The Best Ways to Prepare Wild Game For Dinner

While hunting is itself a popular sport enjoyed by hunters all over the world, the premise upon which most hunting is based is a need for food and sustenance. For that reason many avid hunters will agree with the idea that the experience of the hunt is not complete until the game that is killed has been cooked into a delicious meal and shared with others. But cooking wild game such as boar, deer, alligator, rabbit, or any of the other various kinds of hunted animals is not such a common practice in today's modern culinary world. To learn how to properly prepare wild game and to do so safely while also ensuring that the outcome is a tasty success is an art and craft all to itself. Learn a little bit about cooking game and soon it becomes not only easier but much more satisfying and rewarding - both for the hunter and for the cook. Sometimes the hunter and the cook are the same person, and if you are a sportsman who likes to hunt then you should by all means consider learning to cook so that when you return to camp or home with game you can put on your chef's hat and cook what you killed.

As with any kind of cooking, it is always best to follow a recipe. There are many excellent books available that specialize in the cooking of wild game, and the best cookbook authors will also include sections in conventional recipe books that address the nuances and special techniques for cooking hunted game. For example, in the classic American cookbook "Joy of Cooking" you will find many pages devoted to helping explain all about the cleaning, butchering, preparing, and cooking of game. Look in the best cookbooks - those that have encyclopedic entries about the culinary arts - and you will likely discover recipes for deer meat or venison, rabbit, and various game birds like pheasant, quail, turkey, and duck. If the books are older and were written back when hunting for daily food was more common - or if they are special cookbooks designed for hunters - you will find much more exotic types of recipes. You are likely to find out how to cook squirrel, raccoon, beaver tail, wild boar, elk, gator, rattlesnake, and a host of other animals.

Most recipes call for grilling, baking, or roasting. Slowly smoking game meat adds a delightfully earthy and juicy flavor that enhances the taste of wild game. Grilling over an open flame - or over a campfire - is one of the most enjoyable game cooking methods, and it is also possible to make a meat loaf, burger, or other dish - just as you might with a fine cut of prime steak. You can also create dried jerky from venison and other meats, and many hunters dry their own jerky and then pack it along for snacks while on their hunting expeditions.

The best recipe really depends upon the particular type of game you like to hunt and your own personal preferences for what kinds of dishes and foods you enjoy the most. Do some research and shop for cookbooks that are written especially for game hunters. Then experiment with a few ways to cook the game you hunt until you have your own repertoire of personal favorite recipes.



Albie Berk enjoys hunting and sharing what he has learned and any successful tips he can with others. He enjoys South Carolina hunting and usually stays at Carolina Buck and Boar

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