Preserving Wild Foods

April 1, 2013

Chef Weingarten and Pelzel (The Country Cooking of India) collaborate on this beyond-the-basics guide to preserving. The book highlights both little-known and commonplace plants, fish, and game for home cooks to preserve. Illustrating techniques for preserving food from both cultivated and wild lands as well as the sea, this panorama of recipes will delight those looking for a new experience. While water-bath canning is still a staple in this book, preservation through curing and smoking is also highlighted. Each of the methods described will work even in the most urban home (Weingarten lives in New York City), as demonstrated by recipes including Classic Dill Pickles, Dandelion Jelly, Salt Cod, and Venison Summer Sausage. VERDICT Weingarten and Pelzel take readers beyond their backyard gardens to landscapes and waters many home cooks may not have considered using to fill their pantry. A great reference for those who want to try their hand at recipes outside of the "fruit preserves box."--Kristi Chadwick, Emily Williston Lib., Easthampton, MA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2012
This fascinating book doesn't update Euell Gibbon's Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1970); New York City chef Weingarten and his sidekick-editor Pelzel have channeled the furious attention lavished on Copenhagen's Noma restaurant and its foraging owner, Rene Redzepi, into a book that even a confirmed urbanite would embrace. It's all about the generations of Redzepi's family, who were devoted to the techniques of preserving. Weingarten and Pelzel are careful in documenting folklore and fact as they pertain to food preservation. (My friend Lubor, who is from Eastern Europe, where stinging nettles are widely used in cooking and home remedies, swears by the nettles' ability to, as he puts it, awaken' his spirit.) Of the 60 recipes, many are streamlined to suit modern conveniences, while others are lovingly presented in page after page of elegant prose. From more well-known ingredients, such as salt cod and goose, to items not readily available in sidewalk cracks, such as rose hips, samphire, and Irish moss, the authors can and preserve and smoke up some unusual yet tasty recipes: farmer cheese, dandelion jelly, and gooseneck and whiskey sausage. They even go so far as to ensure that many ingredients, together, meet kosher standards. Spend time lingering over the photographs, by Stephanie de Rouge, and other illustrations, which lend an art-book-like quality to the volume. Weingarten and Pelzel lead the way to making do with the earth's bounty in the manner it deserves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)