The Finesse of Fireweed.

The only weed you’d want to have in your garden.

It’s bright, it’s red, it can survive in earth that’s been scorched bare of anything living, and it’s everywhere as far as the eye can see!

Fireweed is one of those rare instances of a species that is acceptably aggressive in its bid to multiply and take up space. It’s as common as any other plant burdened as a weed, but unlike said brethren you won’t find many folk pressing to have it removed from their yards or parks. Its vibrant flowers and superb ability to adapt to any kind of soil have made it a hallmark of the 49th. It looks pretty, its good at reintroducing vegetation to land that’s been otherwise rendered barren, it has no qualms about the constant zig-zag of temperatures inherent to the Arctic, and of course, it can be used to make some tasty snacks.

The versatility of this iconic plant in cooking is what first drew me to the idea of exploring the applications for Alaskan flora to household garnishes such as jams and syrups, and 20 years down the line it still remains one of my all time favorites.

Upon mentioning it in a post on my facebook page some moons back, I was asked exactly how does one get syrup and such from a flowering plant. Well no time like the present for answers so here’s a little insight into how you can go about obtaining some sweet and savory fireweed goodness:

Buy some of my own brand, available at all good retail outlets! Yeah product promotion for the win!

Okay, okay seriously, if your local grocers doesn’t stock my goods (shame on them), here’s how you can make it at home:

Jack’s Wild Fireweed Syrup, made simple

INGREDIENTS

7 1/2 cups fireweed blossoms (depending on where you live you may be able to just walk out and gather them from the woods. If not, most nurseries will sell seeds and starter plants for you to grow your own. It makes a lovely addition to any flower bed, both in looks and ease of care).

6 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

PREPARATION

1. Syrup only requires the flowers of fireweed so snip off the rest of the plant and discard. Place the blossoms in a large saucepan and add 5 cups water.

2. Heat the flowers gently till the colour starts to drain out of them. You’ll want to eventually end up with a mixture of dark red liquid and white shrivelled leftovers.

3. Strain the leftovers out of the liquid and set it aside.

4. In another small saucepan combine the sugar and remaining water, heat and stir till the sugar dissolves completely.

5. Mix the fireweed liquid and sugar water together, then stir in the lemon juice.

6. Return the resulting mixture to the heat and simmer until it’s been reduced to about half.

7. Pour the finished syrup into your canning jars and seal them up. Stick ’em in the fridge if you want to speed up the final bit, then break out the ice cream, sourdough pancakes, waffles, and whatever else you can find that goes with syrup.

Now while syrup lends itself to many uses as a garnish, it’s only one of fireweed’s many applications. The other popular one is, of course, jelly and the process for that is about as doable. So while I’m at it, here’s how you can get two treats from one flower:

Jack’s Wild Fireweed Jam, made simple

INGREDIENTS

8 cups fireweed blossoms

1/2 tsp butter

1 3/4 cups dry pectin

3 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

PREPARATION

1. Repeat the snip and disposal of the stems, then rinse the blossoms thoroughly.

2. Place blossoms in saucepan and add just enough water so the level of liquid is right underneath the top of the flowers when they’re packed in. Don’t worry about getting this exact as all that will happen is the juice will be slightly more brown than purple in color if too much water was used. Heck, depending on how much jam you’re planning to make overdoing the water might actually be beneficial since it’ll give you more juice to work with.

3. Heat to boiling and gently stir the blossoms as the color comes out. Continue till petals have gone grey and the water is a deep purple/brown. Strain to get rid of the petals.

4. Add lemon juice and butter and warm the mixture on the stove (ideally you’ll want to turn down the heat for this as it’s more of an interim between boils. Don’t worry there’s still plenty of boiling to come!).

5. Add the pectin and turn the heat back up to boil (see, what’d I tell ya?). Boil the mixture hard for a minute.

6. Reduce heat and stir in sugar, then boil again for a minute. You’ll probably have some residue building up on the top so skim that stuff off.

7. If you have a pitcher handy (that isn’t glass) pour the mixture into it. This will make it easier to get an equal amount into each of your jars. If there’s no pitcher available (shame) a keen eye and a steady grip on the saucpan handle will do. Make sure you skim any additional residue off first.

8. Fill up those jars, making sure you leave a little bit of space at the top. Close ’em and let ’em soak in a hot water bath for about 10 – 20 minutes.

10. Pop some bread or english muffins in the toaster, arm yourself with a knife and start enjoying your freshly prepared fireweed jam! No other taste like it anywhere in the Last Frontier or out!

Halibut fit for a Royale

Living proof that beauty is no indication of good taste.

The halibut, an ugly, slimy denizen of the deep, that nevertheless has found love from all corners of Alaska due to being one of the most delicious things to ever come out of the sea. Its rich flavor and high nutrional value has made it a staple food of most areas in the 49th and the fact that it’s always in season means it finds its way onto many a dinner table year round.

In my time cooking for the good folk up here, I’ve gotten very well acquianted with the oddities of this fish, what makes it such a tasty delicacy and how one can get the most flavor out of the meat.  Like many Alaskan foods the preparation is pretty simple, but not, however, in the same way most other fish are prepped. 

For starters you need to familiarise yourself with the various sections of a halibut and their relative stats for good eating. Fortunately I happen to have a quick and easy diagram for you to use right here.

Don’t say I never do anything for my readers!

As we can see, the halibut has three major zones for meat. The steaks, obtained from the rear of the fish, are the basic all purpose cuts and what you’re most likely to find in your local grocers.

Fletches (or fillets) encompass the main body and require the most care for cooking. Since halibut don’t have a lot of fat their meat is fairly fragile and prone to breaking down when soaked in marinades that are too acidic or spicy. This is why I advise using dry rubs or dry marinades for cooking fletches and lots of oil (don’t want them to stick to your cooking implements). The tradeoff is they don’t need a lot of seasoning to be flavorful so getting them just right is fairly easy.

The cheeks are the fish’s literal sweet spot. Small but so bursting with flavor you can just cut them straight off, clean ’em, fry ’em and eat ’em. Sadly as with all good things, they’re also the most expensive part to find at the stores. Depending on where the halibut was caught its cheeks can sell for up to triple digits so you’d be better off chartering a boat down to the Gulf and trying your luck catching one…which you should really do anyway if you have the chance. It’s another of those experiences you’ll only ever be able to have in Alaska, and we’ve got some big damn fish up here for the taking.

This is what’s considered a normal sized catch.

In the interests of making it easy for my readers, here’s a quick and hearty recipe that’ll work for any cut:

Alaska Halibut Royale

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dry white wine

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 pounds halibut meat

1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup minced green onions

Paprika to taste

PREPARATION

1. Combine the wine and salt and pour over the halibut. Place the fish on a plate and cover with cling film, then put it in the fridge to marinate for around an hour (you can try for longer but an hour is plenty of time for the meat to absorb all the goodness from its marinade).

2. Preheat oven to 400 F

3. Drain the halibut on paper towels and dip it in the breadcrumbs, then place in a greased up baking tray (emphasis on greased, last thing you want are your perfectly done steaks falling apart when you try to transfer them to a plate because part of them grew too attached to the tray to ever be parted from it again).

4. Mix the sour cream, mayo and green onions in a bowl and spread the mixture liberally over the halibut. Sprinkle paprika over it to really zest it up.

5. Bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. I usually measure from the thickest part of the meat since if it’s enough to get that part cooked then it’s enough for the rest of the meat. You’ll know the halibut is ready when the meat is snow white in color and flakes off upon being pierced with a fork.