Wild Bites #57: a 6-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on the website, YouTube, or To The Bone. ~
Hank Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: - Norwegian meatballs are better than Swedish meatballs. There, I said it. Here's the recipe that will change your mind.
- Venison stroganoff is never a bad idea. Simple, delicious, and made even better with spatzle instead
of noodles... but noodles are OK, too.
- Another easy winner is a hearty venison stew, with some flavors from North Africa that zip things up a bit. Don't worry, it's not crazy spicy, just good.
- You can't
go wrong with this German smoked goose breast recipe. It is so much better than any other smoked goose I've ever tried or eaten. Will make you want to pluck the breasts of your Canadas! Yes, really...
- It's getting to be jambalaya season, and my Cajun style jambalaya is one of my favorites. Works with all sorts of game.
- Love me some green chile mac and
cheese! Add pheasant, grouse, chicken, rabbit or whatever, and it's a whole meal. Add mushrooms for a vegetarian version.
Moving up the list: Love to see my original deer shank recipe trending! This is a Portuguese-style deer shank dish that is a perfect Sunday supper. Love these or any of my recipes? Please rate them while you're there so people searching for recipes know they're worth clicking on! Various varieties of acorns. Acorns are dropping right now, and at least here in the Upper Midwest, it is looking like a great mast year. Plenty of acorns for wildlife and humans! Acorns were a mainstay of the diets of many native groups in North America, but they do require processing to be
edible; only the acorns of the Emory oak in the Southwest are edible right off the tree. (Cork oaks are, too, but they are from Europe.) - Let's start with basics. Here's how to make acorn flour, the primary way you eat
acorns.
- Here's an overview on eating acorns you should read if you want to get started.
- Love me some acorn muffins. Think hippie muffins with bran and dried fruit and nuts. They're really good!
- This acorn soup is a
modern take on an ancestral "acorn mush" eaten widely by native people here. It's cheffed up, but not so fancy you can't make it easily.
- Mixing acorn flour with standard German spatzle ingredients makes a fantastic, earthy, woodsy acorn spatzle. Definitely do
this one. Maybe try it with the venison stroganoff above?
Finally, here's an article I wrote on how cultures around the world eat acorns. There are more than you might think! 3. Yuma Dove Hunt CrazinessIt was an experience! Hunting doves on the opener in Yuma, Arizona was crazy. But I am definitely glad I went. So many hunters, so many doves. And the whole town came out to celebrate the weekend, which included a dove cookoff contest I got a chance to judge. You
can read all about the adventure over at To the Bone. I hope you enjoy reading this essay as much as I enjoyed writing it. Subscriptions at To the Bone are how I am hoping to weather the AI Age and the
decline of Google. I hope you'll subscribe -- you can start with a free subscription, then, if you are in a position to and want to support my work, you can upgrade to a paid sub. There are concrete benefits for getting a paid subscription, too. See ya over there, and thank you in advance
for considering it! 4. Join Me on a Duck Hunt! Hey all! There are several spots left for our waterfowl hunt in Oklahoma Dec. 7-10 with Larry Robinson of Coastal
Wings. While we can’t guarantee limits of course, the hunting is typically very good in December. Lots of puddle ducks and lesser Canada geese, and sometimes you’ll get a chance at specklebelly geese and high-quality divers like canvasbacks and redheads. You can be as hands-on as you want. After each hunt we pluck and/or skin out the birds —
and I’ll go over when one is better than the other — and I’ll demo both dry plucking and the wax method. I’ll also show you how to properly cook duck breasts, prep giblets and break down birds. Each night I’ll be cooking you dinner with the help of several guest chefs, including Josh Valentine, who was a finalist on the TV show “Top
Chef.” Cost is $2,250/person, which includes guided hunts, lodging and all meals. If you don’t have one of my books and want one, let me know and I will bring it for you as a bonus. Email me at hank@huntgathercook.com if you want in. 5. Grouse and Culinary HuntsMe holding a tray of North Dakota fleischkuekle, fried meat pies. Got back into the swing of my culinary hunts this past week. I was up in Remer, MN at Pineridge Grouse Camp, where I spent the season last year as head chef. This time was just a week, cooking for one of my regular weekend hunts. It felt
good. I love to cook for others, but that experience last year -- 3 meals a day, seven days a week, five weeks -- was too much for me. It wore me out and made me want to just eat ramen out of a box for weeks afterwards. This time was so different! I loved the food I put out, and I think the hunters could
feel and taste that. It really matters. I tested some new recipes on them, and previewed some from my upcoming book Borderlands, which should be out next year. I am hoping you'll be able to preorder it by January, so stay tuned... Home for a few weeks, so I'll get a chance to hunt a bit here in Minnesota and in North Dakota. Still dry here, so mushrooming is sparse, but we're hoping for a decent fall. Speaking of which, wore a hoodie for the first time last night: Autumn is upon us! My next trip will be out to North Dakota in mid-October to chase pheasants. I may try to do some South Dakota pheasant hunting in November, too. Maybe even deer here in Minnesota? Who knows? Exciting season, this... ~ Hank Comments?Let us know what you think about Wild Bites by using our anonymous comment form - we love to hear from you, and we read
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