He Didn't Hunt( or Fish) But He Shore Could Cook - Claiborne

If the "sides" are really good it doesn't really matter if you catch any bass. As long as someone else does.

Craig Clairborne, legendary New York Times food critic( 50's and 60's mostly) and food writer wrote a hilarious piece about foxhunting for Gourmet Magazine in 1955. He was a city boy, and believed that hunting, as Oscar Wilde said, was "the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable." Though he may have felt the same about fishing, he knew what to do with the game after the kill. Many of us( outdoorsman and women) feel the same way, that " no hunger on earth is so keen or so long in being satisfied as that which follows are hard hunt( or fish), 'on a cold day, when the 4 winds of heaven have whipped color and health into every fiber of one's being'."

Pork and beans or baked beans are usual accompaniments to the fried potatoes in a traditional shore lunch. Add onions and jalapenos to the beans( saute' the onions first, add peppers, then beans) for a sweet and hot treat. Add onions, bell peppers and mushrooms( any) to the potatoes.

Red or black or pinto beans and rice are less traditional, but a great side to your fried fish. Spicy, of course. Use one of the mixes that are commonly available at the supermarket, if you want to make it easy and save time. I always add more cayenne and garlic and any fresh herbs that I have growing this time of the year, like chives, parsley, or cilantro. ( Do that w/ the potatoes, too, sage if you have it).

Corn fritters add a whole new dimension to the meal. They are really simple to make - kind of like a corn pancake. Make them from scratch w/ 2 cups of corn, 2 eggs, 1 /3 cup milk, 6 tablespoons flour, salt and pepper, according to Claiborne in his book Southern Cooking. I added corn meal, (3 tablespoons), and a tablespoon of baking soda, and a little more milk to the recipe. Drop by large spoonfuls into oil in a frying pan - a little more oil than you would use for pancakes. Serve on the side w/ honey. They are excellent, and really complete a shore lunch. Some may like them better than the fish.

Bass Opener

Bass opener today.

The really great thing about largemouth bass ( after the plan, the strategy, the ambush, the strike, the fight, the landing) is that in Mn most of these bass are coming out of clean ( not muddy) lakes and they taste accordingly.

The flavor is redolent of a mild white mushroom, with a depth and richness that is more than walleye. Walleye, of course, gets all the hype, and yes they are excellent. Bass has more of an ocean fish flavor ( think mahi), and it can stand up to a much greater variety of preparations. Nor does it have the tendency towards fishyness that walleye does.

I will make some recommendations later for preparation later because right now I am going fishing. Will I climb the ladder on bass like the other day? I doubt it - that is rare - but I do look forward to truly fresh fish.

A Simple Recipe and a Not So Simple Recipe

You can believe me when I say I climbed the ladder on fish last night at dusk - 1 lb, 2 lb, 3 lb, 4 lb caught sequentially on a little shad rap. Did we eat them floured and sauteed and finished off w/ wine and tarragon and butter?

Nope. They were bass. Largemouth. The biggest fought like a young lab. I was hoping I had found walleye.

Speaking of walleye. And Mille Lacs. And the netting controversy. And Steve Fellegy writing his final column because he disagees w/ The Mille Lacs Messenger's reportage and editorial stance on the "gathering rights" issue. Steve claims that our government has granted the Indians "unequal rights based on skin color and ethnic origin" alone. The decision was not based only on skin color and ethnic origin. The mirror that Steve writes of also reflects history,and treaty, and law, and politics and money, and fish,and mammals,and trees,lakes, prairie, and lawyers and lives and deaths, and so much more. If it were only that simple.... If it were only that simple.....well, then.... Iraq would be that simple too. Nothing ever is. Except for some food recipes. Thank God for that.

Roast Buffalo and Rhubarb Pie

Rarely has there been a better marriage than that of last night with a buffalo chuck roast and roasted onions and potatoes and carrots. I got the buffalo from a Pequot Lakes area grower while at the Growers Mkt in Brainerd. Leaner and sweeter than beef and surprisingly(?) tender. I seasoned the 2 lb roast w/ only salt, pepper and garlic( and water) and cooked it for 3 hours.

I hadn't eaten buffalo for many years ( late 70's), not since as the chef at a restaurant just outside of Spearfish SD( The Sluice), where we served buffalo prime rib, T bones and inside round roasts. Excellent meat w/ a richness and depth of flavor beyond beef. It's as if it has more naturally occurring msg than beef does.

Also, the first garden produce of the year ( first pick rhubarb from my yard ) as a rhubarb galette - a rustic open faced tart or pie - which I did w/ sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice and a dough made with oil( healthy) and water and salt and sugar. Hot, with vanilla ice cream. Sometimes I use oil when I make cookies, too, so I can eat a lot of them w/o dying or feeling guilty.

Save Money on Shore Lunch

" Shore Lunch" breading and batter mixes that are sold in super markets and at Reed's on Mille Lacs are merely seasoned flour with the addition of paprika( for color - so your fish gets golden), and salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder and a couple of chemicals that are probably unnecessary.

Do the math.

The Mr Walleye brand at Reed's yesterday was priced at $2.29 for a 9 oz package. Flour is about $3.00 for a 5 lb bag. Therefore it costs nearly 10 times as much to use one of those shore lunch mixes.

Reed's Sports on Mille Lacs

So I went to the new Reed's Family Outdoor Outfitters store today on Mille Lacs, and since they have everything you would ever need to do anything outdoors, especially fish, I could not resist a parting question regarding fly rods. " Do you have any?" I asked. "Nope." I got em on that one.

I know it's not trout country around here, but it sure is a great and efficient way to catch panfish in any of our area lakes. Bass too. You get right in there w/ the fish and you don't have to keep baiting your hook. Dock, boat, or shore. If you haven't done it, it's a whole new way of fishing and it will really get you thinking.

Fly fishing is really a primitive cave man style of fishing. A stick and a line with an imitation bug on the end. You cast the line rather than the lure or the bait. A real bug works, too.

Re-invented Shore Lunch

Insead of the usual shore lunch of fried fish and fried potatoes and Campbells pork and beans, try it w/ beans and rice. First saute' onions and bell peppers in oil w/ lots of garlic and cilantro and either a jalapeno pepper or cayenne pepper( half tspoon for a can of beans), simmer till the onions are caramelized and peppers are soft, then add red or pinto beans( chili beans in sauce) and get hot.

Do rice in a separate pan - if you can find it, use Basmati rice - aged rice from India. It looks like regular white rice until you cook it, and then it transforms into long curly rice that has full rice flavor with a little tang to it. The beans will be quite spicy - serve them on the side so your guests can add appropriate amounts to the rice. Spoon the bean sauce onto the fried fish,too, and by God you know you are eating when you are eating this. Good for you too the garlic and peppers and beans.

It was a good idea to reserve some frozen fish from last fall, so we could feast accordingly on opener.

Fishing Opener

When the poet Charles Simic was asked what advice he would give to people who wanted to be happy, he said," for starters, learn how to cook." Well said.

On this "day before the day"( Fishing Openers Eve), learning how to fish would not be a bad idea, either.

(Have you ever attempted to teach an adult who has never fished how to fish? Have you ever seen such awkward handling of a rod and reel? All the more reason to teach them as kids.)

" With a buddy in his rain rain gear and me in my boat, we'd just settled in for a long day's float..."

The Family Cookbook

Lois' daughter, Marilyn Hayes put together a 566 page archival family cookbook not so long ago and I have a copy. It also includes a family history/tree, tho' 426 pages are of food and recipes, and often the story that goes along w/ the recipe.

Beatrice Ojakangas, the James Beard cookbook award winning Mn cookbook writer( The Great Scandinavian Baking Book; The Cooking of Finland, and 23 or more others), recommends that we all compile a family cookbook. It of course should include all the food recipes, but also the family histories and stories that accompany our daily bread.And photos. A great legacy and treasure for any family and future generations.

A three ring binder is sufficient. Copies can be made for all family members. The recipes do not have to be your own - but ones the family and friends have used.

It does not have to be 566 pages long, either.

"Well Done Good and Faithful Servant"

Good hard work and great faith and a very big heart - a lover and a giver in Jesus' name - Lois Hayes died yesterday after a lifetime of service in His name. Service to family,to friends, and to church.

She was so angry with me once during tough times( not so long ago, either) when we had no food, and we had not told her. " Don't you ever do that again " she said, angry, and pointing her finger in my face. " If you are hungry you tell me. I want you to promise that," she said, and then she filled our cupboards to overflowing, the fridge and freezer too, and it was enough food for a month.

She did not do anything halfway, and she did it all. Courage, strength, faith, and the will to live life to it's fullest and to encourage others to as well. Full with life and joy.

Words from scripture come to mind - "Well done good and faithful servant." She is now at the greatest reunion of all - with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, her husband Rex, those in her family who died in faith, and the rest of the great family of believers.

I have stumbled upon an ethnological field study by anthropologist Ruth Landes entitled The Ojibwe Woman, published by The Norton Library in 1971. The narrative of the book is comprised of and from"life stories" from the early 1930's of a Cree/Ojibwe woman in southern Ontario.

On page #132, the narrative continues ".... In Minnesota, men fish with nets during July and August, as women do also.Undoubtedly fishing with nets was stimulated by the market which the United States government has created for fish, for a greater haul can be made by net than by lance. The requirements of the Minnesota market have also caused these Ojibwa to cease extensive fishing during fall, winter and spring to permit replenishment of the lakes by summer." It says also that the... "characteristic style... was to fish with the lance."

Interesting.

Seems like a lot of folks were just waiting to pounce on tribal netters.

What of the winter and summer trash introduced to the Lake by fisherman and recreationalists? Gas and oil too from boat motors, a lot of it.

Lake shore environmental degradation too, with manicured fertilized suburban lawns.

Fishing launches that for years years dumped their toilets into the lake.

And, yes, rampant and abusive catch and kill( release).

Walleyes historically used in spiritual ceremony by Native Americans? Probably not unlike many of us saying grace, a prayer of gratitude, before a meal.

These things are never simple.

With the late cold spring, I do know that there are a lot of cold wet walleyes out there. Hopefully, enough for all of us.

Prepare them accordingly. Bon appetit'.

All the World's a Stage

Odets with one t. Sorry( previous post). Son Johnny was amazing according to his Dad and others. A nicely economized script transformed a historically unsuccessful play into a taut, well paced tragic tale of a famous Hollywood star w/ personal and professional problems. Classic noir genre' lines like " easy now, life is not a Russian novel."

Pre-performance we ate at D B Searles Bar and Restaurant in downtown St Cloud and had some pretty good chicken and shrimp and pasta. It is in a great old historic bldg on 5th ave. It appears to cater to college age kids, has a nice selection of beers and promotions and all that stuff, but has 3rd floor white table cloth dining. The burgers( handmade) and steaks are their strong point, I think.

Next door at Pioneer Place is a theater and a wine and Scotch bar. The Veranda. Lots of wines. Lots of single malts, if that is your cup of tea.