Wild Bites #53: a 5-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

Garlic butter scallops. So, so good.  

2. Grillin' and Chillin'

Grilled pompano with herbs and chiles on a plate.

Grilling, slow barbecue and even slower smoking are my favorite cooking methods in summertime. You can cook almost anything with this method, and I do -- even vegetables, and, if you have a pellet smoker, bread. I have so many recipes for these cooking methods that I'll start with just grilling, which to me is hot and fast cooking. 

Here are a few of my favorite grilling recipes.

• Marinated, grilled pork loin (wild pork in my case) done Maya style is so, so good. It's called poc chuc and it's a popular dish in Yucatan. 
• Whether it's a pompano, butterfish, crappie, a big bluegill or pomfret, grilling is a go-to because they're so wide and flat. Here's a Mexican-inspired recipe for grilled fish you'll want to try. I also have a simple grilled trout recipe that's a winner. 
• If you still have some venison backstrap, grilled venison loin is never a bad idea. Here's how I do it, simply and easily so you don't overcook it. 
• Grilled duck breast can be a little tricky with all that fat, but I have perfected a method that gives you a crispy skin and medium-rare meat. 
• Finally, for you vegetarians -- or mushroom hunters -- here's how I do up grilled mushrooms. Works with any decent-sized, meaty mushroom. 

3. Fishing, Finally. 

I finally got out fishing, twice even! First up on Lake Superior for lake trout, then out in North Dakota for walleyes. Came home with fish both times, I am happy to say. Was so good to get out on the water again -- I'd forgotten how much I had missed it. 

Right now I am working through the walleyes, using almost every part, from cheeks and skins to carcasses for broth and "wings" for appetizers. Stay tuned for a walleye post! 

The lakers I mostly froze because of the way life was running, but I did mix the "spoon meat," (meat scraped off the carcasses with a spoon) cooked and added to some smoked whitefish to make a bangin' whitefish salad. 

I'll likely make smoked lake trout later, and do a few recipes with seared fillets. Stay tuned.

Hoping to get up on the Red River around Grand Forks, ND soon to catch some big catfish. Anyone ever done that? 

PS - If you want a fishing shirt like I'm wearing, you can get one here. 

4. The Zen of Trolling

5. Summer Frenzy Continues...

So much is going on right now! We are fully in that Upper Midwest summer frenzy, where days are long and warm, but we all know that Winter Is Coming... 

What you see above are a couple rows of Tarahumara beans, a pretty little brown bean, that have sprouted in my new garden beds. Now it's a race to see if they'll mature before the frost kills them.🤞

I wrote about this, and how the frenzy has been affecting my ability to work on my cookbook, over at To the Bone. I've really been enjoying the ability to not only write about wild things and nature, but also life in general, over there on my Substack. I haven't had that outlet in a long time, and I am buoyed by everyone's response -- thank you so much for subscribing!

I'm home for a bit, then off on my last research trip for Borderlands before I really hunker down to write. I'll be in New Mexico for a week with my brother Fred, and hopefully the sights and flavors and aromas of that great state will inspire me to, well, work harder when I get back.

But before that, I am off across the Minnesota border to Wisconsin to search for blueberries, and, of course, more mushrooms! It's that frenetic, gather-fish-go-go-go time of year, and I'm embracing it. 

A word on AI and where I am at in terms of my livelihood. Things have stabilized, but I've still seen a huge drop in revenue. If you want to help, read this, and think about whether you're in a position to chip in as a paid subscriber to To the Bone, where I am slowly shifting my energies so I can keep making a living. If you're not in a position right now, I totally understand. Thanks for even considering it! 

~ Hank

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