...a pickling crock
Whether you're jumping on the fermented-foods bandwagon or just really love sauerkraut, a large-scale pickling operation calls for a large-scale fermenter. While you could make do with a food-grade plastic bucket, nothing beats a real ceramic crock with weights and a water seal. Mirador Community Store (miradorcommunitystore.com) sells top-brand Harsch crocks, and the Portland-based, online Raw Diet Health Store (store.therawdiet.com) sells Polish crocks starting at $117.
...a whole goat
Live out your Berber fantasies this summer and spit-roast a whole goat carcass. The most reliable local vendor of imported goat is probably Willamette Valley Meat (232-0933, wvmeat.com), but if you want a Pollan-approved animal, your best bet is to deal with a rancher directly. The closest is Full of Life Farm (fulloflifefarm.com, 925-876-6720), in St. Paul, which processes custom orders through Mount Angel Meat.
...my knives sharpened
When you're sick of slicing bits of yourself off every time a dull knife slips, call up one of Portland's professional sharpeners. Mike "The Knife Guy" Kraft (360-904-5223) serves many Portland restaurants but is so booked he can be hard to reach. Woody Bailey of Zen Blades (816-3913, zenblades.com) is equally admired but also very busy. The city's newest sharpener, who does very nice work, is Harmonie Medlin of Sharpening4u (3429 NE Sandy Blvd., 962-0574, sharpening4u.com).
...curing salt
Having a sausage party? While most butchers will sell you sausage casings, curing salts containing nitrates or nitrites, which are necessary to avoid botulism contamination in home-cured meats, can be hard to come by. The Meadow (atthemeadow.com) will get you started with a 2-ounce jar of curing salt for $6.50 (you won't need much at first). The pros go to Market Supply (139 SE Taylor St., 239-4990, marketsupply.com), which carries several sorts of cure, spices, casings and stuffing tubes. It's open 8 am-4:30 pm Monday-Friday, so plan ahead.
...a lot of wild caught salmon
Iliamna Fish Company (redsalmon.com), a family fishing operation in Bristol Bay (a Marine Stewardship Council-certified fishery), operates a frozen-salmon subscription service in Portland and Brooklyn, N.Y. You pay $218 by June 1 and get 22 pounds of flash-frozen salmon fillets in August or September.
WWeek 2015