I used to think of it as the strange stuff I'd see in strange gas stations on my strange cross country road trips. It was usually in stick form, a long tubular stick, wrapped in a coating of plastic, with a peculiar name like... Slim Jim, not because it made you slim, but because it…
A cassoulet is an Occitan dish--that part of Southern France where they speak a beautiful and fading romance language, Occitan.
It is a stew of beans and meat; sometimes pork, sometimes goose, or mutton or whatever else they please. It is hearty and traditionally cooked in a cassole, a deep earthenware pot with slanted sides.
But since…
Here's the thing about Valentines Day. I think it's strange.
It is impossible to get into a restaurant. Flowers double in price. Bad quality chocolate makes the rounds. Lots of pink lacy undergarments abound in various store windows.
Saint Valentine, was a Christian martyr. I don't think he thought very often about Victoria's Secret's latest line.
I…
I spent all day yesterday recipe testing. My freezer had gotten unruly and I had declared that nothing else was allowed in it so that all of the game meat I had collected since September could have a proper home until I could test it all for the "Girl Hunter" book.
That has been the rule,…
Have you ever made sausage? Have you ever thought about making sausage?
It is a fun affair.
I would rather talk about sausage right now than the aftermath of the horrible loss I experienced last week. That has consisted of drama and me eating a box of truffles in preparation to open three Fedex boxes that I…
After I spent the day solving the "plague of pigs" crisis a few weeks ago, I began a hog cooking extravaganza. There were so many parts to break down and ponder.
This is my friend Mike breaking down and pondering:
Isn't he doing a nice job? He's a scholar of the woods and the kitchen.
The thing about…
One of the questions I get most often from interviewers is "what is your favorite wild animal dish?"
I always describe this one.
From the first moment I tasted it, it earned itself a special place in the crevices of my mind.
This is a whole wild hog, marinated for days and then smoked for many hours.
There is…
This one goes out to my friends at the magical, mystical CF Ranch for letting me take over the kitchen in their private residence and cook up some Javelina. That is love.
These are the back straps from the Javelina, silver skin removed (as we talked about yesterday). They marinated for quite some time. Since Javelina…
Raise your hand if you have rabbit or chicken in your freezer.
Great! Let's talk.
I am about to embark on a hunting spree. Elk in Wyoming, Javelina in El Paso, Pheasant in South Dakota, Partridge in England, Snowshoe Rabbit in Alaska, Squirrel in… where should I hunt squirrel? I hear they really know how to do…