5 Chefs You Should Follow on Instagram Who Have Delicious Holiday Wild Game Recipes
OutdoorHub Reporters 10.24.18
These 5 wild game chefs will help you take your holiday wild game recipes to another level.
With the holidays fast approaching, it’s almost time to start planning and building food menus for those big family get togethers. Now, if your holiday parties are anything like they are in my family, these shindigs are a great time to compare hunting stories with family members from out of state, and sample your quarry from the past season. Another staple of my family holiday parties, is we often times use wild game meat in our main courses.
Perhaps you have found success in the woods this season, and you’re searching for a good holiday wild game recipe to serve the fam.
Below, we featured 5 wild game chefs we think should be on your radar (or at least your Instagram feed) if you’re looking for some good wild game recipes:
Jeremiah Doughty (@fromfieldtoplate)
If you think you need to wrap everything in bacon to appease your relatives that complain about that “gamey” taste, Doughty will challenge you to think outside the box while you’re in the kitchen. Doughty’s website FromFieldToPlate.com will open your mind to less-traditional methods of cooking your wild game. If you want to try a recipe for Wild Turkey Mexican Pizza this Thanksgiving, he has one. Like other wild chefs, Doughty enjoys knowing the origin of his meals, and expresses the gratitude for them in a manner that is spiritual to him.
Steven Rinella (@stevenrinella)
That wild game cook book he’s referring to will be released on November 20. It’s filled with all kinds of knowledge and tips from one the most respected hunters in America to help you take your wild game recipes to the next level. It would also make an excellent gift idea for the MeatEater in your family!
As an outdoorsman and advocate for public lands, Rinella’s NetFlix television show “Meat Eater” has fueled the appreciation for wild foods by giving a point of view from the journey that led to the meal. Rinella leads a narrative through film that few of us can put into words. He speaks to the inner-monologue that hunters and anglers experience in the wild. A true ambassador to this lifestyle, he identifies with the simplistic nature of humans as just another omnivore in the circle of life. Beyond being a face on camera, the Meat Eater website provides tips on field dressing wild game, recipes and podcasts that are an extension of the narrative on his television program.
Michael Hunter (@thehunterchef)
Michael Hunter is the head chef and co-owner of Antler Kitchen & Bar in Toronto. You might know him for a slight dust-up that occurred outside his restaurant last December when he upset a group of animal rights activists by carving a deer leg in the front window. But don’t let that distract you, Michael is a wizard in the kitchen specializing in, you guessed it, wild game recipes. Check out his Instagram page and if you’re ever in Toronto, stop in and try one of his extraordinary dishes.
Scott Leysath (@sportingchef)
As a TV personality for the Sportsman Channel’s program “The Sporting Chef,” Leysath first entered television by scripting for HGTV’s “Homegrown Cooking with Paul James.” He is also the cooking editor for Ducks Unlimited magazine, and the author of the “Sporting Chef’s Better Venison Cookbook” and “The Sporting Chef’s Favorite Wild Game Recipes.” An extensive library of helpful tips for the everyday hunter and angler is available on the SportingChef.com website, including suggestions on how to package everything from your small game birds to your underwear.
Hank Shaw (@huntgathercook)
His first book “Hunt, Gather, Cook” has quickly become recognized as a staple in the world of wild foods. His website Honest-food.net highlights his Hunter, Angler, Gardner, Cook cuisine, giving a detailed view of his passion for this lifestyle. Shaw’s intimate connection with wild foods and their historical relevance is captured with text that would make foodies such as Michael Pollan want to pick up a rod and a rifle. His fascination with forgotten foods also expresses no fear in his will to be weird. Shaw also engages his readers in a Hunt, Gather, Cook Facebook Group as an open-source exchange of information with those who share a similar interest. His second book, “Duck, Duck, Goose,” is an alternative guide to the big bird feasts, and his most recent book, “Buck, Buck, Moose,” includes “recipes and techniques for cooking deer, elk, moose, antelope and other antlered things.”