The Huntavore

On this episode of Huntavore, Nick is joined by once again, John Wallace, a new Regional Director for Delta Waterfowl and as we know him, Wildgame Cook.  John and Nick catch up since last being on the podcast, unpack some of the popular spring forage here in the Midwest,  mushroom prep, and some incredible spring dishes that are packed with the flavor.  This conversation will have you take an extra look at those green patches as you pass to your turkey spot, on this episode of Huntavore.

Nick is joined by John Wallace. Known on instagram as WildGameCook, John has also transitioned into a regional director for Delta Waterfowl.  As this episode airs, it will be his first day at the job. Congrats and Good Luck John.  Last time Nick was able to chat with John it was the height of the pandemic, so these two do a bit of catching up.  All the kids are in sports and the family schedule is fast paced.  But even so, John shares some great moments from hunting with his kids, like being a year of firsts for one of John’s boys.  

The guys highlight spring forage here in the midwest.  Easy key-able greens and mushrooms that can be used to make dishes pop.  The highly sought after Morel and Ramp, to the humble Pheasant Back and Garlic Mustard.  

John finishes up by talking about a dish that sums up spring perfectly.  Turkey tenderloins topped with morel rings and garlic mustard pesto.

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On this episode of the Huntavore, Nick is joined by fellow Sportsman’s Nation Podcaster, Dan Mathews.  Dan is the Host of the Nomadic Outdoorsman and Western Rookies.  Together Nick and Dan talk about chasing everything.  Rather than casting a deep net into one species, Dan casts a wide net to explore as many outdoor opportunities as possible.  They cover hogs from a helicopter. Why is meat so important in your household?, and how Mountain Goat might not be on the top of Dan’s list to chase.  This and much more on this episode of Huntavore.

Dan Mathews hails from Southern Missouri and grew up in Wisconsin.  His drive for exploring the outdoors and passion for adventure has Dan hunting as much as he possibly can.  Rather than wait for a particular season to open, Dan is always in search of the next season that opens, no matter the species.  Dan finds that he gets an appreciation for more than just antler size, or body weight, but shares in the excitement of trying something completely new and experiencing hunting cultures across the whole United States.

Dan was recently on a helicopter hunt for feral hogs in Texas.  Like a boy playing soldier, Dan unpacks the fun of using high tech firearms out the side of a flying helicopter.  Nick pokes at some questions about how Dan feels about the advantage he had with the use of technology and if the excitement of fair chase was gone.  His response reflected what ranchers and farmers were saying.  These hogs have been doing untold amounts of damage to crops and to other wildlife, and even with these efforts of eradication, the hog numbers continue to bounce back to the point where the environment wouldn't support them.  The ethics talk may include the hogs, but at the same time, ethics around wildlife and healthy habitats needs to include hog eradication.

These conversations lead into what meat means to Dan.  Is it just food or is it something more?  Dan’s freezer is a cornucopia of different animals he’s harvested.  Each package offers a renewed experience of the hunt and memories about the event.  Also the appreciation of knowing where food comes from.  When he asks his daughter where meat comes from, the answer isn't the store or butcher’s shop.  It's from hunting. 

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On this episode of Huntavore, Nick opens with a poem “So God Made a Farmer '' to memorialize his late Grandfather.  David Otto was called home after 96 years, he was a great Grandfather , husband, steam engine enthusiast, farmer.  Switching gears, Nick breaks down naked turkey schnitzel.  How unbreaded turkey steaks can be flavorful, moist, and an easy addition to any menu, with the use of a marinade.  All this and some heavy thoughts on this episode of Huntavore

After a week-long camping trip with his family, and some sobering news of his grandfather’s passing, Nick has a lot on his mind.  Driving down to Kentucky from Michigan made plenty of time for podcast catch-up and reflection.  A new show from former guest, Kate Kavenaugh called The Ground Work Podcast, got Nick thinking and unpacking how death is as natural as life.  How death can reverberate well past the life and into the lives of those around it.  Ok, enough of the heavy stuff.

Nick then switches gears and explores naked turkey schnitzel.  A fork tender piece of turkey breast, not breaded, yet loaded with flavor.  Starting with a lobe of turkey breast, pulling the skin, and cross cutting the grain about a ½ inch to ¾ inch thick.  Following the same as you would with traditional schnitzel, tenderizing the cut steak.  Basically, beating the meat flat with a meat mallet, cast iron pan, or a needle perforator.  This creates first the fork tender part of the steak, and second, avenues for a marinade to penetrate fully.  Nick goes through 3 of his favorite marinades.  Easiest would be store bought Zesty Italian Dressing.  The other two are whipped up at home, each imparting 3 basic elements: an acid, an oil, and herbs/spices. Lime Chili Ginger uses olive oil, lime zest and juice, grated ginger, and chili flake.  Shredded cilantro is always good for a freshness element.  Lemon Pepper uses the same olive oil, with a dab of Dijon mustard, Lemon zest and juice, and cracked black pepper.  Again a parsley or cilantro for freshness is a good add on.  All three marinades will only require 30 to 45 minutes to work on the meat.  Any longer and the steak begins to break down.  Keep it in as long as you would like, but just be watchful.  Now to the grill where a direct sear for color and moved to indirect heat to finish.  You want full done but not dried out.  

The Ground Work Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ground-work/id1615122217

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On this episode of Huntavore, Nick contacted Dr. Jonathan Reisman, an ER doctor, physicians writer, and author of the recent book, The Unseen Body.  Jon shares his unique perspective on the connection between food and anatomy that began on the first day of medical school, in a cadaver lab.  Together Nick and Jon talk about the inspection of animals in a kosher slaughterhouse, why are lungs illegal to sell and serve in the US, Jon’s Anatomy Eats dinners where he makes connections from what's on the plate to the living organ inside ourselves, and how Nick and Jon share a questionable practice at acquiring protein.  To unpack all this, stay tuned to this episode of Huntavore.

Nick happened to switch over to public radio on his way home one evening where he came across an interview with Jonathan Reisman, a physician who is also the author of the recent book, The Unseen Body.  In addition, Jonathan during his first year in medical school, became interested in food through his anatomy courses.  In fact he had a professor that would make correlations between specific muscles of human anatomy that would match specific cuts butchered from an animal.  His studies lead Jonathan on a search to discover dishes made of organs and parts of the body that function to keep us alive.  In his search, one method other than visiting slaughterhouses was to take up hunting himself.  Like a lot of people who didn't grow up around hunting, he had a steep learning curve to become successful.  He also shared that he would pick up roadkill for his other hobbies or bow making and tanning hides, and happened across a very fresh kill and seized the opportunity to harvest some meat (I tip my buzzard hat to you, sir).  Nick was interested in Jonathan’s time in the Kosher slaughterhouse with the shochets or essentially the Jewish meat inspectors that qualify meat to be “clean”.  One of their processes was to inspect the lungs for scars from pneumonia.  This inspection opens up some practices we as hunters can take, as we are field dressing, using that opportunity to not only be the first to witness the opening of a wild animal, but to even examine the health and life of the animal by inspecting the organs.

book link: https://www.amazon.com/Unseen-Body-Doctors-Journey-Through/dp/1250246628

website: www.jonathanreisman.com and Anatomy Eats' website: http://www.anatomyeats.com/ (there's a great video on this homepage from PBS in Philly on one of our dinners. It really gives people a good sense of what we do.)

social media: @jonreismanmd

Anatomy Eats social media: @anatomyeats

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On this Episode of Huntavore, Nick spontaneously calls up Emrah O of Bowhunting Soul Podcast to chat about trad bows, chasing turkeys, and how to get as much usage out of your harvested bird.  Nick has strung up his long bow after a good long while and wanted to get some tuning tips.  Trying to not blow our brains with information, Emrah gives some places to start, like brace height, and getting a correct spined arrow.  Nick wanted to move into turkey dishes that utilizes underused cuts of the bird, and how plucking your whole bird can help.  Emrah adds even more ideas outside of just meat, but using parts in your equipment to chase the next bird.  If you want to get the most of your turkey this year, than tune into this episode of Huntavore

Emrah Oruc is the host and creator of Bowhunting Soul.  A podcast and youtube channel dedicated to the soul of archery, using traditional equipment.  So starting out this episode, Nick quickly jumps into talking about traditional archery.  Running an archery unit for his 3rd and 4th graders using compound bows, kids have had their first bite of the archery bug, slinging some arrows.  As a bit of a show and tell, Nick strung up his long bow and sent a few shots down range.  Emrah reminds everyone that with traditional equipment, as you get more basic, you begin inputting more and more of the archer behind the bow.  Not to say that its all trial and error, but my zero’d in setup could be way off for Emrah.  

Nick transitioned into talking turkey.  With Wild Turkey seasons opening up soon, hunters are eagerly awaiting the next species to chase.  Emrah explains his reasoning for going mobile and using a ghillie suit instead of a popup blind.  Going light and fast does increase your chances of getting spotted.  Emrah explains that he has gone 0/3 on birds, but with each attempt he got closer and closer to putting the pieces together. Nick is making a bold prediction that Emrah connects on a bird this year.

Now onto using your harvested bird.  Emrah talks about actually making fletchings for arrows from the flight feathers, and creating a bone call for your slate from the wing bones.  Even if you don't have a plan yet for your bird, Nick does talk about upping your ROI by plucking your bird instead of skinning.  The skin can better protect the flesh in the freezer, and what little fat the bird has is under the skin, a natural flavor and moisture improvement.  Braising and stewing wings and salvaged necks create amazing stock.  Nick took the opportunity to make french onion soup from wings and necks.  Overall easily done without much effort.  For the drums and thighs, Nick also used his sous vide wand in great application.  Adding ⅛ cup of oil or butter, some herbs, salt and pepper and a thigh to a bag and letting it cook at 155F for 36 hours (yes, 36 hours) delivers an amazing tender meat, with all the beautiful turkey flavor, without the dryness folks experience.  A quick broil in the oven to brown the skin and serve either whole or shredded.  That's another way to capture the beautiful dark meat from your bird.

MEAT!

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On this episode of Huntavore, Nick is joined by The Intrepid Eater, Adam Berkelmans.  Adam is a self taught cook who has a passion for wildgame, growing and foraging, and making amazing dishes out of both.  Together, these guys chat about some deep topics related to self-sustainability, responsible meat-eating, and finish up on a fun way to serve wild game, in sushi rolls.  All this and more on the next episode of Huntavore.

Adam Berkelmans hails from Ontario, Canada.  He took his passion of hunting, fishing, and foraging and mixed it with love of cooking.  Taking on the title of Intrepid Eater, Adam shares that with a little creativity, some self taught practice, and an adventurous spirit, wild game can be just about any dish that you desire.

Adam leads the discussion on an idea of responsible meat-eating. The thought is, if you only eat the most desirable cuts without the rest of the animal, then the waste and discarded parts would surpass what is taken.  Head to tail eating of animals, not only provides a wealth of nutrients, but also stretches the use of that animal.  Both Nick and Adam agree that if we are going to spread this idea, it has to be done by sharing recipes, encouraging others to try new things, wagging a finger and telling someone to keep their livers without first creating motivation would be not good.

On a lighter note, Nick asks about wildgame sushi.  Adam has made several variations of what closely resembles Kimbap (Gimbap) , a Korean version of sushi, but with cooked and pickled items, rather than raw, in traditional sushi.  The Crappie and Chips rolls he made was to stretch the use of one fish.  Being notorious for not freezing well, Adam didn’t want to freeze the fish, but fried in a tempaura batter, followed up with fried potatoes and rolled it all in sticky medium grain rice and sushi seaweed paper.  No special equipment is needed. Adam does have a bamboo sushi roll pad, but Nick plans to use a placemat.  Use your inner McGyver to achieve the task.  Want something else?  Nick and Adam brainstorm that ground can be used as long as it’s cooked first as a burger patty, and slow braised meat can be placed in a line that holds itself together.

Sushi in itself is a full course in meal prep and presentation.  All the elements are cut and sliced, raw ingredients cooked or pickled, and assembled so everything is square and can be sliced.  Not the most efficient method, but for bringing some fun to the party, wildgame sushi is the perfect party meal.  You can find Adam on Instagram @the.intrepid.eater or his website; intrepideater.com.

MEAT!

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On this episode of Huntavore, Nick is joined by the Editor in Chief of Harvesting Nature, Justin Townsend.  Justin lived down in the keys and had his fair share of cooking and eating saltwater fish.  Now he resides in Colorado and has to tune his craft to fresh water.  Nick asks about fishcakes, fish dips, and is there anything we can do with freshwater roe?  To finish out, Nick and Justin brainstorm a smoked salmon “Dockside” pie.  Get ready for some fish talk on this episode of Huntavore.

Justin Townsend recently moved to his new home in Colorado.  While not bringing a large amount of game meat in this year, he has been exploring and putting the pieces of the puzzle together on his new hunting territories.  Coming from the Keys, Justin has a huge knowledge base when it comes to fish.  Nick struck gold on the ice and was able to haul in a 26.5” northern pike.  With all the excitement, Nick wanted to pick Justin’s brain on some possibilities for the fish.  The guys touch on the idea of fish cakes.  It’s not a fancy nor even exciting dish, but could offer a good way to use a filet that got a bit mangled due to novice pike butchery.  Blitz the pike, egg as binder, mixed in with bread crumb and whatever herb and spice, popped into the oven, air fryer, or oil will make what was dodgy into delicious.  The next topic was freshwater roe.  Opening up the belly of my pike, I saw a large amount of roe.  Knowing the energy that goes into producing eggs from poultry, it only seemed fitting to try and use the effort this fish put into making eggs into something delicious.  Justin does warn about some of the dangers from parasites in freshwater fish, but also gives a great article about curing roe:

https://theintrepideater.com/how-to-make-cured-pike-roe/

To round out the episode, Nick has an idea for a smoked salmon shepherd’s pie.  However shepherd didn't seem right so it has been re-named dockside pie.  Nick found some salmon filets in his freezer that needed to get used.  Smoked salmon in itself is amazing, but making the meat candy into a dish sounds terrific.  Keeping the filling simple, chopped onion, spinach, and salmon.  Binding it all with a mild cheese sauce, and topping it with savory sweet potatoes makes a great wintertime belly filling meal.

Tappecue Meat Probes

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On this episode of Huntavore, Nick is joined again by the Crossbow crusader, Rich Wilson.  He and his ever evolving crossbow named Bunjie, take on the Eastern United States in search of game to bring home.  Rich is no stranger to whitetails and feral hogs, but we spend some time chatting about his adventure to Maine for Black Bear.  Rich also explains how picking up a basic pellet grill has his family cooking more delicious food at home, and a bit of a lifesaver when it comes to cooking meats with very particular temp requirements.  All this and of course a few rabbit trails on this episode of Huntavore.

Rich Wilson, creator and host of the youtube channel Death by Bunjie, hails from Pennsylvania.  Rich produces great content revolving around crossbow hunting.  How to’s, self videoed hunts, and even stepping into the kitchen and cooking up quality grub with his kills.  Rick and Nick chat a bit about a Black Bear Rich was able to go on.  Up in the big wilderness of Maine, Rich sat in a blind on the ground, 20yds from a barrel of bait, hoping to encounter an animal as big or bigger than he.  Talk about exciting.  Things get even more hairy when Rich’s shot is a bit too far back and now has the realization he needs to track a wounded bear, in the dark.  He and his guide make the wise choice and back out till morning, to recover the bear.  Fast forward to getting his bear home, Rich has found that a pellet grill has greatly improved his confidence when it came to cooking this bear meat.  Bear is pretty particular when it comes to cooking temperature due to parasites.  Nick makes the correlation between the crossbow and the pellet grill, in that both can give confidence due to improved control and mechanizing tasks that can help the operator focus on other things.  

Rich also has an exciting new addition to his channel, and its not the newest version of Bunjie, “The Death Stalker”.  It's his daughter, Genevieve.  Recently Genevieve has taken on the challenge of hunting on her own, and filming it.  She joins her dad in making content, and even venturing out and learning the art of taxidermy.  As parents we get excited when out kids join in on our hobbies.  Genevieve not only joins in, but got a buck this year when dad didn’t.  Good work Genevieve!  To see Rich, Genevieve, and Bunjie head over to Death by Bunjie on youtube.

MEAT!

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Coupon Code: huntavore10

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On this Episode of Huntavore, Nick is joined by Vincent Batiata and Audrey Hoag, of Chasing Public.  Together, they share their passion and motivation for the “Chase”.  Go deep in a discussion about taking a life, and share some great stories about mishaps that turned  into adventures.  All this, and along with some Wild Game talk, on this episode of Huntavore.

Nick is joined by Vincent Batiata and Audrey Hoag of Chasing Public, a budding Instagram blog and YouTube channel documenting their pursuits.  Michigan natives that transplanted down to Tennessee, Vincent and Audrey are no strangers to finding and scouting public hunting grounds and taking on the challenge of out-of-state hunts.  Living in an apartment in a state away from family forces you to be resourceful and think on your feet.  However the hardship has given way to loving the process and each hurdle, mishap, or challenge makes the venison taste sweeter.  While Vincent has the background in hunting, Audrey has joined along with him and taken on the challenge of learning this whole hunting style.  Becoming skilled with a bow, and building form, Audrey has already had several encounters and took a beautiful buck last year.  What was very noticeable from these two is that they challenge themselves to “earn” the right to take the animal’s life.  Without having some sort of struggle on their end, it doesn’t feel right.  I find that a very noble approach.  Digging into their venison preparation, being able to settle down some roots, both are open to the idea of butchering their own deer.  Going to processors out of necessity and having uneasy feelings about what they were getting back.  

While on a bit of a life break, transitioning back to Michigan, Vincent and Audrey will be creating more content to follow along with.  Maybe because they are from my home, but I truly am excited to follow along on their journey.  They don't shy away from what's hard,  they take on intimidating challenges all for the reason to better themselves and continue to chase what they love.  Follow along with their journey at @chasingpublic on instagram and on youtube.

Tappecue Meat Probes

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On this episode of Huntavore, NIck is on a solo ramble on this one.  Being the first podcast episode of the year he wanted to get himself right with his thoughts.  Looking back to 2021, a glaring theme was “supply chain issues”.  Trying to combat this problem, Nick as declared the word of 2022 as “self-reliance” and highlighted steps taken to separate from the domestic food system that is struggling.  Nick also answers for himself the big question of “Why do you hunt?”  not to try and condone his actions, but to solidify his passions for natural wild protein, and elevating it to desirable, nutritious food.   

  Everything we consume comes from a chain of companies and workers who bring us what we need.  But that system was interrupted and we are witnessing the result of over consumption, a lack of labor force, and toppling domino effect of goods and services not being able to keep up with the demand.  If I had to pick a word for 2021 it would be “supply chain issues”.  Globally we are in a gridlock and are trying to get ourselves out of it.  This is reality.  So as a way to try and fight that, on the smallest scale imaginable, I have declared 2022’s new word as “self-reliant”. I’m not completely going off the grid and off the deep end on this, but I do see the benefit of taking a single aspect of my consumption and trying to find a way to be able to produce it myself.  My focus is adding a garden that I ACTUALLY weed this time.

In this episode as well, I ask myself “why do you hunt?” scenario.  I'm not questioning my actions, but solidifying my response to a world who will ask those questions of me.  I had a great conversation with a friend about him getting involved in hunting and he questioned my reasons to gain an understanding of if hunting is worth it.  Can you guess what I said?

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Tappecue Meat Probes

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Coupon Code 10% off: HUNT10

MEAT!

Instagram: @madewithmeat

Website: https://bit.ly/3ddYG8H

Coupon Code: huntavore10

Huntavore is Powered by Simplecast

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