The Great Wild Food Contest

EVER whipped up a dish of foraged wild food then sat back and thought “that wouldn’t have been out of place in a restaurant”? Or have you created something unique with wild garlic, chicken of the woods or even the humble nettle that deserves a wider audience?

Well, here’s your chance to showcase your culinary skills and win not only a prize from outdoors specialists TOG24, but also enjoy the prestige of being the first ever name to be etched on to The Great Wild Food Contest trophy.

We’re looking for creativity, style, imagination, technique – and all those other things that don’t involve taste, smell and texture because, sadly, this pandemic means the judges don’t even get the pleasure of tasting your creations.

Instead, we’re going to do it all by the magic of the internet. Which should be fun.

So, get your aprons and thinking caps on, and let’s have some gastronomic fun in a year that has, frankly, been cynically designed to drain the happy out of life.

 

How to enter:

Set out your recipe like the example below, and email it to wildparkin@outlook.com (remember to put ‘The Great Wild Food Contest’ or ‘TGWFC’ in the subject line), together with images of your dish.

Alternatively, you can post them directly into the Bushcraft and Outdoors For Beginners Facebook group, or show off your photos on our Twitter account – @WildParkin.

Please have a glance over the rules (below) before entering.

 

Closing date:

Deadline for entries is 3pm on Tuesday June 23.

 

Final:

We’ll be broadcasting the final and announcing the winners live on Thursday June 25.

 

Recipe format:

Please set out (you can cut and paste this, or ask for a template via wildparkin@outlook.com, @WildParkin, or Bushcraft and Outdoors For Beginners) your recipe like this example…

——————————————————————————————————————————

TITLE:

Sautéed hogweed buds with dock pudding

INGREDIENTS:

Five or six hogweed buds

Two handfuls of young bistort dock leaves

Handful of young nettle leaves

Handful of young Jack-by-the-hedge leaves

Half a red onion

Two chive stems

One slice of bacon

Two garlic cloves

Half a cup of single cream

Salt and pepper

 

METHOD:

For the dock pudding…

• Add a good knob of butter and a little drizzle of olive oil to a frying pan on medium heat.
• Finely chop the onion and add to the pan. Once softened add the chopped garlic and diced bacon. Mix together for two minutes before adding the dock, nettle and Jack-by-the-hedge leaves.
• Once the leaves have wilted, gently stir in the cream.
• After a minute, add the chopped chives, salt and pepper, and set aside to re-heat when hogweed is ready to serve.

For the hogweed buds…

• Place the buds in a mixing bowl and cover with freshly boiled water. Leave to blanche for 10 minutes.
• Drain the buds and gently pat dry.
• Drizzle a little olive oil into frying pan or skillet, and melt in a decent knob of butter.
• Add the buds to the pan, tossing occasionally.
• Wait for a small caramelisation effect on the edges before adding salt and pepper and a little more butter.
• Keep moving the buds for a further minute before serving with the dock pudding.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

PRIZE:

The winner will receive, courtesy of those generous folk at TOG24, a Snaith 35l backpack and a Heaton 0.5l bottle.

 

RULES:

Seems a shame to have rules, seeing as this is just a bit of fun, so use these for guidance…

• Entries must include at least two wild ingredients that can be found or foraged in the UK.
• At least two images should be provided – one displaying the wild ingredients before being cooked, and one of the final dish. A further image of the ingredients in situ prior to harvesting is desirable, but not a necessity.
• Ensure ingredients are sourced responsibly.
• One entry per person.
• The judges’ decision is final. Probably.
• Have fun.

Good luck!