Heathman - Hunt It, Clean It, Cook It, Eat It

Edited by Hannah Ryder

Proofread by Anna Heiar

Hunt It, Clean It, Cook It, Eat It

Copyright 2021 Haley Heathman

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmit ted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please write to the publisher.

Published by BHC Press

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020934357

ISBN: 978-1-64397-148-3 (Softcover)

ISBN: 978-1-64397-149-0 (Ebook)

For information, write:

BHC Press

885 Penniman #5505

Plymouth, MI 48170

Visit the publisher:

www.bhcpress.com

H ey there! Thanks for grabbing my book. Im Haley, and Im pleased to make your acquaintance.

Now that thats out of the way, lets get to the heart of the matter: many of you have picked up this book and are intrigued. Youre now flipping through the pages to see if this is the kind of book you want to buy or if youre going to put it back on the shelf and keep browsing. Perhaps youve already bought it. Or maybe you were gifted it and are now trying to figure out what youre in for.

Regardless of how it came into your possession, youre checking out the introduction because youre thinking to yourself, This book sounds interesting, but who is this chick and why should I listen to her, of all people, when it comes to hunting and cooking wild game?

I get it. If youre gonna drop some coin on a book and spend your valuable time on something, you want to be sure that the information in it is worthwhile, credible, and that youre going to get your moneys worth, especially when the information comes from someone with zero name recognition. Youre here trying to get a quick look at my credentials to see if Im the type of person you want to learn from.

Let me be up front with you

Im not an expert hunter. I dont have a YouTube channel or a TV hunting show. Im just a gal who appreciates hunting, who has connections to the hunting world, who is a keen researcher, and who wants to keep the tradition of hunting alive.

That being said, while Im only a novice hunter, I do consider myself to be somewhat of an expert in the kitchen. In fact, that was the genesis of this book.

After spending a lot of time with hunters and sitting at many supper tables with more experienced hunters than myselflifelong hunters, in many casesI was more often than not left quite underwhelmed with their preparation of the wild game they cooked. Sometimes, it was barely edible and it was all I could do to choke down some of the gamey, livery meat theyd all but obliterated.

So, what are my credentials then?

Good question.

I grew up a Hoosier in the great state of Indiana. When I was in my twenties, I moved down to Florida to begin my career as a superyacht stewardess for the worlds rich and sometimes famous. I spent ten years traveling the globe, working hand in hand with some of the worlds best chefs to create elegant experiences for some of the most discerning people on the planet.

While I did not start off my yachting career as a proficient cook (growing up in Indiana, my idea of fine dining was a nice meal at Olive Garden or Red Lobster), by the end of my ten year career, I had acquired enough culinary skills to be able to feed a hungry, international crew of eight and was occasionally asked to cook for yacht owners and their guests when the regular chef was unavailable.

What a culinary journey Ive had going from a humble Indiana girl who hated when her food touched on her plate to becoming someone who can expertly pair wine with food and create sumptuous meals with ingredients I had once never even heard of for the global one percent!

After I left the yachting industry, I returned to my landlubber roots and bought twenty acres in Montana complete with a gun range in the front yard. Up in rural Montana, hunting is practically a way of life. Youd be hard pressed to find someone who didnt hunt. I became immersed in hunting culture. My former husband was an expert hunter. I used to say, If he kills it, Ill cook it!

Even though my palate became exponentially more refined, I still never forgot my Indiana roots, and I felt at home with my down-to-earth Montana neighbors after having spent so many years catering to the jet-setting crowd. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised that many of the lifelong hunters I had the pleasure of becoming friends with in my post-yachting life had not mastered the art of wild game cooking.

I realized I could take my knowledge and skills and rectify this. Rather than just being mere survival gruel you plopped on a plate, I wanted to elevate wild game to something more sophisticated. I wanted to remove the stigma from wild game as something mostly inedible that only hardcore hunters liked eating and create dishes that even non-hunters would enjoy. Most importantly, I still wanted it to be approachable to your Average Joe.

I lived in a town of just a few hundred people. We did have a grocery store, but I know all too well what items and ingredients are available in a fly-over country grocery store. There were no high-end grocery stores within a two-hour drive. Ingredients must be basic kitchen staples available in almost any grocery store.

Ive adapted many recipes that Ive cooked using non-game proteins and modified them using a similar type of wild game. Each recipe reflects any changes youd have to make cooking wild game as compared to cooking traditional meat dishes. All recipes are my own, but some were inspired by other people I know either online or in person from my yachting days.

Not only that, but as the food sovereignty movement grows and people are more in-tune with where their food comes from and how its raised, I decided it was crucial to not just include wild game recipes in this book, but to also give detailed instructions in how to hunt the game and the field care required.

Good-tasting meat doesnt just come from the kitchen. It starts in the field with knowing what the best species and types of game to kill are and how to treat the game in the field with the care required to be sure youre working with the highest quality specimen possible when it comes time to cook it. No amount of cooking skill will be able to salvage a poorly shot or improperly field-dressed animal.

But if Im not a hunting expert, where did all the hunting know-how in my book come from?

Another very good question.

Im not an expert, but Im not an imbecile either. Ive been in the field. Not only that, but Ive sat around many campfires while the boys swapped stories of their most memorable hunts. Thats all well and good, but those anecdotal stories merely fill out and inform the book. The real meat (pun intended) comes from the hours of interviews I did with hunting experts from across the country.

I interviewed at least a half dozen hunting guides, firearms experts, and other lifelong hunters. I spent hours upon hours asking questions about the areas of hunting that I knew I wasnt well-versed in. I have pages full of notes. I had audio interviews transcribed so that I could reference them later. Beyond that, I consulted lots of online hunting resources. I watched hours of YouTube videos and sat in front of the TV watching various hunting shows with celebrities in the hunting world.