Celebrating Rock Turkey on Thanksgiving

Here's "Rock Eagle," a prehistoric rock pile sculpture located in middle Georgia. It's one of the most spectacular indigenous rock piles I've seen in the US. The Native Americans who built it are probably the ancestors of the Muskogee or Creek Indians. Known today as the Woodland Indian phase, this culture lasted from 1000BC to about 1000AD.

But most archaeologists say that the effigy sculpture is not depicting a eagle -- rather, it's most likely a turkey. Calling this sculpture Rock Eagle is massive projection of our own mythology of eagles as fierce freedom fighters ( never mind that eagles will eat carrion before hunting) and has little to do with Native American sensibilities.

On the other hand, turkeys were undoubtedly the most important bird of the prehistoric forest. Food, clothing, and building materials all are uses of the average turkey sacrifice. Even Benjamin Franklin petitioned for American national symbol to be the turkey instead of the eagle. Humble, gracious, and bountiful, this bird is still a symbol of abundance for the American Continent.

So in the spirit of gratitude this Thanksgiving, say a toast to Rock Turkey!

Chantrelles and the Potatoes of the Gods

Long time no DreamCrisp. Sorry about that.

But to make up for lost time, check out this pic of chantrelles we picked that are as big as your head:



I just picked some more today, not so big as these, but firm and meaty. There's a lot of ways to cook chantrelles, but my favorite so far is chantrelle-infused scalloped potatoes. Here's how to make:

Scalloped Potatoes of the Gods

basic ingredients:
chantrelles, cleaned and chopped
a couple cloves of garlic
1 cup of chicken or vegetable broth
potatoes: 5 to 8 medium red or yellow ones.
1 cup of heavy cream (can substitute goats milk or half and half but you may need to add some flour to thicken).
about a tablespoon of salt and pepper.
olive oil.
butter optional for the heart-lover's special

directions:
Dry-saute the mushrooms for a few minutes, so the juices are running. add some olive oil near the end when you add the garlic and saute more.
Meanwhile, in a bowl mix the broth and the cream and the salt and pepper.
Drizzle olive oil into a shallow glass baking dish.
Add the potatoes to the skillet and get em covered with the mushroom goodness.
Transfer potatoes, mushrooms, and all the juices to the baking dish.
Add the cream mixture and stir it up.
You might want to top the mixture with some pats of butter.
Bake in the oven at 350 for about an hour, or until the tops of the potatoes are browning.

Wait at least 10 minutes for the Scalloped Potatoes of the Gods to cool before attempting to eat.

How to Make Wild Elderflower Fritters

All the elder just finished blooming in these parts. To celebrate, we picked some elderflowers and made some delicious elderflower fritters.

They were divine, and I'm not just saying that because I was raised in Georgia and love fried food. The flowers effuse the batter and make a fragrant and sweet treat.

Okay, to be honest, it reminded me of those amazing/obscenely decadent funnel cakes I used to get at Six Flags over Georgia. So maybe it all about the south.

This is what elderflowers look like before you dip them in the love:

And here's how to make elderflower fritters in ten easy steps:

1. Pick elder flowers, fresh white ones, not green ones. Be careful with your ID, of course, they sort of resemble blooming hemlock which is poisonous. Also, elder is a tree!

2. Clip the flowers down so there's just a bit of stem to dip with.

3. In a large mixing bowl, proceed to make a batter mix. We used one egg, a cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of sugar, and a pinch of salt. But you could also just use pancake mix if you want to make it really, really easy.

4. For best results, let the batter sit a minute or two to thicken.

5. Meanwhile, heat up your pan with an inch of cooking oil. We actually used olive oil, but something lighter is probably better.

6. Dip the flowers into the batter.

7. Plunk those mugs in the hot oil and fry to a golden brown.

8. Optional: Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

9. Serve piping hot a la Six Flags over Georgia circa 1986.

10. Bask in the afterglow and rest assured that whatever health benefits offered up by fresh elderflower are effectively zeroed out by all the hot grease.