Bring Some of Alaska to Your Christmas Dinner Table with Stinkheads!

How about some stinkheads for the Christmas dinner main dish? Stinkheads are made by burying whitefish heads in the ground (employing certain details), and allowing them to ferment for weeks. The fish-heads are then dug up and sliced into thin pieces that can be eaten as finger food. This recipe is for experts only! Stinkheads are foods that have been enjoyed for a long time in some regions of Alaska. Some say the finished taste might be compared to a very-aged cheese.

Try some jellied moose nose!

This is from a recipe that is hundreds of years old. The tongue is used, along with some bits of ear, lip and nose, and cooked down with some pickling spices. The solids are then poured into a pan, covered with kettle broth and left in the refridgerator to "set-up,"" or jell. This dish is said to resemble the taste of beef.

How about a Christmas dinner beverage - steaming-hot, spruce-tip tea?

Spruce tips, another wild edible from Alaska, is packed with vitamin C. Harvest the new tips early in the season when they are just starting to appear. At this stage they should taste faintly of citrus and resins. Add to some boiling water and allow to steep. This tea has been used to make cough medicines and to sooth sore throats. Pick the tips like berries. Make some spruce-shortbread for Christmas guests or candy some spruce tips. Whip-up some spruce tip vinegar, salt, or even spruce-tip sugar. Try spruce-tip mayonaise on a bacon and lettuce sandwich, or as a shrimp dip.

Christmas dinner dessert - Eskimo ice cream, Akutag (a-goo-duk)!

Akutag is a Yupik word that means, "mix together." This can be made with:

1. Moose meat or dried fish
2. Seal oil (or vegetable oil) and some Crisco or lard
3. Mix in dried berries (and sugar if desired)

This ice cream recipe has been around for a long time in some areas of Alaska and is enjoyed by the hardy snowmobiler on the trail and lots of others.

Check out the food show on the Travel Channel, "Bizzarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern!" Born in 1961, in New York City, Zimmern is a chef, culinary expert, dining critic, and enjoys traveling to many parts of the world and sampling different foods.

So, prepare an Alaskan Christmas dinner and enjoy!

sources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinkheads
www.nativetech.org/recipes/recipe.php?recipeid=203 -
medcookingalaska.blogspot.com/.../how-to-harvest-spruce-tips-with-recipes.html (pictures of foods and recipes)
en.heilkraeuter.net/herbs/norway-spruce.htm
www.ankn.uaf.edu/.../098d22f2-9971-4588-9a87-680b4fe88955.html
www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Zimmern