You already know that I strongly recommend you attend the ISE Show when it is in town Feb 23-26. While you are at the show, don’t miss out on Hank Shaw from the website “Hunter Angler Gardener Cook” and author of “Hunt, Gather, Cook – Finding the Forgotten Feast”. I recently interviewed Hank on behalf of ISE.
As hunters and fishing enthusiasts, most of us pride ourselves in how we pursue, capture, cook and consume our food. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. This year, ISE Sacramento and Phoenix are excited to have Hank Shaw as a featured speaker. Hank is the man behind “Hunter Angler Gardener Cook” – a website dedicate to “Finding the forgotten feast”. Hank is also author of a book pursuing the same goal – Finding the Forgotten Feast. He has enjoyed several guest appearances on a national level including Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s “The Splendid Table” on National Public Radio. He just finished a whirlwind 40-state tour that included foraging/preparation/meals at restaurants around America.
Amazon.com has this to say about Hank: “If there is a frontier beyond organic, local, and seasonal, beyond farmers’ markets and sustainably raised meat, it surely includes hunting, fishing, and foraging your own food. A lifelong angler and forager who became a hunter late in life, Hank Shaw has chronicled his passion for hunting and gathering in his widely read blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, which has developed an avid following among outdoor people and foodies alike. Hank is dedicated to finding a place on the table for the myriad overlooked and underutilized wild foods that are there for the taking—if you know how to get them.
In Hunt, Gather, Cook, he shares his experiences both in the field and the kitchen, as well as his extensive knowledge of North America’s edible flora and fauna. With the fresh, clever prose that brings so many readers to his blog, Hank provides a user-friendly, food-oriented introduction to tracking down everything from sassafras to striped bass to snowshoe hares. He then provides innovative ways to prepare wild foods that go far beyond typical campfire cuisine: homemade root beer, cured wild boar loin, boneless tempura shad, Sardinian hare stew—even pasta made with handmade acorn flour.” Hank was kind enough to spend some time answering some questions giving us an inkling of what to expect when hearing him at ISE this year.
ISE: What can folks expect to learn when attending your presentations at ISE?
Hank: About 50% of my talk will focus on how to go the extra mile when it comes to utilizing our game meat. I like to say “Everything including the quack”. I’ll focus on parts of the animals not normally used; bones, giblets and organ meat for example.
I’ll also cover advanced cooking techniques. There’s more to cooking wild game than wrapping it in bacon. I’ll go over in detail many interesting ways to prepare game meat, birds and fish. Folks will leave knowing a lot more different methods for cooking their game meat.
ISE: Could you talk a bit about what in your presentation might appeal to non-hunters?
Hank: My presentation at the Phoenix Sportsmen’s Expo is specifically geared to getting the most out of game animals. Non-hunters who get whole animals, like pigs or lamb — and this is a growing trend — often are at a loss about what to do with the less glamorous cuts of the animal, so this presentation will definitely help with that. I plan on talking about ways to waste less, use more and get the most enjoyment out of what you bring home from the field or farm.
ISE: You’ve obviously tried some pretty freaky stuff. Not to say “gross”, but what was something you tried that just didn’t work out?
Hank: Wild boar liver. I like liver, and figured I ought to like this. I got a great boar liver. I marinated it in milk, then I grilled it to perfection – it was cooked perfectly. I sliced it and served it. I just couldn’t finish it. Holly didn’t like it either. We tried to give it to the cat, and the cat didn’t even like it. It just didn’t taste good at all. Chalky. Yuck.
ISE: OK, the flip side – what was your biggest surprise?
Hank: Lots of people like gizzards. They can be firm and crunchy and have great flavor. One day, I had a revelation. What if I corned a big gizzard like corned beef? So, I did that. Then I cooked it slowly all day in duck fat, much like a confit. When it was all done, it melted in our mouths. Rich, great flavor.
ISE: What’s the biggest hurdle when convincing hunters to try new parts of the animals? Squeamishness?
Hank: Well, that’s some of it. I like to say, though, for every thing one person turns up his nose, someone else loves it. One big challenge is the good hunter, whose freezers is full of breasts and backstraps. He hasn’t ever needed to utilize the rest of the animal. He’s got more than enough, using all of the “good” cuts. It’s also hard sometimes to get hunters out of their trusted patterns. They put so much effort into pursuing that game, taking care of it properly and getting it home, they are frightened that the meat will be wasted, trying something else. I’m going to show them that’s not the case.
ISE: Alright, here’s the scenario – you’ve got company coming, and they are all skeptics – what are you making for dinner?
Hank: Ha! That’s a good one. I’ve never met a skeptic I couldn’t charm at the table. I’d probably serve them familiar-looking foods, like venison medallions or pheasant, which is essentially a wild chicken anyway. My venison Steak Diane is a knockout, and I have a whole host of game stews and braises that would turn even the wariest skeptic into a believer. I would, however, leave out some of the more sporty stuff, like offal and unusual animals like muskrat or snipe.
ISE: Look, I’m guilty of being a bit uneasy about using feet and gizzards and stuff. Seriously, is there an ethical question at play here?
Hank: Well, certainly for me there is. But I don’t think so when it comes to other hunters. Most states have some form of regulation addressing the wasting of game meat. If hunters are following those laws, then I believe they are being ethical.
ISE: What prompted you to write the book? How have sales been going?
Hank: “Hunt, Gather, Cook” is an outgrowth of my blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, which I started in 2007. As my blog progressed, I kept getting emails from readers asking me about how I do what I do, from processing game birds to foraging and fishing. So I decided to put all my answers down in a coherent way in a book. Some of what I write about I’ve been doing my whole life, and some are things I’ve only recently picked up. The book was named as one of the best cookbooks of 2011 by the “Today Show” and “Huffington Post”, and it’s been doing well in its category since it was published in May.
ISE: Have you been surprised by your success or did you know there would be this much interest in the forgotten feasts?
Hank: I am a little surprised. I knew there would be interest, but what I did not know was how readers would respond to “Hunt, Gather, Cook.” New books come out every day, and it’s hard to cut through the clutter. I worked very hard to get the word out — I went on a 40-state book tour and did wild game dinners all over the country, including Rancho Pinot in Scottsdale — and I guess that work paid off. I couldn’t be happier.
ISE: What’s next for you?
Hank: I am planning to slow down a little in 2012. I have a few book ideas in the works, but I need to see what makes the most sense. I think it would be awesome to be a judge on a cooking show like “Top Chef” or “Iron Chef”. And of course I write new articles for Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (honest-food.net) every week. That’s the coolest thing about wild foods–no matter how hard I work, there are always new things to discover.
