Wild Bites #63: a 5-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  Mushroom ravioli with porcini, sage and browned butter. You need this.    Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: - Hunting seasons are largely over, so everyone's smoking and making sausages, it seems. My smoked venison backstrap is very popular these days...Â
- Now is the time to go catch burbot, a/k/a ling, eelpout, lawyer, cusk, etc. It's a gross-looking, freshwater codfish that's great to eat. Here's my tutorial on how to cook burbot.Â
- Still have pheasant in your freezer? Try this lovely English pheasant pie. It'll hit the spot. Works with rabbit and other white meats, too.Â
- A great weekend feast would be my
mushroom ravioli. They're pretty, work with most mushrooms, and will definitely impress your guests. Date night, anyone?Â
- This one's for my Californian and Southern readers: nettle
risotto. I may have to wait for nettles here in Minnesota, but you don't have to!Â
- It wouldn't be a Wild Bites newsletter without meatballs! This week, try my Thai meatballs. Spicy, but not crazy hot, and the dipping sauce is baller...
- If you have duck or goose breasts lying around, please make this recipe for duck with turnips and spatzle. It's one of my
favorite recipes on the site.Â
Moving up the list: Quail hunters! Try braising a few birds Spanish style, with onions and paprika. This recipe works well with other birds, too, like
pheasant, grouse or partridges.      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!  2. Ground Venison RecipesA perfect venison burger, headed to your mouth... It's almost March, and that means for many of us, we're down to the ground. Venison, that is. A great many deer and elk hunters wind up with huge stores of ground meat in their freezer. And you can't have too many recipes for the stuff.  So here goes: Some of my
favorite things to make with "deer burger." Keep in mind that literally any ground meat works with these recipes. Â Â - OK, so I live in Minnesota now, so I kinda have to lead with my venison version of tater tot
hotdish. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Want a casserole that's a little zippier? Try South African bobotie. Still a casserole, but way different flavors.Â
- One more: This is the sort of "casserole" I grew up with, which is to say Italian American. It's a venison version of baked ziti, with lots of ground meat in it. And if you don't like this one, fuhgeddaboutit...
- Did you know you can make jerky from ground venison? You bet you can! And I have a fantastic recipe for ground venison jerky based off Native American pemmican.Â
- Venison pasties. If you've ever watched "Escanaba in Da Moonlight," you need to make these. And if not, you need to make these...
- Back on the Italian American theme, my old school venison meatballs are one of my best recipes. I've made them for decades. Want a different flavor of meatball? Try my Norwegian meatballs. Like IKEA, only better.Â
- Finally, I gotta leave you with my classic venison burger recipe. It's one of the
best burgers I make, and I am very, very picky about my hamburgers. You won't be sad if you make it.Â
I'll be doing three culinary hunts this year, all in Oklahoma with Larry and Summer Robinson of Coastal Wings Outfitters.  The first will be a combination teal and dove hunt in September. Bring lots of shells, because both teal and doves are among the most aerobatic fliers of any game birds in America. We’ll be hunting and grilling on this one, because the weather will be hot — perfect for outdoor cooking — and both doves and teal are excellent cooked over open fire.  You’ll arrive September 14 and hunt the 15th until the morning of the 17th. Cost is $2000, which includes lodging, all meals — dinners cooked by me — bird prep, a copy of Pheasant, Quail,
Cottontail, and three hunts. License and tips not included. This is an absolute blast of a hunt! Lots of action, warm weather, great food. Our last one sold out quickly. Email Larry and Summer Robinson to reserve your spot at coastalwings@yahoo.com DeerWe're doing two different deer hunts this winter. One, primarily a doe hunt, is geared for anyone, the other is an advanced venison course for buck hunters. We’re doing this because we have lots of repeat clients who already know the ropes on how to process and butcher deer. The advanced hunt will not only focus on bucks, but on advanced processing ideas, as well as curing venison and sausage
making.  Arrival for the first school is November 29 with departure on December 2 at midday. The second school starts the evening of the 2nd and ends midday on December 5.  The first school is primarily a doe hunt; hunters can kill two per person. The second is a buck
hunt, with does secondary. Like the other schools, We will offer hands-on experience from harvest to table. The evenings are filled with cooking, and we’ll feature venison each night.  These schools sell out very quickly and are limited. We have only 10 spots for each hunt. Each hunt includes 3 nights of lodging, all meals, the school, a copy of Buck, Buck, Moose. Cost for the doe hunt is $2500, the buck hunt is $5000. There are big bucks out there, I can assure you. I shot a deer that scored 150 there in 2022, and
another last year that scored in the 140s. And there are deer larger than that. Email Larry and Summer Robinson to reserve your spot at coastalwings@yahoo.com 4. We're Havin' a Book Tour! Soon I'll be on the road again...  Finally, another book tour! This will be my first real one since 2018 (Covid crushed my tour in 2021 for Hook, Line, and Supper), and it's just now starting to take shape.  I plan on traveling around the country supporting my new book Borderlands: Recipes and
Stories from the Rio Grande to the Pacific starting in late June, and I'll be doing events up to Christmas.  The first stops will be in Minneapolis. A beer bash at Fulton Brewing, where they are going to brew a special beer just for the event, and then a fun, casual dinner at Chilango. Right now Chilango is set for June 30, and Fulton before that. More details to come.  I have tentative events lined up for Portland, Sacramento, Sonoma, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Richmond, Fargo, Tulsa, Austin, Dallas, Salt Lake City, Madison and Milwaukee. And I am planning many more.  Right now, I am looking for places to do events in San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Brownsville,
Boston, Chicago and Washington DC. Any ideas?  Stay tuned, and I'll update Hunter Angler Gardener Cook's Public Events Page as events firm
up. Â Drilling a hole in the ice on Lake Bemidji. Â What a difference a couple weeks makes! When last I wrote, we were all frozen solid, with almost two weeks where the temperature never rose about 10F; we hit -27F one morning. These last few days, the temperature hasn't dipped below freezing, which is weird in and of itself. With no snow in sight, we're deep in what we
call "false spring," where everything thinks winter's done for... until we get 6 inches of snow in April.  Regardless, it's time to plan our gardens! I wrote about my garden plans over at To the Bone, and spoiler alert, I am planting a ton of native, edible plants. Can't wait for the season to start -- if I can keep the damn rabbits off my plants...  I also
got a chance to do a little ice fishing up in Bemidji, which was fun -- but to me, the jury is still out on hardwater angling. I'll go again, because why not? We did hatch plans to catch lots of catfish this summer, though, which I am really looking forward
to.  With Borderlands coming out in June, I am busily working on book tour stuff (see above), as well as ways to get the word out about the book. Every other author I know says it's a brutal media environment out there. I'll need your help when the time comes.  But before that, I am going to take a little trip to Coahuila, Mexico in a couple weeks to visit a ranch and, most likely, do some hiking, eat some barbecued kid goat, and drink a few beers. I don't think we'll hunt, but I'll have my eyes open for edible plants down there...  Soon green things will start here in Minnesota. I know that California and the South are already greening up. Nettles are abundant in my old stomping grounds of Sacramento, as are all the tender spring greens. I'll have to wait a while for that here in St Paul. But I'm OK with it. I've been enjoying the rest before the summer's frenzy.
  ~ 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 every single comment. If you have a question, fire away and be sure to share your email address so we can respond.  |
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