Cacciatore means “hunter” in Italian, and this is a recipe for a spicy, hunter’s style salami you can carry around with you in the field. I make them with narrower hog casings so they’re easier to make than traditional wide salami. Use pork, venison or boar.
Charcuterie
Duck Sausages, Hunter’s Style
This is a very traditional recipe for duck sausages, made with caraway, juniper and sage. It works very well with “off” ducks like spoonies, snow geese, diver or sea ducks, or Canada geese.
Corned Venison
If you hunt deer, you need to know this recipe. It’s a staple here at the house, making a fantastic, lean version of corned beef that’s great for sandwiches, with cabbage or in hash. You will find yourself making it all the time…
Venison Merguez Sausages
Merguez sausages are the signature link of North Africa, which, as you probably know, is a Muslim region — so, no pork. That makes them a perfect fit for an all-venison sausage! This is a pretty traditional merguez recipe, full of flavor and spicy, but not overly hot.
Venison Landjaeger
Landjaeger. Such a cool name, eh? It’s a German dry-cured sausage that is made small enough to fit into your coat pocket on a cold day hiking, fishing — or hunting. Thus the name. Traditionally made with beef and pork, my landjaeger is made with venison and pork fat. You could use any red meat
Homemade British Bangers
Bangers and mash. Homely as it may be, I love this British classic — especially when the sausages are homemade. I made these from venison, but you can use pork, beef, or really whatever. Here’s how to make them.
Basic Pork or Wild Boar Salami
This is the “little black dress” of salami. It’s meat, fat, salt, black pepper and garlic. Nothing else. A basic salami is a measure of its maker. Master this and then add all the fancy spices. Or not. After all, the spare, simple black cocktail dress is a classic for a reason.
Smoked Lake Trout
Smoking a lake trout (a/k/a mackinaw) is a lot like smoking a salmon, but I recently had the chance to smoke a couple fish in Manitoba, Canada with some Cree Indians and learned a lot about the process.