SOME say nothing is more rewarding than a nice, home-cooked meal – but what about one you caught, too?
A foraging and nature expert revealed she saves major coin by retrieving food from nature and took her followers along her unique journey.
The forager, Elizabeth Burdock, showed her social media fans both how to catch and identify food in nature and how to cook it for a cheap and nutritious meal.
You can’t cook food you don’t have, so Burdock first ventured to the beach when it was low tide.
She was able to spot and dig up multiple clams by looking for air holes that form in the mud when they filter water.
She also walked to an oyster bed that was completely exposed due to the low tide and grabbed several.
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Lastly, she picked up a large piece of seaweed that was lying on the ground.
She explained that she cut it above its roots so new leaves could grow back.
Once Burdock returned to her house, she cleaned her findings and turned to her wildlife books to identify everything she was about to cook.
She learned that she had gathered Pacific oysters, Japanese littleneck clams, and a form of sugar kelp.
“It’s definitely kelp and all seaweeds are edible,” she confirmed.
While the bulk of Burdock’s meal was found in nature, she still had to run to the grocery store for some ingredients, which included oat milk, lemons, vegan margarine, onions, and garlic.
After she returned back home, she got to cooking.
“Now we’re going to shuck an oyster,” she excitedly noted before relaying the step-by-step process.
“Wrap the oyster in a towel.
“You’ll need an oyster shucker.
“You gotta put the shucker into the joint and then hammer it in,” she explained.
After literally using a hammer to hit the shucker into the shell, she broke it open and then cut the abductor muscle of the oyster.
The abductor muscle attaches the top of the oyster to the bottom half and helps keep it closed.
Next, Burdock created a white wine sauce with wine, veggie stock, and seasoning, plus the margarine, green onion, and garlic she bought at the store.
She steamed the clams in the sauce for about eight minutes until they were fully opened.
She then stirred in some heavy cream and excitedly revealed how lovely her cooking smelled.
And to finish off the oysters, she crusted them with Panko and pan-fried them.
As for the kelp, she chopped it up and boiled it in a pot of water, which turned it green.
Once it had finished cooking, she created a seaweed salad by mixing in shallots, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes, and balsamic vinegar.
“Mission complete,” she happily concluded over her video with footage of her plated meal.
Viewers seemed to be as thrilled with the meal as Burdock was, with one person who claimed to not like seafood admitting they wanted to try it.
“You just made like a $60 dollar meal for basically free, that’s awesome!” another added.
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Burdock noted that it is required to have a license to collect clams and oysters from nature.
If anyone would like to give her lifestyle a go, it’s important to check with your local laws and regulations beforehand.
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