First Look: The Wild Chef Cookbook

Here's The Wild Chef by Jonathan Miles of Field & Stream magazine, which, as you may have guessed, is full of all kinds of game recipes. Unlike most game cookbooks, though, The Wild Chef taps chefs for its seasonal recipes: John Besh's venison shoulder roast with wild mushrooms. Wild boar stew with salsa verde from Thomas McNaughton. Sean Brock's partridge two ways. Braised rabbit with rosemary and olives from Marco Canora. The list goes on, and chefs' best game dishes are interspersed with hunting tips ("Field Dressing & Aging Deer") and other ephemera ("A Brief History of Chili"). Other chefs included: John Besh, John Currence, Donald Link, Fergus Henderson, Tory McPhail, Paul Kahan, John DeLucie, Marcus Samuelsson (with Moose Stew duh), Tim Love, Jeff Mcinnis, and more.

A note on aesthetics: the book has a sort of Boy Scout-esque graphic design going on that's lovely, but it does seem as though the photography was an after thought in some spots. Still, if you've got a freezer full of venison and rabbit, this is the book you want to dig yourself out of it. The Wild Chef is out August 13 from Weldon Owen (pre-order on Amazon).

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