MeatEater Morsels: Steven Rinella Talks Wild Game Cooking
Hunting and eating wild game was the premise of the television series MeatEater. Host Steven Rinella talks about the show, wild meat and cooking it.
Turkey Call: Where did you get the concept for MeatEater, and when?
Steven Rinella: Years ago, I did a show for Travel Channel. It was a disaster. They were trying to make a show that was going to be appealing to everyone, but it pleased no one. There were too many competing viewpoints, too many compromises. I wasn’t experienced enough at the time to navigate it successfully and I hated it. I started talking to a few of the guys I was working with, particularly Mo Fallon, Nick Brigden, and Jared Andrukansis, and we came up with a concept that was perfectly clean and simple. It captured everything I love about the outdoors and I loved the show. The show’s title came from the books I was reading to my 1-year-old son at the time. I liked how certain dinosaurs were described as meat eaters, and I went with that.
TC: Do you have any beliefs related to diets of wild meat and the health benefits? Do you think humans evolved eating wild meat as opposed to the alternate theory of plant-based evolution?
SR: It’s irrefutable that early humans were including meat in their diet, along with a wide variety of plant materials, shellfish, insects, etc. And that’s not just Homo sapiens, but also Neanderthals and Homo erectus. We were all cooking meat on fires for perhaps a million years. I don’t believe it’s a one-or-the-other debate; it’s more beautifully complex than that.
TC: Any thoughts on how hunting wild game is more environmentally friendly?
SR: The reality is far too nuanced to answer that in a direct way. If every American killed a deer this year, the species would be extirpated and we’d have something like a 200-million deer deficit. I think it’s better to say that hunting can be done in a way that supports a clean, healthy environment. And hunters can behave in ways that greatly improve the environment, if they approach life with a conservation mindset.
TC: Do you have any general advice for cooking wild game?
SR: It might sound glib and oversimplified, but if you struggle with cooking wild game, you’re probably making one of two mistakes: you’re cooking it too long, or not cooking it long enough.
TC: How about advice on how to prepare wild game that anyone will like, to appeal to those who claim not to like game meat?**
SR: Make wild turkey schnitzel. If they don’t like that, they’re hopeless.
TC: What is your favorite wild meat generally, and favorite recipe?
SR: If I was going to limit my diet to one animal for the rest of my life, it would be mule deer. Grilled roasts and backstraps, braised ribs and shanks, and lots and lots of mule deer burgers.