Living Within the Wild: Personal Stories & Beloved Recipes from Alaska

The Dixons (The Tutka Bay Lodge Cookbook), a mother-daughter chef duo, combine fascinating stories and delicious food in an enticing work inspired by their Alaskan adventure lodges. Drawing from their experience of having cooked for guests for more than 30 years, the Dixons transport readers to snowy southcentral Alaska, walking them through their favorite seasonal dishes. In spring, that means wildflower semolina pancakes, while come summer, it’s shrimp honey puffs and fire-roasted fish collars. Autumn is welcomed with black garlic yolk and honey pasta, and winter’s made a little cozier with cast iron sweet potato cardamom bread. Notable recipes include a tasty seaweed and nutritional yeast popcorn seasoning, savory spiced lentil doughnuts, and a spruce-tip buttermilk cake (flavored with the “bright green new buds” that surround the lodges in early spring). Main courses highlight the versatility of salmon—it shines in such recipes as spicy rice dumplings with smoked salmon, and salmon scotch eggs—and local game, such as reindeer braised in a stew with dark beer. “We want others to ‘feel’ our love of the place... like they might through a poem or a story or a song,” the Dixons write. Home cooks wanting to bring the outdoors in, or those simply looking for an escape, will cherish this heartfelt work. (Apr.)