Untamed Pursuits

Episode 14: Eating Wild Visits Untamed Pursuits pt. 2

• Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network • Episode 14

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Perfect a juicy steak with our expert tips on resting meat after cooking! Learn why allowing meat to rest activates enzymes, preventing the loss of flavorful juices, and discover the optimal internal temperatures for various doneness levels. Whether you’re cooking well-done steaks, juicy pork, or succulent fish, our seasoning techniques ensure maximum flavor and moisture retention. Your culinary skills will skyrocket as we explore the nuances of cooking meats to perfection.

Join us on upcoming hunting and fishing adventures, from a thrilling four-day expedition in Nipissing to bucket-list trips in Peru and Brazil. From saltwater fishing in the Florida Keys to savouring local delicacies like conch fritters, these stories are packed with excitement and camaraderie. Plus, we dive into the health benefits of wild game meats, featuring insights from celebrity chef Antonio Meleca.

Speaker 1:

How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, steve Nitzwicky, 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, learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.

Speaker 2:

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's might be for more fishing than it was. Punching you so confidently, 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.

Speaker 4:

so so welcome back to the untamed pursuitsuits podcast on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. We got the boys here again from Eating Wild. We got Showtime and Smash coming on, and I'm here with what are we going to call them this week we got Aaron Miles.

Speaker 3:

Buffalo balls, buffalo balls, oh man, buffalo Buffalo balls, buffalo balls.

Speaker 4:

Oh man, we almost took it to the other side, but you know, I guarantee you've been to more places than us. I'm like I can't even get a free train ride, let alone a bus trip up to the other side of town. I know you're going to have to. We're going to have to do our first ever exotic destination trip.

Speaker 3:

And well, I know how I'm getting there on your-. How about exotic destinations? You can do with a bus, I think that's. That could be a great.

Speaker 4:

That'd be a great topic, that's true, so, wow, where do we go? We got the. These boys got us going about cooking, about planning and-. Oh, it's such a great show, yeah, so I think we should bring them on right away.

Speaker 3:

What do you think? Well, I tell you CJ on the last show was asking about. We were talking about some of the crazy places I've been and I've eaten some of these unusual. We're talking about unusual meat, unusual sources of protein from around the world, and Antonio is talking about all the amazing ways you can prepare it. And CJ is talking about growing up as a fisherman and appreciating right that full circle of being a sports person and providing meat. But you know I do get asked that question how in the world, you know what kind of sparked you or what kind of got you down this path. And you know I grew up my family is, you know, jamie's in the Southeast.

Speaker 3:

We live in the Carolinas, but originally I'm from an old family farm in upstate New York, outside of Syracuse, and you know I was fourth generation on the farm. We'd been there, my family had been there forever. But we were a self-supportive farm. We weren't a big commercial farm, you know. It was just a small little 40 acre farm, nothing fancy. We're in a very rural, you know, kind of quiet part of upstate New York but we would eat what my dad, you know, would hunt. So we were a self-sustained family, and what I mean by that is, you know, my mom would grow vegetables in the garden and we ate those vegetables. We had grapes, we had grape vines, we had raspberries, we had cantaloupe, we had all those things in addition to the vegetable garden. We had a pretty serious maple syrup operation on our little farm For only 40 acres. We were not doing it commercially, we're giving it to everybody. All of our friends and family are getting Christmas gifts of the same old Knowlton family maple syrup each year. But we would pop out a lot of maple syrup each year so that was kind of a source of sugar. My dad raised bees. We had bees on the farm. You know that was, you know, for really the other part of our, our sugar. You know our sugar component.

Speaker 3:

My, my folks raised ducks instead of chickens. They learned this was back in the seventies. You know this was early on. Nowadays a lot of folks are doing this. So this was back in the old days, and and, and, and and they, you know they made the decision we're going to raise ducks because the duck egg is bigger and you get more protein per egg from a duck egg than a chicken egg. And those are the when you're when every penny counts. We were a very modest, modest family growing up and every penny counted and so we made the decision to raise ducks instead of chickens. They get every little last piece of protein out of those eggs. And then, as it relates to the meat, which I know is such a big part of the show here, we did two things Twice a year.

Speaker 3:

We would pack up and haul an aluminum boat down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with a toilet behind. You know our pickup truck. My sister and I would sit in the back of the pickup truck on beanbags. Talk about unsafe in the 70s. You know we talk about kids, you know, of course. You know you got the parents smoking up front. You know windows up parents smoking. Meanwhile I got my sister and I in the back of a pickup truck sitting on beanbags driving down to, you know, the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Speaker 3:

But we would do that twice a year during the bluefish runs. The bluefish, of course, come down the northeastern side of the US. You know big hits up in the northeast Jersey and those areas famous for that. But they would come and hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina each year in November and April and we would come down and fish and those are the two coldest times of the year to be on the Outer Banks. And so we'd be wearing snorkel hood, you know, parkas and all this stuff in the saltwater, blue jeans, you know canvas waders, all that crazy stuff. This is a classic mid-70s fishing garb. And we would go catch hundreds of pounds of bluefish and we would fill up coolers, haul it back to the farm and we would eat bluefish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two or three months.

Speaker 3:

And then the main thing is, throughout the rest of the year we were eating what my dad would hunt. So, you know, on our 40 acres we weren't hunting trophy anything. We were hunting for food, you know, and so it might. If we're lucky. He'd get a deer, you know, and nobody was counting points. People were just, you know, cutting out steaks. More likely he was shooting rabbit, turkey. And then in that area, you know, cj, on the last show, talked about getting his first grouse and eating the grouse heart and all that. And that was probably for us like the ultimate thing that my dad could get, you know, as a kid is, if he got a grouse, bring the grouse home because it was so delicious.

Speaker 3:

But that's what got me started, man. I just never until I went to college. I never really saw my first suburb until I went to college and realized, man, this isn't what everybody does. I didn't know any better, I just it's how I grew up. You know, I knew I had friends that got to eat mini raviolis out of a can and that for me, was like a fantasy. I couldn't imagine how lucky those kids were. They got to eat mini raviolis. But anyways, yeah, you were one of them. I was envious, but anyways, by the time I got to college I was like, okay, not everybody lives like this, but that's what got me started on that path.

Speaker 4:

Oh, wow, man. Well listen, let's bring on our guest there. Cormorant Brough, we've got Chris Jotam-Johnson. That's great, that's another great name Antonio Smash Malacca. What's up guys? Thanks for coming back. Always good to chat with you guys. You guys get me fired up, not only about the outdoors but about also harvesting what we catch. And I don't hunt, but I'm about to do the transition, so welcome back guys. It's good to have you back.

Speaker 5:

Thanks for having us back. We're not used to the invite again. We're only used to getting a one invite, never a back again. So yeah, this is a pleasure.

Speaker 4:

Oh, the mailbag was just full. People are happy. People are excited. Get both podcasts together. You know kind of firing some questions back. So thanks again, guys. So where do you guys want to go today? We got, I got one question that came in via the old the interweb, on our, on our Instagram page at Untamed Pursuits. Just a quick question for Smash Any common barbecue mistakes If somebody just wanted to make a simple steak or chicken, what's the biggest mistake and what's the easiest way? Wanted to make a simple steak or chicken, what's the biggest mistake and what's the easiest way just to prepare a good steak?

Speaker 6:

I think the most important thing knowing is your barbecue, knowing what it is that you have. There's some barbecues out there that struggle to get even to 400 and there's some barbecues that will go to like 700 within two minutes, depending on the strength of your barbecue, the quality of your barbecue, and I find that also on the cut of meat that you're using, if you're going to be doing rib-eyes, if you're going to be doing fillets, for me, there's no other way of cooking a steak better than 135 degrees internally, which is medium rare. And there's so many different tools out there, jamie, that will help you cook your steak perfectly every single time, and it's a simple meat probe that you could purchase now on anywhere, even Amazon. They'll deliver it right to your front door and you can buy any size, any thickness, any cut of meat, and I can tell you right now it will tell you on your phone when that steak is cooked perfectly to what you like Like. If you like it a little bit more medium, well, you cook the 145.

Speaker 6:

Resting meat is probably the most important step in perfecting a perfect cut of meat, and I'll tell you why. Most people make their mistake when they pull their meat off, say they want to pull it off at 135. That's perfectly cooked, medium rare. They put it, they put it in on their plate and they eat it right away. And you literally see all the juices coming out of that steak on your plate and people are like, oh my God, look at all this blood coming out. Well, no, it's not blood. You're not there's. The animals already been bled. Okay, what's happening is you're not giving enough time for that meat to rest from being on the grill over 400 degrees and for those enzymes to activate. And what happens is when you cut into a steak that's been cooked, let's say, to 135, so you're going to have pink meat, it's going to be red. What you should see if you rest that meat properly, is, when you cut into that steak, there should be no juice coming out onto your plate. It should be coming in your mouth, it should be exploding in your mouth. That's a perfectly cooked steak, meaning you rested it properly. Cook it to how you like. Buy yourself a meter probe, stick it in one steak, get it on there. When it reaches 135, pull it, rest it. At this point it might be closer to medium. Well, so, going back to when to pull a stake? When do you know you should pull a stake? For me, what I do is I'll pull it 10 degrees less than what it's supposed to be. You can wrap it in foil, you can keep it on a plate, let it rest, give it 10 minutes, because what's going to happen is when those enzymes are activating, it's going to climb 10 more degrees. So now that steak that you pulled at 125, by the time you cut into it is going to be 135. And to me, that's a perfectly cooked steak.

Speaker 6:

Now there are people that like their steak well done. Well, if you like your steak well done, which there's a lot of people, jamie, we cook for I cook for hundreds of people every day and there's always that you know 5% of the people that like their meat well done. And it's very simple you can cook it till as long as you want because there's going to be no activation process when you eat a steak that's cooked 180 degrees, so in that case you know you could pull that steak, make sure it's well seasoned and you can eat it right off of the grill, and that's where you'll get a steak that's cooked well done, in my opinion, where you're going to get the most flavor out of it, because usually you know the flavor profile of the fat is gone when you're cooking meat. You're overcooking meat and that's where you get the dryness from most of those leaner cuts of meat. People are like well, this is too dry.

Speaker 6:

And just another quick point is pork. You are insane if you think you can't eat pork at 135 degrees. And I get it a lot. I get farmers abusing me, pig farmers saying hey, you should be cooking your pork longer than that. And I look at them and I say, well, I'm not coming to your house for a pork chop because I'm going to need sandpaper, because it's probably dry.

Speaker 6:

And you can cook pork to 135 degrees. Let it rest to 145. You're going to see a little bit of pink in there, but I am telling you it will be the best pork chop or best pork tenderloin. We're not talking ribs here, we're not talking cuts that are on the bone. When things are on the bone you might want to cook it a little bit more, but that's another conversation for another question. But to answer the question, brother 125, pull it off the grill. Get yourself a meat probe if you're not experienced enough to touch it to know when that steak is cooked to how you like and resting. You don't rest your meat. You're literally taking the juices and putting it on your plate for bread to dip later. You want that to happen in your mouth.

Speaker 3:

Antonio, you mentioned seasoning the meat, and then obviously you're talking about the proper way to cook a steak. Two questions for you. One I'm really curious about your thoughts on seasoning both beef and fish. What are your thoughts on that in general? How do you do it? And then two follow-up question then would be you know you're talking about how you approach it with a steak, how do you approach fish and shellfish? Because if there's one thing that man, constantly, you know, you get overcooked, or I myself overcook it all the time, always overcooking fish and surely always overcooking shellfish, you know. So how do you, how do you approach your same thoughts and approach, you know, to fish and shellfish as well?

Speaker 6:

Yeah, it's a great question. So a couple of things. The first part of the question is seasoning. I prefer to season on the grill, and the reason why it's a great question and I'll tell you what my reasoning is for it is because you're pulling, you're extracting moisture. So if you're salting anything before and you watch this on TV like crazy, people are like oh yeah, so we're going to marinate and we're going to marinate and we're going to let it sit in the fridge for two hours or 24 hours, in some cases 48 hours. To me that's insane because when you are seasoning something with salt, you're literally dehydrating the meat and salt and seasoning is flavor. That's the whole meaning of seasoning.

Speaker 6:

And back in the day you know we talk about your stories of in the old days. You know if you guys were out there and you're harvesting something out in the bush and you're cooking it, I'm pretty sure you don't have. You know, jamaican jerk seasoning in your back pocket to jerk it up or whatever it is. You know we're talking old school cooking. Salt is your main ingredient. Pepper is nice because it gives it a little bit of peppery, a little bit of spice. But salt and you look at the old South American style of cooking, which meat is a huge part of their diet and we go to like the picanha or the culottes or any of those cuts that have high fat. When you watch these guys cook over a flame they're literally salting as it's cooking and they pull it off and they cut it and it's delicious the fat, the salt and the meat. People are over-seasoning things and they're doing it too early.

Speaker 6:

Now you can marinate. Marinate is a different thing. You can use different things liquid marinades, vinegars, seasonings, smoky seasonings. The salt is what is going to extract and dry out your meat. So my best advice to anybody listening that wants to cook something nice on the grill but you want a certain flavor to it, it's fine. You can marinate, but keep the salt out of it. And a lot of marinades do come with salt, so you have to check on that. And there's other alternatives too Soy sauces and Worcestershire sauce is one of those big popular. They call that the Holy Trinity. That's your main ingredients in most meat marinades. Why? Because what that does is it tenderizes. So most people that don't have the money to buy the filet mignons, the beef tenderloins, the New York strips or the you know say rib eyes, you know they're buying skirt steaks, they're buying flank steaks, they're buying eye of the round, they're buying cuts that are least expensive, you know. But if they're marinated properly and you let that time sit and it tenderizes the meat, it's delicious. Keep the salt out of it.

Speaker 6:

That first part of the question. I know it was loaded, but I can't tell you how many times I've dried out fish myself as well. And I think what I've learned over the years and it's with anything you do you live and you learn I've been a chef now over 30 years. I've made so many mistakes that I've learned from and I think the most important thing that I learned when it's cooking fish and I'll use say you know we can go as far as deep into saltwater fish as well, but freshwater fish seems to be the one that people you know murder the most when they're cooking and it's because they're frying at such a high heat. You know typical shore lunches. You know you get your fish crips, you shake the batter under the fish and you throw it in oil and it's burning hot and half the time nobody knows what the temperature of their oil is. It's almost impossible.

Speaker 6:

One little thing that I did that changed CB is that I literally bought myself a little, a little probe that you can dunk into the oil.

Speaker 6:

You see it on TV. These guys have these little thermometers. Put it in your oil, because once your oil reaches 350 degrees, that is perfect frying temperature for fish. Because if it reaches 400, all you're doing is you're cooking. The outside it's going to look dark and crispy, but inside is going to be raw. And the opposite, the other way is, is that if your oil isn't at 350, it's at 200 and you're leaving that fish in there. Well, your fish crisp isn't crisping up, but inside you're murdering the meat. It's going to be so dry but yet it doesn't look cooked. So I think buying these little tools to help you is I can't stress it enough will really, really help you perform in cooking your fish and meat perfectly. And listen, I will say this a million times you will never make it perfect every time. As long as you can be a 90%, you know 90 out of 100% all the time when you're cooking something, you'll never let yourself down because you can't please everybody. But you know practice makes perfect in anything you do.

Speaker 4:

That's awesome. What a great question and what an amazing answer. I can't wait to make dinner tonight, that's for sure. Part of our podcast boys is, you know, ryder's been everywhere and I've traveled a lot as well, and we like to dream, we like to plan. So I'd love to know I know Smash just got back from the Bahamas doing some bonefish. I heard that podcast when I was on the way back from Vegas and I'm like I had no way to call you Because I caught my first bonefish on a do-it-yourself trip podcast. And I was on the way back from Vegas and I'm like I had no way to call you because I did.

Speaker 4:

I caught my first bonefish on a do-it-yourself trip. I was on a cruise ship and went for a walk and I had my eight weight fly rod and I caught a, caught a bonefish by myself on a crazy Charlie, and then the security tried to kick me off and I was like, listen, I got my first bonefish on. Arrest me, do whatever you got to do, but I'm landing this damn fish, you know. But uh, my question for you guys is is what? What is next either? What's next for your, for your travel plans, or, and what's your ideal place. Where would you love to go the most?

Speaker 5:

let's see he's going that one. Oh man, we got uh the. The best thing about our podcast is we're meeting really cool people like you folks here and uh, we, we got trips. We got trips coming up like I mean, we got a, a hunting and fishing trip and nipissing coming up, so we're gonna do uh deer, we're gonna do uh musky, we're gonna do bass and we're gonna do duck.

Speaker 5:

So try squeezing that into four days with with uh eight guys, it rock paper scissors and a lot like who's going to the duck blind, who's going to the Venice or go for deer. So yeah, that's our next one and we got some trips planned with some guides and that's why I really like your show, fellas, is to have a hunting guide and a fishing guide. You got the best of both worlds and I know in our podcast I get most excited when we have guides on, because these guys, you know you do it for a living, so like I mean, it's so fantastic. But those are some of the trips that we got going on, antonio. I don't know if you can touch on any more that we have going on.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, I think the second part of the question you know you're to go like we've talked about siege going to, I mean, yeah, talking to different guides that we've met and saying you know, you guys got to really go to Peru, you really got to go to Brazil and fish the Amazon and this and that. So those are all bucket list trips that we'd like to do, but realistically, I think, going back to the Florida Keys, I, I, I was blessed to go, you know, every year for almost seven or eight years with Sean and you know the buddies that we've met from up north. And there's something to say about going out when the mahi, you know you're trolling with these outriggers and you're fishing these big. You know it's funny, saltwater fishing, your structure's in the sky. You know you're looking for birds, you're looking for surface weeds, you're not looking for shoals and humps, and you know so the difference of freshwater fishing to saltwater fishing.

Speaker 6:

And also, jamie, I don't know if you can relate to this, but when you're saltwater fishing and you know you have these outriggers and you're trolling, you know that you're waiting for that muskie to hit. When you're trolling, when you're out in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico you can have anything from a mahi-mahi, you know, bluefin tuna, a sailfish, a swordfish, a dorado wahoo, whatever kingfish Smash that line and you know you just got to get ready for the fight of your life, no matter what it is, because you're constantly moving and it's almost like getting a 50 on, like your adrenaline is just. You know you have something big on, you can't see it and I think that that is one of the trips that the foreskins we got to, really in April. Hopefully, when Grouper opens, we take advantage of that.

Speaker 4:

I think I'm planning on going down to the Keys or going out of florida in the new year too. So I love flats fishing down in the keys for snook and tarpon and jacks. It's so much fun. Like and like you said, you don't know what's coming in. The tide changes, a new whole group of fish come in and hey, it's awesome it could be anything.

Speaker 3:

I mean, you know what's. What's crazy is, how many times are you guys seeing on Instagram now swordfish, my God, swordfish, popping up all along the coast of Florida? I saw one this week. I want to say it was a guy off of New York, you know they were literally fishing for something else and the guy hooks into a swordfish. Talk about, you know, you just never know, you never know.

Speaker 4:

We got up for swordfish about seven or eight years ago and there was two boats and we left the dock at six o'clock and we were at a Fort Lauderdale and we went way, way way out and we didn't catch anything. But the other boat hooked the fish about 10 o'clock at night and we were talking on the CB back and forth and then we forgot about them because we were focused on the fish. And then about one o'clock we said, hey, how big was your fish? And they said, well, we haven't seen it yet. They hooked it on the deep rod. I guess it was like 900 feet down and the dude on the rod was just beat up and they finally got it up and it was only a 75-pound fish and it it like three and a half hours of bite time. Right, like you're done, forget it. You know, like, bring me home but delicious food right there. I love grilling up some swordfish when you can find good local stuff, I bet.

Speaker 3:

I tell you, you know, the last time I was in the Keys, of course I lived down in the area. So we get, you know, we don't, I don't get to go much, but every couple of years we try to get down to the Keys, right, and last time we went, my buddies and I went, we did something eating-wise that I'd never done before. When you go to the Keys, you think about the drinks, you think about Almarada and some of the great little holes in the wall you can go hang out, and you think about conch fritters. Right, conch fritters are such a classic thing, but it's absolutely, it's like the quintessential Keys meal you know is an ice cold beer and a big plate of conch fritters. You just can't beat it.

Speaker 3:

But we had conch steaks, where they take the conch, and it's not just the fritter but it's a full piece of meat, in other words, it's pounded. I think what they did is pounded it out. I think that's what it was. And holy smokes, was that delicious? Talk about an unexpected fun part of that trip. I think we had it two nights in a row. We all went back the next day and we're like bring it on round two man, it was fantastic.

Speaker 6:

It was so good. Yeah, when I took Lou down Top Dog Pereira, we went down to the Florida Keys two years ago, it was his first time and I said the first stop we're doing was we're grabbing some conch. And he's like, what's conch? Again I said, well, it's, you know it's, it's, it's the big horns shellfish that that people blow into it's. It looks like a big, massive seashell and you pull the creature out of that. And even in Bahamas it was one of their staples and you were right. You grab yourself an ice, cold local beer. We had a couple of local Florida key brews and a massive plate of conch fritters with a little chipotle aioli. And I'll tell you right now. It's just, it's incredible, and there is different ways of doing conch. You can do conch as a salad ceviche. You'll see it on their menu. It's conch five, six different ways. But to have it like that, I mean that's incredible. I could only imagine what that tasted like.

Speaker 5:

I always thought it was just a musical instrument. That's all I thought it was. And then I had it when I was on my honeymoon in Bahamas and I'm just like what are we eating? And it's phenomenal, man, it's phenomenal. You guys are making me hungry.

Speaker 3:

I know it's actually getting close to lunchtime here in the studio Funny fish story.

Speaker 4:

We're down in the Keys and we got there one night and we said, oh, we're going to go for a late dinner. We were staying on no Name Key, camped out. We were fishing for sharks off the bridges and we caught a couple snapper and a grouper and we're like, okay, that's going to be our lunch tomorrow, right? So we're sitting there fishing and then we got back and realized all the restaurants were closed. It was like a Tuesday or something. So we did like the 2 am shore lunch and the next day we took the carcasses from all the fish and we threw it out for sharks. And lo and behold, we caught four or five tarpon. They would come in and I guess when the tarpon migrate up the coast they're used to stopping at all the fish cleaning station and eating all the scraps For them. They see a carcass on the bottom and it's an easy pickup, right. So we're hooking these tarpon on these carcasses and all week we're trying to fish.

Speaker 4:

One guy's trying to catch snapper to, and you know, for bait, but then also to eat. And on the last day we were there we couldn't catch a snapper worth their life. So we drove to the fish market went in, there was a beautiful, beautiful snapper sitting there and it was like 23 bucks a pound. I said can you fillet that for me? And the guy goes yeah, sure, so beautiful fillet job. And I said keep, keep the fillets. And I grabbed the carcass and I ran out the store to go catch one last tarpon. This face was like that's an awesome story.

Speaker 5:

That's a great story.

Speaker 7:

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 Gerry 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 7:

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, 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:

Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. 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.

Speaker 4:

Ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of.

Speaker 2:

Outdoor Journal Radio. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week?

Speaker 4:

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

Speaker 5:

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

Speaker 2:

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, all People from all facets of the outdoors From athletes.

Speaker 1:

All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garton Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting things breathe.

Speaker 5:

It's the perfect transmission environment for life.

Speaker 6:

To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.

Speaker 2:

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.

Speaker 4:

Find us on spotify, apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Did you bring back? Smash any, any store, any new recipes when you're down in bahamas? Anything, I know?

Speaker 6:

I, I did, I, I, I was talking to the boys about it and and again, we're, whenever we go away, for me, uh, I know, siege is the stick with. Uh, you know, when it comes to the fishing part and and even the hunting siege, you got to say you, you're probably the sharpshooter out of the group. I, I'm, I'm probably the worst, but at least you're being modest you're being modest, provide.

Speaker 5:

One time antonio and I went out a little off topic and we were paired up and they're like, oh, we'll see what we were going against the northerner guys. So they came back with one wood duck and we had like a baker's dozen of wood ducks and two. So he's being modest, he can pop, he can pop in the kitchen and and in the field.

Speaker 6:

So well, we, we, um, we go away, jamie, and the first thing I do is I I'm on a quick, I'm on a culinary adventure. In my brains already. It's like, like, like it's funny. Um, you know, rider was saying about the conch fritters. In my mind I was as soon as I landed in the Bahamas. I couldn't wait to order conch fritters and it wasn't until day three I found them because our resort had too many different restaurants that were. You know, you have the Asian, the Italian, the barbecue. I'm like where the hell is the Bohemian restaurant here? I need conch fritters. So we had, you know, they have the big fish fry that is popular out in Nassau. That makes you know some of the best conch fritters. But one thing I had and one thing that I came back with and I told Craig, chef Craig, I said we got to make this. It was the most amazing thing I've ever had and it was a papaya, mango, avocado, watermelon, feta salad. I know that's a loaded thing, but it was a citrus bowl of all these beautiful fruits, but like it was. Like I said, you had all these organic and the colors were amazing. You had the pink, you had the yellow and the green from the avocado and there was no lettuce. There was absolutely no lettuce. All they gave you was some fresh lime juice and Himalayan sea salt. That was it. And I remember eating. And it was covered in feta cheese and I remember eating that. I'm like I would never, as a chef, in a million years, think of making a salad with all these crazy exotic fruits, and we made it with kale.

Speaker 6:

The next day we came back, we were on Ginny and Georgia. It's a Netflix series and we fed it to the crew and everybody had the same reaction that I had when I first seen it, because, visually, a Netflix series. And we fed it to the crew and everybody had the same reaction that I had when I first seen it Because visually it looks good. So you know, I always say if it looks good, it tastes better. So that was one of the things, jamie. I went out there and I you know it wasn't in my mind that it was going to be a salad. I was hoping it was going to be some sort of, you know, steak or risotto or something different that I would try, but that was probably cool. And again, the conch soup. I had conch soup in a bread bowl. That was pretty cool as well.

Speaker 3:

You know, guys, for our listeners and Antonio CJ talk about. You know, if this, if you guys are updating this, I know fishingcanadacom you guys from time to time right will keep some recipes on there Is that still a source people can go to kind of check out? You know, follow up on some of these ideas and things you guys have been talking about.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, so we have a recipe of the day on each one of our podcasts, so it'll be either from a fan question asking Antonio, like how to prepare this, or that, and we'll post it on our social media on Instagram and then on Fishing Canada as well, and stay tuned, there's going to be a lot more. Now that we're the summertime, we both have families and now we say like we're going to put our boat away with the drink boxes and the snacks, and now it's going to be duck calls and and and lures. You know what I mean. So there's going to be a lot and lures. You know what I mean. So there's going to be a lot more upcoming. But thanks for asking that question. It was a great question.

Speaker 3:

I got to ask. You know our listeners, you guys are modest and Antonio's very modest Tell us about. I saw an interview the other day I love watching some of these interviews with some of the old rock stars and they had the lead singer, the Chili Peppers, on and he was talking about what you guys had hinted on in the last show. You know, people realizing the health benefits of eating these natural meats, these organic meats right, obviously, we know about the lower fat in Buffalo, but really just the health benefits. And he was talking about making a change and you know, at least for a period of his life, and just eating pure natural meats. And you guys, of course, you guys are working on movie sets, tv sets, working with Hollywood, the whole thing. Are you seeing it? It sounds like you're seeing that become not just in rural North America, but people in the mainstream are starting to realize some of the benefits of this organic approach to natural meats.

Speaker 5:

I'll let Antonio. I'll touch on it briefly and I'll let Antonio finish. I think a lot has to do with guys like Joe Rogan. He's out there, he is getting elk. He's one of the first guys that really I find anyways, to really put the benefits of Wild Game out there and bring it to a new level and with his platform and look how popular Elk is now. That wasn't a household name for many years and he's always talking about Elk and all that and we've incorporated it into our podcast and the guests that we've had on it changed their lives and even with my kids and family now we try to go either farm raised wild or like game or if we're getting it in the bush. Sometimes I have to disguise and not tell them what they're eating but turns out they end up liking it. But yeah, I'll let Antonio touch more about that.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, you know what? It's a great question. Again, myself I'm in front of actors, actresses, crews, numerous amount of people every single day. It's what I do for a living and we are usually dealing with nutritionists a lot, especially for cast and crew. And you could ask Dan, if Dan was on the podcast sit next to me half of his day is looking through emails of dietary restrictions that change constantly depends on what actors and actresses are coming into town and it's hard From allergies now from garlic, forget peanuts.

Speaker 6:

Peanuts is now just in the back burner because you got so many different allergies, from peanuts to tree fruit or stone fruits and onions and like I can't even tell you the amount of diets that people are on and because their you know, their bodies react a certain way to it and I think that's been around for a long time. I think people just weren't aware of it. You know that's been around for a long time. I think people just weren't aware of it. You know we were just so used to when we were young. Oh, we had a stomach ache. You know we're always constantly having stomach aches or we don't feel good, we're tired. Well, now, when you have nutritionists and you have, you know doctors and scientists and everybody that are involved with you know health planning and health benefiting. And you're right, see, joe Rogan is one of those guys because he has the platform that we have to talk about it. And you know, you know your body and the only time you know that there's something that isn't reacting properly and I'll use gluten and dairy as one of the big ones, because you know to find out that you're lactose, that you're lactose intolerant, well, you probably get it because you're on the toilet every time you drink a glass of milk or your feet are swelling up because you just ate pasta or pizza or bread. So the health benefits of eating something wild and meat and fish One. Obviously your body can digest it a lot easier than it can digest, say, semolina or flour or gluten.

Speaker 6:

And I think what's happening, especially in Hollywood, is that they have the pressure of looking a certain way for a certain role that they have to take for that movie, and the diet is always going to be the number one thing when they come into town. And that's a lot of pressure on myself as well, because I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist and I'm not a health nutritionist, I'm a chef, so I have to make sure that I'm being led properly by these nutritionists. Okay, so Alan Richardson, who is the main actor on Reacher, and we cooked for him for the last three years and it was heavy, heavy protein, but lean protein. And it was chicken, it was bison, it was elk, it was beef leaner cuts of beef and the guy is a monster. He also works out six hours a day.

Speaker 6:

But for the normal people that just need to be thin and trim and lean and stay healthy is you have to have your raw vegetables, you have to incorporate anything green. Green is always going to be a superfood, no matter what it is. But having that eight ounce portion and people say you got to have four ounces, well, four ounces, that's bullshit. You need eight ounces of meat every single day in your diet and what that does is it keeps your system clean. And this is again, I'm not a doctor, this is just from the education I've been getting for free on set for cooking for all these people and I'll tell you the health benefits.

Speaker 6:

I see it, and we've had guests on, like we mentioned on the last episode where the wild game has changed our life. You know, and I'm not just saying wild game. I'm saying like a certain diet, whether it's the carnivore diet or you know, cutting out the fats and only consuming in good fats, which that's keto. Basically it's been around for years. But you learn and I think the health benefits are there if you really buckle down and make yourself do it. And they say, you know, try it for a week and see what happens to your body. And I remember Dave Gray Siege, you could touch on this. After, I think it was two weeks that he changed his diet, he was able to walk again.

Speaker 5:

This guy couldn't even walk right, the inflammation was terrible and I'll touch on the only bad thing when things get trendy is the expense. I I can't believe. Like, when you try to buy some of these wild game meats and you look at the price tag on it, it's like what the heck. So the beauty part is, to your listeners, everyone can get a fishing license and everyone can get a hunting license to take that course and go get your grocery stores in the woods and you know what I mean. So it that's a one bad thing about, about these. What the game meets is the expense, unfortunately.

Speaker 5:

But uh, and to hear you talk about, uh, eating duck eggs, and you know, rider, when you grew up, and that's's, I think, life is. I think that's how we're all supposed to grow up. You know and, like I mean, you just have your garden in your backyard and you have all, and you know where it comes from and it touches so many hands, like these meats that we get and what they do for the processing and for the shipping. I'm scared. I'm scared for my kids, like I mean the amount that preservatives and everything that's in it, and we're really as a family, we're really trying to look at ingredients where we never did that before. But yeah, I hope I answered your question a little bit. I kind of would. I'm passionate about it.

Speaker 4:

Well, guys, I know you guys are super busy, so one last question and then we'll wrap this up. But I've always dreamt of doing a destination, with you guys going out fishing, maybe get some listeners. Crazy contest idea, maybe for next summer we can uh, talk, talk to the brass and see what we can oh yeah, get some of them chops out of the freezer and I I'd love to taste some of the food.

Speaker 4:

But uh, you know what one thing? Uh, my wife and I, when we travel, we have a we have a rule when we're not in town, we never eat at a chain restaurant and we always go to like the mom and pop. We kind of eat where the locals go. And I'm a huge foodie as well Obviously not as good cook as you guys but is there any place you've been that you've brought a recipe back from, let's say, vacation that you now it's a staple in your cooking for your guests?

Speaker 6:

Yeah, great question I would. I mean, every trip I go on I bring back something and I'm not even going to say it was a dish, I'm going to say it was more of a recipe that I had and it was a blackened mahi-mahi. And Ryder probably has eaten this a million times, living where he does and traveling where he's been. But for me again, living where we do, I don't have the luxury of ordering in fresh mahi-mahi, which is probably one of my favorite fishes to consume. And again, going over to West Palm Beach, florida, and I remember opening the menu and looking at it and it said and again, I'm the same as you, jamie, I don't like going to those, you know franchise shops, applebee's and stuff like that. Yeah, it's nice to go with the family on a Sunday after church, but if we're going on a food trip here, we need to go and try some really local and fresh stuff. So again, I opened the menu and I see mahi-mahi, you want it pan fried or blackened.

Speaker 6:

And I'm thinking to myself I've heard this terminology, blackened. I know it's popular in the US. You don't really see it much in Canada and I'll tell you why. There's two reasons for that, but the short answer is is because we don't have the ocean in the backyard to bring in these fresh fish that these expensive restaurants are going to charge you for? You know, we got salmon, we got trout, we have all those things, and now you can get them blackened. You see it on the menu and the first time I had a Siege was in West Palm Beach. It was blackened mahi-mahi, and I was like I cannot wait to make this Because there's also a certain technique. It's not just the marinade and the rub, but you know, blackened is the terminology is blackened. You know, it's high searing cast iron. But you know, ryder, you've probably had blackened everything. I would only imagine I'd have no idea.

Speaker 3:

Oh, no doubt, man, I love it. I tell you what we used to do all the time Mahi's, the famous one down here, but we've realized it's striped bass. Talk about a fish you can catch up in the Northeast right and man, striped, blackened, striped bass is fantastic.

Speaker 5:

Incredible. We got to try that Tone. We got to try that.

Speaker 6:

We got to do it, man. See, every time you come back from a trip, you're always telling me yeah, I can give you a prime example, and this isn't fishing related.

Speaker 5:

Years ago, antonio and I went to see the Buffalo Savers versus the Toronto Maple Leafs and you know Buffalo's known for their obviously their world famous chicken wings and pizza. Well, the one place we happened to go to there, it was taking a bit for our food to come, and you know we're typicalians, and we were like, oh, no problem, no problem, but it is. So they brought us out some clams casino on the house and we haven't really had it that style, buffalo style, with you know, with the hot sauce and the bacon and all that. But I can tell you something now, boys, this is part of our staple on the trip is clams casino. Andino, and Antonio, you can tell the listeners kind of what you do when you're making that. It's so good, oh my.

Speaker 6:

God Clams Casino, the first thing I think of is you know chips or coins when you think of the word casino. So you know, you think of these coins, you think of olives, you think of anything round and picatas and capers and bread and cheese, and you throw that in with a little bit of white round and picatas and capers and bread and cheese, and you throw that in with a little bit of white wine and you bake it off on an open shell clam. Are you insane? It's a party in your mouth. And then you throw in the old buff butter. Yeah, the old butter.

Speaker 5:

Where's the bread?

Speaker 6:

I need bread. Somebody like I'm losing my mind here. We need bread right away. So, yeah, it's our staple. And one of the things I would say is all these trips that we do, boys, all of these food related trips fishing trips, hunting trips there's one thing in common it brings us to the table, we talk about it, we share it and we're together. And it's like this is the whole reasoning of the podcast and how we met you guys. It's incredible that we're teammates now and I'm just excited to build this relationship from here on out with you boys, because we do need to get together and go fishing. And I'll tell you, right now we're eating and hunting, and hunting, we're eating. If there's no sauce on Ryder's face the first time I meet him, then we got a problem. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

I love it.

Speaker 6:

I love it.

Speaker 4:

Well, thank you so much, man. Such a pleasure to have the Eating Wild Boys join us today. Showtime smash on behalf of myself Crazy Hook Pistilli and Buffalo Bulls. Oh, I love it, it's official. Double B, double B, with an asterisk that he's a gold member Miles Guy, thank you so much for joining the Untamed Pursuits podcast on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network. Looking forward to more shows from you guys, and thanks again for coming on, boys.

Speaker 5:

Cheers man, Thanks for having us.

Speaker 6:

What brings people together more than fishing and hunting?

Speaker 1:

How about food?

Speaker 6:

I'm Chef Antonio Macca and I've spent years catering to the stars. Now, on Outdoor Journal Radio's Eat and 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 6:

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. 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.

Speaker 9:

Whatever Taylor shared and wanted, I made sure I had it. Burgers, steak, anything off the barbecue, that's a true cowboy.

Speaker 6:

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

Speaker 8:

Find Eating Wild now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts. Back in 2016, frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of muskie angling education material anywhere in the world.

Speaker 9:

Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.

Speaker 8:

Thus the Ugly Pike podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.

Speaker 9:

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 8:

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 9:

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

Speaker 8:

Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts.