Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast [Hardcover]

Hank Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 24, 2011

If there is a frontier beyond organic, local, and seasonal, beyond farmers’ markets and sustainably
raised meat, it surely includes hunting, fishing, and foraging your own food. A lifelong angler and forager who became a hunter late in life, Hank Shaw has chronicled his passion for hunting and gathering in his widely read blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, which has developed an avid following among outdoor people and foodies alike. Hank is dedicated to finding a place on the table for the myriad overlooked and underutilized wild foods that are there for the taking—if you know how to get them.

 

In Hunt, Gather, Cook, he shares his experiences both in the field and the kitchen, as well as his
extensive knowledge of North America’s edible flora and fauna. With the fresh, clever prose that brings so many readers to his blog, Hank provides a user-friendly, food-oriented introduction to tracking down everything from sassafras to striped bass to snowshoe hares. He then provides innovative ways to prepare wild foods that go far beyond typical campfire cuisine: homemade root beer, cured wild boar loin, boneless tempura shad, Sardinian hare stew—even pasta made with handmade acorn flour.

 

For anyone ready to take a more active role in determining what they feed themselves and their families, Hunt, Gather, Cook offers an entertaining and delicious introduction to harvesting the bounty of wild foods to be found in every part of the country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Hunt, Gather, Cook is a fabulous resource for anyone who wants to take more control over the
food they eat and have more fun doing so. It’s a complete reference on foraging, fishing, and
hunting, with great recipes by a writer, outdoorsman, and cook with enormous passion.” —Michael Ruhlman, author of Charcuterie and Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

 

“Going to be stranded on an island and can bring only one item? Bring Hank with you! And if you
can’t, then absolutely bring Hunt, Gather, Cook. That will ensure not only your survival but your
survival with style and good gastronomy!” —Ariane Daguin, founder of specialty meat purveyor D’Artagnan

 

“In Hunt, Gather, Cook, [Shaw] makes a powerful argument for joining him in a few of those pursuits, if only to become aware of the great bounty that surrounds us in the natural world, even when we live in urban environments—and perhaps particularly then.” --The New York Times

 

“Most of us walk through our world and see water and land.  Shaw sees a buffet ripe for the taking.” --Tampa Tribune

 

 “More than a cookbook, though there are plenty of recipes, and more than a memoir, though the book is filled with personal stories, Hunt, Gather, Cook is an introduction to a different way of ‘doing’ food.”  --SimplyRecipes.com

 

“From recipes for homemade root beer and wild duck ragu to finding and picking nettles, the book is a paean to eating wild.” --Garden & Gun

 

“A deftly narrated story that has us considering doing a little more foraging, fishing, and sure, maybe even hunting, so that we can have an excuse to buy a salami fridge, too.” --LAWeekly.com

 

About the Author

HANK SHAW is a journalist, former restaurant cook, and the proprietor of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, twice nominated for a James Beard Award and winner of an IACP Award for best blog. His work has been published in Food & Wine, Field & Stream, and numerous other magazines. He lives near Sacramento, CA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (May 24, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605293202
• ISBN-13: 978-1605293202
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Fruits
  • #78 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hunting & Fishing > Hunting

More About the Author

Hank Shaw is a cook, a hunter, angler, forager and wild foods expert constantly on the lookout for new things to catch and eat. Although he has caught fish and foraged since he could walk, Hank is an "adult onset" hunter who did not pick up a shotgun until 2002; he's never looked back. Hank and his partner Holly Heyser -- avid duck hunters -- now hunt or fish for all the meat they eat at home, and foraged foods form a daily part of their diet.

Hank runs the wild foods blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (www.honest-food.net), which won the James Beard Award for Best Blog in 2013. He won the International Association of Culinary Professionals award for Best Blog in 2010 and 2011, and his work was featured in the book Best Food Writing 2012.

Shaw's magazine writing has appeared in Food & Wine, Organic Gardening, Field & Stream, as well as many other publications. He lives near Sacramento, CA.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The How-to Book June 6, 2011

By Peter Arnold

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Those of us who check in regularly to Hank Shaw's award winning blog, Hunter, Angler, Cook ([...]) have been waiting with scant patience for the coming out of his new book Hunt, Gather, Cook; Finding the Forgotten Feast It finally hit the stands late in May, on schedule, but none too soon enough for a lot of us.

The book came a couple of days ago, all 324 pages, including some great photography, and divided basically in three parts: gathering (foraging) things that grow; fishing, (including gathering shell fish) and hunting, both birds and four footed game. He includes at least a couple of recipes with each chapter, sometimes more, and they by themselves are worth the price of admission.

The book is a delightful mélange of personal experiences, descriptions, and instructions. Hank's writing style is captivating. He could write a book about a shovel full of mud and I'd not be able to put it down until the very end.
If he didn't' write so extremely well this book could have been a disaster, for it covers such a prodigiously wide field.

For those experienced in any one of the three fields, foraging, fishing or hunting, there may not be much to learn. However, I have been fishing and hunting for more decades than I care to state, but even I found new things in each. My plant foraging has been pretty much limited to going after wild strawberries and field mushrooms (the book omits any mention of edible fungi, for the author felt it is too large and complicated a subject) so this part was very helpful. I don't see stinging nettles where I live, but we have plenty of miner's lettuce to beef up our springtime salads.

Hank Shaw had scarcely touched a gun all his life until just a few years ago, but in less than a decade he has become a very accomplished wildfowler after a painful and not very fruitful introduction to duck and goose hunting. He describes whimsically shooting his first migratory bird - a moor hen -, blundering into someone else's spread, and shooting lots of mudhens before his first real duck.

And, of course, Hank is an accomplished chef, and tells you how to prepare and what you have gathered, fished for, or shot. Since my wife is not a good cook - she is a superb cook - and because I manage to create a mess if I get near the kitchen, I don't get to try my hand at cooking. So I don't know how good his recipes may be. I do know that I totally agree with his philosophy on how to cook duck, though, the skin crispy, and the meat rare.

While this is a how-to book that assumes the reader is brand new to the game, don't sell it short all you foragers, fishers and hunters. You'll be bound to find something new and you'll enjoy every word.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone who cares about what now passes as food June 5, 2011

By John M. Poswall

Format:Hardcover

This book is one of a kind; for anyone with a palate who cares about food. As the New York Times glowing review of June 5. 2011, describes it, it is not, as the name might suggest, a book for hunters. Rather: "It is instead a book that provides a glimpse of the inevitable byproduct of life spent at the farmer's market railing at the evils of industrial agriculture while spending huge amounts on organic food." Shaw shows us wild greens -- dandelions even -- and berries, and nuts and roots all around us, and what to do with them for a nutritious, tasty and adventurous meal. And, yes, he talks about hunting and fishing but with a respect bordering on reverence. While most of us will not hunt or even fish, his description of how to cut and cook the food is expertly instructive. Shaw shows there is a world of good food all around us if we only take the time to look and taste. This book shows you how. (It is also wonderfully written by a hunter/gatherer who was a political writer in his daytime job.)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Advanced step for the mushroom gathering crowd August 25, 2011

By Robert E. Connoley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

At a certain point many foragers grow hungry for bounty beyond mushrooms and cattails. They seek meat - raw and wild - yet making the leap from acorn gatherer to elk killer is a daunting one that seems beyond grasp. Hank Shaw's Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast narrows that gap with an entertaining, informative and approachable perspective on all forms of wild dining.

Hank Shaw is a true renaissance eater. Educated, well versed in ethics, smart in his approaches to gaining new skills and knowledge, yet rooted in his father's passion for the outdoors. I do not view him as the modern Grizzly Adams as others have, because I believe that diminishes the bridge that he provides to so many seeking the big step into a full table approach to wild foods.

At 336 pages with sparse photos and just a sprinkling of recipes, Shaw is more focused on a mid-range canvassing of everything one would need to know to forage plants as well as fish and hunt. Whereas Connie Green's Wild Table is all about the recipes, Shaw is about the how-to. How to find the stinging nettles. How to select the gun you need to kill a deer. How to process an animal in the field. Too much for some possibly, but enough for anyone on this journey to get far enough along that you have the confidence to take the next step.

The book is comprised of three sections: Foraging from coast to coast; Fishing and feasting from streams to the sea; and Hunting for food and fulfillment. Green's book focused in on California and Pacific Northwest flora, but Shaw features a more universal selection - wild greens, berries, acorns, and then present relatively easy recipes that are a step above the 70s Love Child recipes that have driven many from wild bounty. The fishing section starts with the ethics and rational for fishing and moves into shellfish, crabbing and a variety of the more common fresh and salt water fish and how to prepare them. He covers how to clean the fish and turn them into dishes such as Sicilian Grilled Fish with Oregano Oil.

The hunting section is the most intricate in the book in terms of his personal ethic and journey. If you weren't raised hunting, the odds of you ever hunting are minuscule at best. But Shaw breaks down those barriers with his personal story of an adult learning to hunt. He walks the reader step-by-step on selecting the weapon, practicing and getting licensed. As a result of his book I am currently in the process of learning to hunt in hopes of actually hitting the mountains next season with confidence that I can humanely kill an animal and efficiently turn that animal into food. Naturally, deer take center stage because of their prolific nature all over the world, but Shaw also covers moose, elk, quail, rabbit and more. Swedish moose meatballs, wild boar sausage and pheasant salad with fennel are just a few of Shaw's recipes.

Shaw is a bridge building for the non-indoctrinated. After reading Hunt, Gather, Cook, you will have the confidence to step out and find your wild meal, and will be able to do it ethically, efficiently and with fun - a wonderful guide on a wild foodies journey.