I eat a lot of meat, but I’m not much of a hunter. I know plenty about butchery and processing animals though, so when I got my first charity deer year, one of the first cuts I knew I would take out was the breast, which I’ve never, if rarely seen people mention when processing…
Four-Legged
Woodchuck Stew with Garden Vegetables
The giant, beautiful gardens on the farm are home to all kinds of plants and vegetables, and they attract the attention of plenty of critters. If you have a garden that’s ever been visited by a woodchuck, you know they can be very disruptive. How I approach woodchucks is a good example of my approach…
Pork Salo, with Ramp Leaf Rub
Salo is a great piece of pork charcuterie that I found out about from one of the members of Hank Shaws great Facebook Group Hunt Gather Cook when I asked for some ideas for interesting pork cuts to take out of 2 pandemic pigs I butchered. I love cultural specialties and the rabbit holes that…
Sochan with Venison Bacon, Ramps and Maple Vinegar
It’s Sochan season, and while I was reminded of it in a big way while hunting morels in a flood plain forest. There were lots of familiar plants (no morels), but most of all I was struck by the Rudbeckia laciniata / Sochan—it was everywhere I turned. The colonies seemed to go as far as…
Dried Ramp Leaf Venison Jerky
I make sure to dehydrate plenty of ramp leaves when I can during the spring so I can use them in whatever I want during the year–if you have access to them, there just isn’t a reason not to. They’re mild, less aggressive than something like garlic powder, but still have enough kick to flavor…
Middle Eastern Confit (Qawarma)
As I’ve worked with the lamb and goat farm for the past few years, I’ve loved researching every and all traditional recipes using lamb and goat around the world. Qawarma, or small pieces of lamb cooked in it’s own fat, is one of the most interesting I’ve found–essentially French confits attractive Arabic cousin. It all…
Smoked Venison Shanks
Do you grind up your venison shanks? Feed them to the dog? Wonder what could ever make them taste good? No more. Smoked venison shanks (and lots of other smoked deer parts) are a great thing to keep around. The basic idea is this: right after I butcher an animal, I’ll take different parts that…
Venison Braunshweiger Dumplings
I’m always looking out for interesting ways to serve liver to people that don’t think they like offal, and these traditional German dumplings are a great way to do that. Liver and kidneys, especially from ruminants like deer, lamb and goat, are some of the hardest to get people to like, and alot of times…
Smoked Rocky Mountain Oysters
Fries, rocky mountain oysters, eggs, cowboy oysters, balls, or gonads, whatever you call them, the technical name is testicles, and if you’re here, you’re probably looking for a way to eat them. Congratulations, because this is hands-down the best recipe for rocky mountain oysters I’ve ever had–and I’ve eaten plenty. The first ones I had…
Smoked Venison Shank Ramen
A smoked venison shank is an investment that pays dividends in your future. Delicious dividends. During butchery season, sometimes it can get tricky to figure out what to do with bones and oddparts (note that I don’t save venison spines for stock, but I do from lambs I butcher). One trick I’ve kept with…
Slow Roasted, Bolete-Crusted Lamb Rack
This slow-cooked, fall-off-the-bone-soft, bolete mushroom-crusted rack of lamb will rock your world. Rack of lamb is an intimidating thing for most home cooks as they’re expensive, and it doesn’t help that they’re small, touchy, and can overcook in just a few minutes either. And, depending on how your rack is trimmed, and how the animals…
Steak Aux Poivre with Dried Bolete Sauce
I learned to make steak aux poivre from watching my old chef from Rome, Angelo. Most of the time, he kept things pretty American-friendly, but the hanger steak aux poivre was done the old way: dredging the whole damn thing in freshly ground, coarse black pepper, then searing in a red hot pan. Oh, and…
Dried Wild Mushroom Stroganoff
Nothing said comfort food to me like a steaming hot bowl of mom’s stroganoff growing up. I don’t know what she put in hers, but more than likely it was a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup and some beef chuck. It wasn’t something we’d have every week, but it was definitely in the…