Eating on the Wild Side

Between the up and down (mostly down) weather, non fishing (but fishing related) but fishing related committments, and the great boat switch I have to do every spring. Things have been slow, I’ve done some perch fishing, turkey scouting, but have not made it out on the big lake for any trolling. That has been a major bummer but I just haven’t been able to make any of the calm days work. One thing I have been able to keep up on is powering through that freezer full of fish and wild game. It’s easy to highlight fishing and hunting adventures, but what happens after it comes home doesn’t get enough credit. While we do a lot of the same stuff that fish and game is famous for we try to have some more adventurous options and I’d like to highlight a few.

Ramen Bowls

One of the perks to a good duck season was some fat mallards in the freezer. Asian dishes and ducks just go well together and one of our favorites is ramen noodles. Soft boil some eggs and marinate them over night or a few hours, make a ramen broth, and then just sear the mallard breasts like any other meal. It can stretch a few mallard breasts into a big meal for quite a few people.

Venison Tataki

This is on the extra adventurous side of venison things. It’s just like getting a fancy tuna steak at a restaurant. Seared hot and fast on the outsides but completely raw in the middle. More of an appetizer than a meal and all the real prep goes into this beforehand. I absolutely would not try this recipe if I didn’t butcher my own deer. You need a perfect piece of the backstrap without any fat or silverskin to make this work. I also freeze this for a significant amount of time just in case of things like toxoplasmosis and wouldn’t recommend this recipe to anyone who is immunocompromised or pregnant. There are a bunch of different recipes to make a tataki style marinade out there and a homemade ponzu sauce for dipping the meat slices in. While it is really different than a traditional venison prep, I really enjoyed it and will be doing it again!

Tomahawk Steaks

This one was a favorite by everyone and the least work in kitchen. It does come with one rule though, no silverware allowed (well except for Millie). All the work on this recipe is done on the front end when butchering the deer. It takes a little persistence and knife work to separate the ribs from the vertebrae. You will also get more traditional backstrap cuts on both ends of the ribs that are usable. I also use a saw to shorten the rib bones up to make packaging easier. The rest is easy season with your seasoning of choice and grill hot and fast to your desired doneness.

Fish

We’ve eaten a big variety of Michigan fish over the winter. Perch, bluegill, crappie, cisco, lake trout, salmon, burbot, and steelhead. I’ve covered some of that in other blogs but a couple things that stick out to me are the crab stuffed steelhead and the sushi rolls we made with salmon. One thing that is nice about fish is it really is easy to work with. Sushi rolls were kind of a lot of work but they were good. The fish was the easy part of that, salt and sugar cured from a summer catch then frozen. The rice, seaweed, and all the other ingredients are something I need to work on my technique with. But it was fun and we combined it with the venison tataki recipe I mentioned above.