Putting Sizzle Into Sustenance Hunting
A weekend at Wintoon with the Danish-born Urban Huntsman Danny Christensen, Danish journalist and hunter Rune, and the Michelin-starred chef Daniel Burns.
Be Prepared
Wintoon's old wood shed was destined for a bulldozer, but Bruce imagined reclaiming it for an outdoor butchering altar. Here's the Before and After.
Once a Boy Scout, Bruce takes the motto "be prepared to" heart. The kitchen fireplace was destined for a similar fate as the woodshed, but Bruce restored it too, so, the Chef would have an open fire to cook with his cast iron.
Here, Francis Mallmann's Argentinian flair meets Wintoon’s wild bounty: venison marinated with orchard-fresh pears and apples, served alongside crisp watercress. The radiant heat of our Stone Henge firepit elevates each flavor—fire, stone, and earth combining for a meal you’ll never forget.
The Huntsmen
Rune, a Danish journalist arrives at Wintoon from Denmark for a weekend of hunting with The Urban Huntsman, Danny. He will write and publish an article about their adventure in a Danish hunting magazine focused on the emerging trend and new generation of sustenance hunters.
Watch the short film Hunt Gather Cook by Bruce Weaver
At Wintoon, Bruce teamed up with a small, passionate group to restore a historic fly-fishing lodge into a “hunt & forage-to-table” destination. Guided by The Urban Huntsman, Danny Christensen, we brought this vision to life as a working proof-of-concept.—to inspire a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts.
The Chef
The chef arrived with a list of venison dishes to prepare, among them was Venison Pie. The deer Danny shot two weeks prior was aging nicely in cold storage so, Bruce and I couriered the aged buck in the back of Ole' Red, Bruce's affectionately named Wintoon work truck.
After a full day of hunting, by Saturday the deer had eluded both huntsmen.
It was dusk Saturday afternoon. Bruce stoked the outdoor fire as Claudia stood by to enjoy its warmth against the chill of the evening air. Together they watched the suspended deer leg sway above the convective heat of the campfire when a shot rang out from Rune's gun, interrupting the mesmeric silence.
With the sun making its descent below the Catskill mountain range, and the gin-clear Neversink River flowing timeless from the headwaters deep in the silent woods, Rune worked deftly against the dimming light to clean his kill. Within minutes he located the heart and carved it from the steaming cavity, then handed it to the chef.
Eat What You Kill
The still-warm heart, was sliced shim-thin and seared over the coals, now glowing crimson under the indigo sky shot-through by an exhibition of stars.
After two or three tosses by the chef in the iron skillet, the heart sizzled to a dappled charcoal grey exterior over a blood-red interior. Within seconds Chef pulled the iron from the fire, and held the steaming skillet before each one of us, insisting—"eat while it's piping hot." With fingers, we each took our portion from the plate as if partaking of the Eucharist.
The mood was hardly solemn, and even so I felt the presence of the sacred having just witnessed the heart removed from its gentle host, her offering rightly sanctified by a master.
I'll admit I felt a tad awed by the affair, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was caught on camera with my jaw slack and gaping. I'll go further and admit that barley-warmed venison heart gave me reason for pause, since my once and last encounter with venison meat was, well... memorable (in the worst sense of the word).
Call it luck or fate, while I had no reference point for, Michelin stars, I'd had some spent years washing dishes and prepping for many a chef in the heat of the kitchen of a tantric master, enough to know the only thing to be done was say, "Yes, Chef!"
For the record: Chef Burns kindled a new appreciation for venison; tender slivers of the heart, in a pie or a tenderloin, venison aged and cooked properly is rich, melt-in-your-mouth tender, and to my uneducated palate the taste is something like grass-fed and herb-finished steak.
Watch the timelapse of The Urban Huntsman butchering a deer.
Credits:
Bruce Weaver