FREE RECIPES FROM ALASKA!

Recipes for Fireweed Honey, Alaskan Gold (great for breakfast!), Banana Bread ala Tent, Mom's Salmon Patties, It's a Sure Thing Salisbury Steak and Easy Pickin's Salad.

For your use and enjoyment, I offer 6 recipes below.  These are taken from my two-in-one book of Recipes From The Tent In Tok/Recipes Of the Goldfields. The book provides a running commentary and amusing anecdotes of the history of the recipe, how I used it and the tent. If you like these, you may want to  order the complete book. Enjoy!

Fireweed Honey

This is amazing....no one, unless you tell them, will ever know  it's made in your kitchen and not by the bees themselves. If you don't have Fireweed, rose petals can be substituted for them.

45 pink clover blossoms
100 fireweed blossoms
1 tsp. alum
10 Cups sugar
2 Cups water

Combine and boil 3 minutes.  Strain and pour into hot jars.

Alaskan Gold

Here's a breakfast the kids begged for.  I used the top of the woodstove as a grill, cooking directly on it, toast and all.

4 slices bread (grilled or toasted)
4 large handfuls of hashbrowns
1/2 to 1 Cup chopped onions
4 slices American Cheese
4 eggs (optional)

First, toast the bread and lay it aside.  Then sprinkle the hashbrowns in four separate piles (one pile for each person) on the grill.  Sprinkle equal amounts of chopped onions over potatoes.  Salt and pepper.  Lay a slice of cheese on top.  Do not cover. Cook on hot grill until hashbrowns are brown on the bottom and cheese begins to melt.  Remove and place on top of toast.  Eggs are optional.  If you've got somebody in the family, like my husband, whose favorite saying was "It's not breakfast without an egg!" this is what you do:  Pre-grill the onions slightly and set aside. Place the hashbrowns on the grill and spread thinly, with an indentation in the center.  Break egg into indentation and allow to start cooking.  As egg white begins to firm, and yolk begins to cook, sprinkle with salt, pepper.  Just before the egg looks done, sprinkle with onions, then place cheese on top and cover until cheese is melted.  Lay the whole works on top of toast.

Banana Bread ala Tent

2/3 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup shortening
2 eggs
3 T. buttermilk
1 Cup mashed bananas
2 Cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix together the sugar, shortening and eggs.  Stir in the buttermilk and bananas. Sift together and then slowly stir  in the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add the nuts and pour into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.  Let stand 20 minutes.  Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mom's Salmon Patties

My mother made this all the time.  When we moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1951, my parents had a net in Cook Inlet.  Pulling it with the tides, we had alot of salmon.  Some if it was smoked, but the majority of it was canned for winter.  This is my mom's recipe, handed down to me, and used many times since.

1 Quart canned salmon, drained
1 Onion, diced
4 T. butter
1 Cup cracker crumbs
 2 eggs
 Salt and pepper to taste
 
Saute onion in the butter. While it cooks, mix the salmon, cracker crumbs, eggs, salt and pepper together.  Add sauteed onions and mix thoroughly. Form this mixture into 3/4" thick, 3" diameter patties. Fry until brown, turning once.

"It's A Sure Thing" Salisbury Steak

No failures with this one, it's a sure thing!

4 moose backstrap steaks   (or beef)
2 large onions
2-8 oz. cans whole peeled or stewed tomatoes
1/8 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (or garlic salt to taste)
salt & pepper to taste
several dashes Worcestershire sauce

Heat oil in a large, cast iron skillet, add steaks and brown, turning once. Add everything else.  Cover and simmer for 45-60 minutes. Serve over hot rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

EASY PICKIN'S (With Hot Bacon Dressing)

Life in the north often meant nothing fresh for months.  With the coming of spring, many tempting wild goodies sprouted and were there for the taking. Most greens and berries were used in one way or another...including as a salad.

Fresh young dandelion greens
Freshly picked wild mushrooms
Several slices bacon or pork fat
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 Cup vinegar
1/3 Cup water

Pick and clean dandelion greens and mushrooms.  Then fry  the bacon until crispy in a skillet.  Remove bacon.  Pour out bacon grease, saving a couple of tablespoons in the pan.  Crumble the bacon into small pieces and put back in the skillet, then stir in the cornstarch and sugar.  Add the vinegar and water, stirring while it cooks.  Cook until it has thickened.  Allow to cool slightly while cutting up dandelion greens and mushrooms in bowl, then drizzle bacon dressing over the top.