spring turkey banh mi

Before duck hunting consumed my every thought turkey hunting was my hunting obsession. This recipe is a easy way to do something besides turkey nuggets.

Nem nuong is a great Vietnamese meatball that is firm and springy. Easy to make ahead and quick to finish when you want to build the banh mi sandwich. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to connect with a wild turkey, domestic will work just fine.

Ingredients:

For the Nem nuong

2lb turkey minced or ground

1 tablespoon fish sauce (I use Red Boat)

1/2 tablespoon white pepper

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon mushroom powder or chicken powder if you can’t find or make mushroom powder

1 tablespoon honey

10 cloves roasted garlic or 5 of fresh (I like the richness of the roasted)

2 teaspoon kosher salt

Grind the turkey meat fine or cut in very small pieces. Add all of the ingredients to the meat and refrigerate for three hours. In a food processor blend all of the ingredients until emulsified into a very sticky paste. Put in bowl and refrigerate covered overnight.

Brushing sauce

5 dehydrated shiitake or morel mushrooms

1/2 cup Hoisin sauce

10 cloves, roasted garlic

Half cup of water

2 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 cup avocado oil

Blend all together till smooth and Refrigerate overnight.

To make the Nem nuong. Bring a large pot of water to a slow boil. Salt the water.

I use a small scoop or spoon. Make sure and dip scoop in water and work with wet hands. This will keep the meat mixture from sticking. Work fast scooping the meatballs and quickly rolling them around in your hand to form a ball. Drop 10 meatballs in the water and slowly stir. They will float to the top. Give them another 2 to 3 minutes and spoon them out into ice water. They will sink as they cool. Place on sheet tray with paper towels and skewer them up or wrap and place in fridge for when you’re ready to grill. Brush the skewers with the sauce and place on a med high heat grill or charcoal. Let them char up a little bit turning them till they look nice. Remember they are already cooked.

To make bahn mi.

Slice open French bread, butter or mayo the bread. Add the nem nuong, dress with cilantro red chilis or jalapeños with dikon, carrots and cucumber, and enjoy.

Hunting lease trailer

I’ve always loved the freedom of a camper. Not that I don’t like tents and all but there’s something to be said for A/C in the state of Texas. I recently acquired a 1972-ish Midas Smokey travel trailer that was in some rough shape. After some digging in it turned into a full rebuild. We really wanted to save the original aluminum but the years and previous owners weren’t so kind. If you care to follow the journey I’m posting to tic tok and Instagram story’s.

Smoked Mallard with Miso, Caramelized Mushrooms, Garlic and Truffle

Photo by Jesse Morris

Every now and then I come up with a dish on the fly that in its simplicity also seems so complex. I tend to cook what I have on hand at the moment, adding this, adding that. I feel like my best dishes come from that style of cooking, a feral art.

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Miso Garlic Butter:

10 cloves peeled garlic

Vegetable oil to cover

1 cup blonde miso

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 stick unsalted butter

In a heavy bottom pan add 10 cloves of peeled garlic and cover with a vegetable oil. Cook on low heat until garlic is soft and caramelized set aside to cool. Save oil for vinaigrette or other projects.

In a mixing bowl add 1 cup of miso 2 tablespoons of soy and all 10 cloves of garlic. Mix well. Add in one stick of room temperature unsalted butter and fold together. This would be good used as a vinaigrette base as well. I’d like to add a few pinches of chili flake for spice, but this is optional.

Smoked Duck:

2 pieces of duck breast

Black pepper

1 king oyster mushroom

Truffle salt

1 slice good bread like brioche

Season two cleaned and dried mallard breast heavily with black pepper. Smoke at 220°F until Duck reaches an internal temperature of 125°F.

On medium high heat, sauté small mushroom dice until they have nice color strain out of pan and add in duck breast for two minutes adding a tablespoon of the miso garlic paste to coat at the end. Set aside to rest.

Toast a slice of nice bread with butter until golden brown. I used a toast a slice of nice bread with butter until golden brown. Are used a round cookie cutter to make it look nice. Top toast round with diced duck and mushroom mixture and seasoned with truffle salt. I get my truffle salt from Los poblanos in Albuquerque New Mexico. I garnished mine with onion flowers and nasturtium flower petals.

Devils River Yackpacking Trip

It started with a text message. "who would be interested in kayaking the Devils River in June?" Umm me I’m in! After tons of research, buying a kayak, wearing out Amazon and packing gear, we were off to one of Texas most pristine rivers.

It was a 24 mile trek that I broke my ankle on mile 4 🤦🏻‍♂️ however I finished the trip and made a life time of memories

Dove Carnitas

Photo by Jesse Morris

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One of my all time favorites and go to recipe is carnitas.  They are flavorful and easy to cook. My version of the recipe is not totally traditional. I like to lighten it up and use things that I can find around me in the late August early September months. If you don't like the idea of using real sugar cokes, then don't use it.  You may substitute piloncillo, an unrefined sugar, and water.

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1 pound salt pork, large cubed

Pig skin or pig ears, you may use the skin from the salt pork

1 white onion, rough chopped

6 cloves garlic, peeled

1 pound block of lard

10 dove plucked and cleaned doves quartered and hearts (trust me)

1 bunch fresh thyme, whole

1 bunch fresh oregano, whole

2 sticks Mexican cinnamon 

1 Meyer lemon (or small orange), peeled, rind and juice 

3 Mexican real sugar cokes

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In a deep, heavy bottom pan or dutch oven brown the salt pork.

Add onions and garlic to pan and and saute for a few minutes.

Then add lard and allow it to melt and begin to slightly fry ingredients in pan.  

Next add dove and remainder of the ingredients and simmer for about an hour on medium/high heat until meat is tender and the cloudy look of the coke and lard turns semi clear. 

Pick all the meat and some of the lemon peel out.  Pull apart the meat to prep for serving. 

Finish off on flat top or cast iron pan till caramelized.

I prefer to garnish with charred jalapeno, chimichuri and a slice of lime or Meyer lemon.

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Here is a video I did a few years back with my friends from Original Fare.