What a great book!  Big thanks to Ray Robinson for lending me his copy. 

I will admit that I began as a skeptic.  Just how good can a book be with the unusual title of Cod…..a fish that changed the world? Indeed.  The back cover tries to set the hook with, “Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national debts have been based on it, economies have depended on it, and the settlement of North America was driven by it.  Cod, it turns out, is the reason Europeans set sail across the Atlantic, and it is the only reason they could.”  Oh really?  I don’t recall my history books mentioning anything of the sort.  Still, it was rated one of the 25 best books of the year (1997), and a James Beard Award winner, too. What’s that all about?  Who is Mark Kurlansky?

What I found was the chronicle of cod.  1000 plus years of it stuffed into less than 300 pages.  And it was absolutely fascinating.  Beginning in the tenth century Norsemen were following cod from Iceland to Greenland to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Maine.  Really, what else could they do?  Adventure, pillage and plunder was their heritage (especially after a bit of mead) but it got them expelled from more polite neighborhoods, but they had to eat to fuel Viking furnaces.  As I learned, cod has been an important source of food and oil for hundreds of years.  It became a major component of early international trade.  It drove the technology of the day.  Especially enlightening was the large part that the codfish trade had in the U.S. Civil War.  It is astounding what I didn’t learn in school.

Another part of the codfish story is the near extinction of the stock.  Once thought impossible by prominent thinkers like Thomas Huxley.  The idea of limitless bounty dies hard.  It’s tough to accept an idea that will devastate families and communities and put entire economies at risk.  No fish, no income.  Then come treaties, quotas and international agreements, not to mention the clever ways of avoiding them.  Some things are changing with technology and some things never change.   Well, take your spare change to the bookstore and buy Cod.  Then have some fish and chips and settle in for an interesting and informative read.  It’s definitely a book you will want to pass around….and I didn’t even mention the recipies.

Set the hook in the most fearless fisherman by serving a slice of wonderful pecan pie.  This recipe is guaranteed to promote the most humble galley-slave to Master and Commander.  And it’s so easy; any galley with a microwave and an oven can do this miracle in just over an hour.  Besides pecans, the key ingredient is Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet.  Don’t leave the dock without it.  Gram for gram is has fewer calories than sugar and it substitutes at about a 3/4 to 1 ratio.  Double win.   Baked goods stay fresh longer and they have a marvelous gentle sweetness very unlike the sharp glucose spike from refined sugar. 

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups roasted and lightly chopped pecans

1 tsp molasses

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

9″ pie crust.

First, roast the pecans…..

1.)  Toss 2 generous cups of pecans on a plate and microwave for 1 minute. 

2.)  Mix them all up and microwave for 1 more minute.

3.)  Cut the pecans in half.  OK, you can leave a few of them whole.

Then,

4.)  Blend the melted butter and Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet.

5.)  Whisk the eggs, molasses, vanilla and salt together and add it to the Fruit Sweet/butter mixture.

6.)  Stir in the pecans.

7.)  Pour the whole works into a 9″ pie shell and bake at 350° for 65 minutes.

Mmmmm, what a treat.  Bet you didn’t know how nutritious pecans are, or that April is National Pecan Month. When was the last time you baked a fresh pecan pie in your galley stove? This recipe is way too easy for the HUGE bonus points that come with it.

Ok the secret is out.  Today, February 1, 2011, Luann and I have been married 30 years.  Now, that’s a lot of green water through the scuppers, matey.  I’m here to tell ya.  So I thought I’d bake Luann a loaf of banana bread, but I was fresh out of Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet, and I just don’t bake without it, anymore.  Their Woodinville location is close, so I cruised over to fetch a half gallon.  While there, they handed me a number of new recipies.  Now pumpkin pie is Luann’s all time favorite.  And there it was, right on top.  The banana bread idea went over the side and I set a course for QFC to garner a few components.

ANNIVERSARY PUMPKIN PIE

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1 — 15 oz. can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet
• 1 -1/4 cup evaporated milk (10 oz)
• 1 — 9″ pie shell
• Mix it all together until well blended (I use a stick blender, because it’s so easy.)
• Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake at 350° for 60 minutes.

I could only find a 30 oz can of pumpkin pie mix, so I  doubled everything and made two pies.  Double the bonus points – just makes the case for that new boat toy a whole lot easier. 

So after a wonderful salmon dinner, Anniversary Pumpkin Pie was our dessert……with just a touch of vanilla ice cream.  You should be so lucky……..

This recipe is so easy.  What a delight it would be to have the aroma of fresh baked pumpkin pie fill the cabin after a full day of fishin’.  The only thing better would be the eatin’.  I guarantee it!

Banana bread is always a big hit.  Any time, day or night, it’s just right; it fills the void and keeps the crankshaft spinnin’ when the wearies are about to take over.

Here’s Bert Bender’s recipe for an Ishmael favorite – a one-pan batch of banana bread.  Part of the appeal is that it reduces dish-washing, because you can mix it all in the same pan you bake it in (if you choose a pan that is a little larger than the volume of ingredients, and if your oven is large enough).  But of course, you can always mix it in a larger bowl and transfer the mixture into a loaf pan for baking. 

• Mash 4 large bananas
• Mix in 1-3/4 cups of pancake/baking mix (Bert now uses Trader Joe’s multigrain mix)
• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats (or a combination of old fashioned oats, wheat or oat bran, wheat germ)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup of chopped nuts
• 1/2+ cup of dried cranberries or other chopped dried fruit
• 1/3 cup canola oil (or other vegtable oil)
• bake at 350° for 60 minutes

Bert recommends making a double batch of the batter and freezing half for future use.
However, if you can handle going first-class……buy Bert’s book: Catching the Ebb: Drift-Fishing for a Life in Cook Inlet and read it while feasting on his banana bread. Literary cusine par excellence!

….Velkommen Variation….

All these ingredients have multiple uses, a big consideration on a boat with limited storage. Krusteaz for pancakes or biscuits. Oats for oatmeal or cookies. Nuts to go atop oatmeal, ice cream, salads and the same goes for dried fruits; perhaps some almonds sprinkled over baked cod or halibut. And everyone knows a carton of baking soda keeps evils odors away from the refrigerator. Of course, the uses for Bourbon are legendary.

Ingredients:
1.)  3/4 cup shelled walnuts
2.)  3/4 cup shelled pecans
3.)  3/4 cup dried cherries, cranberries or craisins
4.)  1-3/4 cup pancake or baking mix
5.)  3/4 cup oats
6.)  3/4 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet (If you aren’t already using this product, it’s time to start.  Sugar is ancient history.)
7.)  1/3 cup canola oil or melted butter, if you prefer
8.)  2 eggs
9.)  1 tsp vanilla
10.) 1 tsp cinnamon
11.) 1 tsp baking soda
12.) 1 tsp baking powder
13.) 1/2 cup sliced almonds
14.) 3 very ripe bananas
15.) (optional) 1 Tbs bourbon…..and maybe several for the chef

First……roast the walnuts and pecans…..
1.)  Dump 3/4 cup of walnuts and 3/4 cup of pecans on a plate and microwave for one minute.
2.)  Mix them all up and microwave for one more minute.
3.)  Lightly chop the nuts into bits about the size of a raisin
4.)   Add the cranberries to this nutty mix and set aside.
Then……preheat the oven to 350°
5.)  Throw the remaining ingredients in a big bowl. (Yes, that includes the sliced almonds, too…they don’t get the roasting treatment.)
6.)  Mix well with a stick blender until you have a light brown goo.
7.)  Add the roasted and chopped walnuts and pecans plus the cherries/cranberries/craisins to the mix.
8.)  Still well with a big spoon.
9.)  Pour the final mixture into a greased or non-stick loaf pan.
10.) Bake at 350° for 55 minutes.
Finally……let cool a bit and enjoy………Mmmm, warm with a bit of butter…..heavenly.

Now you can mix everything in the loaf pan, but a high sided bowl is more user friendly.  If  you choose the one pan method, a light touch is required with the stick blender to keep all the ingredients in the pan.  A good stick blender like the Viking is more than handy; it’s indispensable.  Norpro makes some nice nonstick pans and they are local, too.  My particular favorite is the Norpro nonstick meatloaf/bread pan.  It’s exceptional for meatloaf and bakes a fine banana bread, too.