Salt cured and smoked beaver belly.

A nice fat, spring beaver would be best for this, but I’ve definitely made it with some leaner game. Making bacon is super easy and requires very little work, just a bit of patience. I usually omit the pink curing salt, but if you are looking for that classic bacon flavor it is essential to include. I like a little heat, but if that isn’t your thing just leave out the red pepper. After a few times you’ll want to start playing around with different flavors.

I almost exclusively use alder wood to smoke, because I have it available in abundance, but obviously apple, hickory, maple, cherry or mesquite would be all amazing, whatever is available to you.

Well, Smoked spruce grouse and grain-free dumplings, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. This was my first try at chicken and dumplings, I haven’t even eaten it since I was a child. Next time I will go creamer with much bigger dumplings.

My neighbor dropped off some carrots from the last gasps of her garden so I put them in. I added wild boletes and some spruce tip pesto to the base. The dumplings were mostly cassava flour. It ended up being pretty delicious.

Lox is one of my favorite foods and when we moved to a salmon river I knew I needed to master making it. This batch was made with chum salmon. Starting with fillets I pack them in a mixture of 1/2 Kosher salt and 1/2 brown sugar, wrap that up in plastic wrap with the end unsealed so that moisture has a place to drain out. Then I put them in a container and place a weight on them, I use a nice flat board with a rock on top but whatever you can improvise is fine, maybe a platter topped with a bowl of rocks. I then put it in a cold place. A refrigerator is ideal but I don’t have one so I use a covered hole in the ground. I leave it for several days, rotating them daily. The exact length of time will vary on the thickness of the fillets, usually 2 to 3 days, but they are ready when they feel firm throughout.

After they are cured, rinse off the salt mixture, and put it in the cold smoker for 3 or 4 hours, not long. The fish should be tacky enough to really pick up the smoke fast and too long will dry it.

Smoked black bear ribs when birch syrup-mustard barbecue sauce. Dandelion greens, sauteed and topped with the leftover bear crackin from rendering the bear fat earlier this week

Spruce tip cookies
Almond flour
Ghee
Eggs
Spruce tips
Caramelized spruce tip syrup
Baking soda
Salt

Yesterday was the first day the spruce tips were out. They are still really tiny, smaller than I would normally harvest. Although I almost never make sweets, I grabbed a handful and opened a jar of syrup I made last year. I decided to give the wood stove oven we found a try. I’m starting to get the hang of it

These were only barely sweet, and very buttery with just a hint of spruce, next time I’ll double the fresh spruce tips and infuse the ghee with them overnight.

Braised porcupine legs, curried rice, fireweed shoots, northern bluebell greens, and raisins.

Porcupine is an incredibly mild and tender meat, with plenty of fat making it a good substitute for pork. I used fireweed and bluebell because that isb what was available at the moment but any mild or peppery green would work.

Salmon Candy is one of the best treats, I mave been making mine with my own birch syrup and I love the darker smokey flavor it gets.

After living in Texas for over a decade, this is one of my favorite slow cooked game recipes, and I was overjoyed to find a way to blend it into my new northern landscape. The spicy, smokey tender pulled meat definitely makes me a little homesick for Austin. I used the shoulder for this, but I’ve made it with just about every cut of meat, from bear, beaver or moose to chuck roast, beef cheeks and wild boar. Because it cooks slow and long it can also be a nice way of dealing with tougher cuts. I think this might be a great way to introduce someone to bear, it’s rich beefy flavor holds up well in this.

I served it as tacos here, on my grain-free tortillas, with fermented jalapeños, Alaska bluebell greens, onion, carrots, avocado and a creamy chipotle sauce. It is also easily serve it in omelets, over rice, or as a sandwich or bowl.