Ray Mears' Wild Food

[King Biscuit Time]

He did stalk the deer properly though didn't he.

Probably best he cleanly shot it than fired a barrage of his 'Home Made Arrows' at it and let it bleed to death slowly.

 

[sojourner]

Probably best he cleanly shot it than fired a barrage of his 'Home Made Arrows' at it and let it bleed to death slowly.

I'll give you that, yeh And the liver was ace, I really wanted to try that

 

[story]

I know what you mean sojourner - I was a bit taken aback at the kitchen range, not to mention the gun and the ready rolled pastry.

But then he made some points about how the oven evolved from campfire cooking, and how living in the woods should be fun and enjoyable rather than ekeing out an existance. I suppose once he's using knives rather than flints, he's way out of the Mesolithic and into the Age of Metal, so guns and cooking pots are just a short step ahead anyway.

I know from my own experiences of living in the woods how quickly you end up with a semblance of modern living - windbreaks, overhead tarps to keep the rain off, woodpiles, thresholds - just like a real house.

To be honest, I was more confused by the formica table and chairs set - to me, sitting round the campfire in the woods is about being at ground level.

 

[story]

it was a change from the norm

i love it when he makes coracles, or spends 3 hours carving a wooden spoon

enjoying this food one, he's a bit of a slow cook though, that venison took an age, heating the rocks for hours, then putting the venison in the it and piling the rocks on

That made me wonder how they would have manouvered the rocks back then. Deer shoulder-blade shovels, perhaps?

 

[sojourner]

That made me wonder how they would have manouvered the rocks back then. Deer shoulder-blade shovels, perhaps?

Branches

 

[sojourner]

I But then he made some points about how the oven evolved from campfire cooking, and how living in the woods should be fun and enjoyable rather than ekeing out an existance. I suppose once he's using knives rather than flints, he's way out of the Mesolithic and into the Age of Metal, so guns and cooking pots are just a short step ahead anyway.

Yeh, I softened a bit then! But still, it ruined it for me - I want to believe in him doing it all with a branch, a bit of kindling, a sharp pebble, and some special ray-ness

 

[boskysquelch]

heating the rocks for hours

Little known TVSurvivalFact is that flint tools are better made and consistent in lasting functionality if the flint is preheated(after a general bodging into shape) and then further reheated during various stages of the process..a lot of flint artefacts survive but little knowledge of their production methodology is known...most nappers assume the skills they acquire in Modernity....for they have not the Lifetimes to learn the pyro-lithic skills on top of napping.

Also because of this heating a lot of flint tool artefacts have been lost because the process is a trade off...easier to produce and better cutting edge but is consequently more friable.

The turn around of making tools, using, damaging or losing them was prolly much more than it is archaeologically proven...and specialist...so a task put to skilled individuals who would therefore have a load of hot rocks available most times...hence the use of rocks and slow cooking makes ergonomic-sense...


I did quite a few Stone Age demo when I was making charcoal for a living...seeing a genuine bronze(with local copper and tin ore too) axe-head, all processing done by hand from mining the ore,preparing it and smelting then casting... with the charcoal you made is fkkn incredible.

Pride maybe the worse of Human sins but I reckon ancient communities would have been very grateful to those that could provide the essentials to survival...as in Today I doubt very much if Everyone had the Abilities.

And as for the lowly limpet...I believe it's a marker of sort for a lot of Archaeologists...middens of limpet shells have been found wherever ancient man settled...frkkkn amazing animals contributing to Our Survival today...did Ray tell y'all that they always return to the same spot they were born, at the end of every night?

 

[story]

Interesting stuff ^^^

Thanks boskysquelch.

 

[Juice Terry]

Thought it was a bit of a cheek to ask the gurkas round to dinner then say

"Oh would you mind digging a big pit, cut down a few trees, make a big fire, load it up with big heavy rocks, lift the heavy rocks into the pit, bury the deer in the pit, wait 3 hours, then dig it up again, oh and by the way the potatos need digging up too!"

Bloody liberties!

 

[Orang Utan]

Doesn't anyone think it looks a bit like a Reeves & Mortimer sketch?

 

[Gavin Bl]

Ray's the greatest!

err, that's all I have right now.

 

[sojourner]

Doesn't anyone think it looks a bit like a Reeves & Mortimer sketch?

No

 

[madzone]

Whenever he tries a food the kids say 'Tastes like cucumber' because there was a programme where everything they tried apparently tasted like cucumber. I think they're a funny pair.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yeah - for the last show Ray seems to have thrown Mesolithic out the window and shot a deer with his rifle and made a tart using white flour in a pastry case.

But the plan never was to live like a Mesolithic man, just to understand how he might of lived.

I really want to try to start a fire with a King Alfred's Cake though!

It's illegal to take deer with anything except a bullet in the UK. He'd have been nicked if he used a bow and arrow or a crossbow.

 

[sojourner]

It's illegal to take deer with anything except a bullet in the UK. He'd have been nicked if he used a bow and arrow or a crossbow.

Well, you learn something new every day!

 

[Pingu]

Well, you learn something new every day!

they would never nick him. he would just take to the hills and lead them a merry dance.

 

[sojourner]

they would never nick him. he would just take to the hills and lead them a merry dance.

And set fire to them, with special Ray-fire

He'd hide his tracks too. No bent branches for Ray, oh no, or ashy ground. Or old pans lying around with food stuck on them

 

[gentlegreen]

.

 

[moose]

I love that programme. It's so lovely and quiet compared to all the usual loud sensationalist programming blaring out on every channel these days.

 

[May Kasahara]

Between Ray and Hugh, and Rick, I'm long overdue a trip to a sandy beach with a horticultural sprayer of brine and some soy sauce.

Ummmm, nobbin and sobbin is thataway v v v v v v

Anyway, I must agree with Moose - I've had a lot of migraines this week, and Ray Mears' programme provided me with a solid stretch of lovely quiet interesting watchable telly.

 

[sojourner]

Ooo, tonight's has our Ray 'turning acorns and hazel nuts into caloric staples'

Bet Gordon thinks they're tasty I'm dying for him to retch and spit something out, shouting 'FOR FUCKS SAKE RAY, IT TASTES LIKE SHIT'

 

[sojourner]

Oh ffs, he's doing it again. Ray has olive oil and balsamic vinegar and BAGUETTES in the forest

Going off him now

 

[boskysquelch]

Oh ffs, he's doing it again. Ray has olive oil and balsamic vinegar and BAGUETTES in the forest

pasta carbonara* is a forester's_charcoal_burner's* traditional meal.

 

[DJ Squelch]

I enjoyed gordons mushroom trip. He looks like someone who's eaten to many funny mushrooms.

 

[sojourner]

pasta carbonara* is a forester's_charcoal_burner's* traditional meal.

Is it? Am I missing something, or is there some relation between pasta carbonara and a baguette?

 

[sojourner]

Next fucking Ray programme - 'In the Forest Kitchen'. Hardbacks to follow

 

[gentlegreen]

Next fucking Ray programme - 'In the Forest Kitchen'. Hardbacks to follow

Gordon, Ray, Hugh ... all part of the knowledge base.

Well I have a lovely new mincer / sausage machine I bought half price in Lidl and I cycle past loads of hawthorn, and I know where I can get acorns ...

I really thought he was about to tickle us a trout .. unfortunately the River Avon near me is unlikely to have many signal crayfish in it ... though one day I am likely to get lynched when I'm spotted taking a token pike or a couple of perch home ... if only there were "problem" zander to be disposed of ....

On a pretentious note, that particular programme really had me thinking about "Englishness"... or whatever term would have fitted ancient ancestors living in the highlands and islands ...

.

 

[marty21]

I enjoyed gordons mushroom trip. He looks like someone who's eaten to many funny mushrooms.

that was hilarious

 

[goldenecitrone]

I wanted to see Ray hunting the wild boar covered in woad. Is there anything this man doesn't know?

 

[marty21]

mrs21 reckoned that wild boar wasn't cooked properly