Wild Bites #78: 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 Salt cured egg yolks are versatile in the kitchen and easy to make. Here's what's trending on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: - It's been a while since I've made these salt cured egg yolks, but I love them: Grated on pasta or stirred into rice, they enrich anything they touch, and are easy to make!
- I've been really into classic variations on the Great American Burger lately, and this Oklahoma onion burger is one of my faves. Like an old school diner burger you can make at home.
- It's still soup season, but here's a lighter version of a Mexican fish soup that works
well with most kinds of fish. Want something a little heartier? Try my Swedish yellow pea soup.
- It wouldn't be Wild Bites without meatballs! My Buffalo meatballs would be a great option for March Madness - think Buffalo chicken wings, but served as cocktail meatballs made with whatever meat you have around.
- I used to make alicha wot, an Ethiopian curry, at the restaurant I worked at many years ago. This version uses venison, and it's fantastic.
Moving up the list: Another venerable dish on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, duck breast with apples, is trending! I love this. It's a simple dish that can turn a weeknight into date night. 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! I am staring at nearly a foot of snow outside my window right now, but by the time you read this, we might be looking at 70 degrees outside. Typical Midwestern March. But before the snow, the ramps in my backyard had started to sprout (they'll be fine), and things have started to return here. Elsewhere in the world spring is in
swing, but March is always a month to dream of real spring. So here are a few transitional recipes you can try to celebrate the season: - Gotta start with the classic: Pasta primavera. Yep, 1981 called and wants its dinner back! It's a great recipe, dated as it is, and I love making it with the newest vegetables in the
market.
- You can still ice fish a bit up here in the north, and pike are a common quarry. Get fancy and make pike dumplings in broth for a Sunday supper.
- Nettles aren't ready yet in Minnesota, but they are in many other parts of the country. Making them into a nettle pasta is one of my favorite things to do with this first of the spring greens.
- Carrot consomme may sound involved, but it's stupid simple -- and fantastic with those overwintered
carrots you need to get out of the ground before they bolt. The gnocchi have spring greens in them, too, for a double shot of early spring!
- An oldie but a goodie: a stew I call Winter into Spring. It hinges on braised rabbit, but any white meat will work here. It represents how our ingredients change with the
seasons -- worth a read even if you don't make the dish!
With Lent in full swing, fish fry Fridays are a thing all over the country, but especially in the Midwest. There are countless ways to fry fish, from all over the world -- and who doesn't love properly fried fish? Just remember that your oil needs to be hot, like 350F or even a bit more, and you'll never need to suffer through soggy, greasy fish
again. Here are some variations on fried fish you can play with: - Let's start with the classic, beer-battered fish. I love using halibut for this one, but basically any firm, white fish works -- this'll be true with every recipe in this section, regardless of the fish I use in the recipe.
- Fried walleye is a Midwestern tradition. In this
case, I use the buttermilk soak, plus flour to give it that "fried chicken" effect. It's really great!
- I grew up with fried flounder, and my mom used the traditional flour-egg wash-breadcrumb method. She also
made a killer tartar sauce, which is in this recipe.
- Snapper bites, a dish I developed in Alabama, relies on Saltines for the crust.
- Mexican fried fish is an instance where you fry the hell out of the nuggets to purposefully make them a little chewy. Great finger food appetizers.
- Chinese salt and pepper fish uses egg whites for the batter, which makes the fish airy and light. You need freshly ground black pepper here.
I finally did it. I sat down and cracked all the black walnuts I'd gathered in fall. Fall of 2024, that is... 🫠 Procrastination is a human failing, one most of us suffer from. Myself included. I write about how procrastination can grip us, how to break the spell, and why you shouldn't beat
yourself up over it in my latest story over at To the Bone. This story is free for anyone to read, but if you become a paid, annual subscriber, I will send you a signed copy of one of my latest four cookbooks for
free. I go into details why here, but the short version is this: Offering a book with a subscription shifts the balance from you strictly supporting me to us supporting each other. Mutual aid, personal connection, and community are our paths forward. This is a small way I can do my bit. The first sign of a ramp poking through the soil. The light has returned, and with it the spring. Even though there is the aforementioned snow on the ground, it won't last. The green world is stirring, and with it, me. I've been working hard at learning to cross country ski, with mixed success, but I am determined to get good at this for two reasons: It lets me fully embrace outr long winters, and it has given this old athlete hope. Hope that I could one day compete in ski races. Not to win, but just to be there in the thick of it again. I'd forgotten how much I missed
that. But soon there will be no more snow, and it'll be on to roller skis, which are scary. Yes, I am taking a course on how to use them so I don't die. It is weird talking about all this in March, when in my former life in Sacramento we'd already be foraging and getting ready for spring turkeys. Lots of places have started already, with nettles, spring onions, pokeweed, and such. Fishing will ramp up soon, and it's already going well in the Gulf. March is a great time to chase sheepshead and Spanish mackerel there. In book news, I am almost ready to submit my manuscript for the 10th anniversary edition of Buck Buck Moose, which we're expanding by about 30 pages with new recipes, photos, techniques, tips, and tricks throughout. You have a short window to suggest improvements to this book: Send me a note to hank@huntgathercook.com by Tuesday and I will do my best to work in your suggestions. The revised edition should be out by Labor Day. I am also starting an exclusive chat over on To the Bone for paid subscribers. It'll be a place where you get talk to me directly in real time. We'll be starting Wednesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. Central. First topic: Early Spring Foraging. Remember that this is only one benefit of being
a paid subscriber; you get a free, signed cookbook, too! Until next time, thanks for reading, and for being you. ~ Hank Comments?Let me know what you think about Wild Bites by emailing me at hank@huntgathercook.com. If you have a question, comment, or request, fire
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