Wild Bites #18: a 3-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on our website, podcast, YouTube, or To The Bone.

 -Hank and Holly (Team Hunter Angler Gardener Cook)

1. What's Hot Now

Deviled kidneys

2. Video Recipe for Small Birds

We love eating the whole duck. We also love our duck skin nice and crispy. But getting crispy skin all over a round body is a tall ask.

Holly developed an alternative that works great for small birds like teal, snipe and doves: Pluck them whole, cut them in half, and get perfectly crispy skin all over by using a bacon press to keep all that skin in contact with the hot pan. This produces the beautifully crisped skin we love on our duck breasts, only for the entire bird, and cooking it bone-in is great for added flavor.

Why do this for small birds only? Their legs and even drumettes come out nice and tender even with the short cooking time; with bigger birds, those legs will still be tough.

If you try this with snipe or dove, add smoked paprika along with the pepper at the end. That's a little trick Holly borrowed from one of Hank's signature recipes: grilled dove a la Mancha.

3. Smart Take: You Can't Use Too Much Salt in this Process

Yeah, yeah, your doctor is cringing at the thought, but hear us out, because we're talking about salting fish for preservation.

Hank spoke with Newfoundland chef and author Lori McCarthy for Episode 2 of this season of the Hunt Gather Talk podcast. While there were many memorable moments, the biggest takeaway is that salting fish for preservation is a very forgiving process: Heap salt onto the fish to your heart's content, because you're not eating all of it: the salt is just there to turn the fish into something that will last a long time.

When it's time to eat the fish, the rehydration process will bring the salt back to acceptable levels, and you will enjoy its transformation into something meatier.

What to do with salt fish?  Try these fritters. Got some salt to spare? Try a nice salt-cured egg yolk.

Lori McCarthy

4. Sign Up Now for Duck School!

It's a year out, but you don't want to miss this chance: We're excited to partner again with Larry Robinson of Coastal Wings for our 2024 Duck Hunting Culinary School - three days of hunting, eating and learning with Hank at Larry's lodge in Oklahoma.

We have 12 spots open. Guests arrive Jan. 21 and hunt the mornings of Jan. 22-24. Cost is $2,250/person, which includes guided hunting, lodging and all meals. The best part is hands-on learning and chill time with Hank!

Newcomers are welcome, but if you are new to hunting or just to duck hunting, we will want you to keep in touch with us between now and the hunt so we can help you be successful.

Email Hank at hank@huntgathercook.com if you want in. First-come, first served, and your spot will be secured with your payment.

5. What We're Up To

Holly has been duck hunting a ton as our season nears its end, and she's been racking up the green-winged teal - you can see short video of a mad teal flight here. She and Hank even got out together on Wednesday, a rare thing this year, as Hank has mostly taken a breather from this season.

Wednesday's hunt was pretty slow, but we each got a snow goose when some of the zillions of snow geese that winter in our area happened to fly low enough over us. Snow geese get such a bad rap, and it's a shame, because they're delicious. Hank's written an article about the origin of that prejudice, and how best to eat snow geese. 

Duck season, for us, is over this weekend, but since spring comes early here in NorCal, there's always something to do outside! Yardwork is calling, as are the mushrooms.

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