Archive for the 'Hunting' Category

French Chef Talks Game and Real Food

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

If you watch PBS television cooking shows, you’ve probably seen this man:

02— My name is Jacques Pepin.

Seventy-five year old Jacques Pepin is a classically trained French chef, author, and PBS cooking show host. Long before he started cooking with meat from domesticated livestock, natural, additive free wild game comprised the animal protein in his dishes.

08— We follow the season, and the season in the fall in France we have the rabbit and the pheasant and the stuff. You go to market and see the game hanging.

Jacques Pepin has a new series on PBS called Essential Pepin, with a companion book that includes a 3 hour DVD featuring various food preparation techniques; it was going to include how to dress a rabbit after harvest.

12—But the skinning of the rabbit, they have removed it already so you’re not going to see it. And I knew it. They got berserk when they saw it. They said, ‘Oh my God!’ Well, it’s good to get closer to Mother Nature and to realize where your food comes from.

It may seem gruesome, but the alternative, says Chef Pepin, is what we have: nearly two generations of people who only recognize food if it’s in neatly cut pieces and wrapped in plastic.

02—I mean, this is pretty scary when you think of it.

The Hunt Texas e-newsletter provides information on hunting and preparing wild game. Sign up for it on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hunt, Gather, Cook

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

Hank Shaw knows where his food comes from because he forages, hunts and fishes for the majority of it. Some of these 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 there’s a certain level of satisfaction with food possible only when one acquires it in the wild.

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.

The Hunt Texas e-newsletter provides information on hunting and preparing wild game. Sign up for it on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

The Gift of Wild Game

Monday, November 21st, 2011


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 start cooking a lot of ducks; wild ducks, especially where we live in the Sacramento Valley, are amazing. Really great food.

Holly says she 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. The fact that it’s wild food and it’s absolutely delicious is icing on the cake.

Holly Heyser hunts and writes in Northern California, and writes a hunting blog called Nor-Cal Cazadora on blogspot.

Sign up for our 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.

Processing Deer at Home

Thursday, November 10th, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

It’s easy to find meat processors statewide with the ability to process deer, and so hunters routinely bring harvested animals to these pros.

Maybe this season, you’d like to try your hand at processing your own animal at home. Hunter education coordinator, Terry Erwin, has a suggestion or two to help you along.

45— If you process your game at home, I would suggest that everyone get a good set of knives and a cutting board, and also get what we call a vacuum packing device. And when you put that [meat] in a vacuum packing device, they [cuts of meat] will last a whole lot longer; you’ll take the air out of it and the meat will not get freezer burn, which can cause it to have a bad taste. But, you have some of the finest eating there is. Venison is very high in protein, very low in fat content, very low in calories. And, it’s just plain good for you. And if you use the right seasonings and the right methods to cook it….Ooo…fried back strap with biscuits and gravy…makes my mouth water.

We have a link to the gear you’ll need to process your deer at home on our website, passporttotexas.org.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series, and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuel.

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

Hunters for the Hungry

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011


This is Passport to Texas

Wild harvested venison is additive free, sustainable and nutritious—the kind of food we want to feed our families. Licensed hunters can help feed less fortunate families by donating venison to Hunters for the Hungry.

09— Contact us or visit our website to locate a participating meat processor, so they can take it somewhere that accepts the donation and can get it distributed.

Anitra Hendricks coordinates Hunters for the Hungry, a program of the Texas Association of Community Action Agencies. The program connects hunters with processors who then distribute ground venison to charitable feeding programs and food pantries.

Participating processors offer reduced fees to hunters who donate deer.

12— And that varies from processor to processor. So, we do encourage the hunter, that if they do use our map locator, to locate a participating meat processor, to call ahead of time to verify the Hunters for the Hungry fee.

Hendricks says regions of the state need more processors.

20—We do have a need in the Panhandle area between Amarillo and Lubbock for more meat processors. And then also the East Texas region—as well as west Texas. But some of the feedback that we get is that either there’s not an interest or things are so far and so spread out that it’s hard to get participation in those areas.

Find a link to the Hunters for the Hungry website at passporttotexas.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.