Emperor’s Table Series: Nathan, Micha & Andy, Missouri Woods & Water

On this episode of Huntavore, the Emperor’s Table continues to fill up as the Missouri Woods & Water hosts, Nathan, Micha, and Andy join Nick for a fantastic chat.  We talk about celebration meals, including Nathan enjoying venison steak with his boy.  Things go sideways as Nick loses power, but the gang finishes with their submission to the Emperor's Table.  Join us for a great episode of Huntavore.

On today’s episode Nick is joined by the whole crew from Missouri Woods & Water Podcast, Nathan, Micha, and Andy.  These guys are always looking to hang out together, or find a way to be outdoors.  The guys like to chase coyotes as much as deer, yet cautious of putting one on a grill or smoker.  However, Micha has a love for red meat; beef and venison alike.  Something he prides himself in is his smoked beef tongue.  A very underused cut, yet surprises a lot of naysayers  with a wonder flavor that isn't off putting.  To finish, the three present their submissions to the Emperor’s Table, adding to the wonderful bounty.  Check these guys out at the Missouri Woods & Water Podcast on Sportsmen’s Empire.

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Welcome to the Hunt War podcast, powered by Sportsman's Empire, where we celebrate the hunting and fishing lifestyle through the utilization and consumption of our wild game. No egos forking hand, beer in the other, no status, a piece of red meat on a hot grill, and turn it into a burn offering. Just catch it, cut it, cook it.

This is episode one 20 Emperor's Table Series, Nathan Micah and Andy Missouri. Woods and Waters. On this episode of Hunt Ofor, the Emperor's Table continues to fill up as the Missouri Woods and Waters hosts. Nathan, Micah and Andy. Join Nick for a fantastic. We talk about celebration meals, including Nathan enjoying venison steak with his boy.

Things even get a little sideways as Nick loses power, but the gang finishes [00:03:00] with their submission to the emperor's table. Join us for a great episode of Havo, and before we start, we all know that word of mouth advertising is the best way to share something with new folks. Your ratings and reviews help immensely in being able to share with more.

could I ask for a five star? Could I ask for a few words in a review? Please. Both would be so appreciated. The more people who get fired up about their WA harvest, the better Now on with the show.

You should always watch your mouth watching mouths, nah. Colorful language paints a beautiful picture, , but at the same time, if you over do red, it does kinda leak into everything. [00:04:00] I get it. Sometimes I get a little hot whenever it comes about cooking meat. So depends. We'll send that sonic cup for you, right?

Yeah, exactly. Shoot, when you're making sausage, the whole process is one giant innu. So there's gotta be a little bit of play when you're going along with that. If you're too much stuck up, then yeah, things, then things seem fake at that point. No. Yeah, you're right. . Hey folks. Micah, anything?

He stuck up.

Hey folks. Beautiful evening here in Michigan. I tell you what it is coming down tonight, we are getting probably a half inch of ice. So if all of a sudden this episode ends abruptly, it's cuz we lost power. But hopefully that never has to happen. Fingers crossed for another snow day today or snow day tomorrow.

We'll see. We'll see what happens. But that's our neck of the woods here in Michigan. Tonight we're gonna travel a little bit south here. We're gonna head down a [00:05:00] few clicks. We're heading down into Missouri. I am joined with the Missouri Woods and Water Podcast. I'm joined with Nathan Micah and Andy Gentlemen.

Thank you so much for joining me on tonight. Micah, what are the conditions down there in Missouri? Are you looking at are you looking at warm temps or are you guys getting some of this snow and rain, this bad weather? We're not supposed to get the bad. We I, we got rain all day today. For the majority of it.

And then it got up to probably about 65 degrees and sunny there for a bit. Little breezy. Tomorrow it's supposed to drop off a little bit and I think Friday morning I think we're having a dip of 15 degrees or something. But then come Saturday we're gonna be back in the fifties and sixties. , it's hilarious.

Nick, that you asked Micah this question because No joke. We have an inside joke with a buddy of ours. We were cow hunting with our buddy named Darrell. And Darryl was like, which way is the wind coming out of? And [00:06:00] so the truck is moving and Micah rolls the window down, sticks his hand out of the window.

coming straight at us. , no, Daryl goes, huh? Goes, oh really? Brian Buzzby. Brian Buzzby, he's a, he got a feature in weather. I think I could do it. He goes, oh, you're a regular old Brian Busby over here. . Yep. Yeah. Beautiful. I'm glad I picked our our expert here to let us know what's going on outside. Is the weather rock?

Is it wet, Micah? Is that what I wanted to know? It's dry by now. Dry it dry. It's dry, it dried. Everything else is wet. Been walking around in mud all day, so that's been fun. Good deal. Thanks again guys, for coming on the Missouri Woods and Waters. We can already tell that it's specifically about Missouri and what's going on, but Nathan, give us a dive into a little bit about you guys.

How'd you get started? Where did three guys like you decide that podcasting was gonna be something that you wanted to partake in? Here it [00:07:00] is a hobby of a. Basically, you guys are talking about your lifestyle. How did this all start out? That's a good way to put it. Honestly, when I decided to start it I took a gun over to Micah and Andy's houses and held it to their heads until they said yes.

But it's, it's not really a long story, but it is. Give him the reader's digestion. Yeah. Yeah. Micah is my brother-in-law. Andy is my cousin-in-law. I'm married to Andy's first cousin, and he's married to my sister, Micah's married to my sister, so I'm an in-law to both of them. And we've been doing different types of hunting together for a while.

Mainly elk hunting is how it got started and into coyotes and. Deer stuff, just we're always talking about it. We've got an extended group of friends that we do this as well with. And I happen to be on a podcast in 2018 called Nine Finger Chronicles. Some guy named, I heard that one. You have a little bit of a loser, but hey, it's what it is.

really enjoyed my time with him and after it was [00:08:00] over, he thought I did a good job and, you should think about doing. I talked to a few people at the time. I don't even know if I even brought it up to you guys at that time. Back then, we were literally like 10th and 12th on the list.

Everyone else said no, right? No, like in any, brought it up to anybody. I don't think so. Anyway, I just sat on it for two years and then 2020, I don't know how it came up again. I think we just, I think Dan was starting to reach out and try to find like state specific stuff. He's building the empire.

Yeah, building the empire. And the emperor was expanding his empire and us three. I don't know, we just had a conversation and, we always wanted to try something. We had a little outdoor group that, that Andy actually started years ago with two other buddies of ours.

We never, we just, we just decided to start it. I don't know, 2020, we just finally decided to spend the money on the equipment and give it a shot and [00:09:00] 147 episodes later. Here we are. Here we are. We're texting and talking about it constantly anyway, and it's might as well do something, might as well hit a record button on this somewhere.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There are pe there are a bunch of people like myself that always want to tune in and talk hunting and fishing. My commute is always filled with. Some sort of outdoors, whether it's outdoor cooking, whether it's jumping on the the empire and just seeing who's next in the lineup.

And you guys, pop up quite frequently. And it's just stuff that, even though it's a hobby it helps my heart pump, it gets my blood flowing to think about just being. Chasing critters, whether it's gonna be small game, whether it's gonna be large game, big or big game, whatever it is, like that gets my blood flowing.

So to know that there are other gentlemen and ladies in that same boat is just awesome to have. So I know the content you guys create, like you just said, a hundred and how many hundred 47 episodes since 24. [00:10:00] And by the time this comes out, it'll be 1 47. Yeah, we've that's my one claim to. Something I want to, I personally want to get done is when we started on Memorial Day in 2020.

We have not missed a week since. And that's my goal is to get to 200 without missing a week. And we're three quarters of the way there basically. And there's some weeks that it's difficult for us. All three of us are very busy people. I've got four children. Micah has three. Andy's got two.

One of them being a baby. And Andy also has basically two full-time jobs. He's a farmer and has a full-time job. Micah's got a full-time job and three children. I've got a full-time job and four children. And so we're always, like our schedules never work, but we make it. We make it happen. Yeah.

Somehow we make it work. Yeah. Priority takes precedent and as much as like it, it's just an extended well shoot for, in your case, it is an extended [00:11:00] part of your family. Here you eyes are, it's like a tall, skinny oak tree that I'm looking at right now. Your eyes are all related in some fashion, so it's fun to see that not only are you making time for your family your immediate family, but at the same.

Finding that brotherhood continuing to instill in others because end of the day too, we love the camaraderie, we love the the ability to just have this brothership with other people, other fellows that love the outdoors. I think that gets us up in the morning as much as I wanna say our family does that for us as well.

Something to get energized, something to just be able to hang out and. I don't know, build into each other. Just like you were saying, you were having a great time in the truck ride. Talking about the weather and then busting Micah's balls like that in itself is a story you guys hold onto as silly as it is, that just builds you up.

And yeah, that's, I think that's half of the outdoors there is being able to just be together. Usually, you termed it as a hobby, right? And [00:12:00] most of the time hobbies are something you're very passionate. and all three of us, our hobby is hunting. And all three of us are passionate about it.

I mean it, so it's easy to talk about something you love. More, it's more, I'd say it's more of an obsession, honestly. addiction. Yeah. Addiction. Addiction, yes. Something along those lines. At least it's not cocaine and hookers like we're on we're at least on something healthy . That's right.

That's that's what my wife, my, my mother in. tells my wife when we're out hunting and stuff, it gets daunting. We're gone quite a bit, especially with the night hunting. , I've been in trouble a couple times coming back late from thermal hunting and my mother-in-law calms down my wife, he's at least he wasn't out at the bar doing something stupid.

which never makes anybody feel better. . It doesn't help, but I've, I feel like I have a point. Yes. See, I could be doing that shit there you go. At least you appreciate the effort . Let's run down the lineup here. I'm gonna start with Andy. Andy, give me your species of [00:13:00] choice of the year. What is your favorite species to go after?

Man, that's a hard one, just because I do like doing all of 'em. I participate in about as much as I can. Just I'd have to go with coyotes right now. Just because I can hunt 'em all year long. The adrenaline rush. I don't know. I like the tactical aspect of it and like I said it's something you can do constantly.

Yeah, I got my first chance to go behind an infrared scope and join a friend who's very much like you guys. He's got a, like a setup. He's actually, he's got a couple setups where, you got the tripod, you got the rifle, and it's got, I had the infrared and. He just purchased one of the thermal scopes and for him to just be scanning the field and he's oh, go ahead and look over in this corner of the field.

Tell me what and, I scan my light over there. I gotta actually zoom it in, or excuse me, narrow it down. But I'd see like this flickering eye and he's tell me what you see over there. He is teaching me along as I'm trying to get[00:14:00] used to my bearings behind that and to be.

Oh, there's something living over there. And to zoom in and be like, oh, it's just a rabbit. It's okay. It's just a rabbit. I think we pulled , I think we pulled up a possum at one point. So it was just like we were seeing stuff. We heard coyotes. We didn't have any come in. But I can definitely get behind you when you're saying like that.

There is a thrill. and there's a, I don't, it's a definitely a team coordination aspect where he was saying, Hey, point your muzzle over here. Check this corner for me cuz I'm gonna be swinging over here. And it was just really fun to have that communication, teamwork. It's, you don't get a lot of that when you're Yeah.

Archery hunting for whitetails, but at the same time, you really get a chance to work together. And that's just a cool aspect. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolut. Micah, what what do you like to chase? I'm propane trucks. . I don't chase 'em. I drive 'em . He's chasing, there's something wrong. Yeah, , that's a bad day.

[00:15:00] But no, whitetail is probably my number one coming in seconds. Probably coyotes, we're getting more and more in that, but whitetails my, probably my number one passion. For sure. Specifically archery. I prefer chasing 'em with a bow rather than a rifle, but I'm not afraid to get out the BoomStick either.

Good deals. Good deals. There's no big bucks in Missouri. I hear they're all they're like Michigan real small. Know why people, dunno why people come here. . Yeah. I They all went to Kansas. Yeah, I'd go over there if I were you. and then rounding it out. Nathan, what's your species of choice there?

I hate, I, Andy, I hate answering because all three of us are very similar. I love coyote whitetail and elk cunning. Elk cunning, I'm not gonna answer just because we only get to do it for seven to 10 days out of every year. But Cow hunting and whitetail hunting are so different that's why it's easy to answer either of them.

But my original passion, if you held a gun to my head, once again, I'm gonna use that metaphor and said, [00:16:00] you can only hunt one thing for the rest of your life. You can't do anything else. I'm gonna keep whitetail hunting, so I'm gonna say whitetail. But Micah just said, boy, that coyote stuff is really fun and really close second.

Honestly, it's Ty for first, but you told me to answer one, so I'm gonna say why too. , I do anything other than, we just really don't bird hunt, whether it's waterfowl. Yeah, we don't birds. We're just not big bird hunters. And I've been a handful of times and it's a great time, but we don't have back in the day of, you hear the farmers and everybody, we used to have good amounts of quail and pheasants in some parts of the state, but I, we grew up in a time when, quail or, slim to none type thing.

If you wanted to shoot a quail, you had to go buy a quail and then go put the quail out in the field sort of thing. So it wasn't, it was a little. But bird hunting is fun. But it's just not something that we get to do a lot of it definitely seems like a pastime gone to the past, more or less [00:17:00] that it's a lot of preservation, lot of trying to reintroduce.

I know even in, in Michigan same story they feel like they're, you're, you get to go up north for grouse, but even at that point, bag limits are real small. you try to get into. Yeah. Quail was a bygone thing at this point. Very rare that you ever see a quail. I know we're, we've got some really big pheasant introduction that's going on, which, that's either here or there.

It's a non-native there's not a lot of area where it's gonna be able to take off. . Farming is real clean if it's gonna be a large farm. And so there's not a lot of habitat. And even in, shoot, you guys are in the grain belt right there in Missouri, that if you're, if it's not a highland or a lowland, you know where you've got an oak flat, you guys are looking at.

Corn fields or you're looking at hay fields or even soybean, that it's the fact that man, everybody wants to glean off of it and there's not a lot that they can leave out there for stuff. Yeah. And, but it is cool, like just how much, how many options there are out there for [00:18:00] people. , the wa all the waterfowl goose stuck.

My cousin Jody went snow goose hunting yesterday. Oh really? For today. One of the two. And heck, our buddy Daryl that we just talked about. , guess what? He likes the. Bow fishing. Bow fishing. Yeah. If you told him you could only do one thing forever, he's ready to get on a boat, and it's just cool all the different things that one can do in the outdoors.

and you know what other people love? I've got some buddies that are crazy goose hunters that I'm just like, man, I don't get it. But what it is, two o'clock in the morning and to go set out a bunch of decoys to freeze your butt off in the freezing rain. Yeah, I'd do it. Don't get me wrong.

I'd try it, but, and everybody that does it says it's the best thing ever. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe we're missing out on something. I Sure it could be. Yeah, out those blinds. Those blinds get pretty comfy. Like it's the ones where they get to pop down underneath, like they've got the roof over the top of 'em, but then underneath, oh yeah.

There's a grill [00:19:00] going of it. Yeah. Somebody's cooking, someone's making coffee. Okay, that I can get behind that for sure. I'm gonna, it would be nice not having to try to trick an animal's nose for once in my life. . Exactly. That real challenge that you're trying to go for? Yeah. Gentlemen I know nobody can see this, but we're gonna play a quick little game of who is the culinary master of the group.

I'm gonna go ahead and have whoever thinks they're the best cook. Go ahead and raise their hand. Oh, look at that, Micah. He lives his hand right up. And the two other agree, they agree with him. Mic. Favorite protein to play with? What is that? decide what's in your pants,

I don't know. Probably beef. Definitely beef. I do a, I end up doing a lot of chicken a lot of times, and obviously venison, when I got it this year, did not get the chance to harvest anything, so I didn't get to play with too much venison. But I [00:20:00] also, and I just bought a whole hog. So I've been playing around with a lot of different pork cuts as well.

But beef, I enjoy beef the most. Gotcha, gotcha. Are we talking steaks or are we talking anything and everything. You getting into the brisket where you're doing more of the low and slow the work stuff of it. Don't let him getting me wrong. He prides himself in his tongue. I can cook a beef tongue that would make your tongue slap you in the face with it.

I mean it, it's amazing. , there was some saying, I'm trying, I was trying to think of a saying that I've heard one time, but I couldn't remember it. So I came up with that debacle. All of us in this room are now stupider, . I do. I can make a mean cow talk. Beautiful. Beautiful. So if we were. Let's break this down a little bit.

When you're cooking this tongue is it more or less you're going low and slow so that you can extract the meat from the inside? Cause you gotta get that hot, that thick casing of skin on the outside? Or is it [00:21:00] low and slow because, We, it's just a hard worked muscle essentially that we gotta break down this tissue, we gotta break down that connective, that connectivity inside there.

The way I do it is I actually boil it first in seasoning. If you look on YouTube or something, a lot of times they'll just boil it in straight water. And I think what helps my process is I'll actually boil it in some type of seizing, depending on what flavor profile I want. So I'll boil it until I can pull the skin off and then I will throw it on the smoker for a few hours.

Usually, by the time it's done boiling, you could get the skin, it's pretty much well cooked, but it will take on a little bit more that it does take some of that smoke in still. Okay. So then I'll, like I said, I'll put it on the smoker for a few hours until I get the crest that I'm looking for.

Gotcha. So the inside that when you actually cut into this thing, let's say you didn't add the smoke. Okay. You just peel and you just cut. [00:22:00] Talk to me a little bit about that flavor you're gonna, or excuse me, texture, that you're gonna get off of that flavor. We've already introduced that we understand what the flavor we're gonna get, but for someone who's trying to necessarily use tongue more, because that's, I, that's a cut that.

Tongues are cheap. But then B, every deer's got a tongue. Yep. And there's gonna be a, yep. There's gonna be a great translation from this if we're gonna try to your tongue, try to use that. . I haven't, which Andy, he just, I don't know if anybody heard, but he asked if I'd done deer tongue and I haven't yet.

If I was going to, if I got a deer this year, I was planning on cooking the tongue. But no tongue is it's a hard to explain texture. Do you lose power there, bud? Yes, I did. It's in the dark. We running, we're running off of what are we running off battery power here of the phone. The phone has got, we're gonna keep rolling folks.

How do you have internet right now? The show goes on. I'm going off of my hotspot on my phone. [00:23:00] Oh wow. Okay. , . So we'll get back after it. What was the question again? Ah, man. Yeah. Texture of the tongue. Yeah. I would consider it like cow tongue. It's very, if you do it right, it's really tender and it just melts in your mouth a little bit.

M come almost like a beef. Fat is what I would consider, depending on what part of the kung, if you're more towards the tip, it gets a little bit more chewier just because it's, it's usually cooked the most. But then once you get to the back of the base, that's when, that's the piece I like the most cuz it's it's like a fat.

Texture and just melts in your mouth. Gotcha. Nick did say we could make jokes. Yes. I'm having a hard time keeping straight. No, you're fine man. That's good to know because. Yeah, that's something that, I've pulled the tongue out of a deer and I've gone just as far as what you had.

You have gone Where I boiled it, I was able to skin it and then I just put, rather than go to the [00:24:00] smoker, just went to a cast iron and basically just seared the outside to get a crust. Cut it up. I bet. That'd be pretty good. It did a good job. I would equate it to a calamari almost. It. , it had a bit of chew to it and Okay.

The chew was good. We enjoyed it because it does let you enjoy that flavor because it's such a hard, a deer's always using the tongue to feed and to move around. So it's constantly getting worked, but you got to taste that flavor of. Of like a hardwork muscle, but at the same time, it had just a, it wasn't necessarily chewy, but it had a little bit of a tackiness to it.

So that's a great way to know hey, if it's, once you boil it, like you said, boil it in seasoning, get it to your get it to your smoker and give it a little while longer. Some, maybe a little bit of that low and slow is gonna help, alleviate a little bit of that, chew to it.

But at the same time, I think that's gonna like you just. Pop with that flavor as you were going with it? Oh yeah. [00:25:00] Yep, for sure. Seasoned profile. What are you going with that, Micah? I used to be one of those guys that just loved making their own seasonings and just throwing a bunch of stuff together.

The older I get, the more I realized that. It's hard to perfect some of the stuff that's already out there. So I've started using, it's either, I think it's kinder or kinder seasoning, but it's a buttery steak seasoning, and so I will boil the tongue in that buttery steak seasoning, and then I will throw just like a barbecue rub on it.

When I put it onto the smoker and hog, hogs seasoning, that's pretty good. I, it just depends. It depends on, I'll, whatever's in the pantry. Whatever's in the pantry when it comes to, I try to buy a bunch just of different brands and I'll just mix, play with all of them. , but some type of barbecue seasoning usually. And we're in Kansas City, so obviously we got quite a selection when it comes to that type of stuff. [00:26:00] You are in ground zero when it comes to somebody trying to make something of their own, like you said, like I could, you could spend the time and try to make your own recipe.

Yeah. But shoot, there's hundred different recipes waiting in line for you to try out. Exactly. Yep. Good deal. . So you said beef from a Missouri guy. I thought pork would be king up there, or is it back and forth? Nah, I would think we're probably really known for our brisket. I would think Missouri is, like our burnt ends and stuff, those are really popular, obviously ribs, but those are a staple everywhere.

I think that , any place you go barbecue, they're gonna have ribs, brisket. Yeah. And some type of pulled pork. Usually you gotta think that. KC Stockyards, that was, it was, we were the headquarters for one of the biggest beef depots, however you want. Back in the day.

Yeah, back in the day. No. Missouri has a lot of pork. Yeah. But they are corporate owned and so they are mass produced as opposed ra as opposed to [00:27:00] raised on the farm for in individual consumption. We have, Half of our family and friends probably raise beef and you can buy custom beef from them.

Have it sent to the butcher. Have it cut exactly how you want from their cut sheet. You can go with hogs too, but it's just not as common. Gotcha. Not everybody has feeder pigs. . But I'd say, like I said, we have an abundance of people that have a butcher be or butcher beef that you can buy off of them.

Go to the butcher of your choice and if you want steak cut at two inches, you can get it if you want 'em cut at three inches, you can get it. You get your cut sheet the way you want it and get your ribs, you know what the, whatever cuts and parts, whatever you want, you can get that custom.

And I know. , every word can do that. But that's very popular in, in where we're at. I would say in our area, especially in maybe even the entire state, for every one hog farmer, , there's a hundred cow farmers. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. It's a big disparity. Yep. Yeah. My buddy, he actually the one I got the hog from, this was his first year.

He bought three pigs.[00:28:00] He raised them in his backyard and did their own thing, and yeah. He want, he asked me first before he did, and he is like, Hey, you wanna buy one of these pigs? And obviously when it's done you can have it. And he's I didn't want to get just two pigs. And I was like, sure man.

So I ended up getting the biggest pig outta the litter somehow. And and it's getting more common. It really is more common. I think people. people want to know where their meat's coming from for the most part, or the majority, the people we hang around anyways. Like I can tell you I could go out, I get my beef from his father-in-law actually, and I could go out in there and be like, I want that one right there if I wanted to.

That's definitely a bonus. Yeah, I think. Awesome. Yeah. I think you hit that nail head or nail right on the head with saying that people want to. Where their meat is coming from. They want to be able to know the rancher, they want to be able to know who's cutting it, who's growing it. And that's a trend I think is just gonna continue to grow and grow, especially when you have small pockets like that of people growing beef.

. That's a tough one to get ahold of, [00:29:00] such big animal, big investment that you have to go into. And yeah, pork is easy, but like you said, it's owned by corporate. We're around you guys. It's hard to get ahold of that. So going with the beef is the big deal there. Translating that, if you've got so many custom butchers near you guys, or just easily having the relation to these bushers When you're getting your venison cut, when you finally get an animal down, you take it to the butchers if you're getting 'em processed.

What's the cut list look like on your end? Are you also asking for some of these specific cuts or is it very similar to like just processors across the board where you're gonna get back what they normally cut you? You're gonna have a preset cut list. No I think we've gotten blessed with processors around our area because of the beef.

. Now there are processors out there that won't touch deer. They are strictly, beef. But the one we use, [00:30:00] what I like about 'em is when you take your deer in, you are getting your, to your back. You're not getting a conglomeration of a bunch of deer that got put, processed together and they have a.

Detailed spec sheet like you can, for instance, Nick, I asked you for a recipe on steaks because of my son's first deer this year. I got some medallions and some different cuts of steak from the deer that I normally didn't do in the past because either it wasn't an option or it was way too expensive to worry about that. I think it's, a good thing. But yeah, I. Almost as much, many options as you would with a deer, I think, or not a deer, a beef, but that's cool. That's cool. Cuz just as shoot, just as I've gotten more in it, it's one of those things like you, you buy a truck with, you buy a red truck and all of a sudden you drive around and you just see red trucks everywhere.

Cuz now you're thinking about it, you've got one and it just matches. , the more and more that I have gotten deeper and [00:31:00] deeper into trying to do specialty cuts of deer, I'm also rubbing shoulders with people who have experience with that or have tried something new. And it's just fun to be able to glean off these people and shoot, to think that Micah was the expert in tongues.

I would never been able to pick that out and just being, have the opportunity here to talk to you guys about that. That's just a really cool thing. , not everybody gets a chance to use that piece. And I think part of it's just the know-how that we're not sure how to use it yet. So to be able to apply that and to have that translation, like you said, like you guys got from beef in order over to whitetail.

That's a great connection there. One of the, one of the questions that I had as we were getting around here, the. No, I never have either. And Micah's threatening us that he's gonna force us to to have it. But I just gotta get some, I've cooked all mine already. . Yeah. Forced to. Andy, this sounds like an opportunity.

I think you're just looking at it at the wrong angle. Just [00:32:00] turn that kaleidoscope a little bit. Hey, he's offering you a gift of flavor here. I think you need to jump on board. . I'm not saying you have to like it, I'm just saying I, I have an issue with people that just won't even try something just because of whatever it is, so and it is funny looking back, but like at a very young age my my parents' friends, they're actually my bosses now they, they would just have the weirdest stuff they had. . We've had pancreas, I think it was, we've had cow brain before. Turkey fries, which are Turkey testicles, . Maybe you've never had any of those know that.

And like he would just, that's what that was. Turkey fries. Never heard of Turkey fries. Oh, heard of 'em. Didn't know what that was. Yeah, I heard of mountain oysters. Yeah, mountain oysters is cow testicles. Yeah. Anyways, so like growing up at a very young age, I was like, I'll try it. And if I don't like it, I don't like it.

I don't have to, continue to eat it. But, so [00:33:00] I have a pet peeve with it's, Try one bite. That's all. Any anybody that cooks anything, that's all they want you to do is they want you to try it. They want to get your reaction, whether, maybe they messed something up or whatever the case may be.

They just want you to know, they just want you to try it one time. So appease those people even though you don't think it's, appetizing to you, . Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you find yourself giving this speech to adults more than you do kids? I feel like everybody, like puts the kids in the spot like, Hey, you gotta try this.

You gotta, be open-minded. I feel like I'm talking more to adults when I'm asking them to be more open-minded. Cuz there are some folks that are just shut off. Like you were just mentioned, pancreas. How many people do you. other than you guys eat pancreas. Never, not you guys. Yeah. . And that was years ago.

If somebody put it in front of me today, I'd still try it. I couldn't even tell [00:34:00] you what it tasted like. It was so long ago. But yeah it definitely adults. another thing. People eating their steak. Well done. Like this guy, I don't eat my steak. Well done dude. That drives me

It's just try it. Medium rare or whatever. I eat my steak medium and he freaks out because his is still mowing when he eats his . I just think you're missing out. On something that, I believe is better, that's not the case for everybody, but that's all I'm saying.

It's medium . I tooked it to 1 45 last night, so this is gonna end up at one 50, which is no, I cooked it to one 40. Knowing it would hit 1 45 ish. Okay. . And it was terrific. And he acts like I put briquettes. Now, , I will say back when I first started cooking, yes, I didn't know what I was doing and it was just, all right, it's black, it looks done well.

If you grew up that way. That's where, cuz my parents, that's how the, I can't stand anything with soy sauce now because growing up the only, anytime my parents would [00:35:00] cook anything, they would soak it in soy sauce. Why soy sauce? I have no idea. But they would just soak chicken breast and soy sauce and then they'd cook it.

I can't have soy sauce to this day without just be like, Ugh, , you know it. I'm just turned off by soy sauce nowadays. It cause of munya, but growing, I think that also did something to me where I was like, there's gotta be a better way to do this. So I would try different things and different recipes and cooking it different, styles and I think that's helped out a lot.

Yeah, that's a great redemptive story there. Micah

Just wanted to take a time out and say thank you to the listeners for tuning in. It really does mean a lot. I would also appreciate that if you haven't already left a rating or review to go ahead and do that. It all helps folks find us and get on board using and enjoying their wild game war. Feel free to chat with us and [00:36:00] ask questions either on Facebook, the Hunt Ofor, or Instagram at Hunt.

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Now, back to the show.

Question we had coming up here too, like we were just talking about a little bit before we, we pressed record here. Somebody's talking about that. They cut their kids meat and they cut their wife's meat and then presented to the table. And this is just a odd thing that I, or I wanna say an odd thing.

This is just a funny thing cuz I have recently just started doing that mainly [00:37:00] because my boys are so rowdy. A fork can actually be A dangerous weapon. Weapon. Yeah. On. On the table, whether if somebody's trying to steal somebody else's piece of meat or if they're just poking at each other, like all of a sudden the fork is now we gotta watch those.

But the knives is something that just doesn't go to the table. Just out of pure common sense right now. I got a third grader. I got a kindergartner and I got a preschooler. And they're all pretty much raised in the woods. We're, they're just a bunch of savages, including myself, I'm gonna get really good at patching drywall here in the next couple years.

But when I bring meat to the table, I have started a, on a presentation level, but then b, on a necessity, I have started to cut steak and even cut venison at the counter, lay it on the plate. make it all pretty even for the kids. They enjoy the splayed out version of it. But then I'm, I bring that in.

So actually there's just forks [00:38:00] and spoons at the table. , is that something that you've guys, am I the only one that's gone deep end on this or have you guys also gone with that knowing that, shoot, we've got multiple kids here at tables, but at the same time, Micah likes to present, I hope, just as much as he likes to cook.

what are you guys' issue or Yeah. What are your guys' stances on cutting meat at the counter versus at the table. I'm actually gonna one up you because I'm steak night at our house has just turned into that. Now I will give both my oldest sons credit. Last night they both learned how to cut a little bit.

For whatever reason, it was just the first night where Chase wanted to cut his own. And I'm like let me show you how. And then Caden, but for whatever reason, steak night at our house is I cook the steaks, I come in with the steaks, I start cutting the steaks up, and a plate comes to me and I give them their meat and I cut it all the.

Every piece that they eat has already been cut [00:39:00] by dad. So bite size. So bite size. Yeah. Pieces of meat. And I don't really know how that started. I do know my wife growing up had all of her meat cut by her father for as long as I can remember. I don't know if that's how it started with us.

Honestly, it's just easier because I'm sitting there, I've got, five steaks or four steaks sitting there and I just start cutting them. I kinda like doing it because guess what? I get to. I get to eat the pieces. I really like . Yeah. Oh, this piece looks nice. And I'll pop it in my mouth as I'm cutting, so by, he hasn't even got to the table yet and he's full.

Oh, nice. I get how that goes, dude, by the time everybody has had their meat, I'm usually full. Yeah. Like I, I usually just go grab my sides and sit down and eat afterwards because I've already had, A handful of nice choice cuts that I'm like, Ooh, that one's a nice piece right there. I don't know.

That's just how it works in our family. The kids bring their plates up, I give them their meat, they go sit down and everybody eats. Beautiful. Andy, how, what happens at your house on steak night? Are you putting knives [00:40:00] out or are those those relegated to the counter? Usually My wife cuts her own.

I cut up my daughters and obviously she doesn't get a knife, but usually all my wife is very fat adverse I will trim the fat off the sides of the meat for her. And after that it's what, make it a more playable so she doesn't have a bunch of leftover fat on the edge that she doesn't like, and then she cuts it up from there.

But I usually fend for myself on, my plate space. Yep. Yeah, no, I'm I I don't know when I started, but. I started doing what Nathan does. I u I'm usually the one that cuts everything up. Same. My wife does not like the fat. I love the fat, so I'll trim it up as best I can.

I'll, and get I'll usually cut her, my wife's into strips and then I have eight year old, a five-year-old and a one-year-old. So they're usually. I'm gonna cut that stuff up to bite size for them. And then I try to present everything on the table, obviously, and make it look as pretty as possible, but it doesn't work out that way all the time.

and that's where I fail cause I'm [00:41:00] just like, bring your plate over here. There's yours.

Gentlemen, this brings us to the crescendo of our show. This is where I'm gonna pre, or I'm gonna have you guys present to me your dish submission to the emperor's table. What that's going to include. Yeah. Big deal. What this is gonna include is it's gonna be an ideal situation where somehow all of the creators of Sportsman's empire have come together to share a meal.

And when we're at this meal, we're each bringing a dish. That kind of represents our region, represents a little bit about you personally about the species that you choose to chase, but at the same time, your cooking style, whether it's going to be basic and simple and let the animal speak, or if it's gonna be something where you're really gonna add some play to it and you're really going to elevate it up, that's totally your choice.[00:42:00]

But each of you are gonna have to bring a dish to this potluck. . I'm trying to scan through here. I think Nathan's been pretty quiet. I think we're gonna kick it off with Nathan. You're gonna be our first submission here. What are you gonna be bringing to the emperors table? Micah taught me how to do this.

Like he's taught me most of my cooking things. I recently, probably about a year or more ago, got a Blackstone. Yeah, buddy. Literally changed my life. , like Jesus himself. It has literally changed my life. , I've gotten what I feel like is really good with smash burgers and I really enjoy making those now for the family.

And what I like to do is what Micah taught me up in this situation, but I make the smash burgers and, butter, the bun the buns and put them on afterwards as well. And then while I'm making this smash burger is what my wife actually found on a black. Group is I'll make bacon with the smash burgers [00:43:00] and then some of that bacon, you'll cut it up into really small squares and you'll put corn and the bacon together and cook them together on the Blackstone.

And that is a really tasty side that you can have done at the same time. The smash burgers are. So I would bring smash burgers. And corn and bacon sides. And then you can throw some bacon on your smash burger if you're so inclined. I love it. The bacon corn combo on the griddle. That's a great play right there.

That's a great side. Now are you adding any more seasoning or are you letting the bacon do all the seasoning right there? No, she's got a seasoning. She puts in it. I don't even know what it is. She brings the corn out for me. And the bacon. I lay the bacon out and then she dumps it in, and then she's got this little seasoning that she, it's got a little bit of a kick to it, a little bit of red pepper I believe, kick to it.

Not too hot. We're not huge spicy people, but man, that, that corn side is just, it always hits home. I really enjoy that and I, it's just a nice compliment to. [00:44:00] The smash burgers, which I just really enjoy just because they, they cook quick. Yeah. Once you smash 'em down it doesn't take long to have a meal ready.

And when you're busy, it's nice being ready to eat. Sometimes that corn takes longer than the burgers did. Yeah. Getting that protein done fast, quick and get that hard sear from that Blackstone, you can't beat it. Is this with beef or are you playing with venison at this point? It has been with beef, although I am going to try it with venison.

Gotcha. I'm a little concerned about it just because of how lean venison is. Just make, that's my, yeah. I was just gonna say, that's my next question. Do you get, when you have ground made or you make your ground whichever it is. , you go probably go straight venison. You don't mix it. Yeah, it has, yep.

Nothing's mixed. Gotcha, gotcha. I have found, just when I've done it on my Blackstone, doing the smash in 80 20, try to mimic as much of that fat content as you do with like beef. And I use a pork back fat that, that just works so well. It's neutral flavor. I, I. I [00:45:00] feel like I'm a broken record when I talk about this, but yeah, that, that pork back fatt is just a neutral flavor.

So the venison comes out. It's not being masked by a pork or like a bacon. Like a bacon would totally mask that. Yeah. Or even beef. Beef would overtake that flavor. What if you did a one to two beef to or venison, two parts of venison to one part beef? Would it still overtake the.

Beef is pretty. Beef can stand alone and Venison's gonna have a tough time hanging onto that. You're gonna taste a lot of that beefiness. That's why, that's why smoking, you can use mesquite on beef cuz it's gonna power right through that. It's got such a powerful taste versus venison that you know it, you taste

I was gonna say, you really taste venison when you either overcook it or you've got something with age to it. But if you get something that you know, you. A younger dough, any sort of like beef application is probably gonna overtake that really quickly. But anyway, I have just found that the pork back fat, yeah, that's gonna be a little bit [00:46:00] harder to find for you guys, but that pork back fat works really well when mixing it in to hopefully save those.

Nice, yeah, save those sliders. All right, Micah, you're up. We've already got sliders down. We've got a corn side. What are you looking to bring to this emperor? I'm probably gonna do a venison bomb bag of chips.

Damn it. He took mine. . Andy's got an easy one. I'll get some barbecue chips. Yeah. Got you. Boo . But no, I'm gonna do a venison bomb and I'm pretty sure that's what it's called anyways, but you take a jalapeno Oh, that, so pour it out. Shove it with cream cheese some, probably some sharp cheddar.

Put a little seasoning in there, and then you get your ground ven and you probably wanna cut it with either some pork fat or I've done it with sausage where you just mix pork or. Ven and pork, you shove, you create an egg, and then it looks like just a little grenade looking [00:47:00] thing. Just a ball of meat.

Yeah. And I'm gonna throw that on the smoker. I'm probably gonna cook it a little higher, probably around 300 till that gets done. And as a side, I'm, I've been messing around with, what's the little potatoes, the little yellow ones? What are they called? Yukon Golds. Yeah. Yukon. Golds baby. Baby Yukons.

Yeah. Take those. Cut those in half. Boil 'em for about 10 minutes. Take 'em out, cover 'em with seasoning. I usually like salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika. And then throw those in the oven for probably about another 20 to 25 minutes till they get crispy on the outside. Those are like one of my new favorites and the family's favorites.

So those are probably the two things I'm gonna do. Yes, we gotta start. Those bombs are really good. Yeah. The vent. Yeah, probably. Oh yeah. And I'd probably add some barbecue sauce to those bombs right before they're getting taken off. I'm not a big fan of eating bell pepper. But when Micah made those venison bombs, I ate the whole damn thing.

You said bell or jalapeno pepper? I usually use jalapeno. Okay. The green ones one time. I thought those are jalapenos. Those are [00:48:00] jalapenos. I ate 'em. Sometimes you can get, it depends on the jalapenos. Sometimes they're not as spicy as others. Yeah. It just depends. Stuff depends. They were really good.

Yep. Yeah, those, I've also heard of those bombs being referred to as armadillo eggs. But anyway, that makes sense. , what a great way to, to utilize that and Yeah. To. . And when you, like you said, you corded out those jalapenos , you're taking a ton of that spice outta that equation. You just, a little bit of spice is all you want from that.

And that's a great way to do that. Yeah. Yeah. And that cream cheese, that kind of, If somebody is, doesn't like the spicy stuff, that takes away a little bit more by adding that cream cheese in there. And if you wanted to get real technical, you could actually wrap that thing in bacon too.

Get it to where it's crispy, just adds another flavor profile to it. But I almost feel like the bacon kind of takes away, like you were talking about earlier, Yeah, Bacon's such powerful with all the smoke and with all the cure and the seasoning to it, that sometimes it can overtake it. But yeah, [00:49:00] like you said, just add that barbecue to the outside.

Oof. That's a home run right there. I'll, I'm gonna be looking for those on this table, . All right, Andy, we got a guy on. We got a guy on first and second. You gotta bring him home. What do we got? . Bring some pumpkin and Dr. Pepper. Oh man. I'll be honest with you, I'm not probably as big of a cook as these two are.

I make my normal steaks and different things, in the Blackstone and those different things. But I will say one of my favorites and I think some's my whole family aum and would eat them Turkey nuggets Fresh Turkey breast cut up, in nugget size chunks.

Pretty simple flour breadcrumbs get a good mixture there. Coat 'em real good and just really pan fry, honestly. It's the only way I'll eat Turkey. I'm a big Lowry seasoning. I literally will put it on everything. Can't go wrong, . It goes on every, I literally, there's a joke.

One of my good friends, pat it's Hey what's on that steak? Larrys? Yep, . I literally will put it on everything. So that goes in the mixture. Just pan fry 'em, [00:50:00] just nice golden nugget. I made some, it's kinda like an imitation Chick-fil-A sauce, kinda like that. I think it's like like the honey mustard, some honey wasser sauce.

I can't recall it from the top of my head, but I'm not gonna lie, I google recipe to find it and make a little dipping sauce for it. And fresh Turkey breast nuggets. Nuggets. Oh, I get, man, your family has ruined the way I eat Wild Turkey. because that's the exact same thing. Al Russell and Albert did the first time I ever ate Wild Turkey.

and it was so good. It's, yeah. I don't want to eat it any other way now. Yeah. I love it. You want to try something new, but at the same time, you can't get away from the nug. You only get so much like you kill a Turkey a year and we're not even lucky to do that all the time. You're like, I don't wanna mess this up.

I got one shot here. I actually do it one breast at a time to make sure I don't screw it up. Yeah. And that way I have one left if I need to. I don't cook both of 'em at the same time. There you go. Hey, there's a pro move right there. Do one and then hold the other back until you perfect it out. That's a great [00:51:00] tip there, Andy.

Great submission, by the way. Again, I don't think turkey's been touched yet by anybody, so Yeah you're coming out. Oh, the lone species there of Turkey. Gentlemen, this has been great. I thank you for all your submissions. This has been an awesome conversation. Nathan, go ahead and just give us a ch my listeners here.

How can we follow along with Missouri Woods and Waters? Where can we contact you? Where can we engage with you guys? Yeah you can find us on any podcasting platform just like you'd find any other podcast you listen to. You can search us out in Missouri. Woods And Water on that, or We are on the Sportsman's Empire Feed as well.

We're part of the Empire Network. So check us out on any of those. Our social. Pretty easy to find. Instagram, Facebook, go Wild Search Missouri Woods and Water and you will find us. Excellent. Excellent. Hold on fellas. I'm gonna let our listeners on out. Folks, what a great night that it's been.

We've had a great chance to just talk with some fellas here. On [00:52:00] just loving the outdoors and bringing our brothership together that, we go and we do these things a as a pursuit of our own hobbies. But at the same time, what a way for us to build and into each other and just to have a load of fun along the way.

And of course, a lot of fun happens when you're filling your bellies. And here we've got three awesome submissions onto our ongoing series here at the Emperor's Table. So whether you're gonna be getting after a beef tongue or trying out deer tongue for the first time, or you're gonna be trying to perfect your Turkey nuggets, whichever way you're gonna go, make sure that the, when you're approaching that protein, that your knife is very sharp.

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