Holy City chefs to show you how to cook game
by Nick Smith February 10, 2010
When Chef Bob Waggoner first came to the Lowcountry from The Wild Boar in Nashville, he was surprised by what was missing from menus around town. “I found that restaurant businesses couldn’t really use local game. I said, ‘What the heck?’” says Waggoner, the host of PBS’s U Cook with Chef Bob and the former kitchen head at Charleston Grill. “I guess they didn’t want Billy Bob bringing it in the back of a restaurant.”
Ten years later, game is very much on the menu so long as it passes USDA approval and all government regulations. And this week, Waggoner and others will showcase their cooking-with-wild-game skills during SEWE’s Wild in the Kitchen series.
But wild game isn’t the only star at this event. So is local produce.
During the wild kitchen demo, Waggoner and company will show off their skills with local ingredients in the Certified South Carolina tent outside the Gaillard Auditorium. The chefs are members of Fresh on the Menu, a statewide commitment to offer at least 25 percent Certified S.C. foods to restaurant customers.
“We have a bounty of products that the average person in our state might not know about,” says Waggoner. “We’ve been working with local farmers, helping them out in winter time by making sure their produce, like cabbages and Brussels sprouts, are on the menu.”
The chef adds, “This is a wake up call. It’s about building a relationship, looking a farmer in the eye who’s cut peppers off a vine or pulled potatoes out of the ground himself. It’s a chance to talk to a person raising chickens for the eggs.”
With a wealth of products to work with, the Wild in the Kitchen roster is a who’s who of Charleston chefs: Eddie Moran from Mercato, Marc Collins from Circa 1886, Jeremiah Bacon of Carolina’s, Steve Lusvy at 82 Queen, Jason Houser formerly of Muse, and Michelle Weaver from Charleston Grill are just some of the local experts conducting demos.
Regional farming is big business. According to Martin Eubanks, director of marketing for the Agricultural Services Division of the S.C. Department of Agriculture, “Agribusiness, which includes foresting and related industries, is a huge economic engine at $34 billion a year. We want that to grow to $50 billion by 2020.”
One of the ways to do that is to develop programs like Fresh on the Menu and Wild in the Kitchen to educate consumers. SEWE approached the Department of Agriculture to partner with them for the event. “We can reach a large audience in a short period,” Eubanks explains, “let them know about all our certified members and all the fine products we have throughout the state.”
Certified South Carolina was created as a consumer awareness program, a call to action to support local agriculture. The program encourages restaurants to buy locally and gives consumers an opportunity to support local agriculture.
The program seems to be paying off. Eubanks states that demand for local produce has skyrocketed over recent years, “with an economic benefit to local businesses and a positive impact throughout rural areas.” That particularly interests Chef Bob.
“We’re on the right road,” Waggoner says, “but we need to keep waking people up. We need to grow and eat our food locally, not shrimp raised on antibiotics or in water you wouldn’t let your dog jump into. You have a choice when you buy your food. You might pay a couple of extra bucks, but you don’t get cancer.”
Chef Bob Waggoner’s Simple Venison Tenderloin
• 8 oz. venison
• 2 shallots
• 2 cups port
• 2 Tbsp. cold butter
• ½ cup blueberries
• Sweet potato purée
1) Sear four 2 oz. venison medallions in butter for 1 min. on each side. 2) Remove and bake at 400˚ F for 4 mins. 3) Add 2 chopped shallots to the same pan and sauté on medium heat for 1 min. Deglaze the pan with 2 cups port and reduce to a half cup liquid. 4) Stir in 2 Tbsp. cold butter to thicken the port reduction, finish by adding a ½ cup blueberries to the port sauce. 5) Serve the medallions over a sweet potato purée and gently spoon some of the blueberry port sauce over each medallion.
SERVING TIP: Serve with Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon.
Halls hosts a big ole wild game dinner
by Nick Smith February 10, 2010
Some people come to SEWE to look at wildlife. Others come to eat it.
This year, Halls Chophouse has a special five-course wild game menu. And the man behind it all in the kitchen is Halls Executive Chef Matthew Niessner, a brainy, bespectacled guy with more than 20 years of culinary know-how.
In fact, Halls regularly serves an ever-changing selection of game, depending on, Niessner says, “what’s available, what’s fresh, and what I think is hot.” That might include antelope, venison, or rabbit. “That way, I’m able to surprise the repeat clientele,” he says. “I might have the game for just one evening. Those fortunate guests who come in and try it love it.”
For SEWE’s Wild Game Dinner, Niessner will serve Carolina Cup oysters, Manchester Farm quail, and bison ribeye. The meal will be served with wine pairings in the Lamond Room, an intimate upstairs dining space.
Niessner also plans to keep his items as close to home as possible. “Our intense tidal changes and high salinity keep the Carolina deep cup oysters salty and clean,” the chef says. “The roasted beet salad is sweet, naturally and locally grown.”
Manchester Farm Broiled Quail is also local, semi-boneless, and easy to eat. The lean free-range bison meat is from the Dakotas and Wyoming, with an intense flavor and no hormones or antibiotics. Niessner hand selects the ribeyes. “I create with what I have, with more of a philosophy than a recipe,” he says, “I pair special products with local produce.”
For Billy Hall, co-manager of the steakhouse, “Being a steakhouse, a wild game dinner has a lot of similarities with our core menu.” Hall hopes that the event will start an annual tradition at the restaurant.
You don’t have to be a master chef to cook wild meat. South Carolina has an abundance of duck, goose, deer, turkey, and alligator. This game doesn’t have the fat of plump grocery store-bought grub. Some Lowcountry connoisseurs suggest wrapping it in bacon or cooking it with seasoned water to add some juice.
For those interested in preparing their own wild meals, Charleston Cooks! on East Bay Street is conducting a series of sold-out classes. Attendees will be taught how to prepare fish and game with several different recipes. The ingredients include shrimp, duck, bourbon glazed quail, venison medallions, and pecan crusted flounder. The class will end with a meal made by the participants.
“A lot of folks who enjoy coming to the festival hunt and fish,” says General Manager and Culinary Director Danielle Wecksler. “They don’t just catch one duck or one little fish. They bring home a big amount of food and put it in the freezer. They’re always trying to figure out what to do with it and new ways to prepare it.”
The classes will present different techniques and explain how the whole bird or animal can be used. “Everybody loves the main juicy parts, the breast,” says Wecksler. “We show what to do about the legs, the back, and how to break things down into parts.”
She notes that they won’t be bringing a whole deer in and cooking up venison. And the techniques they teach don’t just apply to wild game. She adds, “A lot of it is making it so it tastes really well and not overcooking it.”
The Menu
1st Course: Wild Local Carolina Cup Oysters Rockefeller
2nd Course: Candied Striped Beet Salad with Montrachet Cheese, Spiced Cashews, and Apple Compote
3rd Course: Manchester Farm Broiled Quail, Sweet and Sour Collard Greens, and Pepperjack Grits (above)
4th Course: Bison Ribeye, Pearl Onions, Sweet Potato SpoonBread, and Candied Rhubarb
5th Course: Almond Tuille Basket Key Lime Curd, White Chocolate Pearls, and Raspberry Port Coulis
CHARLESTON COOKS!: Pickled Wild Shrimp Salad
(Serves 8)
• 8-10 small green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half
• 1 pound peeled and deveined wild shrimp
• ½ cup white wine vinegar
• 2-3 shallots, diced
• 1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. celery seed
• 1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
• ¼ cup capers
• 1-2 Tbsp. caper juice
• ½ cup olive oil
• 6-8 canned artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
• ½ pint grape tomatoes, halved
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
1) Fill a medium sauce pot ²⁄³ full of water, and place on high heat. Salt water heavily, and bring water to a gentle boil. 2) Fill a large bowl with half water and half ice to make an ice bath. 3) Gently drop green beans into the boiling water, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove the green beans from the water using a hand skimmer, and submerge in the ice bath. 4) Gently drop shrimp into the boiling water and cook until slightly pink. Remove shrimp from the water using a hand skimmer, and submerge in the ice bath. Remove green beans and shrimp from the ice bath, and pat dry. 5) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, shallots, garlic, sugar, lemon juice, celery seed, red pepper flakes, dill, capers, and caper juice. Add the olive oil to the mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly until combined well. 6) Fold in the shrimp, green beans, artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, and red onions into the vinegar mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
TIP: Shrimp will continue to “cook” in the vinegar mixture, so this dish should be served immediately. If not serving immediately, follow recipe as noted except leave out the shrimp. Just before serving, mix in the shrimp with the rest of the ingredients.
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