Hunt Gather Talk Podcast - Hank Shaw's Podcast

Welcome to the Hunt Gather Talk podcast!

If you’re interested in wild food, whether it’s venison, wild mushrooms, freshwater or saltwater fish, upland game birds, waterfowl, wild edible plants or small game, you’ll learn a lot about it here. I’ve spent a lifetime gathering wild edible plants and fishing the waters of North America, and have become one of the better-known wild game cooks out there. And our guests will make you not only savvier outdoorsmen and women, but also just smarter about the critters, plants and mushrooms we chase.

This season of the podcast will focus entirely on fish and seafood, and is sponsored by Filson, Foraged Market, and E-Fish — companies whose products I already use and can recommend.

Season 4: Preservation
Season 3: Fish and Seafood
Season 2: Upland Birds and Small Game
Season 1: Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging

Why a podcast? Because as much of a writer as I am, there is an immediacy in the spoken word that excites me. A podcast is raw, real and allows me to be a bit more of, well, me. And besides, you can’t really read one of my essays while driving to the office or working out.

I plan on rolling out a new episode every other week, and most episodes will be an hour to 90 minutes. I reckon that’s as long as I want to listen to someone else’s radio show, so I’ll apply the same rule to my own ramblings.

If you have a suggestion for a podcast topic, drop me a line at hank@huntgathercook.com.

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Season Four

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art, dry aging episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Dry Aging

I know a lot about dry aging. Jess Pryles of Hardcore Carnivore knows more — she’s got a degree in meat science, after all. We have a fantastic conversation about dry aging meats, with an emphasis on big game and beef.

Hunt Gather Talk: Salt Fish

Lori is a native of Newfoundland, and she really knows her salt cod. Salt cod is the focus here, but we broaden our discussion into all sorts of ways to salt fish and seafood for preservation.

Podcast art for freeze drying episode with Shannon Waters.

Hunt Gather Talk: Freeze Drying

Shannon and I talk about freeze drying at home: When it makes sense, when it doesn’t, what foods work well with freeze drying, as well as some memorable failures.

Podcast art for small batch canning episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Small Batch Canning

If you live in an apartment, as Marisa does, or if you just want to preserve small bits of precious things, like ramps or mushrooms or other wild foods, this episode is for you.

podcast art for Italian preservation episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Preserving the Italian Way

From marinated mushrooms and peppers to pasta, pickles and sweets, the Italians are masters of preservation. Rosetta, author of My Calabria, talks about preserving the Calabrian way.

Podcast art for pressure canning episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Pressure Canning

Pressure canning scares people. Canning expert Cathy Barrow and I are here to dispel that fear.

Hunt Gather Talk: Sandor Katz!

Sandor Katz is a legend in fermentation. We talk about all sorts of cool ferments, as well as about his fantastic books and classes, what he’s working on now, and how he got to this place in his life.

Podcast art for mushroom preservation episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Mushroom Preservation

Forager and chef Alan Bergo geeks out with me on all the ways to preserve mushrooms, wild or cultivated. You’ve got more options than just drying; we talk about which mushrooms are best preserved in other ways, like fermentation and pickling and just plain freezing.

Hunt Gather Talk: Basic Cheesemaking

In this episode, I talk about basic cheesemaking — the original way to preserve milk and dairy products — with Claudia Lucero of Urban Cheesecraft in Portland, Oregon. It’s a fun, super useful conversation about what equipment you need (hint: not much), where to get good milk, and how to actually make a few basic cheeses at home.

Season Three

Season III was all about fish and seafood, as a sort of companion to my latest cookbook Hook, Line, and Supper. Everything you ever wanted to know about cooking, prepping, storing, and buying fish and seafood will be on tap.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast Returns!

I talk with UC Santa Barbara marine biologist Milton Love, one of the world’s experts on rockfish, all about these amazing fish, which live all over the Pacific, as well as in the North Atlantic, too. This is one of the funniest, most informative episodes I’ve ever done.

Podcast art featuring Hank Shaw and burbot fish

Hunt, Gather, Talk: Trash Fish

Trash Fish. The Unloved. I unpack this concept, and bust a bunch of myths, with my friends Tom Dickson and Scott Leysath — both of whom have, as do I, decades of experience catching and cooking those species that get no respect.

Hunt Gather Talk: Farmed v. Wild Fish

Acclaimed Seafood expert, fellow cookbook author and friend Barton Seaver and I talk about the wild vs. farmed fish debate, shedding light on a complex topic. Hint: Not all farmed fish and seafood are bad.

podcast art for Hung Gather Talk episode on West African food

Hunt Gather Talk: West African Seafood

Cookbook author Zoe Adjonyoh and I talk all about the big, bold flavors of Ghana, and where fish and seafood figure into that cuisine.

Hunt Gather Talk: The Fishmonger

Veteran fishmonger Tommy Gomes and I talk about how to source, select, store and use all sorts of fish and seafood from the market, as well as talk about the largely unknown bounty of the SoCal commercial fishery.

HUnt Gather Talk podcast art for episode 6

Hunt Gather Talk: Sea to Table

I talk with Jeffrey Tedmori of E-Fish and Natalie Sattler of Alaskans Own to go into detail about how new models of getting fish and seafood from the water to the customer are helping both consumers and fishermen.

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art with Josh Niland

Hunt Gather Talk: Fish Wizard

I talk with Australian Chef Josh Niland, cookbook author and wunderkind of fish cookery, about new and exciting ways to cook fish.

Hunt Gather Talk: Ike Jime

Ike Jime is a Japanese method of killing fish that results in gigantic improvements in meat quality. I talk with Andrew Tsui of the American Ike Jime Federation about the hows and whys of ike jime.

Hunt Gather Talk: Fly Curious

I am not a fly angler, but I’ve always wanted to know more about it, so I called up fly fishing expert April Vokey of Anchored Outdoors to set me straight.

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art snapper episode

Hunt Gather Talk: Snapper Heads

Snappers, red, beeliners, mangrove, lane and more, are some of the most popular fish in America. I talk with marine biologist Crystal Hightower all about these fish — their biology, catching them, eating them and the controversies in their management.

Hunt Gather Talk: Deckhand Stories

OK, folks, here you go: We lift the curtain on what it’s like to be a deckhand on a fishing charter boat. I talk with my friends Butch Thierry and Joe Baya about the inside story on what a deckhand’s life is like, and how we really see our customers…

Podcast art for fish intelligence episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Fish Intelligence

What a cool episode! This time I am talking with renowned scientist Culum Brown all about fish intelligence. Spoiler alert: They’re smarter than you might think.

Podcast art for commercial fishing episode

Hunt Gather Talk: Commercial Fishing

My former captain, Tyson Fick of the F/V Heather Anne, and I talk about the romance and the reality of commercial fishing, and why anyone in their right mind would do it. We’ll explore how new sea-to-table services are helping small operations, and share the meaning of special Heather Anne jargon, like “Spicy!”

Hunt Gather Talk: All About Spearfishing

Spearfishing is the closest thing to hunting you can do in the water because, well, it’s hunting. I talk with spearfisherman Valentine Thomas about all her adventures underwater, and about how to get started if you’re interested in taking up the pursuit – it starts with learning to breathe.

podcast art for catch and release episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Catch and Release

Is catch and release really good for fish, fostering healthy populations and helping some individuals reach trophy size? It depends on the fish and the place, and I talked with Stephanie Shaw of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to separate the myths from the facts.

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art for seaside foraging episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Sea Foraging

Kirk Lombard, author of The Sea Forager, and I geeked out about hunting and gathering on the seashore, which is how I got my start with wild food as a toddler, literally. Let me tell you, or really, let Kirk tell you, there is some odd stuff you can eat from tidepools.

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art with Les Stroud.

Hunt Gather Talk: Survival Fishing with Les Stroud

Survival expert Les Stroud of the popular show “Survivorman” talks with me about fishing in a survival situation, what works and what doesn’t, what gear is useful, etc. And, well, we dish a little on why some survival shows are not exactly what they seem.

Hunt Gather Talk: Andrew Zimmern Talks Fish

Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame – and more recently, Family Dinner and Wild Game Kitchen – talks about the intricacies of describing flavor and texture in fish and seafood.

Hunt Gather Talk: Catfish

Jonathan Wilkins of Black Duck Revival goes deep on catfish – “the People’s Fish” – including one unlikely type of bait that works 50% better than all others, doesn’t make your hands stink, and eliminates bycatch. Hank shares his favorite ways to eat catfish, besides fried.

Podcast art showing a dime and a seal worm in fish flesh.

Hunt Gather Talk: Parasites

Hank and John Burrows of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute take a deep dive into parasites, how to neutralize the threat of parasites in seafood, and one conservation effort that is unintentionally increasing the incidence of seal worms.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: All About Squirrels

I talk with Arizona biologist and hunter Johnathan O’Dell. Johnathan and I may well be the only two people to have ever completed the “Squirrel Grand Slam,” hunting and eating every species of tree squirrel it’s legal to hunt in the United States. We’ll go into all the various species, hunting, folklore, gear as well as prep and cooking.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: Ptarmigan and Snowcock

Snowcock and Ptarmigan, with Kansas hunter Jim Millensifer. We will specifically be talking about ptarmigan in the Lower 48 here, because, well, hunting ptarmigan in the far north isn’t terribly challenging. Jim has also hunted — successfully — the hardest upland game animal in North America, the Himalayan snowcock, transplanted to Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: Snipe Hunt

Snipe, with Scott Lindars of Marshdoodle. Yes, snipe are real birds, and Scott and I are snipe addicts — hunting these small shorebirds is like an upland hunt on the edge of a marsh. We’ll talk about the lore of snipe hunting, how to identify the birds so you don’t get a ticket, as well as how to best cook these tasty birds.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: Hungarian Partridge

Hungarian partridges with Tyler Webster of the Birds, Booze and Buds podcast. Tyler might be the most hun-huntin’-est guy I know, and he is a trove of great information.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast: Bobwhite Quail

Bobwhite Quail with Dwayne Elmore, one of the country’s foremost quail biologists, and a lifelong hunter. This is a fantastic episode!

Hunt Gather Talk: Great Plains Grouse

Sharpies and Chickens with Marilyn Vetter. Vetter is a lifelong grouse hunter in the Great Plains, and is also a board member both of Pheasants Forever and the sporting dog group NAVHDA.

Hunt Gather Talk: Hunting Rails

One of the most mysterious game birds in America, the various rails are a niche within a niche within a niche. Even I have never hunted them. I talk with rail biologist Auriel Fournier and rail hunter Dave DeBenedetto of Garden & Gun for this episode.

Hunt Gather Talk: Sooty Grouse

Another cagey game bird, sooty grouse are the grouse of the wet Pacific Coast. I speak with two Alaskan grouse hunters who also happen to work for Alaska Fish & Game for this one.

Hunt Gather Talk: Chukars

Travis Warren of the Upchukar podcast talks with me about, yes, well… chukars. This is a fantastic, informative episode all about arguably to most challenging upland bird in the country.

Hunt Gather Talk podcast art for dove hunting episode

Hunt Gather Talk: All About Doves and Dove Hunting

Jorge Ramirez of Upland Jitsu and biologist Owen Fitzsimmons of the Texas Dept. of Parks & Wildlife join me to talk not only about mourning doves, but also the other huntable dove species in North America.

Hunt Gather Talk: Sage Grouse

Sage grouse with biologist and hunter Ed Arnett of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. We talk about the conservation issues these birds face, as well as how to hunt them responsibly and ethically.

Hunt Gather Talk: Spruce Grouse

We talk about the much maligned spruce grouse, the grouse of the boreal forest. Biologist Bailey Petersen and grouse hunter Kevin Kossowan join me.

Hank Shaw podcast art band-tailed pigeons

Hunt Gather Talk: Band-Tailed Pigeons

This episode covers band-tailed pigeons, America’s last huntable native pigeon. US Fish & Wildlife biologist Mark Seamans and I cover both conservation and hunting of this Western species.

Hunt Gather Talk: Scaled Quail

Everything you want to know about scaled quail, also known as blue quail, with biologist and outfitter Ryan O’Shaughnessy.

Hank Shaw podcast art for woodcock episode

Hunt Gather Talk: Woodcock

Timberdoodles. Mud bats. Bog suckers. Worm burglars. This colorfully named gamebird is perhaps the premier quarry in the Northeast and upper Midwest, and I dive deep into woodcock lore, hunting, conservation, dogs (or no dogs), and cooking with A.J. DeRosa of Project Upland and Matt Soberg of Covey Rise magazine.

Hank Shaw podcast art for pheasant episode

Hunt Gather Talk: Pheasants

Finally we get to talking about the venerable ditch parrot, the disco chicken, the ring-necked pheasant. I join Bob St. Pierre of Pheasants Forever and my old friend Chris Niskanen to talk all about this most popular of game birds.

Hunt Gather Talk: Gamebird Guru

This is a very special episode, as I get to talk with the Yoda of game bird biology, Rocky Gutierrez! He is one of the most prestigious wildlife biologists in the country, and while we talk about mountain quail ostensibly, we go far and wide in this conversation.

Hunt Gather Talk: Fall Turkeys

Everyone thinks turkey hunting is a spring thing. But you can hunt them in fall in many places, too. I talk with turkey expert Tony Caggiano of World Slam Adventures about hunting for your Thanksgiving turkey.

Hank Shaw podcast ruffed grouse episode art

Hunt Gather Talk: All Hail the King! Ruffed Grouse

Everything you need to know about hunting and cooking the king of game birds, the ruffed grouse, featuring biologists (and hunters) Rocky Gutierrez and Heather Shaw.

Hunt Gather Talk: Desert Quail

Arizona Game & Fish biologist Kirby Bristow and I dig deep into the world of desert quail: Mearns, Gambels and Scaled quail. If you’ve ever wanted to hunt these birds, you don’t want to miss this episode!

Hunt Gather Talk: Small Game Cooking

An all cooking episode with Wade Truong of Elevated Wild and Lori McCarthy of Cod Sounds. This is what it sounds like when you have three obsessive wild game chefs bounce ideas off each other.

Hunt Gather Talk: Rabbits and Hares

We end where we began, with my friend Johnathan O’Dell of the Arizona Game & Fish Department. When Jon’s not chasing squirrels and ducks, he’s chasing rabbits and hares and is a font of knowledge about these animals. Bonus content: We explore the origin of the mighty jackalope!

Welcome to the Hunt Gather Talk Podcast!

Episode 1 covers how to properly hang game birds, forage for seaweed, make venison stock and care for fish as soon as they come over the rail.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast Episode 2

Always wanted to get started hunting for edible mushrooms? I talk you through what you need to know to get started without poisoning yourself.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast 3

My friend Joe Keough, an Ohio trapper, hunter, angler and cook and I talk about loving the unloved, from turtles and frogs, to woodchucks, muskrats, beavers, pigeons — you name it.

Hunt Gather Talk Podcast 4: Early Spring

Spring comes early here in NorCal, and in this episode, I recorded in one fell swoop my ruminations on what it means to have spring in February, what happens to be out there to forage right now — and what transition means in our lives.

Hunt Gather Talk Episode 5: All About Rabbits

Chef Randy King of Idaho and I talk about hunting, prepping and cooking all sorts of wild rabbits and hares that live here in North America, from the cottontail to the giant antelope jackrabbit.

Hunt Gather Talk Episode 6: Salami Basics

My friend Christian Spinillo, one of the best home salami-makers I know, talks with me about getting into making salami and other dry cured sausages. We touch on everything from cures to cultures to casings, meat choice, curing chambers, fat choices and everything in between.

Hunt Gather Talk 7: Ham Curing Basics

I talk with meat maven and Drexel University professor Bob del Grosso about curing whole cuts, like duck prosciutto, venison backstrap or pork loin, boneless hams and that sort of thing.

Hunt Gather Talk 8: Jerky, Venison Ribs, Gear Guide

I answer listener questions and talk about making whole muscle jerky, cooking venison ribs, and I offer you a selection of kitchen gear I use almost every day.

Hunt Gather Talk 9: Hunting the Northeast

I talk with New Yorker Tony Caggiano of World Slam Adventures about hunting and eating turkeys, hunting and fishing in the Northeast, chasing ducks in the Atlantic and more.

Hunt Gather Talk 10: Herbal Medicine Basics

I talk with herbalist Rebecca Altman of Kings Road Apothecary about real-deal herbal healing with plants that most likely grow near you.

Hunt Gather Talk 11: Mexican Cuisine

I talk with Chef Patricio Wise of Monterrey, Mexico about the intricacies of Mexican cooking, how to get started learning a cuisine and about the place of wild game in Mexico.

Hunt Gather Talk 12: On Scouting

Scouting, whether it is for foraging, fishing or hunting, is a vital part of the process of gathering wild food. The more you can scout, the wiser you will be in the woods, on the water or in the field.

Hunt Gather Talk 13: Wild Beer

I talk with former professional brewer and well-known beer writer Rick Sellers about “wild” beers, both in terms of using foraged ingredients in your beers and experimenting with wild yeasts and bacteria for fermentation.

Hunt Gather Talk 14: Enjoy the Silence

Tune out to tune into Nature. Part of what makes our connection to Nature so vital is our ability to be in the now, without electronic distractions. So when you’re out there, turn off the cell phone.

Fish and chips on a fork with a bite taken out

Hunt Gather Talk 15: Fish Fry

A solo episode where I walk you through the classic fish fry in all its variations. If you love fried fish like I do, listen to this one.

Hunt Gather Talk 16: Wobbly Bits

I team up with the great New York Chef Brad Farmerie of Public and Saxon + Parole to talk about why we love the “fifth quarter,” the offal of animals. Brad is an expert at cooking them, and he shares his expertise.

Hunt Gather Talk 17: Wild Food Geek-Out with Pascal

My fellow wild foods expert Pascal Baudar and I geek out on pushing the boundaries of wild foods. Pascal is an expert forager and we compare notes on making wonderful things to eat from unusual plants.

Hunt Gather Talk 18: Indigenous Cooking

I sit down with Chef Sean Sherman, whose nickname is the Sioux Chef, and talk about indigenous cooking, from wild rice to bison, old school cooking techniques, heirloom seeds and more.