44 episodes

Antlers and fins are the parts of the animals that you don’t normally eat but many still chase. This podcast celebrates the irony in that name by sharing recipes for the parts of wild fish and game that you do eat. Cook along with our host, Adam Berkelmans, as he shares his favorite wild fish and game recipes with you!

Antler & Fin Harvesting Nature

    • Arts
    • 5.0 • 3 Ratings

Antlers and fins are the parts of the animals that you don’t normally eat but many still chase. This podcast celebrates the irony in that name by sharing recipes for the parts of wild fish and game that you do eat. Cook along with our host, Adam Berkelmans, as he shares his favorite wild fish and game recipes with you!

    Garlic and Soy Venison Jerky and the History of Jerky

    Garlic and Soy Venison Jerky and the History of Jerky

    Let’s face it. If you stockpile venison scraps for stew, burger and sausage, you likely have some random holdings suitable for jerky. 
    It may be simpler to grind those scraps, but this easy homemade jerky recipe will motivate you to find more value in the scraps or devote more of your deer to a jerky stash. 
    When it comes to venison, anything including pepper, garlic, Worcestershire and soy can produce magic, and this recipe is no different. A slight salty kick from the soy, tang from the pepper and Worcestershire, and a lingering sweetness from the softened, marinated venison ensures a fresh batch won’t last long. 
    Perfect for a family snack or to toss into your day pack for a hike or hunt, look no further for an ideal, portable protein punch than your freezer and refrigerator doors.
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Brad Trumbo
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    About Beef Jerky:
    Jerky is a VERY popular snack in Canada and the USA, made primarily of lean beef, which gets cut into strips, marinated, and dried or smoked over low heat, producing a savoury, chewy meat product that is fit to eat without any cooking or preparation. 
    Due to the way it’s made and its protein-to-moisture content, most jerky is shelf-stable and can last unrefrigerated for months. 
    Though beef is by far the most popular type consisting of about 80% of the jerky consumed in the USA, it can also be made with pork, turkey, chicken, lamb, fish, wild game, mushroom, soy, and even earthworms.
    Jerky is largely made by industrial manufacturers, utilizing massive drying ovens, chemical preservatives, and vacuum sealing machines to mass produce the snack for sale in walmarts and gas stations, though as Brad will prove later, it is quite easy to make at home too. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
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    • 16 min
    Paddlefish Caviar and Cucumber Bites and the History of Caviar

    Paddlefish Caviar and Cucumber Bites and the History of Caviar

    These Paddlefish Caviar and Cucumber Bites are easy to create, yet they make an amazingly fantastic hors d’oeuvre for your next get-together with family and friends. I love making these for a party because I can whip it all up from start to finish in just 10 minutes. Store-bought crackers are topped with dill cream cheese, cucumber slices, paddlefish caviar, and fresh dill. 
    I’ve lived in North Dakota for 40 years, yet I’ve never taken advantage of the unique resource of paddlefish and the coveted caviar you can make with its roe. This year, I finally made the 7-hour drive from Fargo to the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence area near Williston where hundreds of men and women line the river beginning May 1 to try and snag a paddlefish with an 8 or 10-foot snagging rod. 
    It’s an extremely challenging experience where you fish from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. throwing cast after cast, yanking a 5-ounce lead weight and large treble hook through the water trying to snag a giant beast and drag it to shore. Sometimes weighing in at over 100 pounds, these long-billed prehistoric looking river monsters are one of the most exciting fish you can attempt to catch in freshwater here in the United States.
    After spending hours casting and dragging in the hot sun, I finally felt a tug on my line. “Fish on!” I yelled in excitement as my hook dug deep into the fish. The battle was intense, but I was determined to reel it in. As I tried to keep the rod tip high, I could feel the fish fighting back with all its might. Try to imagine the hard-charging tug of the biggest northern pike you’ve ever hooked into, then multiply that by a hundred!
    I’m not a very strong and muscular guy, so it was with sheer determination that I finally managed to get the behemoth close to shore so my friend could grab it and pull it up onto the muddy bank. Despite feeling exhausted and sweaty, I couldn’t help but feel grateful for this incredible experience. As I sat next to the fish, I took a moment to reflect on the battle that had just taken place, feeling victorious and grateful for the opportunity to catch such a magnificent creature.
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Jeff Benda
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    About Caviar:
    The term caviar, coming from the Persian for “egg-bearing”, generally refers to salted fish eggs, or roe, from fish belonging to the Acipenseridae family, or the sturgeons. The fancy caviar as we know it actually refers only to eggs harvested from wild sturgeon caught in the Caspian and Black seas of Eurasia, though the term can be used loosely to refer to any of the salted fish eggs that we eat. 
    To prepare it, fish eggs are gently removed from the membranous sack, or skein, that gets extracted from egg-bearing female fish. They are then rinsed off of any impurities and soaked in a salt brine for a specified amount of time. This curing process helps preserve the eggs and also adds flavour. 
    Fish eggs will vary in size, colour, and flavour from fish to fish. Caviar, or fish roe, is eaten in different ways wherever cultures tend to catch a lot of fish. 
    Let’s focus on the true form of caviar first, coming from Caspian sturgeons. 
    True caviar can be split into three different types: beluga, ossetra, and sevruga. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
    Follow Adam on Instagram
    Visit the Intrepid Eater website 
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    • 15 min
    Seared Antelope Steaks with Fried Hominy and the Story Behind Hominy

    Seared Antelope Steaks with Fried Hominy and the Story Behind Hominy

    It’s Native American Heritage Month and to honor my ancestors I whipped up some traditional ingredients using some modern cooking methods, even the use of mayo on my steaks. Yes, I used mayo, and it came out great!
    I have been researching our upcoming podcast pilot episode and recently stumbled upon an exciting food trend. The trend is the use of mayonnaise in place of oil for searing meat. Yes, you can re-read that statement, I said mayonnaise. At first, this struck me as very odd and made me slightly uncomfortable because who would put mayo on a perfectly good piece of meat? I dug a little deeper into the proposed science behind the “why” and I was surprised at the results.
    An article from the LA Times explains, “Mayonnaise is an emulsion, which means you have small droplets of oil surrounded by egg yolk, and that has a couple of really cool properties.” They go more in-depth, “This emulsion allows the oils in the mayonnaise actually to stick to the food, unlike plain oil. Oil and water don’t mix, which is why it’s so hard to get the fat to adhere to foods you want to grill, particularly meats.” This process, I learned, is not limited to grilling. I slathered a couple of Antelope steaks in a mayo spice mixture and tossed them in a piping hot cast iron pan. 
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Justin Townsend
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    About Hominy:
    Hominy is basically dried corn kernels, also known as maize in much of the world, that have gone through a process called nixtamalization, or an alkaline treatment. 
    So…. dried corn kernels, that’s easy enough; but what is nixtamalization?
    Nixtamal is a word that comes from the Nahuatl language, a portmanteau meaning lime ashes and corn dough. The process of nixtamalization involves cooking and then soaking dried corn kernels in an alkaline solution, usually lime water, which causes a number of chemical reactions to take place in the corn. 
    During the process, the cell walls in the kernels, which are full of alkaline-soluble hemicellulose and pectin, begin to break down, softening the outer hull. Starches inside the kernel expand and gelatinize, helping the corn to be ground much easier and hold its shape as a dough. 
    Many proteins and nutrients are also unlocked in the process, making them available for absorption by the human body. 
    After treatment, the hulls are removed from the kernels and the corn gets washed to remove any unpleasant flavours. From there, the corn, now hominy or nixtamal, can be dried, frozen, or canned. It can also be ground in order to make corn products like masa, tortillas, grits, tamales, and tortilla chips. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
    Follow Adam on Instagram
    Visit the Intrepid Eater website 
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 16 min
    Chicken Fried Elk Steaks and Just What Exactly IS Chicken Fried Steak?

    Chicken Fried Elk Steaks and Just What Exactly IS Chicken Fried Steak?

    On a recent Harvesting Nature Field to Fork wild pig camp in Texas, butcher extraordinaire Adam Steele and I were driving from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport to Jacksboro where the camp was being held.
    We were both feeling quite peckish, so I had Adam look up a potential spot to stop for lunch along the way. “How about a Texas roadhouse?” he asked.
    Bingo.
    We grabbed a table under the watchful eyes of mounted deer and longhorn cattle heads and looked around at walls festooned with Lone Star flags and Texas memorabilia. We decided to get a Texan kind of meal, so we ordered some sweet teas, a big bowl of queso, and some chicken fried steaks.
    I intimated to the waitress that I’d never had chicken fried steak before, and she let out a big whoop, drawing the attention of the rest of the staff. The thought of a Canadian who had never even tried the dish before tickled them pink, and they all stood there and watched me take my first bite – delicious!
    The dish I made here is a nod to that lunch and to Texas as a whole. I combined both parts of our meal, the steak, and the queso, and made it wild-based with elk bottom round steaks. I turned the queso into a gravy, which gets poured over the chicken fried elk, replacing the traditional white gravy usually served with it.
    Feel free to swap the elk out with any lean red meat.
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Adam Berkelmans (The Intrepid Eater)
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    About Chicken Fried Steak
    Chicken fried steak is a Southern American dish (not a South American dish!) consisting of a cube steak, dredged in flour, dipped in egg wash, dredged in flour a second time, and then fried in lard or oil, ideally in a cast iron skillet. It is most often served in the aforementioned white gravy, with mashed potatoes on the side. 
    For those listeners unfamiliar with what a cube steak is, it is generally a thin piece of top round or sirloin that has been pounded and tenderized in a process called cubing - so called due to the square indentations left on the meat. This is usually done by a mechanical tenderizer these days. 
    Cube steak is also sometimes known as bucket steak, named for the cardboard buckets in which the steaks are sometimes sold, or minute steaks, named for the amount of time needed to cook them. Northerners and Canadians like me might be most familiar with the minute steak moniker. 
    The reason it is called chicken fried steak is due to the way in which it is prepared and cooked - much like southern fried chicken. 
    You can actually even find chicken fried chicken in the South as well. What could that possibly be???
    Chicken fried chicken points to chicken prepared like chicken fried steak, which in turn points to steak prepared like fried chicken. Confused yet?
    Where normal fried chicken will usually be bone-in pieces of chicken, chicken fried chicken will be a flattened tenderized piece of boneless chicken that was dredged in flour, dunked in egg wash, dredged again, then fried… just like chicken fried steak. Don’t worry, it took a while for me to wrap my head around it too. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
    Follow Adam on Instagram
    Visit the Intrepid Eater website 
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    • 15 min
    General Tso’s Redhead Duck and the History of Chinese Food in America

    General Tso’s Redhead Duck and the History of Chinese Food in America

    Shawn West - I was fortunate enough to cross a “bucket-list” hunt off my list this past November when I went on a layout-boat duck hunt near Long Point on Lake Erie. Big water diving ducks were birds that I had not had a chance to hunt in the thirty years that I’d been waterfowling, and I snapped at the chance when a friend proposed and organized the opportunity.
    Being run out to the layout boats at the crack of dawn, I was literally vibrating with nervous energy. Our guide gestured to huge rafts of redheads in the outer bay as we settled into the UFO boats, and despite warning us that a potentially slow, calm, bluebird day was in the cards, I only heard “huge rafts of redheads”. I had always wanted to take a stud drake redhead, and that day looked like the chance to do so. The first group decoyed perfectly just after dawn broke, and we scratched down a drake apiece, and throughout the day we whittled our way through a two-person limit, finishing the hunt as the sun slipped below the horizon behind us and a near-full moon rose in front of us. As we took some photos and packed up back at the wharf, I was already thinking of how to prepare the birds we had on hand.
    Since I had a handful of redheads, I decided to make one of my favourite “red” dishes; a wild game take on General Tso’s chicken. Diver ducks can be dogged by a reputation as tasting “fishy” or “muddy” but I experienced none of that. Instead, I found myself devouring crispy, tender duck bites in a sticky sauce that perfectly balances sweet, salty, and spicy. This dish was immediately addictive, with the duck adding a pleasantly rich, and might I say, more aggressive flavour than just bland old chicken.
    Serve this with sesame seeds, over rice and stir-fried broccoli, and try not to eat it all by yourself.
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Shawn West
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    About General Tso’s Chicken:
    General Tso’s chicken is an interesting dish. It’s named after the Chinese war leader Tso Zong-tang, who grew up in Hunan province. 
    Strangely, old general Tso never actually tasted this dish, nor can it even be found in Hunan or even China at all! 
    Although several claim to have created the dish, many point to Peng Chang Kuei, a Taiwanese based immigrant who moved to New York in the 70’s, as the originator. 
    He created the dish at his restaurant and altered it by adding a fair amount of sugar to make it more palatable to white Americans. He named it after the folk hero general tso because he too was originally from the Hunan province. 
    The dish was a success and quickly became famous, spreading through restaurants all over the States, and eventually the world. 
    Peng later opened a restaurant in Hunan province in the 1990s, trying to sell his famous dish there, but the restaurant quickly failed. The reason? Locals thought the dish was way too sweet. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
    Follow Adam on Instagram
    Visit the Intrepid Eater website
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 16 min
    Coconut Mango Iguana Tacos and the Problem with Invasive Iguanas in Florida

    Coconut Mango Iguana Tacos and the Problem with Invasive Iguanas in Florida

    Green iguanas (Iguana iguana) are an invasive species in Florida and are not native to our state. They can cause considerable damage to infrastructure, including seawalls and sidewalks. 
    This species is not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law. So, as long as you harvest them humanely and safely, which we do, then you can take as many as you want. 
    In addition to damaging infrastructure, the iguanas eat pretty much all plants, fruits, and vegetables available to them. 
    Personally, I think they taste amazing and should be eaten more frequently just out of principle and to keep numbers around my home low. 
    This recipe is quick and easy, using tropical ingredients to form a delicious taco.
    Read the written version of this recipe as prepared by Dustyn Carroll
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    About Invasive Iguanas:
    There are three types of iguanas found in Florida and all are invasive. There’s the black spiny-tailed iguana, the Mexican spiny-tailed iguana, and the green iguana. Of the three, the green iguana is the most… pervasive invasive. 
    Green iguanas are native to South and Central America, as well as Mexico and some Caribbean islands. 
    Green iguanas tend to be, you guessed green, though some verge on brown, or even black in color. Some may temporarily sport bright orange or pink highlights as well. 
    They have a row of spikes down their back and tail with black rings. Giant male iguanas can grow up to 5 feet in length and weigh 17 pounds and will often have a large fan or dewlap at the throat which they can puff up to attract mates or scare off smaller males. 
    Most iguanas come in under 7 pounds and females tend to be much smaller than males. 
    They didn’t arrive in Florida until the 1960s when several were thought to arrive on shipping freighters from the Caribbean. 
    At the same time, many were bought as exotic pets and released into the wild once they got too big to handle. 
    Eventually, these stowaways and escapees formed colonies in southeastern and southwestern Florida, where they bred like wild. Researchers estimate that there are well over 20,000 iguanas in South Florida today. 
    About Adam Berkelmans:
    Adam Berkelmans, also known as The Intrepid Eater, is a passionate ambassador for real food and a proponent of nose-to-tail eating. He spends his time between Ottawa and a cozy lake house north of Kingston, Ontario. When not cooking, he can be found hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening, reading, traveling, and discovering new ways to find and eat food.
    Follow Adam on Instagram
    Visit the Intrepid Eater website
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 12 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
3 Ratings

3 Ratings

J. Townsend ,

A Culinary Journey with Wild Game

I like learning the history and ideas behind the dishes. I am an auditory learner so it is fun to listen to the recipe steps as it’s prepared.

Crebs1990 ,

What a chef!

When it comes to preparing wild game this guy knows what’s up!

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