Hank Shaw's Blog, page 80

It's nut season all over the country, and one of my favorites is the butternut, a relative of the black walnut. These cookies are by far my favorite way to eat them -- and yes, they are wonderful with black walnuts, too.

A Southern classic, buttermilk fried rabbit. Still my favorite way to cook cottontail rabbits, this recipe will of course work with store-bought bunnies, too.

Deer fat, venison tallow, whatever you call it, this is the stuff of controversy. A great many sources, including some trusted ones, say it's inedible. Others, including me, have long said it can be damn tasty. Here's some science behind both claims.

Bangers and mash. Homely as it may be, I love this British classic -- especially when the sausages are homemade. I made these from venison, but you can use pork, beef, or really whatever. Here's how to make them.

Northern pike make an excellent soup fish, as they are lean, white and firm -- and, when you fillet them, you often get odd-shaped pieces that work well cut into soup bits. This is my take on Northern pike soup, done Manitoba style.

I finally got myself a deer this season! A nice little buck. After nine hunts, I was due. And finally, the Fates took pity on me.

There's a saying in fly fishing that catching a fish is the goal, but not the point of that particular obsession. Deer hunting in the West is the same thing. It's been a tough season so far, but it ain't over yet.

You asked, I answered. I am teaming up with the California Waterfowl Association to host a weekend of duck hunting and duck cooking in California's Delta this January. It'll be hunts in different places, duck processing and cooking classes, and I'll be cooking dinner.

It's fennel seed time here in NorCal. We have wild fennel everywhere here, and now is the time -- before the first real rains -- to gather the seeds, which have dried nicely.

I am fascinated by Nordic cooking, in no small part because it's a cuisine of scarcity - and scarcity fuels innovation. Here in NorCal, we live in the soft, warm center of the world's cornucopia. As I try to form my own personal style of cooking, I find myself looking for scarcity among abundance.