JULY 2015 • NEBRASKAland 39
RW: I tasted it and thought it was missing something.
It was good, but it still needed something else. When
something is missing or doesn't taste right, we'll cross
things out, add more ingredients or tweak measurements.
JK: Do you drive yourself crazy as you try to figure
them out?
JN: Sometimes. I may be cooking and 'the cream is
curdling,' or something else isn't going right. We're not
trained cooks. We just learn as we go along.
RW: That's the thing. These recipes are not complicated,
but they can be made to look elegant. You can have a fine
meal without going out.
JK: Your book shows what it looks like from the time
an animal is harvested until it's on the table. What was
your role in the book's design?
RW: We worked off a very good outline from the
publisher, but then they put the ball in our court.
JK: How did you choose your cleaning methods?
RW: We worked with what we knew how to do already.
Jenny cleans things a bit differently than I do, but we looked
for what we thought was the best method.
JK: What are your favorite recipes?
RW: Our venison dishes are our favorites. There are
just so many things you can do. As far as a single dish, we
butterflied a roast, stuffed it with fresh crab and tied it with
cooking twine. Then we grilled it.
JN: My favorite is the very first recipe we had on the blog
– venison backstraps with a blackberry, balsamic vinegar
sauce with blue cheese sprinkled on top. It's my go-to dish if
I'm introducing wild game to friends.
JK: So how would you describe this book? It has a
little natural history, cleaning methods for 13 different
game and fish species, and recipes for each. So it's not a
cookbook?
RW: It's more of a field to table guide with step-by-step
photos. I like to look at this as a clear and easy introduction
to the new person who is interested in hunting. There's
always that question, "What do I do with it now?" once the
animal's on the ground. More than likely they are going to
cook it like domestic meat, and they may have just ruined
it. The book provides a starting point, and then people can
experiment on their own. Also, another goal is to show to
non-hunters that wild
game is a renewable
resource, a healthy way
to eat, and it's always
going to be there if we
take care of the land.
If you protect the land,
you will protect the
species that live there.
JN: And food
is a great way to
communicate all those
things. ■
To obtain your
copy of Hunting for
Food, visit
Foodforhunters.com
beginning July 15.
y
At the end of each chapter are cooking tips, techniques and recipes. The book's pheasant chapter, one in 13, features a recipe on
aged, brined and roasted whole pheasant.
PHOTO
BY
JENNY
NGUYEN
