Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas with support from the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program

If you’re tired of turkey leftovers already, maybe you can find a fishing hole and reel in something tasty during your Thanksgiving break. Chef Cindy Haenel says there’s nothing like catching your own dinner.

09—It’s fabulous. I know exactly how old that fish is, when it came out of the water and how long it’s been dead. And that’s important with fish especially. Fresh is always best.

Cindy is a chef instructor at Central Market in Austin. She and her husband Ken are avid anglers.

08—I love the saltwater as well as freshwater. But the saltwater you have more variety. You never know what you’re going to pull up. It’s exciting – like Christmas morning.

Immediately put your catch on ice, and if there’s a cleaning station on shore, consider doing the dirty work there. Chef Cindy says be careful not to overcook your fresh fish.

22—Most people, if they don’t like the taste of fish, it’s probably because they’ve overcooked it. And, as it cooks, and the oil of the fish starts to come out of the flesh, it burns very, very quickly. So, if you will under cook your fish, or protect that fish with either a salt crust, or even if it just has a little butter, or some kind of fat on the outside it still protecting that fish while it’s cooking.

Find fish recipes from Chef Cindy as well as a link to the Fish Texas e-Newsletter at passporttotexas.org…

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Salt Crusted Whole Fish

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
2 cups sea salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup water
1 (2 1/2-pound) fresh whole white fish, such as striped bass
2 tablespoons julienned sun-dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped kalamata olives
2 tablespoons chopped artichoke hearts
2 slices lemon, sliced in half, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, trimmed to extend 3-inches in diameter around outside of the fish.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg whites, sea salt, flour, parsley and 1/2 cup of water. Mix with your hands until a thick paste forms.

Fill the cavity of the fish with the sun-dried tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts and lemon slices. Rub the exterior of the fish with the garlic, then sprinkle with parsley and freshly ground black pepper

Put the fish on the parchment lined baking sheet. Mound the salt paste evenly over the entire fish. Press the mixture firmly down to the baking sheet, being careful to seal any cracks.

Bake the fish until the crust is golden brown and very firm, about 18 to 20 minutes.

Slide the parchment and fish onto serving platter or cutting board and crack the crust with a handle of a large knife. Slide a spoon under the top fillet, over the spine, and lift it to a serving platter. Turn over and repeat. Garnish with lemon slices and serve immediately.

Serves 2

This is Passport to Texas

Journalist, Holly Heyser, didn’t grow up in a hunting family. She says she eventually took up the sport to spend more time with her boyfriend who is a hunter, author and chef.

13— I got sick of being alone on weekends when he was out duck hunting all day long. He would get up at two in the morning and be out forever….well…it didn’t take that for me to join him. What it took was for him to cooking a lot of ducks, and wild ducks, especially where we live in the Sacramento Valley. Amazing. Really great food.

Holly says she’s gained new respect for the meat she consumes, and not just wild game, but domesticated animals, as well.

33— Since I started hunting, I am so much less wasteful of meat. Even if I’m at a restaurant, if there’s a burger on my plate, I will not leave one single bite of meat on my plate, because I know an animal died for that. And when it’s animals you hunt, especially…we invest a lot of time. We can spend 12 hours and a lot of money on gas, to go and maybe get two ducks one day. That’s a precious gift, and you don’t waste it. So it’s really made me understand the value of the food we eat. And, I appreciate it a lot more than I ever used to. And the fact that it’s wild food and it’s absolutely delicious is icing on the cake.

Wild game is free range, organic, sustainable, and nutritious. And if you’re a hunter, you can donate deer to hunters for the hungry to feed those less fortunate.

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Hank Shaw knows where his food comes from because he forages, hunts and fishes for the majority of it—skills he learned from his mother growing up on the east coast.

13— It’s always been part of our lives. Digging clams in the Atlantic, picking berries, and all that kind of stuff. It’s an awareness that there’s food all around us. I’ve always had it. And that’s really helped spur a lifelong passion.

He records his passion for wild food on his popular blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook, which inspired his book Hunt, Gather, Cook, published by Rodale Press. He says the deepest level of food satisfaction one can achieve is only possible when it’s wild sourced.

18— Think about it: on a very basic level, anybody who’s ever fished, you catch a fish and then you eat it in a frying pan on a camping trip. It tastes so much better than one that you buy at a store. And it is that satisfaction of having worked for your food. It’s difficult to explain if you’ve never done it, but once you do it, it become addicting and you never want to stop.

Hank Shaw cooks and eats everything he forages, hunts and fishes, and shares the experience and what he’s learned on his blog and in his book.

09—I want to do justice to the things that I bring home. And I want to help people who are also hunting and fishing and foraging to cook their food better—give them new ideas.

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the TPW website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

It’s deer season in North and South Texas, and hunters are headed to the field with the hope of bringing healthy meat home for the table. Chef John Besh, who has a PBS Cooking Series, My New Orleans, grew up in hunting and fishing, activities he says helped him develop respect for life.

13— You see something running or swimming one moment, and then the next moment it’s in the frying pan. You don’t waste as much of it. You don’t look at it as lightly as you do as meat wrapped in cellophane on the grocery shelf.

If you like knowing where your food comes from, Chef Besh says you do when you hunt and fish.

12— If you’re a carnivore, it’s the purest form—to take it from the field to the plate. It’s something that I do on a personal level quite a bit. I have four sons, and they’re growing up with the tradition as well.

Chef Besh apprenticed in southern Germany, where each fall the restaurant served wild game brought in by local hunters and farmers, and inspected and approved by the health department.

16—I so loved that, and so appreciated that that added just yet another layer of understanding of how to treat game and the importance of this tradition. So you were field to plate before field to plate was cool. I don’t know if it’s cool yet [laughter].

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This is Passport to Texas

Some of my fondest thanksgiving memories were those I spent with family and friends in state parks. Make some holiday memories of your own this year. Our state Park Guide, Bryan Frasier tells us how.

54— Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the most popular and busiest times in our state park system. We encourage people to plan their family outings in a state park; we have so many group facilities you can rent and have your get together and your Thanksgiving meal in a state park. But also, we have a tendency to really enjoy that Thanksgiving turkey, so get out the next day and hike. See the beauty, the changing colors here in Texas, and walk around and use some energy and burn off that Thanksgiving meal. So, get outside and enjoy some time outdoors this Thanksgiving holiday. And if you’re going to, I also encourage people that if they’re going to be camping to make some advance reservations. It is a popular time. It is great weather. People historically have time off for the holidays — so make those camping and overnight reservations as early as you can to come out and enjoy state parks at Thanksgiving.

Thanks, Bryan.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.