Salt smoke time Homesteading and heritage techniques for the modern kitchen

In the culinary world of the moment, technological prowess is yielding to more ancient and more time-tested techniques. Foraging now makes the reputation of many a celebrity chef. Mushroom hunting has always thrived, but coveted restaurant foods now include woodland and meadow greens, wild game, and even seaweed, no longer so exotic, thanks to the ubiquity of sushi, whose rolled versions rely on seaweed wrappers. Horowitz celebrates such rediscoveries with this very informative guide to foraging as well as old-fashioned preservation techniques based on salting and smoking. He introduces both hot and cold smoking methods, many of which will challenge urbanites lacking requisite kitchen space to fashion smoking apparatuses to bring off these recipes. Inland dwellers will be similarly challenged to access ocean-based products. And weekend foragers need plenty of education and experience to avoid poisonous fungi and other toxic plants. But for those ready to learn new foodways from their forebears, Horowitz presents intriguing and detailed instructions and correlative recipes, many from Native American sources.--Mark Knoblauch Copyright 2019 Booklist

Horowitz, executive chef and owner of New York City's Ducks Eatery and Harry & Ida's Meat Supply Co., advocates for a return to nature as a way of securing and preserving food in this enlightening work. Part cookbook, part lifestyle treatise, Horowitz starts with an explanation of preservation techniques that include dry curing and brining, cold and hot smoking, dehydrating, fermenting, and more. He dedicates ample attention to foraging and offers such dishes as capered elderberries, pickled chanterelles, and dandelion honey. A chapter on animal husbandry and dairy prompts unique and appealing recipes for duck liver butter, tarragon cream, and smoked ricotta. Horowitz also explores drying and smoking seafood, including bluefish, mackerel, eel, and trout roe. A chapter on meat, butchery, and charcuterie includes historical recipes for fried locusts, snapping turtles, and moose nose along with modern recipes for maple-smoked bacon, venison gravlax, and duck prosciutto. Offering an eclectic and fascinating approach to procuring and preserving food, this book will appeal to those seeking to be more self-reliant as well as those who are interested in dabbling in time-honored traditions. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.