Field-to-Table Fare for Winter

Make warming stews and chili for cold days, using locally sourced, homegrown, and wild-harvested ingredients.

By Dana Benner
Published on December 8, 2020
article image
by Adobe Stock/Dušan Zidar

Many people hunt, fish, and forage for food to feed their families. A great deal of the food my family eats is obtained this way. This is a good thing.

Now, for those of us who do this, how many of you have heard, “I don’t like that,” “It has a gamey taste,” or, my favorite, “It doesn’t taste like beef (or chicken)”? For many, eating wild-harvested game and fish is a new experience, one that takes a little time to get used to. Sadly, many Americans have gotten used to meat, fish, and vegetables found on the shelves at grocery stores, and they think that’s what food is supposed to taste like. I hope the following recipes will keep your family happy and introduce new people to eating wild.

When I cook, I like to use fresh ingredients from my garden or from local farms whenever possible. Additionally, all the recipes featured here include locally sourced beer or alcohol. While the beer, rum, and whiskey I use in my cooking adds flavor (and the alcohol burns off in the cooking process), some people prefer not to use these ingredients. That’s fine; just leave them out. That’s the great thing about cooking: Recipes are just guidelines. Feel free to change things up.

one brown bottle of sauce with a white cap on the left, one white onion…

Benner’s Bison Stew

brown colored stew with brown meat chunks, potato chucks, and carrot slices in a white…

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