The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir - Hardcover

Pascal Baudar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1603586067 ISBN 13: 9781603586061

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co, 2016

Synopsis

With detailed recipes for ferments, infusions, spices, and other preparations Wild foods are increasingly popular, as evidenced by the number of new books about identifying plants and foraging ingredients, as well as those written by chefs about culinary creations that incorporate wild ingredients (Noma, Faviken, Quay, Manreza, et al.). The New Wildcrafted Cuisine, however, goes well beyond both of these genres to deeply explore the flavors of local terroir, combining the research and knowledge of plants and landscape that chefs often lack with the fascinating and innovative techniques of a master food preserver and self-described culinary alchemist. Author Pascal Baudar views his home terrain of southern California (mountain, desert, chaparral, and seashore) as a culinary playground, full of wild plants and other edible and delicious foods (even insects) that once were gathered and used by native peoples but that have only recently begun to be re-explored and appreciated. For instance, he uses various barks to make smoked vinegars, and combines ants, plants, and insect sugar to brew primitive beers. Stems of aromatic plants are used to make skewers. Selected rocks become grinding stones, griddles, or plates. Even fallen leaves and other natural materials from the forest floor can be utilized to impart a truly local flavor to meats and vegetables, one that captures and expresses the essence of season and place. This beautifully photographed book offers up dozens of creative recipes and instructions for preparing a pantry full of preserved foods, including Pickled Acorns, White Sage-Lime Cider, Wild Kimchi Spice, Currant Capers, Infused Salts with Wild Herbs, Pine Needles Vinegar, and many more. And though the author s own palette of wild foods are mostly common to southern California, readers everywhere can apply Baudar s deep foraging wisdom and experience to explore their own bioregions and find an astonishing array of plants and other materials that can be used in their own kitchens. The New Wildcrafted Cuisine is an extraordinary book by a passionate and committed student of nature, one that will inspire both chefs and adventurous eaters to get creative with their own local landscapes.

About this title

Review:

"As a Southern California native, I grew up with the terroir that I eventually would incorporate into my cuisine at Girasol. Pascal was my spark. The first day Pascal walked through our back kitchen door with a cornucopia of foraged California wild plants and 'Old World' recipe vinegars and beers, I knew I had found my voice. Pascal's seemingly infinite knowledge and passion for what grows in the desert region we live in has truly inspired me. This book is one of a kind, a walk off the beaten trail and an exploration of true wild flavors. Chefs who truly care about finding new ways of expression and commitment to 'time and place' cooking will undoubtedly be captivated by it."--CJ Jacobson, executive chef, Girasol restaurant, and winner of Top Chef Duels

"The New Wildcrafted Cuisine takes wild foraging to a gourmet level of creativity. I am delighted by Pascal's ingenuity of wild combinations and impressed by his experience demonstrating the vast potential of culinary artistry. Pascal clearly articulates the procedures and details of transforming wild ingredients into practical recipes, thereby making the gifts of nature more accessible to us all."--Katrina Blair, author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds

"This gorgeous book will make you salivate and dream. Pascal Baudar is exploring important culinary terrain in his coastal California bioregion, incorporating the incredible diversity he forages into a broad array of foods and drinks in exciting, elegant, and clever ways. Beyond the particulars of what he can harvest there--some which you or I might find where we live, but much of which is very different--it is his methods, ideas, and aesthetics, all of which can be applied much more broadly, that are truly inspirational."--Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation and Wild Fermentation

"Pascal's book contains some of the most unique and innovative ideas that you'll ever find for using wild flavors. Clear instructions accompany each recipe, along with striking photos of the ingredients and finished products."--Samuel Thayer, author of The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden

"Visually stunning, The New Wildcrafted Cuisine is incredibly impressive, a tour de force, a masterpiece. At long last, an author has truly captured the power and sophistication that wild foods can impart to both our diets and our lives."--Stephen Harrod Buhner, author of The Lost Language of Plants and Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers

Publishers Weekly-

"Baudar, a self-described 'professional forager' whose ingredients and preserves have been used by such chefs as Ludo Lefebvre and Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio, shows how to transform barks into vinegars, insect sugar into beer, and rocks into plates, among other things, in this avid guide to field-and-table cooking. While most of the recipes center on fauna found in Southern California, aspiring survivalists anywhere will likely appreciate Baudar's deep commitment to the practice. Pickled acorns, anyone? Dirt index: Swimming in the primordial ooze."

About the Author:

Pascal Baudar is a professional forager, wild food instructor, and a self-styled culinary alchemist based in Los Angeles. His locally sourced wild ingredients and unique preserves have made their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, and Chris Jacobson. Over the years, through his weekly classes and seminars, he has introduced thousands of home cooks, local chefs, and others to the flavors offered by the wild terroir of southern California. He has served as a wild food consultant for several TV shows including MasterChef and Top Chef Duels. He has been featured in numerous TV shows and publications, including Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, and the New York Times. In 2014, he was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in L.A. by Los Angeles magazine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1603586067
• ISBN 13: 9781603586061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432