How Alaska Eats: Make a local version of the historic Alaska cocktail, and other food news

Alaskans know how to eat. Find another place where people are better at DIY food. You can’t. [View this page at adn.com]( Make the historic Alaska cocktail (and more food news) By Julia O'Malley An Alaska Cocktail sitting on a log in my friend's back yard on a recent evening. You should try it. (Julia O'Malley/ADN) Alaskans know how to eat. Find another place where people are better at DIY food (hunting it, fishing it, picking it; schlepping it on airplanes, ATVs, snow machines, kayaks, in backpacks; butchering it, cleaning it, smoking it, freezing it, preserving it). You can't. To eat at our tables is to understand our culture. (Home cooking is another area where we excel.) This new newsletter is a place for all things Alaska food. [Send](mailto:jomalley@adn.com) your feedback, Alaska food ideas and questions! Newsletter 1: #GinResearch This summer I’m spending some time at Anchorage Museum, putting together a book about how Alaskans eat. Part of that means testing Alaska recipes. Ask bartenders around town and they’ll tell you that a recent [New York Times story]( about a golden, pre-Prohibition version of the martini, called the [Alaska]( made bar-goers all over ask for the drink. Now it seems like everybody is making it and adding their own twists. On a recent very nice day, I decided that maybe it would make sense to try to make The Alaska using local gin. I settled on a contest between two fantastic gins from [Port Chilkoot Distillery]( in Haines and [Amalga Distillery]( in Juneau. (Very important #ginresearch.) The result was: I couldn’t pick. Instead, I ended up with two versions of a truly glorious summer cocktail. I also learned that the Alaska cocktail isn’t Alaska-made at all. ([Read about that and find both cocktail recipes]( And, if you make that, maybe you’d like to make a little something to go with it? Salmon is still pretty spendy (and the heartbreaking [Copper River fishing closure]( likely won’t help that), but whole halibut has been a decent deal, at just around $10 a pound at local seafood markets. Where have you found the best deal on fish? Kim Sunee also has a great recipe for [fried green tomatoes]( which go pretty well with gin. For dessert, maybe you'd like to face that rhubarb plant in the backyard and try Maya Wilson’s [rhubarb almond coffee cake]( (Did you hear [Maya is going to be the chef at a new restaurant, Addie Cam]( in Kenai?) In other food news, East Anchorage people, [you now have a farmer's market on Muldoon]( says our market columnist Steve Edwards (lots of other farmer's market news in his column, as always). And, there’s now [an app to help you eat local](. From the subsistence foods desk, here's [a fun video]( from one of my favorite Alaska Native foods documenters, [Flora Rexford]( in Kaktovik, of wild bird cleaning in hyper speed. Finally: if you're interested in Alaska recipes with historic roots, join my recipe testing group [here](. We're noodling on sourdough pancakes and rhubarb crisp at the moment. I'm also going to be sharing these recipes as I write them. Thanks for reading. Have a cocktail? [Alaskana recipe: The historic Alaska cocktail.]( Julia O'Malley is an editor at the Anchorage Daily News and a freelance food writer, working on a book with the Anchorage Museum about how Alaska eats. Copyright © 2018 Anchorage Daily News, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website to receive email updates. "How Alaska Eats" is our new newsletter focussed on the recipes and food options that make Alaska unique. If do not want to receive this email please choose 'unsubscribe'. Our mailing address is: Anchorage Daily News 300 W. 31st Ave.Anchorage, AK 99503 [Add us to your address book](//adn.us1.list-manage.com/vcard?u=186a3ffe5c9fcb68d09408dc5&id=04888e7980) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.