Some Adventures Outdoors (and in the Kitchen!)

By Stanley Yockey

If you love the outdoors--its beauty, bounty, and diversity--I am just like you. If you enjoy being creative in the kitchen as you prepare delicious and sometimes unusual meals for your friends and family, I am just like you. And if you take pride in savoring the rewards of your outdoor adventures in a carefully planned and prepared meal that ma

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Yockey
• Release date: May 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9798990140356

Book preview

Preface

Since even before my earliest memories, I’ve loved the clear waters and scenic beauty of wild streams and rivers throughout the western United States as well as the sights and scents of soaring mountains, open croplands, and sagebrush-covered hillsides.

For example, at age one, while my parents fly fished the spring runoff of an eastern Colorado stream, I swam with the fishes by crawling into the water to be swept downstream and caught by the back of my diapers by another fisherman. Then, at age four, I slipped off an overhanging bank into the clear but frigid water of the Bogachiel River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, requiring my father to fish me out of the pool by my ankle. Fortunately, I survived both experiences and have developed a healthy respect for the potential dangers, as well as the beauty, of all rivers.

As I grew up, hunting upland birds also became part of my upbringing, and I learned many life lessons from being outdoors when I was young: learning about many different kinds of wildlife and their habitats, seeing many different areas of the state of Washington, and meeting interesting people.

So if you love the outdoors—its beauty, bounty, and diversity—I am just like you. If you enjoy being creative in the kitchen as you prepare delicious and sometimes unusual meals for your friends and family, I am just like you. And if you take pride in savoring the rewards of our outdoor adventures in a carefully planned and prepared meal that makes the most of what you harvest in the field, I am just like you. I am not a professional fisherman, hunter, or chef—I am just like you.

This book is the product of an abiding love and appreciation for the outdoors, shaped by many unique experiences along the way; and for those reasons, I am just like you, your husband or wife, or a friend who likes to hunt, fish, and have adventures in the outdoors. Both out of curiosity and interest, and in some cases, a little bit of necessity, I decided that I wanted to learn how to cook what I brought home—from the outdoors or from the market—and have enjoyed every aspect of it. Now I want to share my experiences, hopefully in ways that will be fun and inspiring, and will help you and those you love get even more out of your lives outdoors.

As the idea for the content of this book began to come together, it became clear that just another cookbook—even one that focuses on wild fish and game rather than their domestic counterparts— would probably not generate much interest and that an approach that differed from other wild game cookbooks would be essential. Once you’ve experienced the seas, beaches, forests, and plains of North and Central America with me, I’m confident you’ll agree that this book, in fact, takes quite a different approach!

First, you’ll find a series of stories that relate actual outdoor adventures I’ve been fortunate enough to experience over the past forty-four years. From pursuing a wide spectrum of birds, fish, and small- and big-game quarry, to beachcombing with my wife and children, I’ve truly been blessed by being able to be in and enjoy firsthand the beauty and bounty of the natural world around us all.

Second, you’ll note that each story features a complete meal menu and the associated recipes at its conclusion. The message, and intent, here is to relate adventures about one or more particular species, then help you with ideas as to how to prepare them for the table in ways that are both appetizing and visually appealing. I have never been a trophy hunter or fisherman. If I take off in pursuit of an animal or fish, it’s more likely than not that my end objective is to put it on the table, and I hope that the stories and recipes shared in this book will encourage you to do the same.

Third, there are complete meal menus of complimentary dishes rather than single dishes that you have to decide how to combine with other items to make a complete meal. While there are a number of excellent wild fish and game recipe and/or cookbooks available today, very few connect the dots between the dishes made with the animal you harvested and other elements of a meal that complement each other. This approach allows me to help you, and your families and guests find the idea of eating wild game more appetizing. We’ve all heard about the nutritional benefits of eating wild game—low or no cholesterol, no chemicals or hormones, and little or no fat— but improper preparation and/or pairing of the game with other elements of a meal can take away from those benefits as well as from the overall experience.

Finally, the recipes and menus are, with only a few exceptions, fairly simple and straightforward. That is, you should be able to prepare meals that your friends and families will enjoy even if you aren’t an expert in the kitchen, and your friends and family members aren’t used to eating wild game. There are a couple of recipes that take extra time and care, and a couple that are a little more complex than others due to the subtlety of flavors or texture of the game, but I am confident that you can prepare every one of these recipes with some planning and care.

A parallel theme that also helped define the content of this book—from the stories themselves to the recipes that the stories introduce—is that of an enjoyment and appreciation of the outdoors and the bounty it has to offer. In some cases, sadly, the harvests I have described can no longer be experienced due to declining populations of the particular fish or game, or laws and regulations in force today that were not in effect at the time of the adventure that limit (or prohibit) the taking of the target species. Overall, though, those of you who are outdoor adventurists should be able to relive for yourselves the memories shared herein, and then be able to prepare and enjoy a meal of your harvest.

One thing you won’t find in this book is the ‘exception’ or ‘work-around’ for the gamey or fishy taste some hunters or diners may have experienced. Call me lucky, perhaps, but I have never had a gamey- or fishy-tasting meal when the animal harvested was handled properly in the field and, subsequently, in the kitchen. Even traditionally wild-tasting meats—mountain goat, venison from an old buck mule deer, and Spanish mackerel, to name a few—are delicious if the proper care is taken with them in the field and, later, in the kitchen. That said, if you know or suspect that a particular animal won’t be palatable, please think twice about killing it! In any event, most gamey or fishy flavors can be dealt with effectively through menu and ingredient selections. This book doesn’t necessarily cover a wide gamut of recipes for each fish or game species, but you will find that the selections provided are based on experience that will help you make the most of whatever species you bring home.

Separately, you’ll be glad to know that in many instances, the game, upon which featured recipes are based, can be replaced with domestic or commercially available equivalents without completely sacrificing the intended essence. For example, chicken (both meat and liver, as appropriate) can be used in place of rabbit (meat and liver) and pheasant (meat). Partridge (meat) and lean cuts of pork can be used in lieu of wild boar. Venison backstrap may be easier to work with than mountain goat, and it’s perfectly okay to use store-bought fresh fish and shellfish when wild specimens aren’t available. But this is a book about wild game, so I truly hope that you can experience the recipes as they were intended!

You will also find that there are some instances in which a particular recipe can be paired with more than one species of animal. That’s intentional—done to provide you with several options for either your harvest or a recipe you like and want to use with another species. For example, the Slow Roasted Wild Boar is also great for sheep, mountain goat, and venison; and the Spanish Mackerel Ceviche can be made with brown jack (crevalle), amberjack, and even (farm-raised) Atlantic salmon and steelhead. Just be sure to carefully adjust cooking times based on the substituted game.

Likewise, the salads and sides can certainly be mixed and matched as you see fit. The menu selections I’ve suggested work well together but are certainly not the only way to go! The Fennel Slaw, for example, will go very nicely with Smoke-Roasted Wild Turkey as well as the wild boar. Mix and match. Find combinations that work for you. Enjoying every aspect of your outdoor experiences is what this book is all about!

In closing, I hope you enjoy the stories and photos—independently from the recipes. They are all true (or as close to true as my middle-aged memory will allow), and I did my absolute best to share each of them with you in as interesting a way as possible. Where I had photographs of the adventure, they are included; where I didn’t, I’ve located photos on various state Fish & Game and Parks Department websites to help complete the overall experience or foregone pictures altogether. I hope that—whether or not I was able to include pictures—as you read each story, you’ll feel as though you were there with me and able to imagine the sights, sounds, feelings, and tastes that made each experience special.

Field and Kitchen Basics and Essentials

Every hunter or fisherman knows that proper handling and storage of wild game is essential to the taste and texture of the meat that eventually hits the plate. Sometimes time, weather, or other circumstances prevent us from doing everything exactly by the book at the time of the harvest. Often, not being able to do everything that needs to be done immediately won’t diminish the quality of your harvest, but certain basic steps should always be observed.

The Essentials

Before we get into a discussion regarding the proper handling and storage of your harvests, it’s important to address the importance of using the proper processing equipment, both in the field and at home. Based on my personal experience, there are five must haves to ensure efficient handling and quality results:

high quality and properly maintained knives and saws;

a clean, flat work surface in a clean environment;

storage materials that fit the job and the game being processed;

high quality and properly maintained processing and cooking equipment; and

fresh, high quality herbs, spices, and produce.

Can you get by without one, some, or all of these items? Of course. After all, most of us have, at some point in our lives, not had the means to purchase high quality equipment or the knowledge of how much better and easier the handling and cooking of our game would be with the right gear. But, hopefully, one of the reasons you are reading this book is to learn something you didn’t know that will help you do things better. And if I do my job, you’ll come away with new information and compelling reasons to use it! In that spirit, let’s address these five must haves in more depth.

Equipment

High quality and properly maintained knives and saws are critical because they will enable you to field dress, skin, quarter, or debone your game quickly and efficiently either in the field or at home. If you don’t keep your knife (or knives) sharp, the job will be slower and harder than it needs to be. Quartering a 250-pound mule deer with the 4-inch sheath knife that you just used to field dress it, for example, is way too hard—and none too sanitary! Or splitting the backbone of an antelope with your camp hatchet instead of a sharp, fine-toothed bone saw is both a pain in the rear end and will likely result in damaged or wasted meat. And as a last example, trying to fillet a trout with your not-very-sharp pocketknife can be done, but it probably won’t be pretty!

For all of these reasons, and after years of trial and error—some of which resulted in lost meat—I now use a matched set of knives and saws, and I keep them razor sharp and clean at all times. The manufacturer has worked hard to design and produce equipment of high quality with which an outdoorsman can handle even the most difficult field dressing, skinning or filleting, and processing your harvest efficiently. Of course, there are several equipment manufacturers whose products are of high quality and are well designed