Pine Smoked Vegetables

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Alder Smoked Pork Loin, Toasted Oats, Caramelized Yogurt, Reduced Belly Stock, Leek Ash Oil, Shaved Rhubarb

It was garnished with wild beach pea shoots, their blossoms, and rhubarb that I pulled from the ground, cut, and placed on the plate while the meat was resting.

Dismemberment Plan (Alaskan Cod Edition)

Several of our guests go fishing while they stay at the lodge, this week the Smeadley's went two days in a row and proved to excel at reeling in the the marine bounty.  They returned with 20 # of Halibut filet (had to be cut on the boat due to lack of storage), one  Pacific Cod, two Black Rockfish, and two King Salmon!  This is one very good perk of the job, I've never had the chance to work with fish this fresh. 

Kachemak Bay Cod, butchered.

King Salmon, to be cured.  The liver was seared for the lucky fishermen that brought this great fish to us.

the Spruce is Loose.

Spruce Tips are officially out and about here on the property:

Spruce Tips, Mentholated/Rosemary/Resiney Flavor, Consume Raw or  Pickled, Nice  Natural Tannins

Black Rockfish (caught that day), Oyster Cream, Spruce Oil, Raw Spruce Tips, Grated Turnip, Miner's Lettuce (foraged from the Property)

Mature Spruce Needles, careful picking these they can prick you

Ground Mature Spruce Needles

Curing Sockeye with Spruce Salt

Last Year's Blueberries

I love ice cream, like really love it.  I've slept walk/slept ate ice cream on numerous occasions.  If I know it's in the freezer where ever I am living, that stuff is a goner.  I have no power over it, my sub-conscious takes over and leds me to that frozen creamy goodness without my knowledge.

You can imagine my dismay when we arrived here and I found that there was no functioning ice cream machine.  Luckily, it was decided before we left for Alaska that this would be a summer of health and weight loss- not that I need it but...  The absence of the ice cream machine, more than likely is for the best.  I honestly shouldn't be sleep walking through the wilderness at "night" to consume a pint (or two) of ice cream.  Last week, I was walking to the kitchen at 5am and almost walked into a porcupine, sleep-walking anywhere here would definitely be a bad idea.

     While rummaging through our freezer I found a frozen bag of wild blueberries that were picked last year!  Immediately I thought, I bet you could turn these into sorbet (I know, it's not ice cream but it's close).  Remembering that blueberries have a relatively high pectin content I decided to devise a recipe to make sorbet using the blender.  First we made an infused syrup with corn syrup, sugar, water, rosemary, and borage.  The corn syrup doesn't crystalize when cooked so this logically would minimize ice crystals in the sorbet when frozen.  After the syrup was throughly chilled I blended syrup, frozen blueberries, and juice of half a lemon.  The result was a smooth frozen puree that looked like it just came out of an ice cream machine!  Success!  We served it with a spreadable cardamom custard, candied fennel seeds, and a rosemary shortbread.  Desperation results innovation!  You got lucky this time ice cream, this time...

Post Freezer set up!

Where I almost met my demise.

Inspiration.

While I was foraging for some edible weeds around the property I stumbled upon a group of Mare's Tail and Fire Weed.  I've noticed over the past week that these two edible wild plants always seem to grow next or near each other.  Mare's Tail has a bitter flavor similar to a dandelion green but has a much juicier stalk and stem, Fire Weed on the other hand has a flavor similar to asparagus and okra.  Since both have a very pronounced flavor I decided to make a dish that reflected the mountain forest's bounty.  We paired the two foraged weeds with an assortment of pickled, smoked, and preserved mushrooms, crunchy tarragon, shaved raw and salted rutabaga, garnished it with the weeds, and poured a rich mushroom broth table side that had been infused with the Mare's Tail and Fire Weed.

Red Stemmed Fire Weed and Javelin-esque shaped Mare's Tail
 

Mushrooms, Weeds, Crunchy Tarragon, Earthy Mushroom Broth

Because There are No COWS?!!

Excitement is an oyster farm.  Especially when said oyster farm is literally a 5 minute boat ride from your place/kitchen of work.  Meet Frank Reveil, his wife Margo, and their two sons Logan and Kenneth.  Frank, is a francophile Ex-Pat (with a little boat named "X-Spat") and has been living in Alaska for few years working primarily as a fisherman.  He and his wife purchased this farm, Jakolof Bay Oysters a few years ago.  The decision was made after tasting the oysters and having full confidence that they were on a unique farm of superior quality.  Jackolof Bay oysters are some of the cleanest oysters I have ever tasted.  They have a light brininess with a subtle green apple and honeydew melon finish.  Basically, they're fantastic.  

      Luckily for us, these are our neighbors.  So at the Lodge we have access to this amazing product at all times.  When I asked Frank why his oysters had such superior flavor he paused for a bit and then blurted out, "Because there are now COWS?!!" in his french-textured and broken english.  He explained that here, on this bay where these oysters are grown are so far away from any sort of pollution that could affect these filter feeding bivalves.  He's right, there are now roads, no fertilizers dripping into the waters,  no cars extruding exhaust into it's near by atmosphere, just natural wild sea water- clean, pure flavor.  

     I asked for 4 dozen to take back to the lodge to prepare for some guests that have a huge love for raw oysters.  Immediately three members of the family jumped on the oyster table picking out the perfect oysters for us, hand scrubbing every oyster that was destined for that little mesh bag.  They do this for every oyster they sell, not kidding.

     Growing oysters in Alaska is hard work, a normal oyster farm anywhere else in the world can harvest after 2 to 3 years of growth.  Jackolof Bay Oysters take five years to reach maturity!!!  The reason being is the water in the bay is too cold for the oyster to grow during the winter months.  If the water is that clean and the product is that good, it's worth the wait

Family Affair...  Scrubbing each oyster before bagging

Frank's son, Logan checking and counting oysters for quality

Holed Table used for sizing the just Harvested Oysters

Jakolof Bay Oysters, Apple Vinegar, Tapioca, Borage
Served to the guests immediately after returning from the farm.