Some folks like to follow recipes to the letter, while others prefer to take ideas from recipes and then improvise. The recipes in this section are designed to aid both types of people; they’ll yield fine results if followed slavishly, but they also offer opportunities to switch ingredients around. Several of the vegetable and vegetarian dishes are meant to be adapted to whatever is being harvested. Chicken and rabbit can be used interchangeably in any of the recipes that call for either, as can goat and lamb; recipes for tough cuts of meat work equally well with well-exercised portions of beef and pork, and often lamb and goat. Desserts that require frozen fruits can be made with whatever you have in the freezer — peaches, nectarines, plums, or any of the various types of berries.
I do a lot of cooking from the garden, and many of my favorite vegetable recipes can be found in my earlier books (Serving Up the Harvest and Recipes from the Root Cellar), so the recipes here are an odd mix of this and that. “This and that” includes a few potato recipes that are essential side dishes to meat. You need to be able to make great French fries to accompany your grass-fed steaks, and those fries can be easily made in the oven, with goose or duck fat or beef fat (tallow) if you are so inclined. Mashed potatoes are another essential, as are flatbreads that you can whip up without much effort.
The dessert recipes focus on fruits and dairy foods. If I could grow chocolate beans, I would. But I can’t, so I don’t consider chocolate to be a true “homestead” flavor, and you’ll find only one chocolate dessert here.