Salmon and Trout
Chowder for me has always meant my mum's clam chowder -- to make it properly, you absolutely must follow an ironclad set of rules with an ironclad set of ingredients. But mum does not make salmon chowder. So when I began making it, I suddenly felt free to play. And play I did.
Greek
It's not often I remake a five-year-old recipe and change nothing. This Greek meatball recipe -- venison (or lamb), bulgur wheat, oregano and a Greek tomato sauce -- is one such dish. Nice to know some dishes hold up well over time.
Recipe
I have a thing for odd garden vegetables, especially roots and tubers. Meet Stachys Affinis, the crosnes or Chinese artichoke. Looks like a grub, tastes like water chestnut. Cool.
Ducks and Geese
Thai red curry with duck is a standard dish in that country's cuisine -- in fact, it is thought that ducks were first domesticated in Southeast Asia, so this is about as core a duck recipe as you can get. And it's mad crazy awesome.
Recipe
Let's face it: It's cold in most of the country. But down here in California, both avocados and prickly pear fruits are in season. So why not combine them with some mahi mahi -- dorado in Mexico -- and make a dish dedicated to sunny Baja?
Asian
Happy Lunar New Year! I can't think of a better way to celebrate it than with potstickers, the Chinese dumpling Americans love most. My potstickers are filled with venison and yes, those are handmade wrappers. We don't mess around here on HAGC.
Recipe
Cappelletti, a variant on the well-known tortellini of Bologna, are normally served in a clear broth. My cappelletti are vegetarian, filled with ricotta and spices, but you could use meat, too. The soup is a rich, clear duck broth; almost a consomme. Simple yet, elegant.
Recipe
I could eat these all day long. Tangy, smoky and addicting, kabanosy, a Polish smoked meat stick, is what a Slim Jim dreams about when it sleeps at night. You want to make these. Now.
Recipe
I'd always been leery of the Slavic style of salt-pickled mushrooms. But I finally took the plunge and fermented my mushrooms Polish style, and damn but they're good -- especially with some rye bread and lots of vodka...
Featured
My life is governed by the near-constant need to process, butcher and store the fish and game we bring home. This is the Imperative of Protein, and while it is indeed hard work, I would not choose to live any other way.
Recipe
I am kind of in love with this gravy. Maple and bourbon sing together like McCartney and Lennon, and in summer I love me my maple-bourbon BBQ sauce. But it's winter, time for gravy. Paired with roast duck, it's a winnah...
Pheasant, Grouse, Quail
There is something about the combination of poultry and apples that just sings. This dish, Pheasant Normandy, is loaded with apple flavor and is larded with butter and cream. It requires no special technique or esoteric ingredients -- it's pure comfort food, and all it asks of you is a little time.
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