Hank Shaw's Blog, page 78

Hungarians are justifiably proud of their cuisine. Thus the quotes around my use of the term "goulash." This isn't actually gulyas, as the Hungarians would write it, it's porkolt. But here in America we'd still call it goulash. Call it whatever you want, it's both simple and damn good.

I have a thing for pigeons. They are super fun to hunt, and, when you hunt them on rural ranches where the birds eat grain and other wholesome foods, they are fantastic to eat. The British know this, which is why I take my cue from them in this recipe for roast pigeon.

I had the chance to fish for speckled seat trout in Texas last month, and had a helluva good time! I also managed to bring back some trout fillets to cook with back home, so I decided to do a decidedly Texas spin on sea trout.

This is a fundamental skill everyone who cooks duck or goose should know, especially if you are a hunter. Cooking a duck breast is like cooking a steak. A steak wearing a hat made of bacon!

Duck breast. Beer. Wild berries. What's not to love? This is an original recipe very, very loosely inspired by an Icelandic dish that uses beer and malt (or beer) vinegar as the main component in the sauce. It's one of the first times I've used beer this way, and it won't be the last.

Beer vinegar. Why is this stuff not in everyone's pantry? Crazy, because it's awesome. Think malt vinegar x 1,000, especially if you make it with a good, dark beer. Think of the possibilities, with various kinds of beer...

As excited I was about roasting a seriously good chicken the other day, I might have been even more stoked for the leftovers, which became this Tuscan classic: tortellini en brodo, little dumplings filled with leftover chicken and cheese, served in a clear chicken broth.

In the pantheon of meatballs this is one of the best. Going by the unfortunate name "faggots" (or the mystifying "savoury ducks"), these are really just damn good meatballs, delicately spiced and with a bit of liver tossed in.

I recently did a survey on Facebook to see how many of you butcher your own game at home, and I was surprised how many of you do. That makes me really happy! So I thought I'd share my own set up and tools I use now that we're deep into deer season.

I did something the other day that I rarely ever do: I bought meat. Specifically, I bought a chicken. I view it as an almost political act. Americans have been brainwashed into believing that cheap chicken is a God-given right. It isn't. It's a horrible disservice to the chicken, the farmer and the consumer.