceration for a liqueur or Sous vide for an infused spirit.

• For the liqueur, you will need:
• 1.4kg of blackberries
• 200g of white granulated sugar
• 1 bottle of whisky.

Simply place all ingredients in a large kilner jar and give a vigorous shake, repeat every couple of days for 2 weeks. Then leave in a dark place for 3 months before straining and bottling. Improves with age if you can resist! 

 

Blackberry & Apple Hot Toddy. (makes 2)

This is a great winter warmer once you have your blackberry whisky.

 

Juice of 2 lemons

100ml of blackberry whisky

300ml of warmed cloudy apple juice

Honey if needed (depends how sweet you like it!)

 

The Bramble: A Gin-based excuse to use blackberries. 

Ground Ivy & wild horseradish vodka for the perfect Bloody Mary:

Method: Sous vide.

Ground Ivy or Ale Hoof is a very common wild green, it has a pungent herbaceous aroma with notes of sage, mint, thyme and rosemary- it was originally used to flavour beer before the introduction of hops. Wild Horseradish is a very fiery root: The volatile oil, sinigrin, is released upon tampering with and capable of making a grown man weep. Both marry extremely well when infused to vodka, mind you, this really is only for use in a bloody mary!

• 2 handfuls of washed Ground ivy leaves.
• 1 large chunk of wild horseradish root chopped into £1 coin size slices.
• 1 Bottle of Vodka.

The Wild bloody mary.  (makes 2)

 

This is a perfect recipe to make use of all those tomatoes from your greenhouse as the tomato juice is made using freshly muddled tomatoes with a pinch of salt.

• 8 fresh tomatoes
• 100ml of Infused Vodka.
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 12 dashes of Worcester sauce
• 6 dashes of Tabasco
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the infused vodka, lemon juice, Worcester sauce and Tabasco along with a healthy dose of salt & pepper. Place the fresh tomatoes in a bowl, add a pinch of flaked sea salt and using a muddler (a rolling pin will suffice) pummel the hell out of the tomatoes for a good couple of minutes until pulverised. Strain the fresh tomato juice into the cocktail shaker and stir well. Pour into a two glasses and garnish with a horseradish leaf.

  Woody: The HGC smoked applewood whisky sour. Secret.

Other Stuff:

Well it has been a busy summer! Been well and truly kept away from the office with courses- not a bad thing I suppose! Our Treehouse HQ was over funded on kickstarter and has been a joy to work in this summer- Thanks to all those who helped us get there- You're awesome!  a word to the Bushcraft folk that had a thing or two to say about it on their forum (You really have to read this thread!)- It most certainly does have a Wild Cocktail bar! And the Treehouse diaries is onto it's 2nd print run...thanks for the support gents.

HGC Treehouse HQ. Spring 2014.

I'm very proud to announce that Hunter Gather Cook has its very own Truffler! My furry little daughter B, graduated 2 weeks ago from trainee to practising doggy- not bad for a Jack Russell x Norfolk Terrrier pup. We got her 9 months ago, when she was only 10 weeks old and have been training her every day since. Very chuffed with the little ferret- she's had 3 successful outings so far, including digging up this beast: 

Great work B: Tuber Aestivum or Summer Truffle. Sussex 2014.

 

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.

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!

Quinces: Membrillo-ing the Medieval fruit.

When I think of a Quince, I picture it being dressed up in Armour, wielding a mace and being patted on the back by Henry XIII for adding a little ‘je ne sais quoi’ to his epic feasts. Far fetched perhaps, but this fruit has regal properties about it…a seat at the round table perhaps?

The Quince is one of those forgotten medieval fruits slowly clawing a comeback in Britain, you know, like the Medlar. It’s a fruit of still life paintings, jellies and delightful blossom. Fortunately for us, the Spaniards have taken it and turned into something a little better than a preserve. In Britain, we have a terrible habit of imprisoning hedgerow fruit in a jam jar with sugar…I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I am guilty of jarring up more members of the wild larder than most, but perhaps it is time indulge in more continental practices: take the raw inedible, and force it to be desirable on the palate, asap.

Sloe Gin...

 

Back in my boarding school days, around the time of A-level examinations, myself and a few friends would meet for “Gin club” every Tuesday. Often held in one of our rooms, although we were all on the same floor at the top of the house (perfect positioning to avoid getting busted by our house master). Gin club consisted of sitting around in armchairs, having a good chinwag and a few G&T’s before bed after a hard evenings revision.

The Treehouse Diaries: Blackberry Fool!

 

It’s been sometime since I have dedicated an entry to a single recipe…it’s been a bit treehouse filled of late. So much of the food I have had come and go through the outdoor kitchen has been truly memorable and most of it photographed for future use. But at what point does photographing every stage of an exploit detract from the fun and experience of taking part in escapade to begin with?

 

There are so many things down here That I want to capture, write up and tell the world so everyone can take home a little piece but sometimes there is too much (good thing I’m writing a book to put it all in to)! Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to cook a meal or do something without having to consider it for books, blogs, so on and so forth. Perhaps these are the moments the magic really happens and things move at the pace they should rather than having to wait for the sun to come out again to take that so-important shot…

Rules of Engagement.

I received an email last week from one of my readers; it was concerning the picking of wild garlic bulbs and the legality of such activities. The email got me thinking about just what the law does allow Hunter-gatherers to do and just how we should be looking after our chosen foraging environments.

In the email it was mentioned that it is illegal to pick the bulbs of wild garlic. This is not strictly true, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act it is illegal to dig up a plant by the root, however common it is, unless it is on your own land or you have the landowner’s permission. My favoured wild garlic harvesting spot is on a Friend’s farm and there is more of it than you could shake a stick at.

The other point that was raised was how essential it is to set good sustainable standards where our wild foods are concerned. Quite, I couldn’t agree more. So what are the rules of engagement when it comes to foraging?

Rosehips: The Winter Warmer.

At this time of year the hedgerows are peppered with pockets of bright red rosehips, gone are the pretty pink tinged flowers of summer and in their place is small oval capsule bursting with Vitamin C.

For years I have noticed the rosehip, yet rarely have I bothered to take the time to harvest it. I think this may have been due to fact that I like to harvest a morsel that can be enjoyed as part of a meal, something I can use in the solid sense and gorge myself on, rather than processing into a healthy liquid to aid me through winter.

 

Did you say Crab-apples or Crap apples?

 

 

Unfortunately for the poor Crab-apple, I have taken to calling them crap-apples over the years, call me childish if you will, but they are crap apples: Never one to please you on an autumn stroll, a crab-apple straight of the ground won’t do much for your taste buds, that tart sharpness is better put to use in the kitchen with a few store cupboard staples, than wolfed down straight off the tree.

In the same way as hawthorn berries, crab-apples pack a lot of pectin, especially in the skin. It is for this reason crab-apple jelly is the most obvious choice when converting this fruit into something edible. Surely there can be other uses for them than just jelly? After having a good think about it, I decided there were.

 

The strange properties of Hawthorn.

 

I never used to be overly keen on the hawthorn, as far as trees went. As a child I found it wasn’t really one to climb due to its thorny branches, in bush form they made impenetrable boundaries across the countryside that often thwarted my journeys everywhere I went, oh the obstacles! Why have thorns? It’s not as if it had anything worth stealing…or so I thought.

 

 As I have grown older so has my appreciation for the humble hawthorn. When thinking about it, three uses spring to mind: year round it has excellent firewood, when it burns it gives off enough heat to melt raw (pig) iron. In spring it’s leaves (often the first of all leaves to appear) are a useful addition to any meal. The third is its berries which form in bright red clusters come autumn and have some rather strange properties.

So other than being employed as a primitive barbed wire fence, what makes the hawthorn useful as part of the wild larder?

 

Wild Strawberries…sometimes nature can be a bit tight.

 

A lot of people bang on about the great British strawberry, well this is it. Not the big juicy behemoths you get in a bowl with meringues and cream at Wimbledon, but this dainty little morsel. It maybe small but it packs one hell of a punch, a sharp, sweet yet pleasant flavour. Of course it varies from each berry and there are not ever that many to go round.

The name derives from the way in which they grow, originally “Strewberries” referring to the way in which the strawberries are found strewn about on runners from this incredibly invasive plant. When I was small we used to go to the PYO farm nearby and my father referred to them as Stawbuggers…good name! They can be found in almost any garden often growing in rockeries. They are, out in the wild, particularly fond of heath land, verges and grassy banks.