Wilderness Chef

Book excerpt: Gather round an open fire. Share delicious food inspired by the outdoors and infused with age-old wisdom. This is living. This is the way of the wilderness chef. Ray Mears has spent his life travelling the world, living with and learning from trackers, adventurers and indigenous peoples in the desert, the rainforests and the Arctic north. In this book he presents us with a delicious array of his most popular and enduring recipes, tried-and-tested for all levels of skill and in all conditions, from quick and tasty meals to opulent gourmet feasts. Opening with advice on setting up your outdoor kitchen and essential cooking techniques, Ray shows how to assess your ingredients, light a fire, cook in ashes and leaves, steam, smoke, and build a ground oven. He then shares his fabulous and enjoyable recipes, including: - easy ideas that children and grownups can try out (campfire s'mores, wilderness hot dog, egg on a stick, lemon chicken wrapped in dock leaves) - gourmet meals (Italian hunter's rabbit, succulent split-stick roasted salmon) - recipes learned from bushmen and indigenous peoples around the world (potjiekos, canoe country pancakes, fragrant and intense Gurkha curry) Woven throughout are colourful stories of Ray's cooking around the world, from baking a birthday cake using ingredients sourced in the rainforest, to steaming fish Maori-style using bags crafted from Bull Kelp, and pulling a giant Emu leg drumstick out of a ground oven built by a Pitjantjatjara elder in the Central Australian desert. This is a practical and inspiring book drawing on the love of the outdoors, cooking in the open air and creating delicious food from scratch.