Wild Bites #42: a 3-minute read that makes you smarter about wild food and tells you what's to come on the website, podcast, YouTube, or To The Bone.

 ~ Hank

1. What's Hot Now

Real wiener schnitzel is simple, but there are some tricks to mastering it. 

2. Winter Waterfowl Wonderland 

Honey sriracha duck legs are an easy winner.

Got ducks? Geese? Seasons are still going in about half the country, and waterfowl work really well in winter cooking. Here are some cold-weather specialties that use ducks and geese.

• Let's start simple, with roast wild duck. This method is what I use with most wild waterfowl, which tend to not be too fat. If, however, you have a really fat bird, use my slow roasted duck recipe. 
• This goose soup is my take on if Vietnamese pho had a love child with a Scandinavian. It's made like pho, but with Nordic ingredients. Works great with thinly sliced skinless goose breasts. Want something heartier? Go with my goose stew with barley and mushrooms. 
• Don't toss those legs! Waterfowl legs are every bit as good as the breast meat. Start with my easy roast duck legs, then try things like my sriracha duck legs, (pictured) or Chinese char siu duck legs. 
• A simple beer sauce really lifts up a simple duck breast. Add some preserved fruit and you have an easy gourmet supper. 
• A fantastic use for skinless legs from geese is to make pulled duck - think ducky pulled pork barbecue. Great in burritos, or with your favorite barbecue sauce as a sandwich. 

3. Northern Attitude

It has been cold, really cold, here in St Paul recently. It's definitely had me wanting heavier, warming, comforting dishes, many from Scandinavia or Germany, but there are a few Upper Midwest classics thrown in there, too. Think about some of these for your winter weekend. 

• Icelandic salmon soup (pictured) is a Nordic chowder that relies on classic northern ingredients: root vegetables, butter and cream, and a rich salmon stock. No salmon bones for stock? No problem. Use any other fish or seafood stock, or use chicken broth.  
• Who doesn't love meat pies? No one, that's who. Here are two northern recipes for you: Authentic Finnish Lihapiirakka, which use a yeasted dough, and my rendition of Upper Peninsula pasties, made with venison. 
• Look no further than North Dakota for an outstanding knoephla soup, which combines easy-to-make dumplings, cream and some meat -- in this case sharp-tailed grouse -- for one of the best soups in America. You can use any meat you want. 
• Minnesota will not be denied, though! So here you go: Venison tater tot hotdish. Yep. I made a hotdish. And it's a good one. Easy, yet "from scratc.," Give it a go! 
• Finally, and this dovetails (ducktails?) with the above category, German braised duck legs are perfect for a cold winter supper. Don't skimp on the kraut! Works well with goose, too. 

4. The Hunter's Paradox

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5. Fish Sale! 

Great news! If you missed out on our salmon sale last fall, my friends at Yakobi Fisheries in Alaska are offering a new box of salmon specially packed for you: It's a mix of coho (silver) salmon that I caught while aboard the F/V Heather Anne this summer, as well as sockeye salmon the boat caught before I arrived. 

The box is 10 pounds of coho and 10 pounds of sockeye, plus a copy of my cookbook Hook, Line, and Supper. The list price is $350, which includes shipping, but if you use the checkout code HANKFISH you'll get 15% off the price! This code works on all Yakobi products, so not just this box, and will be good until February 12. 

It's a screamin' deal for the highest quality wild salmon you can buy. All fish were pressure bled and stored in a sea ice slurry, then blast frozen in heavy duty vac bags. It's basically fresh if you thaw it in the fridge overnight beforehand. (Pro tip: Take the fish out of the vac bag frozen, wrap in paper towels in a container in the fridge. The towels soak up any fluid that collects in thawing.)

You can buy the Hank Box here. 

In other news, I just got back from our annual culinary duck hunt in Oklahoma, and I'll be opening up registration for this fall and winter's hunts here on Wild Bites soon. Want to get a jump on it? Well, registration is already open over on To The Bone, so jump on over there and subscribe to get in on it early.

Finally, things are settling in here in St Paul. I am getting some renovations done to the house, and soon will have some nifty kitchen news to share. I'm off to Baja this weekend, to La Paz, Loreto and Mulege. If you have a cool spot to eat there, I am all ears! 

~ Hank

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