When the History Channel show came to Alaska last spring to profile the frozen route between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, they found Carlile Transportation driving instructor Phil Kromm and his roadside propane grill.
Kromm spent his childhood on the family farm and started working as a driver and loader for a trucking company. He moved to Alaska in 1996 because “there is more snow and better hunting and fishing.”
  
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“They all had cameras attached to them,” said Kromm, who was in 11 of the 13 episodes. “I was what they called a secondary character.”
On one of the episodes, viewers were treated to Kromm cooking caribou at the top of Atigun Pass. Watching that episode happened to be an old friend from Anchorage.
Debra Black works as a cooking instructor at Allen & Petersen Cooking and Appliance Center. After she saw the episode, she called Kromm over for dinner and asked him if he would be interested in teaching wild-game classes with her.
“You can’t buy wild game, so he donates all of it for the class,” Black said. “He has three freezers and a couple of snow banks full of game.”
Kromm makes it clear to the students of the class that he has no formal training in the culinary arts. He started helping his parents in the kitchen as a child and started cooking for himself as a teenager.
“I didn’t like to eat junk. I just learned how to cook well so I could eat well,” Kromm said.
Part of eating well, for Kromm, means knowing exactly what it is you are eating. He said he has convinced many on the television crew about the benefits of wild game and its high Omega-3 fatty acid content. He butchers and processes his own meat, makes his own smoked and fresh stuffed sausage and cures his own jerky over an open fire.
For someone so meticulous, it is only natural that he takes his cooking on the road. His mobile kitchen consists of a small gas grill, tongs, knifes, forks, plates and spices. He has to pack his own water, which he normally gets from a town called Coldfoot because “they have the best well water.”
Moose steaks, caribou burgers and barbecue vegetables are all fair game for roadside fare, and he said other truckers are known to follow his rig around.
“I enjoy cooking for others. I bring more than I can eat. Whoever happens to be in radio range, I call and let them know it’s dinner time,” Kromm said.
When he is not driving, Kromm typically makes a monthly trip to the Carlile office in Anchorage. It is on these trips he hooks up with Black for the wild game classes at Allen & Petersen.
The classes run one night at the Wasilla store then the next night in Anchorage. Black and Kromm have covered everything from sausage making to fancy fish preparation.
“People tell me all the time they have freezers full of game and fish, but they don’t know what to do with it. We want to show them some options they might not have thought of before,” Black said. “You can only have chili so many times.”
On the menu for Thursday night’s class in Wasilla were two entrees and a dessert. First was a moose roulade with a wild cranberry (picked from Kromm’s sister’s yard, of course) demi-glace. Then came moose Thai green curry stir-fry. The meal was complete with a wild cranberry apple tarte tatin.
The wild-game classes are typically once a month, but the duo is taking February off. The schedules for March, April, May and June will be posted to www.aphome.com.
Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.
RECIPES
Moose Roulade
2-5 lb. butterflied moose roast
1 cup fresh baby spinach
1 tbls. fresh rosemary
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 large garlic clove
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 tbls. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Butterfly roast to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Pounding out for even thickness if necessary. Let roast remain at room temp while you prepare pesto filling.
2. Process all remaining ingredients, except olive oil, in food processor or blender until finely chopped. With food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil to create a paste like consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Spread pesto filling onto butterflied roast leaving 1/2 inch area clear at one end. Roll meat and secure with butchers twine. Set roulade seam side down into roasting pan.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reaches 140° for medium rare. Cooking times will depend on size and thickness of roast.
5. Let rest tented loosely with aluminum foil for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
6. Serve with cranberry demi-glace.
Cranberry Demi-Glace
3 cups beef broth, divided
2 cups wild cranberries
1 tbls. honey
1. Boil 2 cups of the beef broth until reduced by half.
2. Add washed and rinsed cranberries and remaining cup of broth. Cook until cranberries burst and sauce thickens.
3. Strain through a sieve using a rubber spatula to press through.
4. Return to pan and reduce to about 1 1/2 cup.
5. Add honey to sweeten to taste.
Moose Thai Green Curry
1 lb. moose steak
1 tbls. olive oil
salt and white pepper to taste
Vegetables
2 tbls. olive oil
8 oz. crimini mushrooms, wiped clean and quartered
4 green onions, green and white parts, cut into 1 inch lengths
4 oz. snow peas
3 stalks bok choy, cleaned, sliced diagonally
Sauce
2 cups coconut milk
1-2 tbls. Mae Ploy green curry paste
1 tbls. fish sauce
2 tbls. oyster sauce
1 tbls. palm sugar, shaved
12-15 Thai basil leaves
Garnish
1/2 cup cashews, chopped
1. Brush Moose Steaks with oil, season with salt and white pepper. Sear steaks quickly on grill or in a pan. Cook just to rare or 125 degrees on meat thermometer. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In wok or deep skillet, heat olive oil and sauté mushrooms, green onions and snow peas about 2 minutes. Add bok choy and sauté additional minute. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. In the same pan, add coconut milk and curry paste bring to low boil over medium heat, allow to thicken slightly.
4. Add the meat to curry sauce and cook uncovered about 5 minutes, add the vegetables and heat through.
5. Season with fish sauce, oyster sauce and palm sugar, cook 1 min. Stir in Thai basil leaves and serve immediately over rice. Garnish with cashews.
Serves 4
Wild Cranberry Tart Tatin
1 recipe plain short pastry dough
4 large (about 3 lbs.) tart apples, such as granny smiths
1 cup wild cranberries, divided
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 tbls. water
1/2 stick (4 tbls.) unsalted butter
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Roll the short pastry into a 1/4-inch thick circle that is approximately 10 1/2 to 11 1/2 inches in diameter. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and chill until needed.
3. Core and peel the apples, then cut into eight even pieces; set aside until needed.
Combine 3/4 cup of the sugar and 3 tablespoons of water in a heavy-bottomed 9 1/2-inch oven safe fry pan; cook over medium-high heat until the sugar turns a deep, dark, amber color, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, tilting the pan so that the caramel coats the bottom evenly.
4. Scatter 3/4 cup of the cranberries over the caramel then attractively arrange the apple sections over the caramel in a concentric circle pattern, spread out the remaining 1/4 cup over the apples. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar, then dot with the butter.
5. Place the chilled dough round on top of the apples, tucking it in around the edges to seal.
6. Bake the tart in the preheated oven until the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Allow the tart to cool until just warm, and then turn it out onto a serving platter so that the crust forms the base with the apples on top. Scrape out any apples that stick to the pan and put them back in place. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Serves 8
Short Pastry
1 1/2 cups (about 8 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping dough
1/2 tsp. fine salt
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled
1/4 tsp. fresh lemon juice
6-8 tbls. ice water
1. Combine the flour and salt in work bowl of a food processor. Add the chilled butter and toss with a fork to coat the butter. Process using short pulses until mixture is crumbly.
2. Add the lemon juice and the water gradually just until the dough gathers together. (Note: Work the dough as little as possible or it will be tough.)
3. Turn out onto plastic wrap and bringing corners together gather the dough into a ball. Flatten the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before rolling out. (Note: This will relax the dough and prevent the butter from melting when handled.)
Makes 2 8-inch shells
Comments
3 comment(s)Lynn wrote on Feb 1, 2010 10:21 PM:
Suzanne wrote on Feb 1, 2010 10:21 AM:
sounds delicious. Invite me to
dinner. Thank you!
Love the show - Ice Roads! "
Lisa Marquiss wrote on Jan 30, 2010 9:48 PM: