Afield: A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish

by Jesse Griffiths, Jody Horton (Photographs), Andrew Zimmern (Foreword)

2012 IPPY Bronze Award in the Cookbook category (Independent Publisher Book Awards)
ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year Award Finalist (TBA)
2013 James Beard Foundation Book Awards, Nominee Finalist

Born from the principles of the local food movement, a growing number of people are returning to hunting and preparing fish and game for their home tables. A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish  is at once a manifesto for this movement and a manual packed with everything the new hunter needs to know.  Wild foods, when managed responsibly, are sustainable, ethical, and delicious, and author Jesse Griffiths combines traditional methods of hunting, butchering, and preparing fish and game with 85 mouthwatering recipes.

Afield throws open the doors of field dressing for novice and experienced hunters alike, supplying the know-how for the next logical step in the local, sustainable food movement.  Stemming from a commitment to locally grown vegetables and nose-to-tail cooking, Griffiths is an expert guide on this tour of tradition and taste, offering a combination of hunting lessons, butchery methods, recipes, including how to scale, clean, stuff, fillet, skin, braise, fry and more. Fellow hunting enthusiast and food photographer Jody Horton takes you into the field, follows Griffiths step-by-step along the way and then provides you with exquisite plate photograph of the finished feasts. Filled with descriptive stories and photographs, Afield takes the reader along for the hunt, from duck and dove to deer and wild hog.

Game and fish
Doves, Deer, Hogs, Squirrel, Rabbits, Ducks, Geese, Turkey, Flounder, White Bass, Crabs, Catfish, and more.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Food and Drink

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2012

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty stingy with my stars. For what this book is, 5 stars. Well written, beautiful photography and great looking recipes. I don't hunt a lot, but really enjoy it when I do, and always enjoy and appreciate eating wild game. I'm kind of a "wiggly bits" kind of eater, so I appreciate the offal recipes, as well as the detailed butchering instruction with accompanying photographs. Favorite quote in the book: "If you would like to use less fat in your sausages, we would reccomend not making sausage".

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I'll find myself going back to quite a bit. Not giving it a 5-star rating because I rarely do that unless I find myself mad excited and 'mind-blown' after reading it. I was only somewhere around moderately excited. I'd be a much more excited reviewer if it had more recipes. However - I think it makes up for that with its precise/detailed instructions - with beautiful photographs as well. I remember seeing a variety of wild game in The Covered Market in Oxford; and a lot of the game birds were fully feathered and sold whole. Obviously the butcher would make it 'oven-ready' for me if I were to buy one, but that doesn't mean I wasn't curious about doing it myself. The book is packed with instructions and tips on how to do all that. I'd say that half of the book is about that, and then the recipes.

The recipes that I like :

- Duck and Oyster Gumbo
- Fish and Oyster Stew with Salted Wild Boar Belly Soup
- Wild Boar Petit Salé
- Salted Wild Boar Belly
- Rice with Gizzard, Hearts, and Liver
- Arroz Abanda

I usually don't find 'Surf and Turf' recipes very appealing, but the first two recipes on the list above are real cool, are they not? I wouldn't say that I'm a big fan of 'gumbo' but was drawn to the combination of duck and oyster. I think when I make it - I'll be adding some barley/lentils to it for texture and that extra earthy element. I really love oysters - so it's not hard for me to like the other recipe with oysters in it. But I'd add white wine to it; maybe some seaweed/samphire as well. I don't hate that the recipes make me want to 'tweak' them - because the base/original concept is good/simple and inspiring.

The salted wild boar belly would be such a good thing to have with a generous serving of colcannon. It's be such a 'comfort food' to indulge in.

I think my favourite out of the list might be 'Rice with Gizzard, Hearts, and Liver'. I wouldn't use brown rice; instead, I'd use 'Japgokbap' which is a Korean mixed grain rice - and even add gingko nuts/chestnuts/burdock/wild mushrooms if I'm feeling particularly 'extra' (& then to eat it with pickles/kimchi and 'banchan' (Korean side dishes would be so perfect). I don't think I've seen offals being cooked like this before so it really got me excited. One of my favourite ways to eat offals is in a yakiniku restaurant - duck hearts and ox tongues grilled right in front of me. I feel like the rice recipe could easily become my second favourite way to eat offals.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this cookbook. The instructions/tone wasn't unnecessarily/annoyingly playful like a lot of other cookbooks, and I appreciate that the author kept it like this. Also, there were lovely chunks of 'stories' in between the recipes which made the cookbook a little bit more interesting/lovely to read.

[Stefan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, diagrams, prose about sitting by the campfire, and delicious recipes. More than just a cookbook, an ode to how to enjoy the bounty of the land, sea, and rivers. One warning, these aren't recipes that are quick to make for a nightly dinner. The word chef is in the title for a reason Like the game harvested, this is slow food and the recipes reflect that. I felt like a kid trying to help my mom mix batter and getting tired quickly as I whipped and whipped the olive oil into aioli as directed, drop by drop.

I'm a first generation hunter, and have been hunting small and big game for 14 years. I snickered as Griffiths suggested plucking birds, but it's a good experience for new hunters. Some areas are stronger than others, probably based on Griffiths success in the field, but he clearly is a consumate outdoorsman and chef. The one thing I wish someone told me about geese is that wild ones have tough muscles from all their swimming and flying, and that the non-migratory ones in some states can build up lots of heavy metals from fertilizers in farms and golf courses. Or as my luck may have it, can taste slightly like river muck.

I've only tried the Arroz Abanda, but it came out great, and was fun to make. I'm inspired for next season, and elevating my meals from wannabe huntsman to South Brooklyn gourmond and master of the lands and seas. Maybe that's a bit far fetched, but the fish really was good.

[Bpaul · Rating 4 out of 5]

great photography. good stories. good intent and ethics. laughed a bit at a few too many "photogenic recipes". I.e. slather said game with olive oil and grill over wood fire... great taste and photos... but you didn't need separate entries for this, just one with a list of which game took well to it would be good. a small gripe tho... its a really good book overall.

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book with little vignettes of what the author is doing, plus how to clean your kill as well as some very tasty recipes on what to do with it.