Wild Bites from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Published: Fri, 05/27/22

Hi -

Welcome to Wild Bites from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, an ultra-brief newsletter designed to make you smarter about your wild food. We'll also tell you what we're up to right now, which is almost always a taste of what's to come on the website, the podcast, YouTube, or our new venture on Substack, To The Bone.

This is a pilot project we'll produce every other week for two months. We don't want to waste your time or ours by creating something that isn't useful and interesting to you, so please give us a quick read and use the survey at the end to let us know what you think.

-Hank (the chef) and Holly (the photographer)

1. What's Hot Now

Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook:

Fried morels
Ramp pesto
Smoked turkey breast - juicy!
Smoked trout
Foraging wild asparagus - every U.S. state and Canadian province has it

Here's a bonus that combines two of the ingredients in the above list: trout with morels, which is about as seasonal as you can get.

2. Smart Take: Killing Fish

Animal welfare, which includes the welfare of vertebrate species under water, is a precondition to achieving the most superior quality of fish on the planet. ... Suffocating an animal to death is a surefire way to foul up the meat quality.

-Andrew Tsui of the American Ike Jime Federation

Fish can't breathe out of the water, so when you let them flop around on the deck, they are suffocating. Andrew Tsui talked with Hank on the Hunt Gather Talk podcast (Episode 8, Season 3) about a Japanese method for killing fish quickly, then stopping all muscle movement, to make your fish taste incredible.

Listen or download (1:12)

3. Master Your Game, for 20% Off!

For Memorial Day Weekend only, get one or more of our last three cookbooks for yourself or a loved one one for 20% off. Each book is way more than a collection of recipes - these books teach you ways of processing and thinking differently about your fish and game, taking your meals to the next level.

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This code is good only on our website, only through Memorial Day, Monday May 30.

Buy a Book

4. What We're Up To

Holly was pretty wracked about the Caldor Fire torching our mountain quail spots in the El Dorado National Forest last summer (including the location where the photo of us above was taken). But it's silver linings time: The morel hunting has been spectacular. "Three-hour dopamine rush" is how she described her first great hunt of the season for To The Bone, our new subscription-based newsletter on Substack. The post is for paid subscribers only, but you can read it with a free 7-day free trial.

Read the Post

Hank recently returned from Texas where he fished for snook and alligator gar, and no, he's not feeling remotely satisfied with himself in that photo. But hey, it was his first gar - can you blame him? Recipes will be coming soon! In the meantime, check out his Instagram feed for more photos.

Hank on the 'Gram

5. Quotable

It is one of hunting’s cruel ironies that it takes so many years to draw a sheep tag that many people grow too old to actually do the hunt, which always takes place in the mountains, and usually above 10,000 feet.

-Hank

Once a competitive runner, Hank is now fighting to be able to run at all, sidelined by a torn meniscus. He writes about the fine line between adapting and giving in, and about the kind of fitness that means the most to him at the age of 51 (he was 24 in this photo).

The story is a free post on To The Bone, our new subscription-based newsletter on Substack.

Read the Post

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