Untamed Pursuits

Episode 13: Eating Wild Visits Untamed Pursuits pt. 1

• Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network • Episode 13

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Prepare to be amazed as we bring together the culinary genius of Chef Antonio "Smash" Meleca and the adventurous spirit of Chris "Showtime" Johnston from the Eating Wild podcast. Alongside our own Jamie Pistilli and Ridr Knowlton, we embark on a thrilling journey through gourmet outdoor cooking and sustainable hunting practices. Hear firsthand accounts of unforgettable fishing trips, hilarious hooking incidents, and the importance of conservation, all topped off with celebrity tales featuring Kit Harrington and Taylor Sheridan. Discover why combining outdoor adventures with gourmet cooking creates a unique and memorable experience.

Speaker 1:

What brings people together more than fishing and hunting?

Speaker 2:

How about food?

Speaker 1:

I'm Chef Antonio Muleka and I've spent years catering to the stars. Now, on Outdoor Journal Radio's Eat Wild podcast, luis Hookset and I are bringing our expertise and Rolodex to our real passion the outdoors.

Speaker 4:

Each week we're bringing you inside the boat tree stand or duck blind and giving you real advice that you can use to make the most out of your fish and game.

Speaker 1:

You're going to flip that duck breast over. Once you get a nice hard sear on that breast, you don't want to sear the actual meat. And it's not just us chatting here. If you can name a celebrity, we've probably worked with them and I think you might be surprised who likes to hunt and fish. When Kit Harrington asks me to prepare him sashimi with his bass, I couldn't say no. Whatever Taylor Sheridan wanted, I made sure I had it.

Speaker 4:

Burgers, steak, anything off the barbecue, that's a true cowboy.

Speaker 1:

All Jeremy Renner wanted to have was lemon ginger shots all day.

Speaker 3:

Find Eating Wild now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Speaker 5:

The Welcome to the Outdoor Journal Network's newest podcast, Untamed Pursuits. I'm Jamie Crazy Hook Pestilli here with my co-host writer, Air Miles Knowlton. What's going on?

Speaker 6:

Air Miles, my God, that's so appropriate.

Speaker 5:

Hey, I'm sure you have more than I do.

Speaker 6:

I got a question for you. When you say crazy hook, does that include foul hooks? Are you counting all those musky that you've tagged in the back of the tail and hauled in backwards? Are you counting all those muskie that you've tagged in the back of the tail and hauled in?

Speaker 5:

backwards. That's one thing. The other thing too is the fact that I hooked myself this year three times. Yes, you did, I'm getting quite well at the line trick. I had to do it the other day before my son's football game. We were running late, I was going a little too quick and threw a crankbait in my hand, and then my wife had to snag it out the parking lot. So it's good, better than Canada Day where I put a musky lure right through my thumb. So I figured Crazy Hook is quite apropos.

Speaker 6:

Plus, I like the box. So you know, dude, that name is so appropriate for you. The pictures every time you hook yourself, you send me the pictures. Of course, first thing you do is you send me a photo of some crazy hook stuck in the middle of your hand, and then you go into detail about how you yank it out your hand. That last one was insane. That last picture, it was only like a week ago.

Speaker 5:

You sent me one yeah, so I wrote it, sent it to another buddy too and he's like thank god you don't work with chainsaws, you know? No, no, no, no, my nickname would be quite different. So we got two awesome guests this week rider and I think you know, coming back. You just got back from Bolivia, saw some amazing animals. Uh, you've hunted and probably eaten everything. So I'm thinking what better guys to bring on.

Speaker 5:

Uh, the two you know, two of the of the team from the eating wild podcast. We're going to bring them on shortly, but you've hunted everything and fished for most species more than anybody I know, I think. So maybe we can talk some exotic recipes, maybe find out the different things that people have eaten. And then we've had a couple of Madleg questions about little trips. So maybe get into some packing lists, for you know people that are heading on the road and want to harvest some animals or some fish. Oh for sure, you know it's funny, man, you and I. You know people that are heading on the road and want to harvest some animals or some fish.

Speaker 6:

Oh for sure, you know it's funny, man, you and I, you know, we're both fly fishermen and we promote, I mean, a huge part of our show is promoting conservation and right and appreciating the habitat that you're hunting and fishing. And so, you know, you and I, we're always talking about catch and release with a lot of this, but we're also the first to talk about, hey, man, you know, there's nothing like a great walleye fish fry on the side of a river, or there is nothing For me, there's nothing like going offshore and getting into some of the schooly mahi, right, and coming back and my God, what a pile of tacos you can put together with, you know, with a limit of schoolie Mahi. So, yeah, we support, you know, catch and release. Yes, we, we focus on that. But we also fully appreciate, you know, just, not only just the you know the satisfaction of doing it, but the reality what a great way to combine, you know, your outdoor activity with with providing protein for yourself, right.

Speaker 6:

And so a big part of the hunting, a big part of my focus, is a hunter, lots of reasons we've talked about. What do you get out of it? What do you focus on when you're hunting? But a big part of it is proper game management picking the right animal, ideally picking an old buck that's past its breeding prime, it's on its downhill. Yeah, the antlers aren't gonna be as big as a smaller, younger or as a younger buck. But, you know, getting the right animal, harvesting the right animal and then, two, proper usage of that protein once you harvest that animal. And you know, I've been so lucky to have a chance not to do that around, you know, just around the US and Canada, where obviously the big focus there is, you know, is whitetail. You know one of my recent trips to Saskatchewan I'll never forget. I was hunting up near Smeaton on the northern part of Saskatchewan and we got a, took down a great whitetail buck, brought it back to camp. I was hunting with Jim Shockey's team up there. This was a few years back and, heck, we hadn't been back at camp. Probably 15 minutes before one of the guys with Shockey's team put the word out to needy families who had put their name in the hopper in that community around Smeet and saying, hey, if you guys get a good buck, boy, could we use the meat Boy, could we use some venison in the freezer to get us through this winter and literally as we're cleaning the deer, an old, rusty, you know station wagon pulls up and a single mom with four kids gets out of the car and, man, we filled up the back of that station wagon for her and she didn't say much but she said it with her eyes, you know you could tell that providing that meat and that protein for the winter was a big deal to her, and so you know that's a huge part.

Speaker 6:

As a sports person, you know what we do and, as you said, I've been so lucky to get a chance to do this with indigenous peoples around the world and I've done that way up north, up in Nunavut and throughout the jungles of South America and also throughout various parts of Africa. And, god, we get into some crazy stuff. You know, I think about the animals in Africa and those native cooks out in the bush. You know these are bush camps and so you really get the true native indigenous cooks that are using native peppers and fruits and spices that they're getting themselves, you know, using native peppers and fruits and spices that they're you know they're getting themselves.

Speaker 6:

And when we get a Cape buffalo, we bring it into camp and we eat every, every inch of that thing, dude, I need every inch. I mean, we, we start off with a little oxtail soup and then we work our way forward through all the cuts of meat and we're feeding everybody at camp and then we're feeding a couple of you know, we're feeding the folks in the village. There's a lot of meat to go around and there's plenty to go around to feed lots of folks. And we work our way through the cuts of the steaks, obviously the prime cuts that we all love and then you go through and you're eating the heart, you're eating the kidneys and obviously you're eating the liver. And you know it's going to sound crazy. I'm going to have a couple of listeners cringe but you know they cook the testicles, they cook the intestines. There is no part of a when we take down a Cape buffalo. There is no part of that animal that is wasted and every inch of that animal goes to use and most of it is consumed in some form or fashion with indigenous recipes. And you know local, great local culture.

Speaker 6:

The one though, jamie, I got to tell you we were just talking because I did just get back from right, from deep down in Bolivia, and I have to say that I got one that even I wasn't expecting. We were at our camp I think it was day two and, of course, same thing, you know indigenous local recipes and food and the rivers we were fishing. This was a fishing trip for Golden Dorado. We talked about that a lot in the last show. These rivers were full of cormorant and if any of you guys have buddies that are duck hunters, you know duck hunting is such a big deal in Canada, especially as you work away across those flyways.

Speaker 6:

You know, and there's jokes in the duck hunting community about you got to shoot greenheads, you want pintails that's the prime type of duck meat to prepare and then when you see mergansers you kind of scowl at them. You're like, oh, they're fish eaters, they're not going to taste as good and it's not as desirable meat. So you got greenheads and pintails and then at the bottom of the bucket you got the berganzers, which ironically I think are some of the most beautiful ducks to get, but everybody knows they don't taste as good. Well, then you have about three or four levels, using the Oakland A's example, in Moneyball. Then you have three or four levels of pond scum and then below the pond scum are the cormorants, which are truly the trash birds. And nobody even jokes about eating cormorant because they're like well, that's never going to happen, we'll just joke about them. We're dancers. Well, these rivers that we were fishing in Bolivia were full of cormorant.

Speaker 6:

And guess what we ate for dinner in Bolivia Cormorant. I couldn't believe it. I was taking pictures of the dishes, sending them to my duck hunting buddy, saying dude, you got three guests, you know? Or three guesses? Ask any question about it. You'll never in a million years guess what we're eating tonight, and that was one of the staple protein sources in the jungles of Bolivia was cormorant. And and our guests today obviously are experts on, how do you make various things really taste properly fantastic. Well, even with Cormorant, if you know what you're doing, you can turn it into a hell of a meal. So, anyways, that's a long-winded answer, but God, yeah, what a great set of guests we have today to talk about, not only bringing some protein home, but how do you really turn it into a highlight meal, you know, just, not just a feel-good meal because you feel like you got to eat it because you shot it, but an actual highlight meal.

Speaker 5:

Well, I think it's time to welcome our guests and, for the record, your backup nickname was going to be Buffalo Balls Knowlton, buffalo Balls.

Speaker 6:

We got to exchange. I want to exchange air miles for buffalo balls, that's. I'll take that all day long. Buffalo balls, there you go, yeah, yeah got it written down.

Speaker 5:

well, you know what we're bringing up. Uh, fellow network brothers, chris showtime johnston and antonio smash malaka, the originators of the nicknames I think ours are going to be dropped after but they've cooked everything. They've cooked to everybody and I don't know between your air miles and everything they've cooked. I think we're on to something here. Welcome boys. What's going on?

Speaker 7:

Thanks for having me, bud. Yeah, man, I don't know Tone. It feels like we're on the eating wild for a second. We hear nicknames, we hear a little banter back and forth, some chirping about hook sets and hooks in their hands. I'm at home, boys.

Speaker 5:

Thanks for having us hey we're here to please, and I think you know, part of the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network, we got a great team of different people and we all have the same passions, so we've talked about lots of different, obviously, fishing and hunting, and so I figured it's time to come up with some recipes and hear some stories from you lads on best way to prepare things, maybe some weird things that you've eaten over the years.

Speaker 7:

Well, I'm intrigued about the Comrants, eh Tom, because we always talked about that. We've shot some during the season when it's open, obviously in ontario, just to help, uh, do our part, but uh, we ended up giving ours to coyotes and and all that stuff. So I'm really intrigued to talk to you more, maybe off air, and see these pictures about the comrades. Hey tom, what do you think?

Speaker 1:

yeah, I mean, it's funny because we I think we've been seeing more and more comrades throughout the last I don't know five or six years, especially the waters that we've been seeing more and more comrades throughout the last I don't know five or six years, especially the waters that we've been fishing and hunting, like at our, our home hunting grounds there, and we always say we just want to pop them. You know what I mean. We never even thought about eating them, we just want to pop them. You know because of what they're doing and you know their poop is toxic. And you hear all these different stories of why people don't want them trees are dying and but if you can eat these things and they're as good as uh air miles says, they are well I think we just added a few, a few more things to our uh culinary adventure there siege.

Speaker 7:

Well, I'm telling you, if we put up a youtube video of that, the the amount of views, just out of a curiosity, would be, would be cute.

Speaker 5:

So maybe we should team up there boys pursuits and then eating wild with that oh yeah, I was on the fishing canada website scrolling through all your delicious recipes and I couldn't find a cormorant one. So I think, yeah, that's eating weird, wild something.

Speaker 1:

The offshoot oh it's, it's crazy, man. I I again, siege, I don't think we've ever even thought about it, because this is the first time I've ever heard a story of somebody actually trying it. And and the funny thing is is, you know, I believe honestly as a chef that anything that flies, anything that that you know, crawls and eat. You know, you, you see what people eat around the world, and from scorpions to grasshoppers. I have my cousin who just came back from Mexico and he pulled out this little, you know, looked like a chip bag, and he's like hey, man, you want some grasshoppers? I'm like what'd you just say, man? He's like grasshoppers, they're eating grasshoppers like chips, they're jalapeno flavor, a lot of protein. I'm like what did you just say, man? He's like grasshoppers. They're eating grasshoppers like chips, they're jalapeno flavor, a lot of protein. So I'm like you know pretty much you could almost eat anything. I think it's just you got to get out there and try it and hopefully it tastes good, right? You just never know.

Speaker 8:

So, guys, what is the craziest?

Speaker 5:

thing you guys have eaten, either on accident, maybe harvested the wrong thing, or we've we've consumed grouse heart right from the right from the grouse.

Speaker 7:

You know that's a tradition. We got hazed a little bit on one of our hunting trips. No-transcript.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think, yeah, that was interesting. That was my first, for me too, but I think the craziest thing I ever ate was rattlesnake and I had it. It wasn't a pepperette, it wasn't, you know, smoked and it wasn't you know what you would find when you know, here we don't have. In Canada, where we are Southern Ontario, we don't have the benefit of having, you know, rattlesnakes or kangaroo or any of these exotic meats. But I did stumble across one of my Asian friends when I was younger. His family prepared rattlesnake and it was soup, it was rattlesnake soup and I'll never forget it and it was very fishy tasting to me.

Speaker 1:

From what I remember, probably the craziest, most exotic thing I've ever eaten, but prepared, I would have to say, just recently, was kangaroo. Kangaroo was quite fun to prepare and it was the tail tail meat, very lean, braised it, and it was probably, I would say, similar to a pork loin, you know, very, very lean, not too much fat, trimmed, and uh, it was, it was delicious. So yeah, that, the when it comes to the exotic stuff siege, I don't know if, uh, we've really really hit the ground with it, but we're, we're excited to try anything right, he the.

Speaker 7:

The beauty thing for me is, guys, I I'm a hardcore angler since I was a kid. I was that kid that I had a BMX backpack, two-piece fishing rod and my Daisy Red Rider BB gun in there. So I grew up fishing Niagara River and Lake Erie and I fished for like a long time so multi-species and then about 15 years ago I got introduced to Antonio. So my fishing trips with my friends before meeting Antonio consisted of hot dogs, hamburgers, sloppy joes. You didn't want to take a break from the water and to eat. And now, 15 or plus years ago, I got hooked up with Antonio and now I'm spoiled, guys.

Speaker 7:

He will get anxiety around five o'clock knowing that he has to prep us a meal. So we go and drop him off at the dock and next thing, you know, we come back to the hunt camp or the fishing cottage and we're just eating, like I mean scallops and pork chops and you know, filet mignon and all this stuff, and I'm used to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So the history of us. It was never food incorporated before, but it's so much. I don't know. I'm speaking for you, guys, but it's a great part of your fishing trips with your fellas. It's that bonding, you're drinking wine or whatever you're drinking and talking about the fish that got away over some really good food.

Speaker 6:

Hey, jamie, you need to update. You need to upgrade your shore lunches man. I really good food. Hey, jamie, you need to update. You need to upgrade your shore lunches man. I'm just sitting here listening to CJ talk about how Antonio's just raised the bar, dude dude, Listen.

Speaker 5:

if you don't like my gas station sandwiches, then that's on you.

Speaker 6:

Next time you and I are in a truck stop at Art Pryor, I want to see it's time to upgrade man.

Speaker 5:

All the preservatives in that bologna meat will save you from that cormorant poop that's going to come out.

Speaker 6:

Hey, I got a question for Antonio. You know it's funny, you were talking about kangaroo and tell me if I'm wrong. But I mean, effectively kangaroo is kind of like the deer of Australia, right? So it's kind of like, if you will, the venison of Australia. You know, and, and you know I down here in the States, you know everybody watched Ted Turner's Steakhouse. You know kind of come online and that really brought a lot of awareness to buffalo, bison meat, buffalo meat and just you know how much healthier it is, lower fat and, candidly, how just delicious it is. Are you seeing stuff like kangaroo become more mainstream? Like you know it is such an exotic sounding meat, but is you know, like buffalo in the States, which is almost more mainstream now, right? Are you seeing that with certain things around the country?

Speaker 1:

or around the world. Yeah, yeah, you know what? It's a great question here. Myles, I'll tell you what's going on. We got health. You said it right in that question. You said the health benefits of wild game opposed to farm-raised stuff. I mean, we've had guests on our show Siege. You could probably back this up for me. I'm just trying to think of the guests quickly. I could mention Jim Miller, dave Gray, some of these guys that used game meat when they had multiple health issues to help them strength and get better. And as bad as what. What was the Jim Miller? Was it Lyme disease?

Speaker 7:

Lyme disease yeah, and Dave Gray was MS.

Speaker 1:

Was MS and they strictly went to a wild game diet and bison was one of the more popular, was one of the more popular meats. Now, kangaroo, exotic, exotic meats I should say yes, it is the venison of Australia. The problem that we're having here in North America is how can we get it here? How can? Is there a market for it? Because you know let's trade places Australia. Well, they don't have, you know, wild salmon kicking around, like we do in our rivers or in our freshwater. So you know, most of the time salmon is very expensive and it's frozen when it gets there, just like when we receive meat from Australia, new Zealand, especially the lamb. Most of the lamb that I use when I'm cooking on set is New Zealand lamb. Because why? Two reasons One, it's a smaller animal the Ontario lamb seems to be quite big and two, the price difference. Can you believe that here in Southern Ontario we got to pay more for our home animals? It's crazy. And even farmers like I know we're just kind of going off topic here but like to buy tomatoes from a local farm. You're paying double from what I pay at the grocery store to come from California. So I think to answer your question, if there is a way that we can bring in consistently and there are some butcher shops that are starting to do it, they're bringing it in. Quebec is starting to bring in more bison and venison as well. That is farmed, it's not wild, obviously, and there is a taste difference, and that's a question I was going to bring up for you guys after for air miles anyways. But I think that if we had the availability to us, people would eat it more because of the health benefits, the taste.

Speaker 1:

People say game this game. You have to marinate. Yes, there is a certain truth to that. But these animals that we are consuming, especially when we're purchasing from a butcher shop or from a grocery store, it's farm raised, just like the beef we're eating, just like the chicken we're eating, so that gaminess is not so stiff like you would if you were to pot, like they say all the time. And I'm sure you guys can account for this. If you've eaten a wild turkey, well, it's not the same as the butterball you're buying at the grocery store. It's not even close. It's not the same as the butterball you're buying at the grocery store. It's not even close. So I think that health benefits are there. We need to have more people bringing in big of these consumers, bringing in these wild game per se. And I'll tell you, the health benefits are there and the taste is incredible. It really is Like the kangaroo. I was so shocked, oh yeah.

Speaker 7:

He made kangaroo nachos. We had musky trip and we came back and he never tells us what the meat is, so it's always like it's a surprise. So we're all doing the guessing game. You know, we're all eating our nachos, we're big UFC fans and we're watching UFC and he's just like nope, we're like you know moose or whatever right, and were like you know moose or whatever right, and he's like nope, nope, we never got it, we never guessed it and it was kangaroo. And to answer your question about the taste of it, I thought it was phenomenal, I really did, and I would eat it again in a second.

Speaker 5:

I worked at a zoo and we had a kangaroo and that thing hated me.

Speaker 7:

Well, they punch it. I've seen them fight they punch the shit out.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the funny thing here's a random tip If you're listening out there, if a kangaroo ever attacks you which doesn't happen too much around here, but I know we got listeners around the world all you have to do is be smaller than the kangaroo. Oh, it's like an alpha male thing. Yeah, and because I'm not the tallest guy in the zoo, he would always pick on me because you know, we almost saw eye to eye, so I just had to crouch down just a little bit more and then, he'd stop the left hooks coming out my way you know.

Speaker 6:

So anyway, think of the value that our podcast is providing our listeners with the tidbits of information hey, we're not talking about travel tidbits, how to save money on travel, how to properly cook we're literally getting right into it. We're saying, hey, if you're ever attacked by a kangaroo, here's what you do.

Speaker 5:

Don't keep your hands up and work the jab. You got to go a little smaller.

Speaker 7:

This is more and more sounding like the Eating Well podcast. I love it because this is what we do all the time we go from here, there and everywhere.

Speaker 5:

I really feel at home boys, that's so good to have you guys.

Speaker 7:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Back in 2016,. Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you thus the ugly pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

Speaker 4:

Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.

Speaker 3:

The Ugly Pike podcast isn't just about fishing. It's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together.

Speaker 4:

Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures. Tight lines everyone.

Speaker 3:

Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, on spotify apple podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts hi everybody, I'm angelo viola and I'm pete bowman.

Speaker 9:

Now you might know us as the hosts of canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every thursday, angela will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?

Speaker 5:

Well, you know there's going to be a lot of fishing.

Speaker 1:

I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.

Speaker 9:

Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes.

Speaker 7:

All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garton Turk and all the Russians would go fishing.

Speaker 2:

To scientists. But now that we're reforesting- and laying things free.

Speaker 3:

It's the perfect transmission environment for life.

Speaker 9:

To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated you will taste it and whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 5:

So back on track. Sorry, the old kangaroo thing threw me off and I was thinking about how to stuff that in there. But uh, when you guys go on a trip um, I know I got a gas station sandwich jokes but we've got a group of guys we go with every year and we're always upgrading our meals we all bring one meal. Uh, this spring I got to I've made lobster Benedict for breakfast. I'm a big breakfast guy, beautiful. But what's your, what's your go-to fishing trip meal? If you're gonna, if you want to impress the boys or you, you have that one meal to show off to everybody. What are you bringing up to the camp? Go ahead.

Speaker 7:

Tone you got that?

Speaker 1:

Oh man, you know, I got. I wish Hookset was here with me. So again, the Eating Wild podcast consists of the Four Skins and the Four Skins that's the name of our group. Four Skins, of course, for fishing, you know, skins, and CJ Chris, showtime Johnson, myself, smash. We got Louis, top Dog, pereira and Daniel Hookset. Now Daniel Hookset is also, you know, in the kitchen with me every day for the past almost 20 years he's owned a restaurant. I've owned a restaurant. Lou also was in the restaurant business for a little bit before he went nuts doing plaster.

Speaker 1:

And we have a problem. Here's the problem, jamie. It's a loaded question for us, only for us. It's a loaded question Because when Hookset is in the kitchen at his shop we have two shops, one in Mississauga, one in Oakville, ontario and the group text starts what are we eating? Oh boy, here we go, martin's, hookset. Martin's will start loading coolers, like we're going to Africa for two months, okay. And it almost comes to a point where there's so much food that he packs and it's like, okay, now I got to create menus based on what he's packed and we talk about it. We're like, ah, maybe if we're going to fish, we're going to do some tacos, we're going to do let's do some Asian short ribs, let's and we got a whole.

Speaker 1:

Every trip that we go on, there's always a family out there where and I mean our hunting family or our fishing family we have friends all over the place that we go and see at different lodges, and people have heard this on our podcast. That's where the stories are made. But for me, I like to go over the top and Siege, you know that I always go over the top, and Dan still, and you guys are like, why can't we just eat a burger? Why can't we just have a hot dog? And you know what?

Speaker 1:

For me, my go-to and you've heard this on the podcast is lamb chops. And the reason why I love doing the lamb chops is because, first of all, you don't eat this on a regular occasion. It's not something that you come home and say, honey, I'm going to throw some chops on the grill, it's just, you know's one, they're expensive. And two, again, it's not available to you like a steak or ribeye, a New York strip or chicken or pork is available to us in front of our face, everywhere, and even traveling through the States, when we were doing the show and we were through the Florida Keys.

Speaker 1:

It was impossible, it was almost impossible, to find a good rack of land and restaurants. You don't see, I mean it's fish, it's beef, it's pork, it's chicken. So for me, I think my go-to is, and I some of the people that have come to fishing with us as guests um, just recently, taro murata and cody kovancek came up and fished with cj and I and I pulled out lamb chops and those guys faces, yeah, like their eyeballs came out of their head because it's like what this guy's making, his lamb chops.

Speaker 7:

We just got off the water yeah, at the same time uh, sorry, tony, at the same time I gotta paint the picture. The same time Antonio's like ah, sorry guys. Uh, I know this isn't up to par. I'm just kind of throwing something together and everyone's looking. I'm like are you crazy man? He makes it sound like he's opening a can of Chef Boyardee and just giving it to us. He's always so modest and we always got to tell him how many times do you go on fishing trips where you're having scallops and lamb chops? And he's like are you guys sure it's all right? And I just had to insert that because he's so modest.

Speaker 7:

Jamie, we got to upgrade our friends we got to start hanging out with guys like this.

Speaker 5:

I spent a day in the boat with Cody and Omoi. That guy's a beast like a beast in the cage and a beast in the boat. And then adding Taro to the Omoi, I can just imagine the laughs.

Speaker 1:

It was crazy because I was so nervous. Cj is 100% right. I was so nervous because the day picture this we start on Lake Scugog and Cody. It was our first time meeting Cody and, like CJ mentioned, we're big UFC fans and Cody likes you know he's the best fisherman in MMA.

Speaker 1:

You bring him over and we have Taro, you know, a good friend of ours as well. He's taking us out to Scugog and we know that Scugog waters have been it's been a grind fishing that lake for the last five years. So Taro says well, we're going to go through the locks, we're going to go to Sturgeon and my cottage is right on Stevenson Point, so Sturgeon is about a good one hour boat ride through to Sturgeon. And we're looking at the forecast and it says you know, 2 o'clock, you got thundershowers coming in and the locks close at 5 o'clock. So that means we have to be in and out, of, you know, sturgeon by 5. And it's now noon and we haven't even casted yet and we're still traveling through to the locks and there's a bass tournament happening on school gog right siege, oh, 150 boats 150 on a weekday that we had planned.

Speaker 7:

What are the odds?

Speaker 1:

what are the odds? And taro's waving at everybody because everyone sees his boat now catch and cook and they're like, oh, and he's waiting, like he knows everybody on the lake, and anyways the whole. I look at siege and I could tell he's having an anxiety attack.

Speaker 7:

He's losing his mind. I wasn't. I'm the fisherman right, and I know you guys know fishing starting at noon. You're starting at noon. Your odds are terrible. You know what I mean? Terrible. You just you want to be at the first light and all that stuff. So carry on, tom.

Speaker 1:

So we get through the locks, we're looking at Cody and we just want Cody to enjoy himself and Taro's just a character in itself. And Cody ends up getting into a muskie early, I think it was maybe a half hour into the trip. He gets into a muskie right off the island and the rain is starting to come in and the only thing boys I could think about was I didn't go grocery shopping. Can you believe this? I'm not worried about the rain. Also, that Taro's boat was on empty. Every single gas station, oh, man.

Speaker 1:

Rods everywhere, rods everywhere. We didn't even have water in the boat. We're like, oh my Lord, and the only thing I could think about is I didn't go grocery shopping. Think about is I didn't go grocery shopping. So I look over at Siege. We're sitting at the back of the boat and Siege is just nodding his head. He's just like you know, we're going to run out of gas.

Speaker 7:

We're going to run out of gas and I wanted to catch fish, and here Antonio stressed about grocery shopping. We got a lot of mixed emotions on this boat.

Speaker 1:

I'm thinking what am I going to cook for these guys when we get back? This is insane, like we got to get back here. So we make it through the locks. Thundershowers start, it starts pouring. We get back to my cottage. Now it's pitch black outside, taro's like I'm not going home, I'm getting me. You know, let's put a movie on. We're not leaving.

Speaker 1:

And I look in the freezer and thank God, at two racks of New Zealand lamb chops. And I looked in the in in the bottom and I see a bag of scallops. That's all I had. And the only reason why I had this is I think it was from our ice fishing trip from the previous time. We went out and I said to the boys you guys okay with lamb chops and scallops, and they were like what, what are you talking about? I said, yeah, sit back, relax, have a drink. I'll take care of it. And, needless to say, that's got to be my go-to now, because the reaction I got from the boys. It was priceless and and, like Siege said, they're like this isn't a normal dinner or like an hors d'oeuvre cocktail party. What's going on here? So it's fun. It's fun. Boys like I.

Speaker 1:

I can, I can honestly say our podcast brings a little bit of hunting and fishing and cooking and the outdoors in general, from foraging We've had some foragers on. The best part is Jamie, I would say, for what we do and the stories we tell is, at the end of the day, the sport and the passion brings us all together. You know, we could sit here and talk food all day because we've all you know like, like Aramile said, he's had some of the most exotic meats around and at the end of the day he he had a lady who basically her eyes blew out of her head because they were giving her, they were giving her what they went out there and harvested. So the stories kind of all bring us together and I think that's what makes our network special, you know man, you hit it, you hit it right on the head.

Speaker 6:

You hit it right on the head. No, I love the, I love the. It's all connected, man, it's, you know, it's all one big experience, it's all part of that sports person journey. And I so tell me, when you guys, you know you're, I'm thinking about all the days that, like, a can of Vienna sausage was the highlight, you know, maybe some Pringles, and a can of Vienna sausage was the, you know, the 1 pm, the noon highlight of the day. And here you are, you know, talking about, you know, lamb and scallops. It's just amazing.

Speaker 6:

When you're thinking about sporting trips, you know, obviously, sometimes you're heading to a lodge, sometimes you're setting up a spike camp, sometimes, you know, nowadays and I love to see it, when I was younger I used to make fun of it. Now I'm like heck, no man, bring it on. But the whole idea of car camping, you know, or glamping, they call it right, and I'm realizing that there's a lot to that because what it does is it allows you, it allows you to, you know, bring gear in that you're not necessarily capable of doing if you're packing it in a backpack. So you know, how do you guys, see, you know the opportunity to get really creative with cooking and stuff. I got to think that extends all the way out to a campfire, right? I mean, if you're let's say, you're car camping and you got the Dutch ovens with you, or you know, maybe you're car camping and you can bring the barbecue behind the truck, you know what I mean, or whatever it is. But you don't have to be in a fancy lodge, right?

Speaker 1:

You can be creative without the whole experience right, you can be creative without the whole experience. Yeah, you know that's a great question. There are ways of, if you are going out fishing and you don't even have because there's a lot of fire bans, now too that's happening and I noticed this because we lit a fire in August at my place in Skugog and my neighbors were texting me hey, put that fire out, there's a fire ban happening and I didn't even realize because I'm not up there all the time. So sometimes I mean, if you are in the middle of nowhere, I'm sure you you know you got to survive, you do what you got to do.

Speaker 1:

But there is ways of cooking fish without using any heat, without using any type of cooking elements. All you need is a little bit of citrus, lemon, lime juice, orange juice, you know, the acids will actually cook fish and it's a very popular thing in Peru, the Mexicans, and it's ceviche. Like you can literally take a bunch of a basket of vegetables that don't have to stay in a refrigerator. So citrus fruits, tomatoes, pickle things, you know, jar things at home, have fun with it. If you have pepper plants at home or basil plants or anything you have, take advantage of that.

Speaker 1:

Take that with you on your trips, if you know you're going to be cooking out of the backseat of your truck and you're going out on the water in a canoe and you're portaging and you get into a bunch of beautiful rainbow trout, let's say, or brook trout or any kind of freshwater species or I mean saltwater would be the best, but that's not in the middle of the bush. But you bring that back, you fillet it, you clean it, you just indice it with some fresh lemon juice, orange juice, even pineapple, papaya, mango, any citrus that you can pull will actually punctuate that fish, cook it. So it's safe to eat. And I'll tell you right now all you need is a bag of chips, a little bit of salsa stuff you can bring that will be preserved. Stay in your car without a refrigerator and I'll tell you we've had some of the most amazing short lunches without even a fire.

Speaker 7:

Yeah and true. And listening to the podcast you think that we're always eating lamb chops and all that stuff too. My to this day my favorite is crappy tacos. I love crappy tacos. You know, I'm always a Walter guy. Same like Ryder was saying walleye is so good, and Antonio put me on a couple of years ago was panfish and I always thought you know panfish is for me it's a great way to get my kids on fish. I never took it seriously, you know what I mean. And Antonio got me hooked on crappy and especially there's nothing else in Ontario open at the time and we did crappy tacos and like your point Ryder is too is with these car camping and all stuff like that, you bring some tortillas, some salsa, some sour cream and you get some nice little crappie fillets on there and it's beautiful, it is so good.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, crappie is one of my favorite freshwater fish to eat too and, like we said, we do a lot of tacos. Fish tacos is amazing, right? You can add different sauces, different spices. It's simple, like you said, if we're, if we're going on a weekend away, that's a staple. Easy fish, fish meal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think, to just just go back on Ryder's question, you know if you, if you have the, you know if you, if you're out there and you're planning a trip where you're going to be in the middle of nowhere and mother nature has to provide you know and you have the elements to light a fire and stuff like that. I think the most important thing that people have to take with them is have fun with it. Like create, and we say this so much. You know it's a blank canvas. Have fun with it.

Speaker 1:

There's no critics out there. There's nobody going to tell you that that dish was shit because you're with your friends. I mean, they probably will, but you know that's just because they're your friends. And there's been times where, seed you could, you could back this up. We've had some disastrous shore lunches. Oh, my oil has spilt. Oh, we had to use bacon fat to cook our pike like there was. There's been disaster but at the end of day, we're smiling and we're talking about it.

Speaker 1:

So if you can make sure you plan ahead and hopefully, if you are going out there, mother Nature has to provide that your goal should be not what you're going to cook. Your goal should be going out there and getting it first, because you can't cook it if you don't have it, and also knowing your surroundings. I think another important thing too is we've had Siege, and I and the boys, we've been blessed to have friends that taught us the way and we only got this knowledge. We've only learned this because of the people we're surrounded with, and I've never shot a grouse in my life until Coach and Fishon de Gagne took us out on the bush and took time to show us how to respect mother nature and and and boys. We've had some and siege we we got to tell, tell the boys the story about the um the woodcock. You know, that night we were, we were coming back to camp and, and, and this is when we were rookie hunters and again we had the boys showing us the way properly Right Siege.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, yeah, these northern guys, for your listeners, we haven't been hunters like Ryder it sounds like Ryder, you've been doing this for a long time and I don't know what you don't do in the outdoors. Seems like it's a bit of everything, but we've always been hardcore anglers and, um, we got into hunting because we we fish lake nipissing a lot, and if anyone knows lake nipissing, it can, it, can. It can turn fast with the winds and it's unfishable. So instead of playing cards and staring at each other in the cottage, we decided to get our hunting's license and, um, and take the course and everything, so that way, if we got blown out on the water, we could go for the gateway, uh, grouse and start like that. So we got into water, waterfall and and all that stuff.

Speaker 7:

But we didn't know all the rules and there was, uh yeah, antonio was touching on a woodcock incident that maybe one of the foreskins uh, shot it, uh, after kind of the deadline of the darkness. And we learned and we got ripped a new one. Boys, we got ripped a new one. They heard the gun go off at a certain time. Then they came on the side-by-sides. There was a lot of bleep, bleep, bleep. What do you see these guys bleep, bleep doing and we learned man.

Speaker 5:

And that's what it is. Well, you know what, guys? We're always learning about the outdoors, about cooking, and I think we should wrap this one up and we're going to do a part two right away. Let's give a couple more stories. So, on behalf of everybody here, with all your crazy nicknames, maybe next week we'll come back with a new one.

Speaker 6:

But thank you so much for joining me. I want to be Buffalo Balls next week, Jamie.

Speaker 5:

Can we do that? Can I be Buffalo Balls? We'll go through my nickname then. Thanks for listening on Day Pursuits on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. Thanks for coming on, dudes.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, no problem, our pleasure ¶¶.

Speaker 8:

As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Ouellette and I was honoured to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal use by Indigenous peoples all over the globe.

Speaker 8:

After nearly a decade of harvest use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places and meet the people. That will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2:

How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, steve Niedzwiecki, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal, radio Network's newest podcast, diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials tribulations and inspirations.

Speaker 9:

Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way. Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.

Speaker 1:

My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more fishing than it was punching.

Speaker 9:

You so confidently.

Speaker 2:

You said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a drum? Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.