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Danielle Prewett

Danielle Prewett
Danielle Prewett is the founder of Wild + Whole and a wild foods contributing editor for MeatEater. Texas is home for Danielle, but her love for the outdoors developed while chasing birds across the grasslands of North Dakota. She has been living off the land for the last several years and is fascinated by the richness of wild game. Danielle strives to portray this beauty by teaching others how to cook and enjoy their harvest.

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Butchering & Processing

Why You Shouldn’t Always Trim Silverskin
The first thing I learned about processing deer was to trim all the silverskin away from the meat. For a long time I held the common belief that all that sinew was worthless and inedible. After many years of cooking with wild game, I’ve found that was a huge mistake.
Part of the reason I wanted silverskin gone was that I didn’t really understand what it is: connective tissue. That includes tendons, ligaments, and cartilage; silver or white...

Butchering & Processing

How to Wet Age Meat
Aging meat isn’t really optional when it comes to wild game. For lean, tough cuts that hunters are familiar with, this is a necessity to create a quality end product.
There are two types of aging, each with their own pros and cons. Dry aging is considered to be the traditional form of aging. For those who aren’t set up with the right equipment to hang a critter, wet aging is a great alternative. This process is really simple, but when it...

Butchering & Processing

The Total Guide to Caul Fat
When field dressing a deer, you’ll find a thin, lacy net covering the stomach. Don’t mistake this for something to be left in the gut pile. Although it doesn’t resemble a prime cut, this web of valuable fat is great for imparting flavor, moisture, and shape into meals.
What is Caul Fat?
Caul fat, sometimes referred to as lace fat, is a delicate, thin membrane of connective tissue with fat deposits embedded in it. This sheath covers the stomach in...

Butchering & Processing

Best Practices for Freezing Meat
For hunters, freezers are perhaps some of our most valuable possessions. They preserve hard-earned meat and hold fond memories of time spent in the wild. Here are our best practices to ensure the meat inside remains as good as the day you harvested it.
How to Avoid Freezer Burn
Two things ruin meat: time and exposure to air. We’ve all had a run-in with that brown, leathery freezer burn layer. This occurs when ice crystals in the meat are able to...

Butchering & Processing

How Much Fat Should You Add to Ground Venison?
For some hunters, adding domestic fat to venison is taboo. For others, it’s a necessity. One thing is for sure (and no more evident than here at MeatEater): at-home butchers have a wide range of preferences regarding fat content and there are no set rules. Here are some of our thoughts on adding fat to deer meat.
Does Venison Need Fat?
I know purists who want to believe that venison is perfect the way it is, but the truth is that adding fat at...

Cooking Techniques

What to Do With Wild Game Fat
One of my favorite things about acquiring my own wild meat is that it comes with an added bonus: fat. Many hunters overlook wild game fat and dismiss it as they would most stuff from the gut pile. Wild game fat has great value, though.
Duck fat, for example, is treasured by foodies and some folks pay serious money for dishes that include this ingredient. But the value of wild game fat extends beyond birds, and if you’re lucky enough to...

Butchering & Processing

Is a Turkey Sponge Edible?
When I began to remove the breast from my first tom, I was dumbfounded to find handfuls of a yellow, jellyfish-like substance in front of the crop cavity. I wasn’t sure what it was at the time, so it stayed in the woods.
With a little research, I learned that this gelatinous tissue is called the breast sponge. The sponge of a gobbler is undoubtedly a curious trait. Nature provided turkeys with this useful mass of tissue with the sole purpose of...

Butchering & Processing

Can You Refreeze Thawed Meat?
The topic of refreezing meat is one that hunters discuss often. Most experts in the culinary industry strongly advise against this practice, but sometimes things happen that are out of our control. This leaves many to wonder if it’s safe to refreeze meat, or if this damages the quality so much that it’s not worth eating.
If frozen meat has been properly thawed out in the refrigerator or in cold water, it is safe to refreeze. However, if you...

Cooking Techniques

Tips for Better Ground Venison
There are a lot of benefits to grinding your wild game at home rather than taking it to a processor. The obvious reason is having control over the entire process, knowing that only your hands touched your food. You also get to make decisions about how much fat you want to add and what seasonings you want to use in your sausage. Plus, if done correctly, home-ground meat will have a better texture, which makes a huge difference at the dinner table...

Butchering & Processing

How to Clean a Venison Heart
At MeatEater, we get more questions about venison hearts than almost any other wild game cookery. And truthfully, the heart is perhaps the tastiest piece of an animal and not at all difficult to clean or cook.
There is more than one way to cook a heart, which means there is more than one way to clean a heart. One way is to cut out the connective tissues while keeping it whole. Another way is to cut the heart crosswise into rings. However, this...