Callof theWithgame on the menu, diners enjoy

flavorful dishes that have the added

benefit of being healthful choices.

By JA;\, GHEE0:BERG

Last June, Heidi Skolnik, nutri-tion consultant for the National

Football League's New YorkGiants, decided the time had

come to wean the players from theirregular fare of fast food and thicksteaks. She arranged a venison cook-out, and asked chefs Todd Gray ofEquinox in Washington, D.C., andBrad Farmerie from Public in New

York if they would participate. Bothjumped at the opportunity, traveling tothe Giant's New Jersey home base toprepare an after-practice feast thatincluded Cervena venison burgerswith a tomato/chili jam, andmaple-balsamic-glazed loin ofCervena venison with shavedfennel slaw.

It was a decidedly skepticalcrowd, but after a reluctant biteof his burger, wide receiverMichael Jennings said: "It's real-ly tender. I would probably giveit a try again. I like McDonald's,but this does taste good."

Wild game used to be the main-stay of the American diet. The nation'sdense forests provided food and shel-ter for a wide variety of species,including turkey, quail, duck, deer,pigeon, grouse, rabbit and pheasant.However, wild game, with its well-developed muscle and flavor thatreflected its environment, fell out offavor at the end of the 19th century.Urbanization, coupled with efficientprocessing techniques and transporta-tion, made it easier to purchase, rather

THENATIONALCULINARYREVIEW. DECEMBER2006

RedwingRestaurant'sextensive gamemenuincludes, right, a hunter's platter-wild-boarchop, grilled quail and buffalosausage-and below, a duck/quail countrymashwith a vegetable medley.

than raise, food. And, withthe development of commercial agri-culture, uniformity of taste and tex-ture became the norm, and most peo-ple developed a taste for the softerflesh of pen-raised animals. Except for

the rich, who huntedfor sport, wild game was food forthose who hunted because theycouldn't afford to buy meat.

The last two decades, though,have seen a resurgence in the

www.acfchefs.org · 27

popularity of game. Not only are din-ers more adventurous and lookingbeyond beef, chicken and pork, buthealth considerations are a factor, aswell. Game is lower in saturated fat

and cholesterol than most meats, andthe animals are not given supple-ments of hormones or antibiotics.

Initially appearing as seasonalspecials on the menus of fine-diningestablishments, exotic meat andgame are now fast-food choices, aswell. In New York, Anthony Leonerecently opened his fourth EnergyKitchen. There are a few tables, butthis is basically a take-out and deliv-ery operation, where ostrich andbison burgers outsell beef. And,media -mogul-turned-resta urateurTed Turner is serving bison burgers,pot roast and meatloaf at Ted'sMontana Grill, with headquarters inAtlanta and more than 50 locations

throughout the nation.

SimplyvenisonVenison remains the most populargame, with most chefs using meatimported from New Zealand underthe Cervena appellation. Cervena isa consortium of New Zealand deer

farmers who raise and process theiranimals to specific standards that are

~~(!)

~~~I§

Michael Fusco serves roast loin of venison with oven-roasted tomatoes and white-beanragout, topped with cranberry relish, at Flavors.

monitored by independent certifyingagencies. In the United States, allgame sold commercially must beraised under specific state regula-tions. Wild-game species that can belegally hunted under federal or stateregulatory authority cannot be sold,although they can be harvested for

GamePLanfor a Menu

If anyone example is proof of the pop-ularity of game, it's Redwing

Restaurant in Groveland, Fla. Locatedin this rural, central-Florida communitywith a population of just over 2,000,Redwing has what is undoubtedly oneof the most game-laden menus of anyrestaurant in the nation.

Owner Chris Seefeldt credits his

chef, Bill Redding, with the menu'ssuccess. Redding serves dishes thatbegin in the morning with gamesausages and continue throughout theday with local alligator tail served withherb/wine sauce, and alligator ribs, elk

28 · www.acfchefs.org

chops, buffalo rib-eye, a hunter's plat-ter, ostrich, pheasant, caribou, venison,wild boar and a Green Swamp Comboof fish, shrimp and gator tail.

"This is what I call 'redneckgourmet,''' says Seefeldt, who doesall the restaurant's butchering, anduses an extensive network of suppli-ers, both local and national. "We're inthe middle of nowhere, right by ahang-gliding airport. But people aretotally enthusiastic. They come andwant to see the game specials. Somestick with burgers, but we sell a lot ofgame every day."

personal consumption.One chef who laments this is

Michael Fusco, chef/owner of Flavorsin Tulsa, Okla. Fusco grew up inwhat used to be the farmland of

southern New Jersey. He's beenhunting since the age of 10. "Notonly does hunting bring you close tonature, but the very process forces acertain reality onto you," he says."You see the animal, you shoot it,and it dies. It is humbling, and youdon't take your food for granted."

For Fusco, as well, hunting is thepotential solution to what is rapidlybecoming a nationwide deer epi-demic. "Sooner or later, there isgoing to be some kind of commer-cial harvest," he says. "Conservation-ists have done a great job of restor-ing deer, but there are no longer anynatural predators, and for the healthof the animals, the population needsto be controlled."

Cervena venison is on the Flavors

THE NATIONALCULINARY REVIEW. DECEMBER 2006

HomegameIn San Antonio, Bruce Auden,

---Ichef! owner of Biga on theBanks, is a four-time James Beard award nom-inee. Because of the restaurant's location, verynear the Texas hill country where BrokenArrow Ranch, one of the nation's foremostgame suppliers, is located in Ingram, he canstay, as he says, "close to home whenpurchasing game."

"The game I purchase is the closest to real-ly wild anyone can get," he says. "BrokenArrow knows how to harvest and how to han-dle animals so that there is no stress. The ani-mal is alive one second and dead the next.

And if larder it today, I get it tomorrow."For Auden, however, game is not always an

easy sell, but not for the reasons most wouldassume. "Everyone goes out hunting aroundhere," he says. "Sometimes, people will bringin their game, and I'll cook it for them. Butmost of the time, locals who eat here havehad enough venison, and the last thing theywant is more."

How game is cooked is key. Audenspends a lot of time training his chefs ongame technique. "There are so many cookscoming out of school who have not had theopportunity to taste game or who haven'twanted to. You have to learn how to handle

it," he says. "As a matter of fact, some of my

--

..

menu, but Fusco often givesgame, including venison,quail and duck that he hasshot, to friends, who thengive it back to him to cook.The preparations are fairlysimple, with Fusco usuallysearing the meat to capturethe flavor and juices. Dishesinclude grilled honey/chipotle-glazed quail, andgrilled backstrap of venisonwith garlic mashed potatoes."I don't want to be the typeof chef who does marinating,"he says. "I want my food tostand on its own flavor, thusthe name of this restaurant."

THE NATIONALCULINARY REVIEW. DECEMBER2006

I

"Cervena's purity of flavormakesit a favoritechoice for me. Ithasa taste that most beef cannot

match, with a subtlety that

everyone can enjoy. Ihave usedCervena from New Zealand for over

11 years and it has been on mymenu at Public since day one."

BRAD FARMERIE,HEAD CHEF, PUBLIC, NYC

cervena@NATURAL TENDER VENISON

www.cervena.com

't-

customers are kind of amazed how

good game can be. When they huntsomething, they just cook the hellout of it, and think that is the wayit is going to be."

In addition to venison, Audenserves game dishes that includecinnamon-smoked guinea hen onFuji apple potato cake, Rebecca goatcheese and natural-smoked jus witha sauerkraut/beet salad with micro

celery; and his own favorite, ahoney-crisp whole squab servedwith coconut black rice and green-curry Thai eggplant. By far the mostpopular dishes at Biga's are twoappetizers: game packets, little bun-dles of venison, bison, ostrich,turkey and guinea hen ground upand sauteed with Asian spices and

30

ChefJohnNovi'sbonedquail stuffed with duckconfit and bakedin aflaky pastrysfogliotellecrust is a populardishat DepuyCanalHouse.

tamarind, tossed withthree peppers and scal-lions, and served in"packets" of radicchioand Bibb lettuce

leaves; and wild-boarpot stickers, whichAuden serves with a

fiery currant sauce."When we first start-

ed, it just made goodbusiness sense to use upthe scraps of good meatwe had left from our

other entrees but reallyhad no use for," he says."We ground it all up andput it into these wrap-pers. It's so popular nowthat we have to buyground game just for thepackets. "

Runwild

In the tiny town of High Falls, N.Y.,nestled in the foothills of the Catskill

Mountains, John Novi, called by Timemagazine, in 1985, the "Father of NewAmerican Cooking," is still behind thestove at Depuy Canal House. Noviwas serving game well before itsnewfound popularity. A 1984 menufeatured alligator terrine with pepper-hull sauce and a barbeque-venisonpate. This year, Novi is enthusiasticabout a new dish he created, a quailand duck sfogliatel/e. "I was experi-menting in the kitchen, and took thisthin pastry shell, which is usually adessert filled with a yellow cream," hesays. "I bone the quail, and stuff itwith a confit of duck, and make theball so that the bird stands up. Then,

it is baked. It's a whole other use for

this pastry, and people are loving it."At Lonesome Dove in Fort Worth

and a recently opened New YorkCity outpost, chef/owner Tim Lovespends practically sleepless nightsthinking of new ways to use game."I'll start waking up at 3 a.m., andmy wife tells me to be quiet, but Ijust start thinking it through," hesays. "When I get to work, I put myhead down and start cooking."

Although Love is involved in sev-eral other projects, including a lineof cookware, fund raising forBayside, N.Y.-based Spoons AcrossAmerica, and a partnership withTrefethen Vineyards in Napa, Calif.,he remains grounded in the food,traveling, whenever possible, to itssources. "I am in the kitchen everyday, and cooking on the line wher-ever I am," he says. "With game,especially, the cooking process is asmuch to do with the flavor as the

actual meat itself, and I find that itcan take months for a new chef to

get the real feel and understand thetaste of what game should be."

On the Lonesome Dove menu

there are appetizers of braised-rabbitempanadas, quail quesadillas, andBoursin-stuffed kangaroo nachos, ameat Love discovered while on a

tour of Australia's Margaret RiverValley. Among the most popular barsnacks is Prairie Butter, a buffalofemur bone that is split down themiddle and roasted with chili and

onions. For main courses, Loveserves red-deer chops, braised ante-lope ribs and a wild-boar foreshank.

Chefs are giving their dinersadventurous choices on their gamemenus. And diners are proving thatthey're up to the challenge of thesenew takes on wild game. 0

fan Greenberg in based inRhinebeck, N. Y.

THE NATIONALCULINARY REVIEW. DECEMBER2006

'-- menu, but Fusco often givesgame, including venison,quail and duck that he hasshot, to friends, who thengive it back to him to cook.The preparations are fairlysimple, with Fusco usuallysearing the meat to capturethe flavor and juices. Dishesinclude grilled honey /chipotle-glazed quail, andgrilled backstrap of venisonwith garlic mashed potatoes."I don't want to be the typeof chef who does marinating,"he says. "I want my food tostand on its own flavor, thusthe name of this restaurant."

HomegameIn San Antonio, Bruce Auden,

---J chef/owner of Biga on theBanks, is a four-time James Beard award nom-inee. Because of the restaurant's location, verynear the Texas hill country where BrokenArrow Ranch, one of the nation's foremost

game suppliers, is located in Ingram, he canstay, as he says, "close to home whenpurchasing game."

"The game I purchase is the closest to real-ly wild anyone can get," he says. "BrokenArrow knows how to harvest and how to han-dle animals so that there is no stress. The ani-mal is alive one second and dead the next.

And if I order it today, I get it tomorrow."For Auden, however, game is not always an

easy sell, but not for the reasons most wouldassume. "Everyone goes out hunting aroundhere," he says. "Sometimes, people will bringin their game, and I'll cook it for them. Butmost of the time, locals who eat here have

had enough venison, and the last thing theywant is more."

How game is cooked is key. Audenspends a lot of time training his chefs ongame technique. "There are so many cookscoming out of school who have not had theopportunity to taste game or who haven'twanted to. You have to learn how to handle

it," he says. "As a matter of fact, some of my

THE NATIONALCULINARYREVIEW. DECEMBER2006

"Cervena's purity of flavormakesit a favoritechoice for me. Ithasa taste that most beef cannot

match, with a subtlety thateveryone can enjoy. Ihave used

Cervena from New Zealand for over

11 years and it has been on mymenu at Public since day one."

BRAD FARMER IE,HEAD CHEF, PUBLIC, NYC

cerven8@NATURAL TENDER VENISON

VVWW.cervena.com