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The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes
A volume of seasonally organized recipes by the founder of Wine Forest Wild Mushrooms and a former executive chef for Robert Mondavi Winery provides foraging instructions for wild ingredients and step-by-step cooking techniques for such dishes as Bacon-WrTitle: The Wild TableAuthor: Green, Connie/ Scott, Sarah/ Remington, Sara (PHT)/ Keller, Thomas (FRW)Publisher: Penguin Group USAPublication Date: 2010/10/14Number of Pages: 343Binding Type: HARDCOVERLibrary of Congress: bl2010033396
343 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 17, 2011
Beautiful photos and unique recipes. I was looking for a good recipe that uses puffball mushrooms and found it along with a few other great recipes for black walnuts, dandelion greens, etc. I was surprised that pawpaws didn't make it into this book though.
November 25, 2012
Elderberry syrup, jellies, juniper (duck) pork roast -- all absolutely amazing so far! Can't wait to try out a few more 'gourmet' recipes!
This is NOT a plant identification book, but an excellent cookbook resource teaching you what to do with the plants you forage.
This is NOT a plant identification book, but an excellent cookbook resource teaching you what to do with the plants you forage.
January 19, 2014
I think I've checked this book out at least 5 times now. Maybe it's time to buy it. I love thumbing through and looking at the pictures, getting caught up in the stories and feel of it all and dreaming of trying each recipe.
February 7, 2021
This book is a treasure, and will be a welcome addition to my culinary library. Green and Scott set out a history of wild forged foods and their use in chef-driven kitchens, primarily along the west coast and especially in the upper northwest. It wasn't too long ago that chefs turned down wild foods and mushrooms, preferring imports. Green and Scott played an important role as part of New California cooking and celebrating what is local and in season.
With sections of foraging fundamentals and etiquette, and foraging notes and recipes that extend well past mushrooms and into black walnuts, dandelions, persimmons, sea beans, and more, this book delivers on its promise. Unlike other foraging books I've read, this one walks you through the fundamentals (with appropriate warnings) and into means of preparing and drying. It's not "only we, the elite, may safely gather these, observe but never act, potentially on pain of your own death." NO: here, it's a deep dive into habitats, identification, and innovative preparations.
Recommended.
With sections of foraging fundamentals and etiquette, and foraging notes and recipes that extend well past mushrooms and into black walnuts, dandelions, persimmons, sea beans, and more, this book delivers on its promise. Unlike other foraging books I've read, this one walks you through the fundamentals (with appropriate warnings) and into means of preparing and drying. It's not "only we, the elite, may safely gather these, observe but never act, potentially on pain of your own death." NO: here, it's a deep dive into habitats, identification, and innovative preparations.
Recommended.
August 1, 2021
Quite a book. It is so great to see recipes for subvarieties of wild mushroom, let alone spruce tips. I much enjoyed this collection. It really is from the wild with great recipes.
August 10, 2021
Fantastic book. Gives many edibles and a few recipes for each
November 21, 2022
Nice overview of foraged foods. About half-and-half on foraging and food preparation & recipes.
March 20, 2024
Loved the imagery of her words
February 10, 2014
This gorgeous book is essentially wild-food porn for locavore cooks and foragers. The odds that I-- or most east-coast foragers-- are going to try these recipes seems small (foragers and creme fraiche, which occurs in nearly every recipe, are unlikely bedfellows), but perhaps west-coast foodies who can get wild food from their markets or the forager down the road will try them.
Unlike most modern foraging books, this one concentrates heavily on the mushrooms that are the backbone of Connie's foraging business. Morels, Chantarelles, Boletes, and Puffballs fill the pages, along with the douglas/fir tips, purslane, berries and dandelions that are more common in foraging texts. Of special interest is a section on Samphire (sold in restaurants as sea beans) that has never really caught on among Americans but has a long history in Europe. I suspect I may be able to hunt and try Samphire based on this. This volume also offers encouragement to try tree mushrooms, and not to forget either elder blow and berries or juniper berries. Attention to prickly pear fruit and cactus paddles, both commercially available in our area, is also welcome. The most unusual item-- Cuitlacoche, corn smut-- threw me for a loop: as a former farmer's daughter, I twitch in disgust from this and would have had no idea it was edible, let alone prized.
Green's writing is engaging and humorous, and she provides helpful tips for choosing and prepping your wild produce, with due consideration for keeping your harvests sustainable. There is a chart in the back of harvest seasons, as well. But this text would not be a first or even a third choice for identification in the field (as one can tell from the large format and fancy paper) -- it can't replace a good field guide. The recipes, though high-end, certainly sound delicious and usually pretty clear; I very much like the notation, on certain recipes, that one should have everything together and ready to go before starting, because that recipe goes together very quickly once started. The Wild pantry section at the end has useful instructions for storable conconctions.
But mostly, I think, this is a coffee-table cookbook, fun for looking, dreaming, and piquing interest. Reading Connie Green's take on foraging her favorites is also worth it. Recipes wise, I may try the Purslane Salad with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette and Garlic Croutons, perhaps the douglas fir tip infused vodka, and the rose hip syrup, as well as something with Juniper berries and perhaps one of the mulberry or huckleberry dessert recipes. But even if I don't ever get back to the recipes, this was a fun, quick read.
Unlike most modern foraging books, this one concentrates heavily on the mushrooms that are the backbone of Connie's foraging business. Morels, Chantarelles, Boletes, and Puffballs fill the pages, along with the douglas/fir tips, purslane, berries and dandelions that are more common in foraging texts. Of special interest is a section on Samphire (sold in restaurants as sea beans) that has never really caught on among Americans but has a long history in Europe. I suspect I may be able to hunt and try Samphire based on this. This volume also offers encouragement to try tree mushrooms, and not to forget either elder blow and berries or juniper berries. Attention to prickly pear fruit and cactus paddles, both commercially available in our area, is also welcome. The most unusual item-- Cuitlacoche, corn smut-- threw me for a loop: as a former farmer's daughter, I twitch in disgust from this and would have had no idea it was edible, let alone prized.
Green's writing is engaging and humorous, and she provides helpful tips for choosing and prepping your wild produce, with due consideration for keeping your harvests sustainable. There is a chart in the back of harvest seasons, as well. But this text would not be a first or even a third choice for identification in the field (as one can tell from the large format and fancy paper) -- it can't replace a good field guide. The recipes, though high-end, certainly sound delicious and usually pretty clear; I very much like the notation, on certain recipes, that one should have everything together and ready to go before starting, because that recipe goes together very quickly once started. The Wild pantry section at the end has useful instructions for storable conconctions.
But mostly, I think, this is a coffee-table cookbook, fun for looking, dreaming, and piquing interest. Reading Connie Green's take on foraging her favorites is also worth it. Recipes wise, I may try the Purslane Salad with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette and Garlic Croutons, perhaps the douglas fir tip infused vodka, and the rose hip syrup, as well as something with Juniper berries and perhaps one of the mulberry or huckleberry dessert recipes. But even if I don't ever get back to the recipes, this was a fun, quick read.
November 8, 2015
I live in the woods, and I'm surrounded by wild foods (ramps, fiddleheads, elderflowers, morels, chickweed, purslane, I can keep going... ), so I loved the recipes that Connie Green included in this fat book! I can't wait to try her spruce syrup, and also the idea of drying things to re-hydrate later in the winter. I'm creating a life of self-sufficiency, a life that doesn't need to run to the supermarket every few days, a life that's in keeping with the ancient seekers who went to the woods to retreat from the world. It's such a satisfying way to live.
January 16, 2016
Meh again. There is almost no practical information on foraging in this book; even the little chart at the back which tells you what times of year to find which plants seems inaccurate (who ever heard of nopales (Opuntia spp.) growing east of the Mississippi?) Almost half of the wild foods covered in this book are mushrooms, which is all fine and dandy, but at that point, call it a wild mushroom cookbook. Some recipes are intriguing, but there aren't even that many in the book, only 1-2 per food plant. While quite a beautiful volume, this is not a very useful book at all.
July 17, 2012
This is a huge, beautiful book with some good recipes, but there aren't a ton of them. There are really only a handful (ok, maybe a small basketful) of different wild plants featured. The rather-gourmet-ish recipes do look delicious, though not particularly healthy. I'm looking forward to making rose hip and spruce tip syrup. :-)
You really need to know the plants first - this is not a good identification book.
You really need to know the plants first - this is not a good identification book.
November 14, 2015
3.5 stars.
Way too focused on mushrooms for me, but if you like mushrooms, it'd probably be of a lot more use to you. It's an extremely good-looking book with some interesting introductions and some very fancy recipes.
A big complaint is one I'm not sure any wild foods/foraging book can overcome -- the fact that many of these ingredients are not widespread across the country, and not all of the recipes are practical for any particular reader.
Way too focused on mushrooms for me, but if you like mushrooms, it'd probably be of a lot more use to you. It's an extremely good-looking book with some interesting introductions and some very fancy recipes.
A big complaint is one I'm not sure any wild foods/foraging book can overcome -- the fact that many of these ingredients are not widespread across the country, and not all of the recipes are practical for any particular reader.
April 3, 2011
The photos were beautiful, and the recipes inventive. I was hoping for a little more information on plant identification.
April 11, 2011
Wow wow wow. A cookbook that really changes things in my kitchen, for good. Really a fantastic, creativity-spurring book of lovely photos and amazing blends. Love this one.
January 20, 2012
Disappointing. There was not enough information in pics or words to help a person identify the mushrooms and other forageables unless you were already familiar with them.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews