Burdock Recipe

[topper]

No sooner would the burdock grow too large to eat, for that spring, than I would eagerly await the following spring to again prepare this recipe.
The recipe was given to me by an old Italian Carpenter I used to work with, when we lived in the Northeast.
I'll relay the recipe as it was written:

Par-boil stalks after being cleaned, strung, & washed in salt water.

Prepare bread crumb mixture of salt - pepper - grated cheese - oregano, even if using flavored bread crumbs (hot pepper optional).

Dip stalks into egg, then crumbs & place in a shallow pan coated with olive oil.

Pour remaining egg & crumb mixture -- if any left, on top of layers, & sprinkle with olive oil.

Bake in a high oven for a brown coating.

That's it.

 

[bk]

Mar 30, 2015 23:12:42 GMT -5 topper said:

No sooner would the burdock grow too large to eat, for that spring, than I would eagerly await the following spring to again prepare this recipe.
The recipe was given to me by an old Italian Carpenter I used to work with, when we lived in the Northeast.

Thanks, topper. Will have to give that a try. Didn't know burdock was anything other than a pain in the *&^ weed. Now I'm almost looking forward to seeing some this spring. How young should it be? Any tips would be appreciated.

[topper]

Mar 31, 2015 8:13:05 GMT -5 bk said:

Mar 30, 2015 23:12:42 GMT -5 topper said:

Best I can say is to let the stalks grow large enough to be worth harvesting, but before they grow tough & bitter. Say in the 7" range -- give or take. I normally used an 8x8 inch pyrex baking dish, if that is any help?
Get rid of the leaves.
You will want to remove the strings as you would with celery stalks.

One of the biggest things is location -- pesticides & the like.
Another is absolute positive identification. Can't stress enough the importance of good field guides.
As with any foraged wild edible or medicinal, cook up a batch then take the tiniest of bites & wait for any possible adverse reaction. Everyone is different, what you can eat, someone else may not.

If I may, another early spring treat is cattail shoots. I always used my shoulder length (rubber) trapping gloves to help guard against the cold water.
Raise up a section of the cattail root mass & remove the new, white shoots. They are about the size of your little finger & slightly curved like a bear's claw. Steam or boil. Preferably steam them. Cattails have a distinct taste of "corn-on-the-cob.

I'm no expert on the subject, I just go slowly, finding out all I can, learning one plant after another.

There is a quote about foraging, I'll have to look it up rather than try to recite it from memory...

Hope this helps, if I've left anything unclear, just ask.

[bk]

Thanks for the info, topper.  Will have to try the burdock.  Guess I've never notices the tender young stuff, just the mid summer / fall burdock that I'm trying to forget.  >:(Just may have to dig out Euell Gibbons book Stalking the Wild Asparagus (which I confess to owning, but haven't read) and start harvesting natures pantry. 

[topper]

Mar 31, 2015 16:57:16 GMT -5 bk said:

Thanks for the info, topper.  Will have to try the burdock.  Guess I've never notices the tender young stuff, just the mid summer / fall burdock that I'm trying to forget.  >:(Just may have to dig out Euell Gibbons book Stalking the Wild Asparagus (which I confess to owning, but haven't read) and start harvesting natures pantry. 

The original velcro...

 No outdoor library would be complete! Euell sure knew his stuff.

[bk]

Love it...the original Velcro. How true. Maybe get my revenge in the oven now!     On a mission to find Euell's book in my book stash now.  Thanks for the motivation.