‘Charlie Trotter’s Meat and Game’ Cookbook

If you have any interest in the culinary world at all, and I suspect you do since you are reading a blog titled Wild Chef, you probably heard that famed Chicago chef and restaurateur Charlie Trotter passed away yesterday. He was 54.

Until it closed last year after a successful 25-year run, Trotter’s eponymous restaurant was a sort of mecca for both food-lovers and chefs. Even this country-bumpkin in western Nebraska had heard of the place and dreamed of dining there someday.

What I didn’t know until doing a little research this morning is that Trotter also penned a wild-game cookbook called, not surprisingly, “Charlie Trotter’s Meat & Game.” A quick list of the recipes included shows that the book is right in the wheelhouse of all Wild Chef readers: Duck Breast with Sausage of Pig’s Foot, Rabbit Loin with Chanterelle Mushrooms and Sun-Dried Tomato Tart, and Axis Venison Rack with Braised Bok Choy, Black Truffles, and Roasted Garnet Yam are just a few of the examples that get my stomach rumbling.

Before you run out, or log in I guess, and buy a copy, it’s worth noting that some of the book reviews say the recipes are challenging for the home cook and ingredients difficult to source. Of course, being hunters, some of those ingredients are probably close at hand for Wild Chef readers. I’d suggest not following these recipes note for note; use them as inspiration and a way to push yourself in the kitchen. “Charlie Trotter’s Meat & Game” is not an inexpensive book, but it looks like a few used copies are on the market, and there is about to be one less.