Harvesting free-range meat is a major motivation for most hunters to hunt. The Australian Hunter Survey revealed 80 per cent of hunters in this country eat at least some portion of what they harvest. It isn’t surprising then that most of the hunting magazines you find in Australia have regular sections on cooking and preparing game meats. The SSAA’s own Field to Fork – The Australian Game Cookbook is an excellent example of the quality of recipes now being published. What we harvest from the wild is truly free range and if handled properly, is not only safe, but is also the truest form of ethical food. Yes, that is a real concept and not something made up. Want to know more? Then just Google ‘vegan’!
Game meat harvesting and cooking is a natural complement to many do-it-yourself food initiatives such as Slow Food International. This international movement has been around since 1986 and encourages growing and preparing your own food as much as possible as an alternative to buying fast food.
Preserving food is definitely not fast, but the effort is truly worth it, and the journey can be very rewarding in itself. What better condiment to add to your game meat than a preserve you made yourself? Roast venison with quince jelly, pork and chutney sandwiches, or perhaps an antipasto appetiser. Don’t know what to do with all that excess venison? Try making jerky; the extra time taken to prepare it is more than offset by the speed at which it gets consumed!
If you have no experience in preserves then The Art of Preserving with Peter Ford is a great place to start. After years of being a top chef in Melbourne restaurants, Peter now runs a catering business in regional Victoria. His love of food and passion for sharing his skills comes through in this DVD as it did in The Whole Hog and Sausage Making with Peter Ford. This DVD complements his previous productions well and will demystify preserving food as a natural extension of cooking or growing your own veggies and of course hunting for meat.
The DVD is divided into many five-minute sections, each on a particular recipe. True to his style, Peter isn’t prescriptive with his recipes, but provides the information required to make your own successfully.
The Art of Preserving with Peter Ford is available through Adele Video Productions for $39.95.