Afield With Chef Jesse Griffiths (podcast + contest)
Sep 7th, 2012 | By Cecilia | Category: Featured Articles, podcast, the show
From Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish by Jesse Griffiths. Welcome Books. Text © 2012 Jesse Griffiths. Photographs © 2012 Jody Horton. Foreword © 2012 Andrew Zimmern. www.welcomebooks.com/afield
CONTEST HAS ENDED
Hunting, fishing, foraging, and growing a vegetable garden — that’s how we fed ourselves before large-scale commercial agriculture came along.
Concern about where our food comes from today has us considering this path once more. Although the thought of hunting can leave even the most carnivorous among us cold, game animals hunted in the wild live and die more humanely than commercially raised livestock.
It is important to note that most hunters and anglers are ethical, conservation-minded people who are deeply respectful of the animals whose lives they take.
One of those people is Chef Jesse Griffiths of Austin. He is Chef and owner of Dai Due butcher shop and supper club. He also facilitates deer and hog hunting schools at Madroño Ranch in Medina, where he and a skilled staff of hunting guides and others teach men and women how to hunt, and then care for their harvest from field to plate.
I spoke with Jesse earlier this summer in the commercial kitchen he uses to prepare the food he sells at Austin’s downtown farmers market. The ingredients in his preparations are locally sourced and sustainably raised.
Jesse says the flavor of game depends FIRST on how it’s handled in the field, followed by the cooking techniques used in the kitchen.
As few of us come from hunting and fishing families anymore when we do have an opportunity to hunt and cook game, it’s easy to get it wrong. And that, in part, inspired Jesse Griffiths to write Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish.
With gorgeous photography by Jody Horton, Afield, published by Welcome Books, is set for release September 18, 2012.
Find a listing of Chef Jesse Griffiths’ upcoming appearances, including cooking demonstrations and book signings when you click here.
RULES OF ELIGIBILITY FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF CHEF JESSE GRIFFITHS NEW BOOK
To be eligible to have your name included in the random drawing for one of the books, you MUST follow the rules below.
- Must be 18 years old to enter.
- Only open to people living in Texas.
- Entries must be received by 6 p.m. CST Monday September 10, 2012 to be eligible for the drawing.
- Must leave a comment below telling us why you would like to win a copy of Jesse Griffiths’ book.
- Comments that do not meet that criteria will not be entered into the drawing.
- Only one entry per person | household | IP address.
- Must include your full name and valid email address to be eligible for drawing. (An email address that uses your full name will suffice.)
- Only entries from people who have not won anything from Field & Feast in the last three months are eligible to win.
- Winners will be selected at random using random.org, after 6 p.m. CST Monday, September 10, 2012.
- TWO winners will be selected.
- Winners will be contacted by the show’s producer via the email address they provided when entering contest, to arrange mailing of the book. Ensure the email address you provide is free of typos. Producer is only responsible for her own typos, not yours.
- INCREASE YOUR CHANCES BY “LIKING” THE FIELD AND FEAST FACEBOOK PAGE, AND BY COMMENTING ON THAT PAGE UNDER THE POST FOR THIS SHOW.
- The winner has one week from the close of the contest to respond to producer’s email to claim their book. If they do not do so by 6 p.m. CST Monday, September 17, 2012, they forfeit their claim on the book. Be sure to check your bulk/junk folder in case your email client filters producer’s email. Producer is not responsible if you do not see your winner’s notification.
- The book will be drop shipped from the publisher, Welcome Books, after September 18, 2012.
- Email the producer with any questions about the contest at info@fieldandfeast.com.
- Producer is not responsible if a winner’s book gets lost or damaged in the mail.
- SUBMITTING A COMMENT BELOW MEANS YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND, AND AGREE TO THE RULES.
NOTE: These comments are monitored, so don’t fret if you do not see your comment for several hours. It will be time stamped and counted if it meets the deadline and eligibility requirements.
Attending Jesse’s Whole Feral Hog class, we used several recipes from the then unpublished book. Afield is the perfect companion for those who enjoy butchery and game cookery.
I would love to have this book for my boys, Ethan (14) & Dax (12), who love hunting and fishing and cooking what they get! This weekend are making stuffed dove from the doves they shot. I think this would be a great cookbook for them to have.
I just started eating meat again after being a vegan for years due to factory farming. I try and eat locally sourced dairy and meats as much as possible but the interview with Jessie today on the radio gave me a little push towards taking a more hands on approach. I know it would be a book I would love to learn from and add to my library.
My husband is in Alaska right now hunting. I am always looking for new ways to prepare the goodies he brings home from his adventures.
Because I wanna know what to do with all these cats my neighbor has.
I admire Jesse’s dedication to real food. I’m not a hunter, but would like to start obtaining my own meat in a way that I can be certain where it came from. I also have a deep respect for Jody’s photography. As a former photographer, I feel her images can transport you to the moment when it was captured. I would love to have this book as it would be inspirational, culinary and photographically speaking.
Thank you for the giveaway!
I love to make as much as I can from “scratch”. Sometimes that means growing my own herbs/veggies, or having backyard chickens in the city for fresh orange yolked eggs! I am also an avid hunter and love to find new ways to present wild game to my friends and family to let them know what they’re missing out on! Cured, smoked wild ham and venison bourguignon are two of my favorites but I would love to learn more. I am especially interested in finding delicious uses for the less desirable bits that most hunters discard!
I love buying locally sourced foods. . And recently i have been mad for pork and cured meats. This book sounds like a great springboard to the ideas I want to develop. Always looking for a new food adventure!!
I really enjoy your show, thanks. My husband and I grew up hunting and fishing, this fall he’s been invited to a deer lease for the first time in years and we’re really excited. His birthday is in October and this would make a nice gift. Since giving up commercially raised meat about a year ago I’ve discovered our Dripping Springs farmers market offers a wide variety including rabbit, goat, lamb and we’ve had a lot of fun with it. (we both love to cook and eat!)
Wow, this is the cookbook I’ve been waiting for! We LOVE wild game, hunting game, eating game! I’ve eaten game when the chef had no clue how it had been field dressed or how to cook it to get the best flavor. I don’t want to be one of those! We regularly have elk at our house and I’ve found many ways to fix it. Pheasant, quail, dove, venison are all at the top of our carnivores list of good eats. If I knew how to fix other dishes, I would be eating wild game all year! What a GREAT idea for a cookbook!
I’ve been hearing bits and snatches about Jesse and Dai Due of late, and I admire where they come from and where they wish to go. I’m also just starting to hunt and fish again, and would like to do everything form catch to table myself if possible. This book looks like a great place to learn some skills!
Cooking and eating wild food is second only to being in the wild gathering it! YAY, Jesse!
I need this cook book! I have a freezer full of venison and no idea how to cook it.
I have been given venison and sting ray and other fish from a recent deep sea fishing trip that a friend went on. I’ve no idea how to prepare this meat or the fish. I would love to have this book to get me started on a wonderful new adventure of cooking wild game. I also enjoy Field&Feast and try not to miss any program. I am excited to have the opportunity of a chance to win such a cook book as Chef Jesse Griffith’s.
Jeff,
We’re talking wild critters, not your neighbor’s pet kitties.
Feral cats, however, now that’s a different story.
Cecilia
Disclaimer: I do not advocate eating cats — feral or domestic.
I’ve always wanted to expand my knowledge of harvesting wild foods. If one is to be realistic then hunting for wild meat should be included. Problem is I have no knowledge of how to prepare it and when I try no-one finds it palatable and it gets thrown out. I’m hoping the information from this book will round out my wild and natural food menue.
Jesse Griffiths is the real deal–an authentic forager and a true Renaissance man. This is reflected in his personal lifestyle choices–love of family and respect for our food and environment are central themes. The many Dai Due dinners that my family and I have been fortunate enough to enjoy have each been memorable, and I have loved participating in his hands-on cooking classes, where he is a natural at sharing his passion and skill. His recipes and advice regarding sustainable cooking and eating are to be handed down and passed on to others.
I love eating wild and “Afield” will help me make the most of my catch!
I grew up fishing Lake Texoma with my grandfather who also hunted and had a big garden. My dad also was a hunter and fisherman and game like wild turkey, pheasant, dove, quail, deer, fish and homegrown produce were a big part of my childhood. I’d love to have the book as a reference and to provide a modern spin on using game in our diet today.
We’ve transitioned to only local meats (and less of it in general). We’d love to check out our friend Jesse’s book to learn about his methods behind many of the delicious Dai Due goods. I’m most interested in learning about rendering lards!
Our house hold has been feeling very out of touch with nature and the origin of our resources. We are hoping to get back to our roots and become more self sustaining. “A field” sounds like a great new tool for us!