Wild Bites #32: 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

Bamia is a Middle Eastern stew that makes great use of okra and any red meat. 

2. Dove Season!!!

Dove poppers with dates and bacon. An ode to Arizona.

Dove season opens today, marking the traditional beginning of hunting season in America. Yes, I know there are lots of seasons that start earlier, but tradition is strong, especially in the South. 

I love dove hunting, and I love eating doves even more. They are rich, savory, fun to eat and ideal for outdoor cooking. Plus, they pluck really easily. A couple recipes to get you started:

• Start with the venerable dove popper. My version is a little different from what you might be used to, but I think it's better. 
• My signature dove recipe is grilled doves a la Mancha, grilled whole doves with smoked paprika and herbs.
• Smoked doves is a great way to serve them, especially if you then smother them with a zippy sauce, !like my Mexican guajillo sauce.  
• Dove breasts cooked like French steak au poivre are amazing. You'll want to learn this recipe if you breast out your birds. 
• Deep-fried whole doves are epically good. Fun to eat, too. 
• If you save dove hearts, livers -- or even if you don't -- this dove pasta sauce hits the spot if you end up with a ton of birds. 

And here's a video on how to pluck doves that might be useful, too. 

3. Dove Cookbook Sale

Dove season is upon us, as is prairie grouse season. Rabbits and squirrel seasons start soon, and it won't be long before it's cool enough to chase pheasants and ruffed grouse and quail. 

So you'll need a cookbook to help you get the most out of your bounty! That's where Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail comes in. It covers all small game, from doves to pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, turkey, quail, you name it. 

Use the coupon code LOVEYDOVEY at checkout here, and you will get 15% off the already discounted price of $26 -- the book retails for $32.95. In case you're wondering, and I know you are, Amazon is selling the book for $30.64 right now, so this is a screamin' deal! 

4. I am a Seedling

I feel like I have just barely started to sink a root into Minnesota, and it has been wild plants and mushrooms that have helped me do that. My latest essay over on To the Bone is about how to start over.
 

There will be a serious cultural adjustment period, as a Jersey Boy moving from California to Minnesota. The Upper Midwest can be a tough place to make friends; I experienced this the last time I lived here, 20 years ago. But connecting myself to the land through fishing, foraging and hunting will smooth that process, and I am very happy to have already started. 

If you like what you read, I'd be grateful if you would consider subscribing to To the Bone. You can start subscribing for free, and upgrade to paid if you want to support my work. Thanks in advance for considering it. 

5. Alaska Sojourn 

Big ole' coho salmon in Alaska.

Never a dull moment. No sooner do I buy a house in St. Paul, Minnesota, than I travel to Juneau, Alaska to fish salmon commercially. I'm aboard the F/V Heather Anne with my friend Tyson Fick, gillnetting sockeye, coho, chum and pink salmon. 

Our fish, at least the sockeye, coho and bright chum, are pressure bled and put in a sea ice slurry immediately after they're caught, and the result is the best salmon in the world. I'm not joking. When you thaw our fish and cook it, there is no salmon smell. None. It's fresh and clean -- that's the pressure bleeding at work. 

If you want in, you can shop at Yakobi Fisheries. They have more than salmon, but it's all great, ultra high quality fish and seafood. I'll have a special coupon code for y'all soon that will get you a discount on your order, so stay tuned! 

Gotta get back on board and catch those fish! Bye for now,

~ Hank

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