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A Good Read - Men who Kill (Read 8403 times)
Dsmithy70
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A Good Read - Men who Kill
Jul 28th, 2010 at 3:44pm
 
Men who kill
RICHARD CORNISH
July 27, 2010

ON TOP of an old volcano, out west near Ballarat, a  cluster of men hovers over hot coals, watching a score of  quail sizzle on a grill.

It is late morning and the birds were shot a few hours earlier as the sun crept  over  cold, frosty fields.
Legs tired from silent stalking  across barley stubble fields, gun dog pointing the way, we sit around the fire, watching the birds cook slowly.

Chef and owner of city restaurant Sarti and part-time hunter Riccardo Momesso turns the quail with tongs, the juices falling on to  coals that  envelops them in meat-scented steam. A friend, another restaurateur, can’t resist the call of the land and spends  hours hunting each week.

This is a ritual that millennia of hunters before them  have practised and savoured. They are the men — yes, mostly men — who shoot the food they love to eat. They do it not for the thrill of the kill but for the flavour of wild-shot meat, a taste that has almost  been forgotten in this age of mass production.

Although hunting for flesh is enmeshed in the male psyche, it is not de rigueur.

‘‘When I tell people I love to hunt, they instantly assume I’m a redneck,’’ says Strathbogie winemaker Matt Fowles.

The oars souvenired from Fowles’s private school rowing club, hanging in his shed, tell a different story. He was a lawyer who one day found himself in a Collins Street tower looking out over the suburbs to the country beyond and found the call of the land overwhelming. He gave up his job in a law firm and together with his new wife took up the country life  in the Strathbogie Ranges. Partnering with Plunkett Wines to form a new company, he now spends his spare time armed with a .22rifle hunting the vineyards and surrounding hills for rabbit and hare.

Fowles wonders why more people don’t hunt to eat: ‘‘The rabbit is declared vermin. It lives a life in the wild, eating only grasses and herbage. It’s out and about and ‘bang’, next thing it knows is nothing. It’s not tormented by a slaughter yard or fed hormones. And it is simply delicious.’’

We sit at his table in his house among the vineyards. He opens a bottle of his wine, Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch, a drop he created specifically for game and named accordingly. The range is based on blending aromatic wines with the barest of exposure to oak so as  not to overpower but complement the deep but often ephemeral flavours that game exhibits.

Lunch is served: a tray of finely sliced, grilled rabbit livers, served on toast seasoned with the merest nap of salsa verde. ‘‘The flavour of game comes through the flesh,’’ he says, ‘‘not the fat.’’ They are tender and succulent, rich but clean-finishing with a pleasantly livery and grassy flavour.

Plates of golden-domed pithiviers follow, their buttery, flaky crusts filled with slow-cooked hare seasoned with juniper.

‘‘Older hares and rabbits are tough and are better for slow cooking,’’  Fowles says. ‘‘Younger animals are more tender.’’ He keeps looking over his shoulder out the window towards the woodheap where a rabbit has recently taken up digs.

‘‘They also taste different depending on the feed they are on. The rabbits on the flats have a little more fat as they are on better, sweeter pasture compared to the leaner but more mineral-flavoured animals that graze on the harder pastures in the rocky hills.’’

With the older hares and rabbits, he is content to make a stew, perhaps a rabbit cacciatore.

‘‘But with the younger rabbits like the one we shot the other day, we briefly seared the fillets and they were so tender.’’

A dish of confited rabbit legs is served next. More to the tooth than farmed rabbit with denser flesh, it really is in a league of its own.

Colin Wood likes rabbit but prefers venison. He is a man who shoots most of the meat he eats. Rabbit, duck and venison. A part-time farmer and part-time advocate for the Sporting Shooters Association of Victoria, he fired his first gun at 10 while hunting with his father and uncle, and has basically supported himself and his family with wild-shot meat ever since.

‘‘We’d go out and bring back the rabbits and quail, sometimes galah which Mum and my grandmother would eagerly cook into a pie,’’ says Wood, recalling the days when native birds were not protected species.
He says it is a misconception that galahs and cockatoos are all tough.

‘‘They can live to 70years old and, of course, they are going to be bloody dreadful, but if you know what you’re doing, a young galah is a tasty, tender bird.’’

When he is not shooting destructive vermin such as foxes and goats on Crown land, deer is his main quarry.
Shooting for him is not about kill thrill. He says three-quarters of the shoot is about being in the wild.

He  may stalk a deer in the wild  for several days before firing his gun.

‘‘It is always remorseful to kill such a wonderful animal. You wouldn’t be human. But you weigh that up against the honour of taking home its flesh that will feed a family for several months.’’

If successful, Wood will field-dress the animal, quartering it and spending perhaps the best part of a day retrieving the heavy carcass, trekking back and forward over hard terrain to bring home the bounty. The next day, he breaks down the beast into kitchen-friendly cuts. ‘‘No one is going to cook a hind quarter of deer,’’ he says.

‘‘So it is important to cut up the deer so that the cook  has cuts they are happy to use.’’

He pulls a pack of wild-shot venison backstrap
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Dsmithy70
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #1 - Jul 28th, 2010 at 3:46pm
 
CONT

He pulls a pack of wild-shot venison backstraps from the freezer. They have been skilfully butchered. Wood notices my admiration and smiles with pride.

Respect for an animal in life and in death are one and the same for Riccardo Momesso. Tongs in hand, he carefully turns the now deep-golden grilled quails.

‘‘It must have a swift death and proper treatment  in the kitchen. An animal that is tortured to death will never taste good,’’ he says.

He sprinkles the quail with a little salt, then places a few on an enamel plate.

He, too, learned to shoot with his father, a Calabrian who would hunt quail in the paddocks of Broadmeadows behind his Ford factory workplace during lunch break.

‘‘And hare! I love hare,’’  Momesso says. ‘‘They are a beautiful animal. They are  delicious. We (Calabrians) eat every part of the hare. We braise the joints in oil with shallots, then garlic. Then we remove them from the oil, whisk in dark cocoa powder, raisins and then the blood. We cook it again and wait for the blood to curdle, then add the meat back in.’’

He remembers helping his father skin rabbits at the age of five.

‘‘Mum would wash the hell out of the rabbits, chop them into pieces and marinate them in olive oil, white wine, garlic and oregano. She’d then saute them with some of Dad’s home-made pancetta and some pearl onions. In would go white wine, let that reduce, some red-wine vinegar, white sugar and let that reduce until it’s all sticky.’’

Momesso pulls the cork from a bottle of red wine, nothing flash, and splashes a little into a mug. The  meat is dense but not dry, more burgundy-red than pink. Small pockets of golden fat burst in the mouth, releasing a rich hit of flavour  offsetting the solid bird-game taste.

We sit in silence, together, watching the fire and eating the birdswe have killed, dressed and cooked.

Wild-shot game can be bought legally from The Chicken Pantry, Queen Victoria Market and from Wangara Game and Poultry, North Melbourne, wangaragame.com.au.

Source: Epicure

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REBELLION is not what most people think it is.
REBELLION is when you turn off the TV & start educating & thinking for yourself.
Gavin Nascimento
 
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freediver
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #2 - Jul 28th, 2010 at 8:55pm
 
Quote:
They do it not for the thrill of the kill but for the flavour of wild-shot meat


You can buy that flavour, but you can't buy the thrill.
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gizmo_2655
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #3 - Aug 8th, 2010 at 1:14pm
 
Hands up everyone who NEVER went fishing or yabbying as a kid?????
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #4 - Sep 11th, 2010 at 1:56pm
 
I would like to have that quail recipe. How do they get rid of feathers in field conditions, do they skin them or burn them off on fire?

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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #5 - Sep 11th, 2010 at 4:15pm
 
I think you dip them in boiling water then pluck them.
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #6 - Apr 2nd, 2012 at 4:01pm
 
'Super pack' of 400 wolves terrorise remote Russian town after killing 30 horses in just four days
By Daily Mail Reporter
Attacks: A hunter holds up the body of a dead wolf after a massive pack of 400 of the animals has terrorised the town of Verkhoyansk in Russia
A 'super pack' of wolves has been terrifying a town after leaving more than 30 horses dead in just four days.
Four hundred bloodthirsty wolves have been spotted prowling around the edges of Verkhoyansk, in Russia, attacking livestock at will.
Twenty four teams of hunters have been put together to get rid of the wolves, with a bounty of £210 for every wolf skin brought to officials.
Stepan Rozhin, an administration official for the Verkhoyansk district in Russia, said: 'To protect the town we are creating 24 teams of armed hunters, who will patrol the neighbourhood on snowmobiles and set wolf traps.
'But we need more people. Once the daylight increases, the hunters will start shooting predators from helicopters.'
A pack of wolves this size is unheard of, with the animals usually preferring to hunt in smaller groups of just six or seven.
The massive group is believed to be made from hundreds of packs and has left animal experts baffled.
Dr Valerius Geist, a wildlife behaviour expert, said the harsh Siberian winter - where temperatures plummet to minus 49C - had killed off the animal's usual prey.
He said: 'It is unusual for wolves to gather in such numbers of hunt large animal like horses.
'However, the population of their usual prey, rabbits, has decreased this year due to lack of food, so wolves have had to change their habits.
'Wolves are very careful to choose the most nutritious food source easiest obtained without danger - which in this case happens to be horses.
'They will start tackling dangerous prey when they run out of non-dangerous prey.'
Villagers have already managed to snare a number of the animals but the pack is so sizeable that is likely to take some time to deal with.

Verkhoyansk, with a population of just 1,300, is one of the coldest and remotest places in the northern hemisphere.]
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #7 - Apr 4th, 2012 at 2:15am
 
None tastes better than the meal that you provide for yourself.
  Smiley

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« Last Edit: Apr 4th, 2012 at 11:02am by Amadd »  
 
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #8 - Apr 17th, 2012 at 9:11pm
 
freediver wrote on Jul 28th, 2010 at 8:55pm:
Quote:
They do it not for the thrill of the kill but for the flavour of wild-shot meat


You can buy that flavour, but you can't buy the thrill.

You could steal it though I suppose.
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Amadd
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #9 - Apr 18th, 2012 at 1:52am
 
The kill of your own is your independence.
It tastes nice hey?

Your own independence is a lovely taste Smiley

Isn't it?  Smiley

We appreciate, and we don't waste the meat.



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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #10 - Oct 8th, 2012 at 2:10pm
 
Is there even a point to debate here?
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #11 - Oct 8th, 2012 at 8:39pm
 
freediver wrote on Jul 28th, 2010 at 8:55pm:
Quote:
They do it not for the thrill of the kill but for the flavour of wild-shot meat


You can buy that flavour, but you can't buy the thrill.

gee FD think you've hit an attitudinal goldmine here. maybe that's the reason muslims get into it. the thrill! the adrenalin rush! If you
*magpie genuflects @ the apocalypse now-ness of the master*
expand on the 'sensation', the exaltation of victory in a no-lose situation, we would be so.. interested..
*hands freediver his courage and bravery medals for killing. (without risk category).*
what a MAN!

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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #12 - Oct 8th, 2012 at 8:56pm
 
Quote:
without risk category


Last time I shot a fish it was followed closely by a 2.5m great white shark.
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #13 - Oct 8th, 2012 at 9:36pm
 
freediver wrote on Oct 8th, 2012 at 8:56pm:
Quote:
without risk category


Last time I shot a fish it was followed closely by a 2.5m great white shark.

got a photo of that? (pants on fire)
wonder what the dying fish felt about providing you with the 'thrill of the kill'?
your pov and perspective is limited as a result of your faith-based nature/nurture cage. you are not in control and you are not free.
your problem not mine. it makes you weaker, and by comparison, me stronger.
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”We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
 
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Re: A Good Read - Men who Kill
Reply #14 - Oct 8th, 2012 at 9:45pm
 
Why would I make that up?
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