Farm to Fire Dinner at Hama Hama

Video by Jeremiah Flores

High summer on the Hood Canal is serene and full of salty treasures, and Hama Hama Oyster Farm is a sacred place we return to year after year. In July, we set our long tables by the water’s edge for a farm to fire feast of countless fishes, and wrote an edible love letter to sparkling fresh seafood enjoyed at the source. 

Upon arrival, guests wandered between the shell amphitheater and the edge of the canal, slurping oysters both roasted and raw. Hood Canal spot prawns were steamed bright pink in dry sherry, drenched in chili garlic butter, and sucked down between spicy sips of Timber City ginger beer out of handblown glasses from North Drinkware.

Gathered at the live-edge tables milled from wood on the property, guests clinked glasses of Elk Cove wine and savored a welcome splash of tomato water dashi punctuated by Pernod-poached mussels and a kiss of horseradish.

Cast iron Dutch ovens arrived smoking from the fire, and their heavy lids were lifted to reveal violet-shelled clams crowning a chowder of heirloom hominy, smoked salmon, chanterelles and sweet summer corn.

Next, we prepared an affectionate ode to a mid-century salad, with Dungeness crab and Oregon bay shrimp over crunchy wedges of little gem lettuce dressed creamy, sweet and tangy and showered with flowers.

Then out came platters of gorgeous Northwest salmon, roasted whole beneath pine boughs on a cedar plank. Infused with sweetly resinous woodsmoke, its flavor conjured places where the water meets the trees.

Guests lingered over majestic towers of stone fruit trifle with peach leaf custard, knowing that, along with the summer wind, the honeyed flavors of peaches and plums are always gone too soon.

The stars came out, and the tide came in. Just over the canal’s edge, in the darkness of the water, a special bioluminescent algae called noctiluca glittered like the last sparks of a campfire.

Photos by Cheyanne Paredes
Cast iron and enamelware by Barebones Living