Cooking with Fire

Throughout history, human beings have gathered around the table, the Christmas tree, the T.V. and the fire. It’s April, so Santa is still on vacation and, believe it or not, here on my farm, we don’t have a properly working television. So this just leaves the table and a fire. Fortunately, that’s all we’ll need for our finale episode of Finding Nowhere Season 1.

Well, that and a whole lot of meat!

The setting is slightly different from past episodes. We’re actually clean; there is no risk of apex predators, like grizzly bears, barging into camp; we’re not lost in the middle of nowhere; and it’s not just Ryan, me, and our faithful, fearless team. Our families are also here to celebrate in the only way one should celebrate a successful season of hunting, fishing and foraging. That is, with a feast of epic proportions, cooked on an open flame and eaten in the way most meals should be eaten: outside.

For the first time this season, we’re in my neck of the woods! Located in the Fraser Valley, the breadbasket of British Columbia, we’re on a farm just outside of Chilliwack. A fast-growing city with a small-town vibe, Chilliwack is filled with craft breweries, small-scale farms, and farm-to-table restaurants and stores.

While Ryan and I have plenty of wild meat, the feast we’re preparing isn’t exclusively carnivore. So, we stick to local delicacies for the side dishes.

First, we head to the neighbourhood’s favourite baker, Anita’s, for fresh sourdough bread and baguettes. Then to Farmer Dan’s immensely popular farm store, Local Harvest for fresh vegetables grown with resilient farming practices and only sold in-season! And finally, to the family-owned-and-operated Creekside Cheese and Creamery for single-source, organic cheese.

*Fraser Valley Locale Vegetables and Bread*

Our cookout is an all-day affair. Something I suggest all humans do more of! While we’d need Mondays to give our digestive systems (and potentially mild hangovers) a rest, I suspect we’d all be a little less tense if every weekend was dedicated to family, friends and leisurely cooking.

Now, let me strike a scene!

Three fires are lit side by side. One is an earth oven—a dug-out pit with a fire inside—where we’ll eventually throw veggies wrapped in foil and cover them with dirt later. The other two fires have grills and a tri-pod with a wrought iron chain for hanging cast-iron cauldrons.

Bundles of chopped and stacked maple and walnut wood are carried from the woodshed to the cooking area and placed neatly beside the fire.

*Goat Stew and Bone Broth Cook; Joel and Daughter*

The children run around playing while every adult has a role in the meal preparation. Jobs include: tending to the fires, setting the table, preparing the vegetables, cooking the food, pouring the wine, and, occasionally checking on the children’s needs to ensure they don’t completely descend into a Lord of the Flies microsociety—and overthrow the adults later when we’re too tipsy to properly defend ourselves.

In addition to the previously mentioned local fare, there is goat steak, moose steak, elk steak, bear sausage, halibut and bone broth. It’s a menu derived of blood, sweat and tears from the wildest and most remote corners of British Columbia.

In our cauldrons, like a witch’s brew, the moose meat stew and bone broth are placed over embers and left to “bubble and boil” while the potatoes and onions are wrapped together with whole garlics cloves, freshly picked sage and thyme and then buried in the earth oven.

Once the broth, vegetables and stew are done, it’s time to grill. This part doesn’t take long!

Placed carefully on the cast-iron grills, for just the right amount of cooking heat, the rich, deep red colour of the lean muscle tissue quickly browns over the hot coals. The steaks, having bathed all day in a heavenly lather of butter and oil, sizzle and pop in chorus with the crackling of the fire.

We all assemble around the table. Grace and gratitude are shared.

The meat is so hot that when it hits my mouth it's almost an assault on my tongue. Pain and pleasure at the same time.

The meat has a hint of what a non-outdoors person might disapprovingly call “gamey,” but to the palate of a hunter and their family, it’s simply the natural taste of a wild animal with a clean diet complemented by garlic, butter, salt and pepper.

More wine is poured.

The grapes’ flavours are enlivened by the soil located only a few hours northeast of the very spot in which we imbibe. British Columbia terroir is still a young wine-making region; the wines we’d selected are rich, yet fresh, humble, yet with character and charm that, at this moment at least, go beyond that of the biggest California Cabs or French Bordeauxs. Maybe that’s just the wine talking!

We’re full but we plow on! The food is too good, and none will go to waste. So good in fact, that if I close my eyes while I chew, I forget myself and inadvertently let out the tiniest groan. I quickly open my eyes to see that others are appreciating the bounty in the exact same way.

Family, friends, food, fire, and wine enjoyed in the great outdoors and sprinkled with much gratitude—is there any greater combination? If so, I don’t know what it is.

Even though I’ve romanticised this idyllic meal here, I must add that its preparation for this episode wasn’t without plenty of drama! So tune in for an epic and delicious finale to an incredible season of Finding Nowhere where we recap all the adventures along the way.

Joel PrimusJuly 19, 2024