From vegetarian to top of the food chain!

How ironic that my first “follower” is about as vegetarian as they come! I wonder if she realizes the graphic nature of the information I plan on providing you all, she may be in for a shock. Maybe I’ll even be able to turn her to the dark side… But hey, stranger things have happened.

Somewhere along the road of my life, I became a vegetarian for quite some time. I was certainly brought up on meat, and amazing meat at that. My mother is an incredible cook and has made me look bad in the kitchen numerous times (vinegar stew anyone? Thanks Mum! I’m now banned by the hunter from trying to replicate any of Mum’s recipes…). Perhaps it was because my two sisters were vego’s, there must have been something fashionable and alluring about being able to call myself a vegetarian, but I do remember it wasn’t always something to be proud of. I was always nervous when staying over at friend’s houses, what would they feed me? Do they know I don’t like meat? It probably even held me back from staying over a few times. I went to an all girl’s Anglican school, with about half the girls being boarders, so there were always offers to stay over on farms, but the thought of home kill, yikes… mutton was my worst nightmare!

As the years went by, gradually I started eating chicken, but only the breast! If I saw a vein, that was it, no thanks! Even now I’m still a bit funny about the brown meat of chicken, I don’t really know why. I know it has more flavor, but you’re also more likely to come across a chewy gristly bit. I always said that it wasn’t the taste of meat that put me off or that poor wee fluffy whatever had to die, it was the texture, and so, gristly fatty stuff sends me running for a carrot!

Eventually, I was back on a bit of red meat, but only mince, claiming I liked it because it didn’t taste like meat, disguised by the pasta sauce, or nacho bean mix, or burger goodies surrounding it. I’ll never forget the Christmas the vegetarians in the family were tricked into eating stuffing made with offal, everyone was oohing and aahing over the richness of the flavor. How on earth did Auntie Steph get the stuffing so full of flavor with no bacon? Innards my dears, that’s how. Since then, the hunter and I have played a few tricks of our own on some of our family. After all, Rabbit tastes a lot like chicken if it’s cooked the right way…

And now, I’ll try anything once… maybe even twice. And if I don’t like it, I’ll find a way to cook it that works for me. Hence, how to be a hunter’s wife! I’ve had to find ways to make this lifestyle work for me, cooking unusual wild meat a couple of times a week. How many of you can say you had goat for dinner last week? And it works better than any other life I could have imagined. I would be so deprived of so many experiences had I not met my hunter, honestly. I know it sounds cheesy, but the things I’ve done, animals I’ve cooked and eaten, I never in a million years would have thought I could or would have.

So, without further ado, your next lesson on how to be a hunter’s wife is (drum roll please) how to clean and prepare a duck for the freezer or immediate cooking. Yes, I’m talking cutting bits off, dipping in scalding soapy water, plucking and gutting. Follower #1, you might want to give this next one a miss…