I recently started a new job. Caviness Beef out of Texas has joined with Simplot out of Idaho to form a company called C & S Beef.
We’re opening a new beef plant southwest of Boise. That will be a good deal for the ranchers and dairies because there’s no major cow/bull kills between Gibbon, Nebraska, and California.
We’re building the plant as you read this article. While the construction is going on, Simplot was decent enough to let us office in their corporate building. They have a nice cafeteria, so of course I’m eating lunches there.
Do hunters stick out that clearly? Or do we have something that just automatically draws us together like a magnet?
Here’s why I ask this. Within no time at all, I suddenly met a hunter. Then, of course, he introduced me to another one. Then one guy is buddy with another one, and he helps Millit Knives, the company that I did an article on the other day.
Then, suddenly, Holly pops up, and she is a big-time hunter. She shows me her scrapbook of all the mounts in her house and of some pictures from the Safari Club International Convention.
I don’t know, maybe hunters have some inner code that helps us all identify each other subliminally. Or maybe it’s because everything from our cellphone covers to our undies are camo’d. Plus, we all drive four-wheel drive vehicles with off-road vehicles strapped onto them and we all wear Cabela’s caps. Ha, maybe it’s not really that big of a mystery how we all meet each other.
OK, now that we’ve solved that mystery, which ranks right up there with why do geese fly in formation when heading south, let’s now get into the actual meat of the article.
Another guy that I met in the cafeteria is named Randy King. They told me that he was a chef and that he’d written a wild game cookbook. I had to meet him. Us outdoorsmen are always hunting for new wild game recipes, aren’t we?
We sat down at lunch one day and I got to know him. We got talking about his book and I soon had one in my hot little hands. I normally don’t write an article on any products until I’ve tested them. Of course, I can’t thoroughly test or write about a new product until I’d tested it for three years. By then, it’d be an old hat and there’d be approximately 3,879,560 reviews on the internet.
The same goes for a book review. You’re not supposed to write a book review until you’ve finished a book. Any idiot knows that. And, with a cookbook, you’ve got to wait until you’ve tried at least half of the recipes. Well, I’m not any idiot. I’m a special idiot, so I’m going to write a book review on Randy’s book, which is titled “Chef in the Wild” before I’ve finished it.
Before you self-righteous ones out there condemn me, remember this: How many of you bought a condensed book so you could whip out a fast book review for your high school English class? I know you’re out there.
I love Randy's book. Between recipes, he intersperses cool stories. I love storytelling types of books. I guess I like reading them because it’s like sitting around a campfire telling stories. Just normal stories from normal people.
Randy is an excellent writer. The stories alone would be worth reading the book. On the other hand of the spectrum, just the recipes alone would be worth reading the book. But, as we close, you ought to check out this book. I’m really enjoying it. Even if you’re not a hunter, I think you’ll really like it. Happy eating.
To buy "Chef in the Wild," visit caxtonpress.com.
Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.
