feasting

I want to get bannock from a little stand outside the museum of anthropology at UBC but that is history. I want to go to Liliget Feast House in English Bay but it closed in 2007. Thank goodness the chef behind these ventures (and her mother) wrote a cookbook: Where People Feast: An Indigenous People's Cookbook by Dolly and Annie Watts, and I got it for Christmas. 

I like to read my cookbooks front to back before I use them and I learned something. The Pacific Coast that I call home is also home to fish called Oolichan which I have never heard of before. Apparently you can find them fresh (starting in April) or smoked. Now I am on the lookout. 

When I find them, I will start off simple with the guidance of the Watts women and dust six fresh oolichan (heads removed) with 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, then bake them in a 500 degree oven for 5 minutes.

When I feel ready, I will will move on to more complex gastro-endeavours like "Lemon Smoked Oolichan on Butter Lettuce". 

Photo from Google Images. Recipe from Where People Feast by Dolly and Annie Watts (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007).