Replace goose breasts for beef in this preparation – which treats the game bird meat just like a steak. Start with a soak in a balsamic vinegar-based marinade for 4 to 8 hours, then grill them on a smoking hot grill until they are perfectly medium-rare. After resting the meat, it can be sliced thinly and served over fresh greens.
When it comes to options for smoking meat, author of several wild game cookbooks – Eileen Clarke, shares that the good old water smoker is still one of her favorite cooking devices. In this recipe, she shares tips on preparing a smoked venison meatloaf that pairs well with potato salad.
The oily nature of Lake Trout fillets make it a perfect vessel for holding smoke. In this recipe by Jamie Carlson as featured in the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild, you combine a dry brine and directions on the ideal cook time for smoking the fish. Lake trout served up with some pickled onions and whole grain mustard is a great snack.
Tacos are a great summer crowd-pleaser because each person can adjust the fixings to suit their taste buds. The simple chimichurri sauce adds a ton of fresh herby flavors and a zing of acidity by itself. But some other great toppings that work with this recipe include grilled onions, pico de gallo, avocado, a good crumbly cheese (e.g., queso fresco, cotija), or corn salsa. It’s the perfect summer meal to use up some of last fall’s venison and impress your friends.
Venison Corn Dogs are perfect as a make-ahead meal and can be frozen after they’re cooked for up to 3 to 6 months. Simply quadruple the recipe, fry them all, then allow them to cool on cooling racks. Once cooled, just place them in freezer bags and bring them out during hunting season to quickly reheat.
He’s best known as a leading authority on culinary uses of mushrooms and plants via his website Forager | Chef: the largest resource on wild mushroom cookery on the web, and Chef Alan Bergo shares his step-by-step recipe with Outdoor News readers for this surprising take on “sesame chicken” using wild mushrooms.
From the pages of Outdoor News, this recipe featured in the Taste of the Wild by contributor, Sarah Kozlowski is a classic recipe for grilling that works for salmon or trout.
Jamie Carlson shared this recipe with the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild, and said to simply use whatever cut of venison you like best. For this version, he used the eye of round that was cut into medallions about 1 ½ inches thick. For the mushrooms, while Jamie said he prefers to use wild hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, he will also use a wild mushroom blend available at the grocery store.
In this recipe that was featured in the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild, chef Jeff Benda introduces us to a perfect light salad to pair with some fresh catfish fillets that pops with color thanks to thinly sliced asparagus spears, and lively citrus profiles thanks to grapefruit and orange slices. Top with sliced radishes and green onions to add springtime flavor to your plate.
With Sous Vide becoming mainstream in the kitchen these days, and the popularity of pellet grills for home chefs to transform their harvest, you’ll find this recipe for Wild Turkey Tikka Masala packs a ton of flavor by combining those processes together with a sauce with flavor that is over the top. Serve your prepared turkey on a bed of basmati rice with a side of warm pita bread and enjoy!
Alan Bergo – a contributor to the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild Chef Alan Bergo is a Midwestern native. After 10 years working under chefs from Italy, he was sous chef to Chef Lenny Russo at St. Paul, Minnesota’s 7-time James Beard nominee restaurant Heartland, executive chef of the Salt Cellar, and finally, chef at farm to table cornerstone…
When harvesting your ramps:
To begin, loosen the soil with your spoon, trying not to disturb any neighboring ramp roots. Use your knife to cut the stem. Cutting the leaves above the ground reduces soil disturbance and allows the plant to re-sprout. Though the bulbs are thick and delicious, it is recommended by several seasoned foragers that they are best left in the ground as harvesting them can be detrimental to the population; only 5-10% of large patches should be harvested sporadically. Replace any dug-up soil so the remaining plants aren’t susceptible to cold or bugs, etc.
For successful freshwater anglers, baked fish is a tasty option for transforming your catch that often gets overlooked, and if truth be told, it is seriously underrated. Whether you have a bag of panfish, or a few nice walleye fillets, we have a quick, delicious recipe for baking your catch, that you can add to your kitchen arsenal.
This sandwich is simple to make and can be made with pretty much any of our wild game harvested across the Great Lake States. Jamie Carlson said he has made this sandwich with crappies, venison, and grouse But in this version he is using wild turkey. Typically, a wild turkey breast is big enough to make 4-5 sandwiches which is a great way to extend your spring gobbler.
A recipe contributed to the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild by Harvesting Nature’s John Vile, this venison sausage requires basic equipment including a meat grinder, a sausage stuffer and a smoker. John recommends using real hog casings for this sausage, which incorporates ancho chile peppers and spices for sausage smoked over hickory or apple chips.
Jeff Benda is based in North Dakota, where he is an avid outdoorsman and family man. He spent 25 years in the restaurant industry and ran a successful catering business. He now focuses his time home cooking as a creative outlet to transform wild game and bring it into traditional recipes from around the world to help expand people’s perceptions….
Technically, a true Shepherd’s pie is supposed to contain lamb meat, while cottage pie generally uses another meat (e.g., beef). But venison is very lean and similar to lamb in several ways, so I’m stealing the name. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can tweak the ingredients based on your family’s preferences, and it turns out great with nearly any combination (we’ve tried many). You can add or subtract vegetables, mix beef and venison together, and use real mashed potatoes or instant versions – it all works.
This venison recipe is easy to assemble, and is a great comfort food dish for the table. Make a big batch and if there are any leftovers, you’ll find this Venison Spaghetti Pie also reheats well – making it convenient for the approaching spring season when we all want to spend more time outdoors, and less time in the kitchen.
You’ve occasionally seen Tim Kraskey’s recipes for wild game and fish featured in the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild, and now you can purchase his cookbook titled “Red, White and Everything Else”.
Outdoor News contributing chef and author, Jonathan Wipfli, has a new cookbook titled FISH. From water to table, Fish—Wipfli’s follow-up to his earlier cookbook titled Venison— offers a contemporary approach to cooking North America’s most popular freshwater game fish throughout the seasons. Featuring 50 recipes for dishes with accompanying sides, as well as beautifully photographed images of the final presentations, Wipfli’s new cookbook will leave readers determined to recreate their own culinary masterpieces.
Here is a recipe for pickled fish. Just use fish you have previously frozen (never skip this important step!) and get started. Bonus tips on how to remove the bones from a Northern Pike included!
As featured in the Outdoor News Taste of the Wild, this venison recipe was shared by Chef Justin Townsend of Harvesting Nature. This meal is also a one pan meal, minus the pasta or starch. I use a stainless-steel pan or pot for the recipe because it gives the steaks a great crispy brown crust. You can use a non-stick pan but you will not get the steaks as brown. Don’t worry about the flour sticking to the pan/pot because you are going to deglaze the pan with the stock and wine while making the sauce. This method captures all those delicious brown bits you get from browning the meat. Enjoy this meal over pasta, creamy polenta, cheese grits, or mashed potatoes for a great dinner any day of the week.
This recipe, and 99 other big game recipes and 43 side dishes, is from Slice of the Wild, Eileen Clarke’s bullet-to-fork big game cookbook. Eileen considers the most crucial part of making your game tender and tasty, starts with the shot.
Besides the love for the hunt and family, there’s no better reward than the venison. Growing up, my mom would always boil her deer’s heart and cut it up for us with a little salt sprinkle and we loved the taste of it. When I harvested my first deer, though, I wanted to try something different than how I had grown up eating it.
A 50/50 venison pork blend flavored with ground Juniper berries builds a definitive meatball that is bathed in spicy-sweet BBQ sauce where fresh cherries add color and balance in this recipe courtesy of Jon Wipfli’s VENISON cookbook.
Mojo Pheasant By Tim Kraskey With a Cuban-inspired flair, here’s another great BBQ recipe by Tim Kraskey. Tim shared that you can use turkey meat instead of the pheasant breasts. They key is to pound to a consistent thickness for even cooking. Tim has a new cookbook that became available in fall of 2020 titled “Red, White and Everything Else”,…
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