Cooking

Peel open the dusty pages of an old wild-game cookbook, and the recipes may sometimes feel a bit basic and bland: roast duck (salt, pepper), rabbit and gravy (shortening, onion, flour), and even broiled skunk (salt, pepper, onion, nose plugs). Although some of these recipes are tried and true, gone are the days of cooking duck on a cedar plank, tossing the duck, and eating the cedar plank. That’s because wild-game cooking is evolving; not becoming more complicated, but becoming more understood and respected. Thanks, in part, to modern wild-game chefs understanding their subject matter and exploring new and different recipes—while sticking to everyday ingredients—that challenge traditional cooking methods.