Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

2 tb licorice fern root
2 tb gewurztraminer icewine
3/4 c water
3 c dried alder cones
2 wild grouse breasts, bone in
- and sk; inless
1 juniper salal berry sauce:
1 1/3 c water
1 1/2 c b.c. pinot blanc wine
3 1/2 c salal berries
1 1/2 tb maple syrup
1 1/2 tb black peppercorns
8 juniper berries
1 1/2 tb balsamic vinegar

Recipe from Northern Bounty: A Celebration of Canadian Cuisine. The ISBN is
0-394-22431-0. Recipe by Sinclair Philip, owner of the Sooke Harbour House
on Vancouver Island. Sinclair believes in local ingredients, freshness and
learning about and using wild ingredients from the native peoples. His
restaurant has vegetable and herb gardens full of plants transplanted from
the bush for use in the kitchen. At Sooke, chefs prepare this dish with a
salad of foraged wild greens and flowers: amaranth, chicory, chickweed,
lamb's quarters, orache, shepherd's purse, and sorrel.

Alder: a deciduous tree, member of the birch family with woody cone like
fruits. Common in swamps and mountainous areas. [ I am going to try black
spruce cones- our commonest local tree. If that doesn't work I can fall
back on store bought fruit wood chips or do a Chinese Tea Smoke.- JW]

Licorice Fern: I have no idea what it's geographic range is or what flavor
it's root would impart. Based on it's name I am going to try diced Fennel
bulb, Fennel seed or a _wee_ bit of Star Anise stewed in Port instead.-JW

Salal Berries: Salal is a low [up to 2 meter] evergreen shrub of the Heath
family native to California, B.C. and Alaska with white to pink urn shaped
flowers and round purple berries which turn black. [ There are none locally
so I will be experimenting with cranberries or black currants.- JW]

Directions:

In a small covered sauce pan, gently simmer fern root in icewine and water
for 20 min. Pour into a glass jar, seal and let stand at room temp for 12
hours. Strain into a small saucepan and boil, uncovered, on high until
reduced to a thick syrup. Set aside.

Heat alder cones in a large aluminum foil lined sauce pan over high heat
until they smoulder. Reduce heat to low; place grouse breasts directly on
top of the smouldering cones. Lightly brush the breasts with the fern root
glaze; cover pan tightly. Smoke breasts for 3 hours or until cooked but not
dry. Remove the meat from the bone and serve with Juniper-Salal Berry
Sauce.

For the sauce: Pour 1 cup water and the wine into the bottom of a per-
forated double boiler. Place the salal berries in the top section. Cover;
simmer gently for two hours. Gently press berries with a rubber spatula to
extract remaining juice. Discard berries; reserving syrup in the bottom of
the double boiler.

To the salal syrup, add the maple syrup, peppercorns, juniper berries,
remaining water and balsamic vinegar. Bring to the boil and immediately
remove from the heat; let stand an hour before returning to the heat. Cook,
uncovered, until slightly thickened. Refrigerate until needed.

posted by Jim Weller

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