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FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

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Carnivore

The Barnsley Chop: Cutting and Cooking

lamb barnsley chops cut at home with a hand saw

I’ve worked for years with a lamb and goat farm. Occasionally customers send in requests, and one that caught my eye awhile ago was the Barnsley chop. What is a Barnsley chop, you ask? It’s a saddle chop: a thick, cross-section of the loin that creates a lamb double-chop or double loin chop. History  Accounts…

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Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Scrapple Recipe

Traditional scrapple made with liver, buckwheat, cornmeal and spices recipe

Do you like bacon? Pancakes? Crispy, browned things cooked on a griddle? Maple syrup? Of course you do, so fasten your seatbelt and come aboard Alan’s organ train, because we’re traveling to scrapple country. If you like offal, or even if you don’t partake in the finer parts of animals and you’ve never had scrapple,…

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Elk or Venison Backstrap Bresaola

Backstrap Bresaola sliced on slate

If you like making charcuterie, or are charcuterie curious, bresaola is a great place to start. Bresaola is a traditional Italian charcuterie, and it’s a lot easier to make than other types of cured meats as it’s a whole-muscle cure. With whole muscle cures, all you have to do is season a piece of meat,…

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Wild Fennel Seed Venison Chorizo

foraged wild Fennel Venison Salami

I’ve been making a lot of charcuterie using UMAi DRY casings lately, and, after a month, my first one is done: a Spanish chorizo-style salami recipe made from ground elk and pork flavored with wild fennel seeds. If you’re not familiar, this is a dry cured sausage that’s very different from lump Mexican chorizo beef…

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Smoked Shank Stew with Huitlacoche and Tepary Beans

Venison stew with huitlacoche and tepary beans

Venison shanks (any shanks, really) make great soup and stews, and this one, with Mexican flavors of dried beans and huitlacoche, is fantastic. Originally I was trying to recreate a soup my mother described to me from a trip to Mazatlan, but, instead of the brothy soup I intended, it turned into a more stick-to-your…

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How to Make Venison Biltong at Home

Elk Biltong sliced on a board

Biltong is a great piece of South African beef charcuterie. If you like making charcuterie at home, or just like a good bag of jerky you’ll love it. Just think beef jerky, but softer, more tender.  If you’re not familiar, biltong is made by cutting meat into slabs about an inch thick, seasoning, with black…

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Smoked Venison Tasso Ham

Smoked Venison Tasso Ham

A venison tasso recipe may not exactly be a traditional piece of charcuterie, but, if you like spicy smoked ham, you’ll love it. If you’re not familiar (it’s kind of an obscure ham) tasso is a smoked Creole ham that typically has a spicy rub of paprika and cayenne, among a bunch of other things….

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How to Make Boneless Venison Ribs

Boneless venison ribs

  Rib meat has to be one of the most underrated cuts of venison. Typically it will go in the grind pile after getting a thorough trim, or, as I see more often, left on the carcass for the cayotes. Today, I have for you, solid proof that deer ribs make for great eating, and…

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FORAGER | CHEF®
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Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
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Alan Bergo
I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so I liked the staff meal I made for Mondays shoot so much we filmed it instead of the original dish I’d planned. 

Cooked natural wild rice (not the black shiny stuff) is great hot, cold, sweet or savory. It’s a perfect, filling lunch for a long day of berry picking. 

I make them with whatever I have on hand. Mushrooms will fade into the background a little here, so I use a bunch of them, along with lots of herbs and hickory nut oil + dill flowers. 

I’m eating the leftovers today back up in the barrens (hopefully) getting some more bluebs for another shoot this week w @wild.fed 

#wilwilwice #wildrice #chanterelles #campfood #castironcooking
Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine Baby’s first homegrown mushrooms! Backyard wine caps on hardwood sawdust from my lumberjack buddy.

Next up blewits. Spawn from @northsporemushrooms

#winecaps #strophariaaeruginosa #allthemushroomtags
It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from It’s wild cherry season. I’ll be picking from my favorite spot tomorrow a.m. and have room for a couple helpers. It’s at an event on a farm just south of St. Cloud. 

If you’re interested send me a message and I’ll raffle off the spots. Plenty of cherries to go around. I’ll be leading a short plant walk around the farm too. 

#chokecherries #foraging #prunusvirginiana #summervibes
Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking Special thanks to the beach in Ashland for hooking it up with on-site garnishes. Beach pea flowers taste strong and leguminous, similar to vetch, or like a rich tasting pea shoot. 

#lathyrusjaponicus #beachpeas #peaflower #foraging #northshore #bts
Great, long day of filming in near the south shore Great, long day of filming in near the south shore of Lake Superior yesterday. 

Blueberries were sparse, and some kind of blight seems to be affecting the serviceberries. Chanterelles weren’t as good as 2020, but they were there. 

Quick dip in the Lake Superior after we broke set was a bonus. 

W/ @barebonesliving  @misterberndt @jesseroesler

#barebonesliving #foraging #lakesuperiorrocks #serviceberries #chanterelles #bts
Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just pu Green ramp seed make a great lactoferment. Just put the green seeds in brine in a jar, leave for 2 weeks. 

After they’re sour they can be water bath processed, although I’ve stored them at room temp without an issue too. 

Finished product is great minced or puréed into places where you’d like garlic, capers, or both. 

Makes a great tzatziki with a little crumbled, dried bee balm. 

#tzatziki #ramps #rampseeds #foraging #fermentation
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