Featured
Sometimes a hunt is more than a hunt. Sometimes it is a window into the dark reaches of this world, and the next. I came away from my Wyoming antelope hunt with a vision of courage -- not by me or by any of my companions, but of the animals we pursued.
Pheasant, Grouse, Quail
Hanging upland game birds is a lot like dry-aging beef: It concentrates and refines flavors, tenderizes meat and generally transforms a pheasant from a rather boring chicken into a bird fit for a king. Here's how to do it safely.
Foraging
Many of the olives I cure each year are done in a brine. But year after year I've been curing more with lye. I know it sounds scary, but it's not - if you follow these simple instructions. The result is a buttery, firm olive that I actually prefer over the brine cured ones.
Italian
Peperonata is normally a side dish of sweet peppers, onions and tomato; it's like an Italian stir-fry. It is a perfect dish for late fall, when everyone's peppers come ripe. I boosted this recipe up to a main course by adding a little shredded poached pheasant breast. Clean, tasty and easy.
Recipe
Salmon salad. Pretty ordinary, right? My version, as you might expect, comes with a twist: It's not made from salmon fillets. I make my salmon salad by grilling the bones after I've filleted the fish, then stripping the meat from the ribs for this salad. Thrifty, and awesome.
Recipe
Germans eat a lot of smoked meats, including bacon. But I failed to find "authentic" German bacon recipes, so I made up my own. This bacon turned out so well it made me want to dance around in a dirndl. OK, maybe not. But it is damn good.
Wild Game
If you love buffalo wings made from chicken, all it takes to do this with pheasant wings is a little bath in some nice stock. This, my friends, is wild game football food.
Recipe
Deviled eggs are one of those foods I have a hard time controlling myself with. I've been known to eat a dozen at a sitting, and even though I know I'll feel ill afterwards, I can't stop eating them. These deviled eggs, made with smoked salmon, are especially good.
Fish
As we close out summer, I refuse to give up the grill just yet. And while I did not actually catch these little octopi, I just had to share with you one of my favorite appetizers of all time: Grilled baby octopus, a Greek classic.
Recipe
I always order salmon at sushi restaurants, but I am no sushi master so at home I stick to easier preparations, like salmon tartare, which, if you've never heard of it, is chopped raw salmon. My version has a Northern European flair to it, with dill and a special pumpkinseed oil the Austrians use a lot.
Wild Game
Grilled doves basted with homemade huckleberry (or blueberry) barbecue sauce. You want this. Yes you do.
Appetizers and Snacks
My fig tree is exploding with fruit right now, so I decided to revise my recipe for an old favorite: Fig jam, spiked with ouzo, lemon and bay. I don't eat too much jam and jelly, but this one is absolutely worth your effort.
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