Wild Bites #27: a 3-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on the website, podcast, YouTube, or To The Bone.

 ~ Hank

1. What's Hot Now

Aguachile

2. Smart Take: Bleeding Your Fish for Better Flavor

Shark is one fish that you absolutely must bleed promptly, but bleeding improves the flavor of all fish. (Click on the photo for the Spanish shark recipe.) 

I bleed all my fish. Period. It makes a difference even with sedate, white meat fish like walleyes, but bleeding really shines with angry, fast-moving, predatory fish like salmon, bluefish, tuna, jacks and sharks. 

This process, one part of the Japanese fish-killing technique called ike jime, is as easy as cutting the fish's gills and putting them in water -- saltwater for marine fish, freshwater for fish from lakes, streams and rivers. Even a 5-gallon bucket works. The fish dies pumping its blood out into that water, and it leaves the meat whiter, cleaner and firmer than if you didn't. 

The difference is gigantic with fish like salmon, trout, bluefish, mackerel and jacks. Try it and you'll see. You can use your fingers to "pop" the gills of small fish, but larger ones are best cut with a knife or shears. Really big fish benefit from a slice just in front of the tail, up to the backbone, so they bleed out both ends.  

If you want more detail, I go into this in depth in my cookbook Hook, Line, and Supper. If you don't already have it, what are you waiting for? It's fishing season! 

3. Venison Marinades

Red wine makes great marinades (and sauces).

“What venison marinade do you use?” is perhaps the most common question I get when people ask me about cooking deer or elk.

Truth is, I don’t always use a marinade – a really good piece of backstrap needs little more than fire, salt and maybe some black pepper. But there is most definitely a place for a venison marinade here and there. You just need to know when to break out your favorite marinade, and when it’s better just to make it a sauce you serve at the end.

I've got a great selection of marinades. Some you can make - red wine, teriyaki, Yucatecan, Greek, Korean and German - and others that are just single-ingredient marinades.

4. Time to Prep for Rigorous Hunts

Yeah, yeah, it's grilling season, not hunting season. But if your hunting season begins in late summer, and your hunts are physically demanding, now is the time to begin preparing your body for the efforts ahead. Unless you prefer using bourbon as pain medication over using it to toast a successful hunt.

Holly came up with a really effective workout last summer that prepared her for a rigorous week-long grouse hunt, much of it at altitude, in Wyoming in September. The core of it is a weekly walk - no running or grunt-laden crossfit needed!

If you've let all your workouts slide, June may be the best time to get restarted; if you've got a good baseline fitness routine, a July start would work.

5. What I'm Up To

The hiking in Utah is unmatched. 

Hiking, that's what. I recently was in Salt Lake City for a week, hiking around, looking for good eats (hint: there are lots), and generally reconnoitering. Why? Well, I am narrowing down where I will move myself to when this whirlwind of a nomad life gets old, and SLC is on the list. 

I am starting to pick semi-finalists for my landing spot, after basically taking a lap around the United States in these past few months. Right now, and mind you this list could change, I am looking at the Twin Cities, Fargo, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Tulsa and maybe Spokane.

Sorry, no East Coast places, and California is just too spendy. If you live in one of the cities on my list, drop me a note in the comments section if you want, telling me why I should run screaming from your city, or why I should move to it. I'm all ears! 

Comments?