Douglas Fir Vinegar - Better than balsamic I hear!

Just a quick post from me today. At Hunter Gather Cook we are always after the best in wild food ingredients and after reading some great posts by my friend Nick Weston, and foraging compatriots Eatweeds and The Cottage Smallholder I decided to have a test of different Douglas Fir Vinegars.

Douglas Fir as an ingredient has been a favorite of many up market restaurants and chefs including the likes of Heston Blumenthal. It is also high in Vitamin C so good for the immune system too. I would suggest reading the other blogs mentioned in this article if you'd like to learn more or get the recipes as I am yet to try the fruits of my labors. In six weeks time I will be able to try my pine concoction based around three different vinegars (Red Wine, White Wine and Cider) and will let you know how it goes.

In the mean time I hope you will all enjoy this little timelapse / stopmotion video I made whilst creating these.

Potted Rabbit

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Potted Rabbit

Preserving protein for the cold winter months has a long tradition in the UK as well as Europe. In Europe and especially France the favoured technique is a Rillette, however in the UK potting is the technique of choice.

Although these days with 24 hour supermarkets, freezers, an endless supply of fresh food from all over the globe this way of preserving is no longer a requirement of your average household and seems for be slipping out of the publics psyche. It is none the less a delicious way to serve rabbit and can add some much needed moisture and richness to what can often be quite a dry meat.

At Hunter Gather Cook we always have access to the best and freshest local game through our contacts with game keepers and local farms. This can sometimes be too much of a good thing and when I was presented with three tasty little critters and a freezer already stuffed to the nines other gamey bits and pieces I decided it was time to get potting!

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

In a little oil brown the rabbit pieces and then cook bacon in a frying pan. Set the bacon to one side.

Put the browned rabbit along with the trotters, chopped veg, thyme, bay, ground ivy, and wine into a large casserole dish (two if need be). Top up with water so everything is just covered.

Bring to the boil, cover, put into the oven and cook until the meat flakes off the bone. About 1 hour 45 minutes should do it.

Strain off the liquor into another pan and reduce to around a quarter of the original liquid. This will take a little while so in the mean time its back to the rabbit.

Once the rabbit has cooled slightly shred all meat off of the bones being careful to ensure no small bones make it in there, they can be an unwelcome addition to an otherwise amazing dish. Place the shredded rabbit into a large bowl, add the mustard, parsley, bacon and season to taste. Give it all a good stir to work the flavours in.

Next loosely pack the rabbit mixture into your chosen vessels (Kilner jars are best for this). Pour over the reduced liquor almost to the top of the jar.

Leave the full jars to cool slightly then put into the fridge to chill overnight. By the morning the gelatine extracted from the trotters should have done its magic and set over the top.

I served mine on wholemeal toast with lightly fried Ceps and Wood Sorrel to Garnish. Went down a treat!

My Top 10 Favourite Venison Dishes

My beer can heal you

The history behind my ale.  

Agrimony.  Latin name: Agrimonia eupatoria

History:

Agrimony (Agrimonia Eupatoria) was named after Mithradates Eupator, King of Pontus, 134 BC – 63 BC.   He is credited for discovering many of the medicinal remedies we still use today.  The legend goes that the King would test poisons and their antidotes on his unfortunate prisoners.  After much trial and error with his expendable captives, he then began daily poisoning and curing himself, with his newly discovered antidotes, he hoped to build an immunity in a bid to make himself invincible from a death by poisoning – as was the fate of his father.

This backfired fired on him rather spectacularly, when his army was defeated by Pompey and he faced imminent capture by Rome, which was to him a fate worse than death.  He lovingly dispatched of his family by poisoning the lot of them and then attempted to poison himself - only to find that he had strengthened his constitution rather too efficiently.   Now merely weakened by the poison, he attempted to kill himself using a sword but when he also failed in this endeavour he was forced to request that his closest bodyguard finish him off properly.

Despite his rather extreme drug trialling methods, Mithradates did a lot for the progression of medicine.  Agrimony was just one of the plants he apparently used in his experiments and was used globally by Native Americans, ancient Greeks, Anglo Saxons and many more.  

Below is a list of ailments Nicholas Culpeper, a 16^th century herbalist, believed would be benefitted by Agrimony.

Dropsy

Jaundice

Skin Sores

Cleanser of the liver, gall bladder and kidneys

Beneficial to the bowels and for chesty coughs and colic

Antidote to snake bites

Beneficial to cold sores, cancers and ulcers

Draws out splinters or anything that has got into the flesh

Helps with hearing and the treatment of tinnitus

Diarrhoea

Healing wounds

Purifier of the blood

As you can see Agrimony was historically used in the treatment of numerous illnesses but modern research would disregard it as useful for most of these ailments! 

More recently Agrimony has been prescribed as a cure for athlete’s foot and in herbal medicine is used for its’ mild astringent properties- useful in the treatment of coughs and as a natural diuretic.

Meadowsweet. Latin Name: Previously Spirea ulmaria, Now Filipendula ulmaria. Other Names: Dolloff, Meadsweet, Lady of the Meadow, Queen of the Meadow, and Bridewort.

 History:

  

It is believed that Meadowsweet was a highly sacred plant to the druids.  Meadowsweet pollen has been found in graves and barrows dating back 4000+ years – potentially given as a burial offering.  According to druid lore, King Arthur’s lady of the lake taught the early healers of Meadowsweets medicinal properties.

Unlike Agrimony, many of the historical medicinal uses of Meadowsweet remain the same today.  It’s use in pain relief has long been understood.  It contains salicylic acid – which has now been synthesised to create aspirin and other painkillers.  The latin name for Meadowsweet was previously Spirea ulmaria (now Filipendula ulmaria) which is where ‘a-spirin’ derived from.

Unfortunately, the way modern Aspirin has been produced – extracting only the salicylic acid - has neglected the natural tannins and astringent properties of Meadowsweet, meaning that it can have an adverse affect on the stomach lining. So from now on I plant to munch on some Meadowsweet when I’ve got a headache.

Meadowsweet is also used in other medicine, which thins the blood, and in antacids.  I would check with your doctor before tucking into Meadowsweet yourself, as it may not mix well with other medicines.   

Having read about all the positive properties of both Meadowsweet and Agrimony (not to mention their fascinating histories and taste!), I decided to make an ale to cure EVERYTHING and possibly drink myself under the table in the process. 

500g white granulated sugar

250g Meadowsweet leaf and flower

250g Agrimony leaf and flower

40 pts water

1 teaspoon champagne yeast

Firstly boil the water and add the leaves and flowers and boil for half an hour - you can do this in batches if needed, I did.  Allow to cool, then strain out the plant matter, stir in the sugar until fully dissolved allow to cool to blood temperature and then add the yeast – allow this to sit on the surface of the water (wort) for 15 minutes and then stir in.  Loosely cover and allow to stand for 12 hours in a warm place.

Next, strain the liquid into a pressure barrel, if you’re brave you can use bottles but I wouldn’t advise it, these can be rather explosive! Keep in a cool dark place and leave for 14 days and then taste. In the end I left mine for a full 6 weeks, this was partly because I forgot about it and partly because when I got round to trying it was a little sweet and needed more time.  You may wish to leave it longer too, depending on your sweet tooth!

A lovely bunch of Meadosweet and Agrimony

The finished article