By David Draper

When I was in Louisiana a few weeks back hunting with some folks from Ducks Unlimited and learning about the severe loss of marshlands and habitat in region, DU web editor Chris Jennings and I snuck out one afternoon to find some oysters. Unfortunately, we struck out on that hunt when the workers at the oyster house told us they didn’t have any on hand.

Not to be deterred in our efforts to eat local, we picked up some boudin balls from the grocer that had apparently been under the heat lamp for awhile as they were all but inedible (but we ate most of them anyway). That shouldn’t stop you from trying to make your own however, as I’ve since discovered these fried orbs of sausage, liver and rice are incredibly delicious when fresh.

By David Draper

Tell people that you not only eat bear meat but that you also love it, and most will grimace and postulate second-hand opinions about how bear is not only inedible, but also disease-ridden. Cooking bear, the uninformed will righteously tell you, not only results in a bad meal, but also causes everything from severe nausea to death. Mention that you also render bear fat for cooking, and you can almost see their brain seize up. It’s actually quite entertaining—not unlike telling a redneck that Toby Keith votes Democrat. 

By David Draper

The middle of winter might not seem like the right season for trout fishing, but don’t tell Wild Chef readers that. Two faithful Food Fight contestants submitted some delightful photos of freshly caught trout, proving to the rest of us that January is the perfect time to get out and do some fishing.

By David Draper

If you want a smoky whiskey, you could just buy a bottle of scotch, right? While that’s true, sometimes life calls for brown liquor with a smoke flavor, but not the aggressive earthiness of a single-malt—particularly if you’re going to be using it to bake cookies. Now you should know me well enough to realize I wouldn’t be making cookies, but my girlfriend T. Rebel was in busy-baking mode just before the holidays and she came to me with a smoked whiskey request for this modified bourbon ball recipe from our friends over at Saveur.

We did a bit of research, scoured our local liquor purveyors and then contacted a friend over in Utah who hooked us up with a bottle of High West Distillery’s Campfire Whiskey. (As a sidenote, the folks at High West are turning out some amazing small-batch libations. I fell in love with the complex spiciness of their Rendezvous Rye this past fall.) The problem, it’s just too darn good to sacrifice even two tablespoons of it for cookies. In fact, the day it came in the mail, addressed to T. Rebel, she let me have one sip then promptly hid the bottle from me. (The girl really likes her Old Fashioneds.)