Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Fir - the love of December


Go on, buy me for the holidays. Either on my publisher's site (35% off), or from your local bookstore. Or you, know, at the other place.

Because it's time to play with fir - the most delicious scent and wonderful flavor. Fir is not pine, and pine is not spruce, and spruce is not hemlock, and hemlock is not larch. None of them are yew. Don't eat yew. Evergreens with needles can be confusing. Fir belongs to the Abies genus, and has unmistakably fragrant needles (the others are all interesting - and edible, too, except the yew - but without the distinct aroma of the freezing north in December).


I made a fresh batch of fir sugar last week. The flavor and scent last years. Literally. Although the fresh green will fade with time.


You need fir sugar on your party glasses.


Or on your drink for one. This is Firgid, from the book.


And this is house-cured gravlax. Recipe in the book. So easy. Memorably delicious.


And here are the fir smoked potatoes you should not live without. Roasted in duck fat. And you don't need a smoker.


And here is dessert. Made with this season's Meyer lemons.

I told you. You need to buy me

Have fun!

_______________


(Yes, there will be fir)

4 comments:

  1. Those dishes all look fantastic, Marie!

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  2. Every year I make Spruce Salt from the trees in front of our cabin. There are lots of different evergreens around, I need to seek out some fir in the woods.
    One tip: as you gather make sure you don't pluck the tips all from the same area. Because you are removing tips, you stop the growth on that branch end. If you don't move around in your picking you will stunt the tree in that area.
    Spruce Salt is easy. Equal amounts of fresh tips (just as they've split their brown paper covering) and good flakey salt. Buzz buzz in a mini chopper and then spread out on a rimmed sheet pan to dry overnight. The taste is lemony and very fresh. Like your fir salt, the flavor lasts at least a year, but the pale green color fades to tan after 6 months or so.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Made fir sugar last year and it was yummy!

    ReplyDelete

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