Show Notes
In this engaging conversation, Nick and Andrew Muntz reflect on the holiday season, sharing personal anecdotes and experiences related to hunting and cooking. They discuss the challenges faced during the hunting season, including weather conditions and tracking difficulties. The conversation also delves into culinary adventures, particularly focusing on Andrew's Italian wedding soup recipe, showcasing the blend of personal history and family traditions in cooking. In this engaging conversation, Nick and Andrew explore the themes of adapting to life changes through cooking, the importance of real food, and the connection to quality meat sources. They delve into the therapeutic aspects of baking, particularly sourdough, and the rewarding experience of self-sufficiency from field to table. The discussion also touches on the shift towards homesteading and the joys and challenges of parenting, all while sharing personal anecdotes and insights.
- Hunting seasons can vary greatly based on location and conditions.
- Tracking wounded deer can be a challenging experience for hunters.
- Sharing hunting stories can create a sense of camaraderie among hunters.
- Cooking can be a way to connect with family traditions and memories.
- Venison can be a versatile ingredient in various recipes.
- The importance of meal prepping for busy lifestyles.
- Using wild game in cooking can enhance flavor and nutrition.
- Hunting experiences often come with unexpected challenges and lessons.
- The joy of cooking can be amplified by sharing meals with loved ones. Cooking can be a way to
- adapt to life changes.
- Batch cooking can save time and provide healthy meals.
- Real food is essential for family health and well-being.
- Knowing where your meat comes from is crucial.
- Hunting and raising chickens can lead to a homesteading lifestyle.
- Baking, especially sourdough, can be therapeutic.
- Self-sufficiency brings a rewarding sense of accomplishment.
- Parenting involves learning and adapting to children's needs.
- Life lessons can come from unexpected conversations with kids.
- Homesteading is becoming a new trend among millennials.
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Show Transcript
Nick Otto (00:01.936)
Well, hey folks, beautiful evening here in Michigan. Yeah, the time that this is coming out, it is going to be the 26th. Christmas has just happened. So to everybody out there in the internet podcast world, Merry Christmas. I hope your gatherings that happened yesterday were full of fun and family and friends.
And if it's happening still, well, hey, buckle up because there's so much excitement that goes along with this time of year. Make sure to take a little time for yourself. Make sure you're hydrate, not with the cocktails always, but make sure you get some water, India. Get some solitude. Maybe sneak out to the woods. I know here in Michigan, we're going to be late in our being able to take some game. Small game is going to be heating up here very fast.
as whitetail season is winding down. We get to shoot deer until I think it's the 12th of January. I think we've talked about that a couple times on this episode or excuse me on this podcast. I'm excited to actually do my my late season doe tag here soon. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. We kind of want to talk about a little bit of what's going on the holidays, what's going a little bit on with our plates and with our wild game. And
I thought none other to bring on good friend, former podcast host of the O2 podcast. since then they have retired that podcast and he's continued to move on with, with, his job and continuing to, to find and pursue those bucks and to get the, get the does and joining us for hog camp again, we'll actually break a little bit into that. got Andrew months on us on tonight, Andrew.
Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Andrew Muntz (02:01.858)
Merry Christmas, Nick, and thanks for having me. It's always, I don't claim a lot of friends from the state up north, but you are for sure one of them. So good to see you.
Nick Otto (02:12.006)
I will hold that in high esteem. I'm a state fan. So I bleed green and white. Actually, I didn't even go to either school. I went to a small little NAIA school, Cornerstone University, just up the road. Yay, Golden Eagles. But yeah, we did a lot of work with the Extension Office through MSU, a lot with their Ag program through the farm. So anyway, that's where my allegiance lies.
Andrew Muntz (02:17.966)
That's right.
Nick Otto (02:40.876)
And I will say anything bad that happened so Bucky, I seem to smile a little bit, but it's at the same time I do appreciate having a friend down there.
Andrew Muntz (02:50.606)
And you're, that's the good school. Okay. Michigan state, I can handle that, right? They've got a great turf grass program there. You know, their ag school is wonderful. You're on the right side of the state. It's the other one that I just, yeah, but we don't want to talk about that. So we're still a little sour down here.
Nick Otto (03:03.983)
You
Nick Otto (03:07.962)
Yes, yes. How long do you think day is the guy? Do you think he sticks around?
Andrew Muntz (03:13.678)
No, I wish that I know I wish they would have canned them the second that game was over. Here's okay. Not that now that we're in the football. All right. So in my, my mind, right? Okay. You would beat Michigan first. If you win a national championship, then that's okay. Cool. there's all these people that are like, well, if he wins a national championship, it's okay. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You start with beating Michigan. And if you happen to win a national championship, so unacceptable, he can go.
Nick Otto (03:17.967)
OOF
Yup.
Nick Otto (03:43.174)
I as much I mean, it's it's drama. used to be a person that avoided drama, but now I soak it up. When I saw the maize and blue flag, not just come to the center, it was headed to the but it got dragged through a whole bunch of players like nothing more in my body said please, please plant that flag. Somebody get upset, please somebody get upset.
And then the, you know, it was a fight and then it broke up and then to see the fight reignite. I don't know. I just, I enjoyed every minute of it. Every minute minutes of it.
Andrew Muntz (04:18.094)
You know, it's, I'm glad, I'm glad you made that made you happy. It's even dumber. I saw something the other day. Now we're going to get into politics because we, in Ohio, they're, they're doing, trying to pass a bill. I saw, I didn't really actually read it. Somebody said it to me, trying to pass a bill where it's illegal to plant a Michigan flag on the Ohio state field. so, you know, because we have so much time and in the legislature to draft up bills about that. mean, whatever.
Nick Otto (04:38.064)
did see that. I did see that.
Nick Otto (04:47.59)
Budget balanced? Nope. We're gonna handle this piece first.
Andrew Muntz (04:52.01)
Right, right.
you
Nick Otto (04:56.132)
Well, hey, off the football field and into the wooded field, into the deer field, how is your season gone? Andrew, here in Michigan, me personally, archery was difficult. Something was weird this year. I think it was just way too warm. I think EHD was a problem in my neck of the woods. Then again, five miles away, I've had people have great seasons this year.
Maybe it was just me, I don't know. was one of those like, wow, I can't seem to just get within range of an animal or at least be in range during legal shooting, like to get an animal. It was really difficult. We did scrub down a doe with the shotgun, but how has your season gone? Has it been a little bit better than a single doe for me?
Andrew Muntz (05:49.282)
Well, so Ohio is unique and not different than Michigan. my Michigan, Drummond Island buck is actually right here above me from last year. the, you know, we got the Southeast part of the state's pretty hilly and kind of in the, you know, mountain Appalachia feel. And then you get to the Western part and it's flat as a pancake and it's all ag. So we were in extreme drought, extreme drought. Like if you were to look in the map of, you know, whatever
the USDA or the weather service or whatever, we're a heart of the worst part of the drought. And it didn't rain, I don't know, somewhere mid July it turned off and didn't come, we didn't get any more rain until that one hurricane went through. I mean, it was honestly two or three months almost with no rain. So I feel like I say this every year, but it's just been a weird year. And the crops coming off in late August, early September,
Nick Otto (06:25.605)
Yeah.
Andrew Muntz (06:48.13)
were weird, that doesn't happen all the time. Here's one, and I don't know if you guys saw this at all, but like lot of the, some of the crops in the field, if there were beans still on the stock, you know, they're dried down and everything, and that hurricane came through and it rained for like a week, those beans actually sprouted on the stock, okay? So, yeah, and then,
Nick Otto (07:11.222)
my goodness in the in the husk in the shell.
Andrew Muntz (07:16.308)
And there must have been enough that fell to the ground or whatever. The field behind my house, I was out there mid November and it looked like it was about the second week of May. Like you had seedlings and they were in rows essentially of soybeans that were just like recombinant. You could have hunted that like it was a newly planted field. So that whole aspect, and I talked to the deer biologist in Ohio and his thing was if you can't kill a deer this year in Ohio,
you got a problem because there's no crops and they'll be, you know, everything. also think so. Ohio's a bait state. You're allowed to bait. it would have been a great year to hunt over corn. I try not to do that. unless it becomes like dire conditions. Like this time of the year, I'll start throwing some stuff out just to fill tags, but, my, my year, okay. Started off early. I took a dough. I'm, like you for the most part. I'm meat hunting. I love to have antlers hanging on the wall, but
Nick Otto (07:45.606)
you
Nick Otto (08:02.939)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Muntz (08:13.454)
I'm not John Hutzbeth, okay. I'm not Nate from Michigan wild, right? I don't have that kind of stuff. I've got little, little bucks that just, they, they make me happy still. So, took a dough right off the bat. I'm like, okay, this is good, right? somewhere in early November, and I know there's a of people out there like, wow, this guy's an idiot, but I took another dough and I took that one and we have, I think it's, it's a national program, the farmers and hunters feeding the hungry. So every year I try to, I donate one and.
Nick Otto (08:42.491)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Muntz (08:43.342)
It timed up right that I was like, this is gonna be my donation deer. Still plenty of time. Like I usually try to take about three for my own freezer. And I'm like, okay, I still got plenty of time. So at that point, I guess I was antler hunting, trying to catch a buck in the rut. I really, I saw more bucks this year than I've ever seen. Numerous times I had shooters coming in or that I could see, but I wasn't.
in the right spot. And so I kind of there's one spot in particular piece of property I kept moving the stand around right and I moved a little closer and I'd see one but it was still just out of range. So I moved a little closer and I'd see one but it was just so it was just kind of like bouncing around and I'd have little ones come through and it was man Nick you would have been mad because I'm like I can take this little basket rack but at the same time I'm like
Nick Otto (09:24.549)
Mm.
Andrew Muntz (09:41.166)
I've, we've all listened to all those other podcasts. These guys that say you got to wait, you know, the bigger ones will come in Ohio. We do the Ohio big buck club. And, when we were doing the podcast, some of the things they talk about is that the biggest deer that get entered into that club are almost always taken November 14th and later. So I'm like, all right, so keep waiting, wait, wait. Finally, I have a buck come in. This is one of those shame stories, that he was good. You know, he would, he would made me really happy. Everything was perfect. Perfect. Perfect.
And 730 in the morning he comes in 18 yards, you know, I'm. I can't tell you what happened. Honestly, like I've I walked myself through this shot. I was under I was composed. Everything everything was perfect, except when I let the arrow go, it hit him in the back hind quarter. I took that bow as soon as I got down, went shot and then my target it's right on so.
Nick Otto (10:33.797)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Muntz (10:40.63)
I don't know. I saddle hunt. I don't know if it was the angle. I don't know if I wasn't anchored right. I don't know what happened. I was really hoping it hit a femoral artery. It did not. I watched him and then I got down on my stand. He was out kind of in this field behind me. Long story short, I bumped him. I went to track him. Rookie mistake and full disclosure, I've been hunting for a while, but I didn't grow up with a dad.
That hunted I didn't have an uncle or grandfather like a lot of it was mentors where I could get them But at the same time it's been a lot of trial by error Well, I learned a very rookie mistake and I didn't take my bow with me when I went to track this deer I was hoping that he had bled out and I had good blood and all this stuff and I sent you the video right the I went walk I went walking up where I saw him going to this these woods and I thought he had gone across the ag field
Nick Otto (11:25.433)
Thank
Nick Otto (11:31.653)
Yes.
Andrew Muntz (11:39.586)
And I'm just walking through the woods, man. Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. And I just happened to look up. I'm like, I should be getting close about where he would be. And here he is laying there on the ground. And I'm like, this is weird. Now he's laying like a dog would lay with his head up. Right. Eyes are closed though. And there I could see there was some small trees or brush or whatever. I'm like, that's weird. I've never seen them like die with their head up like that.
And I thought, right? So then I was like, maybe his antlers are caught on one of these little trees or something that he just kind of like hung up there. So then I'm like, you know what? I need to go get my bow because we're just going to make sure we put them down the right way. I mean, I can see the arrows in his leg and everything like that. I take two steps back. Remember, when I went walking in, I was loud. I was not being quiet.
Nick Otto (12:10.847)
I've never seen him die with their head up.
Andrew Muntz (12:39.182)
I go two steps backwards as quiet as I could and his eyes open up and he looks at me and then he hobbles away and I'm like, dang it. I was so kicking myself. I had like a 12, 15 yard shot. Anyways, he left. I brought the drone in, tried to find him, couldn't find him there. He did show up on camera about three weeks later.
Nick Otto (12:52.368)
He was right there.
Nick Otto (13:07.11)
I was gonna say that was the next piece is that the store, I mean, it's a sad start to our story, but this story isn't over, Andrew.
Andrew Muntz (13:16.502)
No, and he showed up on camera. I knew it was him. The Lumenok is still lit up. So three weeks later, he looks kind of like Rudolph, except it's green and it's in his butt. you know, he's in a little bit of rough shape as far as his rack goes. It looks like, I don't know if he got hit by a car or I highly doubt he was fighting, but he was moving well. So.
Nick Otto (13:30.51)
my goodness.
Andrew Muntz (13:42.178)
Who knows? I don't, I feel terrible if I do get the chance. We have our bonus gun weekend coming up here. I might sit out there if he comes back and I have the opportunity, I'm going to put him down.
Besides that for the rest of the year, you know, I'm going to be doe hunting. So at least that's my plan.
Nick Otto (14:02.064)
Good deal. Good deal. No, I felt for you. Yeah. When you were, you were texting, no saga and it was like, man. And so that's, that was one thing I was, I guess the only redemptive piece that I got is like, long as you hunt the longer that you are hunting, especially with archery tackle, stuff like this is going to happen. No matter how much you've practiced, like you said, the bow is straight on something happened and it could have even been.
Andrew Muntz (14:08.216)
But Nick.
Nick Otto (14:31.194)
It was a good shot, but the deer moved quick. you know, all it had to do was move a few degrees left and right. And that changed your whole sight window. It's, it's going to happen. You're going to have a miss, you're going to have a wound. You're going to have that. And being able to respond is the true hunter.
Andrew Muntz (14:46.904)
But Nick, now, but you have seen me firsthand as a hunter though, if you recall our, in Oklahoma, when we had that big boar come in at 18 yards or whatever. you know, God only knows what happened to that one. I don't know if I missed, I don't know if I hit him. I don't know what happened, but you know, like Lazarus, he got up and he,
Nick Otto (14:59.451)
Yes.
Nick Otto (15:04.582)
I'm sorry.
Andrew Muntz (15:14.316)
continued on. So it's it's kind of the story of my life to be honest with you, but
Nick Otto (15:18.942)
I, yes. And in review, I actually, I think I still have that footage because I reviewed it again. I think it was, it was maybe some poor coaching. The guy that was sitting next to you myself, I believe I said to you, don't do it. Like I was thinking we've he's down. Let's save the meat. Let's save as much as we can. We don't need extra holes in him. I think I held you off. I was like, don't, don't shoot yet. Don't shoot yet.
And I thought he was done. And then, yes, the two of us watched this pig shake himself back alive. He literally kickstarted his own heart and body back alive. And then between you shooting and now me shooting, that thing took off into the thick stuff. It I have to believe that that thing died. But at that same time, like I was still baffled.
just as much as you were blown away.
Andrew Muntz (16:18.926)
We should have probably, we probably should just told the whole story, but this board comes in right at dusk and it's at the feeder. Nick's coaching me through the whole thing. I put it right behind his ear when I thought and then pull the trigger. He hits the ground and we're like, yeah, we got him. And then he's like, does this kick thing and Nick's like, no, that's his death kick. It's good, it's good. And then he kind of like kind of scoots his head, like kicking along and then.
Nick Otto (16:43.501)
Right?
Andrew Muntz (16:47.254)
And
Nick Otto (16:52.73)
He is getting out.
Nick Otto (17:00.61)
Ugh.
Nick Otto (17:07.396)
Yes.
the, the audio on that. mean, shoot now I think we're going to, we're going to have to post it at some point. you know, I'm not a big, I try not to have curse words, but just the fact of like, we took the fit. I'm taking the video. It's good, solid video. goes down and then it starts kicking. starts kicking and he starts getting up and moving. And there's a point where I drop the phone.
I just drop it. pick up my AR and we are now shooting and all you hear is pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And then just me at the very end of the video, just dropping off. Fuck like, like if that were to sum up that, that initial hunt, that that's all it was. It was like, it was out of our hands at that point. That thing had taken off. I was, I was baffled. So we need to break that streak, Andrew. We need to break.
the Ohio curse. think that's the only way we can call it something. So hopefully this year we can break that down because you're you're in for hog camp number three. Am I am I correct? That's the plan. Good, good, good. I know things change. But yes, we're planning on hog camp number three. Did you take any new pieces back with you this year?
Andrew Muntz (18:11.896)
Yeah, I'm up, so we'll figure it out.
Andrew Muntz (18:21.87)
That's the plan as far as I'm concerned.
Andrew Muntz (18:35.47)
I think so. I think so, yeah.
Nick Otto (18:36.506)
You took a couple pieces. Gotcha. Yeah. Just coming back around with, with that wild hog, what is you had done some pulled on your, your pellet smoker there last year. Have you gotten a chance to play around with any more of that wild hog?
Andrew Muntz (18:55.192)
So no, it was the time I just smoke it. I like to have people over or whatever in the summer. And a lot of times I'll do a domestic hog and then I'll do the wild as well, just to give them the opportunity to try it if they'd like. But I think we've talked about this, but Jesse Griffiths, he's got that hog book. He's got some good recipes in there for the wild hog stuff. haven't really screwed around with it besides the
Nick Otto (19:17.925)
Rowan.
Andrew Muntz (19:25.742)
think it's smoke, smoke and pork butt in there or something. yeah, when I pull a piece of meat out, I'm really afraid to like screw it up. So a lot of times I'm just like, I'll just smoke it and then pull it. And I don't know, I eat it all the time. So.
Nick Otto (19:40.516)
Well, good deal. Good deal. Yes. I've got, kind of like with your end, at least with the shoulders, that's been an easy, both the lower end and the upper end go with this. My, you know, I brine it and then put a rub on it. My brother-in-law really likes to play around with his, his pellet smoker. And so there's a lot of times where I will prep it and then just give it to him. Cause he's, he's doing a batch of them and I'll take a whole one, shred it and then portion it into pound packages, freeze that up.
because again, my boys are eating like crazy. So having, either some taco meat or some easy sliders that we can make on a Tuesday, Wednesday really, really helps out having that prepped up ready to go. actually I think I have full shoulder that bore, is now into carnitas or at least into, smoked meat that we just have on the side. I had full ambitions to do a bone in ham for Christmas this year, but
Christmas snuck up on me and I haven't even begun the cure. So I think we're going to have that for Easter. We're going to just fast forward to the next holiday. So that way I can give myself a good seven days to cure it and then, then be able to get a good glaze and smoke that and then have that ready to go. So at least that's what I'm going do with that back, back leg anyways.
Andrew Muntz (20:45.87)
There you go.
Andrew Muntz (21:00.622)
I need to screw around with it more. A lot of times when I came back, I just throw in the freezer and then it's in garbage bags or whatever. I need to break it down into different pieces so that when I pull it out, okay, this is what I'm working with and life is busy. And so the old smoker is usually my go-to.
Nick Otto (21:25.892)
Well, perfect. Well, as we were then again, talking earlier on side notes, you were sent, you sent me, sent me a video of, actually sent our group a little chat there of your kitchen. And you said you were doing a little bit of light cooking, but it was like a 360 pan. And as you were panning around, was one mess became a second mess, which turned into a bigger mess. And it looked like you had been cooking.
Andrew Muntz (21:50.03)
You
Nick Otto (21:56.24)
for this entire holiday season. mean, there was, there was cookies out there. I saw, did I see a gingerbread house there as well? Like you had, you must've had an epic couple days in, in your kitchen. one of which that hit my radar really hard that I was like, Ooh, I need to talk to Andrew about this. I called it a pot of meatballs. I thought you were actually going with a boil.
on these meatballs, but I was mistaken. What did you have in the big stock pot that was on your kitchen?
Andrew Muntz (22:34.306)
So the big stock pot was Italian wedding soup. my growing up, I grew up in a small town. You call it a city, little town up on Lake Erie there over by Cedar point. Anyways, my parents owned a restaurant. Okay. So dad has always been in the hospitality business, always loved cooking and all that kind of stuff. mean, he
He's gone through different phases of his life. He's got dementia at this point. So it's like, he doesn't really do as much as he used to, but he has forever had some recipes that were just really good. And I'm lucky enough that I've got his book of recipes essentially. but his, his Italian wedding soup, I mean, it was something they served at the restaurant and stuff. People loved it. I love it. My kids love it. It's easy. I just, I mean, in a couple hours I can have.
Nick Otto (23:08.698)
No.
Nick Otto (23:20.427)
yes, good good.
Andrew Muntz (23:32.398)
I think I've got two gallons of it now. So break that into some courts, pull it out. It'll feed me or the kids for a day or two. yeah, so that one is, it's actually a pretty easy recipe. You mentioned about my kitchen. That day, can't tell you everything I did. I know I did a chuck roast in the crock pot. I did the wedding soup. I did some sourdough bread. I did jam bars. The night before I had done gingerbread,
for the kids and then there was something else I made that day. I don't know, I was probably meal prepping both for the week as well as like that day as well as you know the months ahead. But yeah, there was a lot going on that morning when I sent you that video.
Nick Otto (24:20.294)
I loved it. You know, it was just, you know, magic happening and yeah, just to see the different elements. It was, it was very fun. with that Italian wedding soup, it's just from the size of it. You said you were portioning these meal, making this last quite a while. Give me the breakdown. you know, I don't want to, I don't want to dig into your dad's recipe, but at the same time, like give me the basis of it and the
the meatballs that were on top or at least like what was floating on top. Like what was that breakdown of like fat to ratio? Like yeah, walk us through your preparation of that dish.
Andrew Muntz (24:59.86)
So I'm happy to send you the recipe if you'd like. me, basically you take a bunch of chicken stock, a couple gallons of that, get that boiling. Then it was frozen spinach that you're going to put in there and some onions, kind of making that stock. Eventually you got a Parmesan cheese and egg mixture that goes in as well. And then
The meatballs, I think that's about the last thing. Now the meatballs, I like to make, it's just a recipe I got from a friend. It's about an 80-20 as far as your beef goes. However, a lot of times I just use venison, right? Some bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper. Very easy. I think that's one of the things I've learned.
Nick Otto (25:47.001)
yeah, absolutely.
Andrew Muntz (25:56.046)
And you and I were discussing earlier, okay. I've had things in life that have changed. I've changed my life the last year, not all for the, for the better, but it's, it's life you adapt and you move on and you do to whatever. And one of the things I've had to do is, is, is more of the cooking. And I try to take care of myself physically and going to the gym and all that kind of stuff. So if I'm going to eat, we're going to eat good food and we're going to, we're going to eat wholesome food. And I think my kids, you know,
If you ask them, they will tell you their favorite food in the world is deer heart. Probably not a whole lot of kids saying that, but I, I probably I'm proud of that. that they really, they take to it as well. So, one of the things I've learned, there are recipes that are challenging, right? I've bitten off more than I can chew a couple of times, but a lot of things out there aren't that hard. And to have a good meatball isn't really that hard. It takes.
Nick Otto (26:34.48)
Yeah.
Nick Otto (26:46.51)
Mm-hmm.
Andrew Muntz (26:53.71)
those ingredients I just rattled off. It's not much. And then to put them in a wedding soup that really, and you're waiting for it to boil. That's what it comes down to in that recipe that I have for the most part. And then you got all this food that's like good to go. And it amazes me when people say, you we don't have time, we eat out, whatever, that kind of stuff. I get it. I there are times when that, if you took a couple hours to make a nice big thing of soup, it's relatively healthy.
It's easy to reheat up and it's good. so I don't, you know, that's one of those things that I've learned. I think at first I was like, my gosh, I'm gonna have, what am I gonna do for food? Like you can only make tacos so many times and I don't want to eat mac and cheese and chicken tenders every night. but as I've learned that it's not as difficult as you think, or maybe it can be more difficult, but it doesn't have to be to start, right?
Nick Otto (27:32.102)
Mm-hmm.
Nick Otto (27:46.736)
Correct, correct. And I think I like a batch cooking, just like when we've got the time where I might have a free Saturday or I might have time on my hands. Like I did it the other day where I had a full Sunday where nothing was gonna happen. I was only looking forward to the Lions playing. It was a really bad game. Everybody's hurt, everybody's dead. I'm panicking. I've never had hope.
Andrew Muntz (28:13.198)
don't know why you did an on-site kick with nine minutes to go. That was the only thing I was like, what are they doing?
Nick Otto (28:15.59)
But I was looking forward to that game. So I'm like, I am doing, I'm doing shanks. And so I have the time to braise and I could have fed my family with literally two hindshanks. That would have fed us great. But at the same time, I grabbed a second package and I put four shanks in. If I'm going to do the effort of doing this, I might as well have some that's going to then carry over. Now, it happened to be my Poposo recipe.
Which again is super easy. It works out really good. I like to make it, here at the winter solstice, like the, know, it's the darkest, coldest night of the year. And you want something that's got black pepper into it. It's got some kick and it's luscious. And you put that on some. actually, what would I make? It wasn't a grits. I forget it was cheesy, but it was like a cheesy grits, but
The whole thing was just had great texture. was warm. And it's like, that's what you need right now when you're not getting vitamin D, when you're, when you can't see the sun for more than, you know, an hour, it's, it's something that just keeps you going. So I'm like, I'm making this a big batch and we're going to, we're going to keep that rolling. But I did, I met from what would feed my family that day to now this is going to feed my family for the week and being able to take that for lunch rather than getting Jimmy John's.
That is a huge player in that. And I know, you know, my boys, ate it and they enjoyed it. there's too much black pepper in it for them though. So they give it a try, but anytime that we've got shredded or we can pull out something from the freezer, just like you were saying, like that is something that, you know, and we may not get a full sit down family dinner every single night. We're busy, but if we can make what we put in our mouths, wholesome and quality and meaningful, be it the
best protein that we can get, bam, that's what we're going to do. And it doesn't take a whole lot other than making sure it doesn't boil over. Or like you said, letting it get up to boil, and then it's good to go. Like that's, that's the ticket right there. I think you hit the nail on the head when it comes to family eating.
Andrew Muntz (30:30.616)
I agree with you.
In general, and I'm sure most of your listeners are added, you know, in the kitchen and everything. It's real food, Nick. It's real food. There's so much garbage out there, but like, I don't even care. When my kids, they sit down, they know the rule. First thing you gotta do is finish the meat, right? If you don't wanna eat the, you know, whatever else, I really don't care. They eat their fruit too, cause they're kids, but it's real food. And I think that's really important for, we're gonna see it more and more.
Nick Otto (31:07.61)
Yup. Yup. I don't know. We, and I, yeah, we grew up on a farm. So we saw me in action. We saw life, death. You saw the whole, the whole gamut. And so like to have that, to have that for everybody, I understand that that is going to be something that people, you know, either look away from meat or they don't, don't know where to get quality meat. I think that's a big one too is
Nobody knows where to go and find a slaughterhouse anymore or be like, be courageous enough, I would say, or, you know, to go into a slaughterhouse or a packing, you know, a small packing facility or find a CSA. Like it is a daunting task to find that. And I think, I think we're going to find more and more individuals. We're going to get tired of going to a big box store and getting
you know, going to a grocery store and getting an unnamed piece of meat or burger, you know, again, you recall after recall and to be able to have some connection, shorten that chain up to your meat is going to be huge. So knowing where your stuff comes from, I know this is stuff that we've all heard before, but like being able to place and know where your meat is coming from is a huge step towards shortening that food chain and
getting yourself a higher quality piece of meat, not some, you know, big CAFOs someplace else where they're just bringing them in on trucks, slaughtering them and grinding the whole steer. You you got a connection to that. So I think more and more of it, like we were just talking a little bit with, I think hunting is kind of like owning chickens. Like it's the starter drug to homesteading.
Like even though you may still live in city limits, like all of a sudden, you know, you're hunting and now you need chickens. And then once you got those chickens, you're going to then start talking about sourdough starters. And that was the next thing that I wanted to get is yes, we are a proud owner of a starter. It started out, I thought I was doing a really good thing. I was getting my hair cut from a friend and she's cutting my hair.
Nick Otto (33:29.574)
And we get on the topic of yeah, sourdough. And she goes, yeah, Josh and I have a sourdough starter and we've been making this and we make this. And I was just very excited. And she goes, in fact, I have, I have to make some discard or I have to discard some and make fresh. Would you like the discard in order to make your own starter? And I was like, I, I thought I was, I thought Elisa would be thrilled.
I get it. I have it in a mason jar. I bring it home and Elisa's like, Hey, your hair looks really good. And I said, guess what else I brought. And I held that up and like all the happiness fell out of Elisa's face. And she, I won't forget the quote. She was like, great. Another thing to keep alive and walked away. She didn't look at it. She didn't touch it. She didn't ask any questions. And I was like,
I felt like I was holding this orphaned child now, this starter, but it has now warmed up to her. This starter has made many, many aloves in our house. So that's our saga of getting into that is I brought home unwanted starter and it had to warm itself into our family. But you've recently really gotten a deep dive into sourdough.
Andrew Muntz (34:33.998)
.
Nick Otto (34:55.258)
How'd you pick up your starter? And are you still on your first starter?
Andrew Muntz (34:55.758)
I am. So is she never going to let you go get a haircut again? that the moral of that story?
Nick Otto (35:04.07)
No, she's she's totally fine with it now. But yeah, she I caught her in a just a bad moment. Yeah, she was like, I'm really sorry. You know, I maybe I shouldn't have been so sour. But I think I think I had left her with the kids just a little bit too long. And she was like, great, something else to keep alive.
Andrew Muntz (35:20.098)
That's funny. That's funny. So last summer I went and visited my aunt and uncle in Nashville and I came downstairs and I don't see them very often. So, and I'll be really honest with you. I didn't realize the sourdough thing was a fad or like it was popular. So I came downstairs though and he had just pulled out of the oven two of the most beautiful loaves of bread I've ever ever seen. And I don't eat well prior to that, I didn't eat much bread. Like that wasn't, that was not something in my diet.
But I was just looked at these and I thought, you made these? And I started talking about it. he's like, yeah. The next thing you know, I mean, I was infatuated with this. gave me, he's like, well, you need to look at this book. And I'm sitting there on the porch reading this book. And then I'm going around his kitchen and I'm like, well, what do I need? What do I need to have? And I'm going around the kitchen and know, Amazon has the little thing where you can like take a picture or something and it'll pull it up. So I'm just like add to cart, add to cart, add to cart, all this stuff.
Nick Otto (36:16.998)
That's dangerous. That is dangerous.
Andrew Muntz (36:20.584)
it was, it was really dangerous. And, and there was a couple of things that got taken out of the car because I'm like, I'm not buying a proofing box that's $300 or whatever. the, so he's like, yeah, I'll, I'll give you some starter and take it back with you. my uncle's retired teacher, but he, he, he really helped me a lot with that. And, it was just one of those things. And in
Nick Otto (36:30.671)
my goodness.
Andrew Muntz (36:48.206)
the last year that I've utilized that almost in a therapeutic way. Baking is very specific and you have to be very accurate and I've learned that, but cooking, know, dash of salt and a little pinch of that, whatever. The baking...
Nick Otto (37:07.822)
leads very artistic side whereas baking is concrete you you can't there there at the end you can add your flair but you need to stick to this ratio this recipe
Andrew Muntz (37:13.442)
Yes.
Andrew Muntz (37:24.962)
very much so. I mean, it's intense. It's I mean, you have to keep the temperature, the dough right and you know, the temperature, the water you're using. I mean, it's not just like pour this water and it'll work. I mean, I probably am not as strict as I should be on things like that, because I'm not I can't control my house to make everything 78 degrees. Okay, not not in central Ohio and in the middle.
You know, it really became a kind of a therapeutic thing where I was just use it to bog my mind down, right? I had to focus on it and I did. it took me a couple of attempts. I'm a perfectionist. I am very competitive. And when the first batch did not turn out the way I wanted it to immediately started the next batch, immediately. Cause I was like, this is not right. What did I do wrong? Then I'm going back and
and reading my notes and trying to figure out what did I do wrong that caused this not turn out to be perfect. But yeah, I this book, I think it's called The Perfect Loaf. It has got your basic sourdough stuff. It's really nice. It's got all the pictures and descriptions and QR codes if you wanna watch the video to go through and...
or recipes. I love soft pretzels. So I found, you know, all this. Now I learned how pretzels are made. I've kind of learned, was one of those questions I always wondered like, what makes a pretzel a pretzel? Well, you got to dip it in lye and you got to, you know, it's the way it's it's proofed all that kind of stuff.
Nick Otto (39:01.198)
Now are you still did you are you still dipping in legit lie or did you do the boil the baking soda straight up lie? Whoa, look at you.
Andrew Muntz (39:10.71)
No, it's lie. don't. Yeah, I don't know what I should pull that out. It's sodium something. It's not it is. It is lie though. I had to like I'd be very careful with it. The gloves and all that kind of stuff. So.
Nick Otto (39:25.242)
Yeah. I love it. Go real risky on it. That's great.
Andrew Muntz (39:30.83)
If you're gonna do it, you do it right, right? So that's the kind of the thing. with that, and like I've tried other things in there. I think that morning I sent you the video, I tried this gingerbread loaf and I'm not a huge gingerbread person, but you know, that was, it turned out really good. It's a bread that you eat, you're gonna put a sandwich on it, but you can have a piece with your coffee or something and it's kind of a treat. It's got a little bit of sweetness to it. don't have to.
Nick Otto (39:32.794)
Correct. Correct.
Andrew Muntz (40:00.718)
pound it with butter or anything like that. And I mean, it's just for the holidays, it was cool. So did I send you the picture of the loaf I made for the kids at Halloween? I had to have.
Nick Otto (40:12.356)
That's the one that I mistaken. was, I was really excited. I thought you made a marbled rye. That's where I was like, Holy smokes. This guy is making like Jewish style, Jewish bakery style, braided rise. was like, Holy smokes. But that was a, that was just a straight, wheat flour. You didn't have any other different flowers in that one. That was just a straight wheat flour with coloring added. Correct.
Andrew Muntz (40:40.856)
Right, yes, and it was purple and orange and it was just, it was really cool, right? I'm gonna be honest with you, I liked it. And then take it, yeah.
Nick Otto (40:47.714)
it was so neat. Yeah, because you sent the outside and then the cross section essentially when you you cut down into it and those colors were real vibrant. Like what a great fun thing for like that would be an awesome sandwich for for Halloween.
Andrew Muntz (40:59.662)
Yeah, the kids loved it, like they send them their school lunches and here you go, your peanut butter and jelly on this tie-dye looking bread. And then like on the outside, I'm not real good on the scoring stuff yet and all that. I'm figuring out, but you kind of made it look like a spider web and it was cool.
Nick Otto (41:11.984)
That's sweet.
Nick Otto (41:22.438)
That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. My wife handles the loaves. and she's, she's gone down that your same passageway or same path where she's been toying with this and toying with that. And, you know, at one point I saw a guy, through an Instagram reel, he threw like four or five ice cubes into, into the oven and it was just to increase the heat, the amount of humidity. So I did that and she was like, why are you doing that? And I'm like,
Apparently it helps the humidity. I kind of did it in a spot where she wasn't expecting to have that happen, but then it turned out really good. So she was like, well, Hey, this little like ad lib you had actually did something. now it's like four ice cubes have to go in. and the final part preparation when we're making the crust, higher humidity helps that out. So that was one of those tricks that we were like, we just came up. I just came upon that one.
My favorite, at least what I've been able to do is like English muffins. So again, it's more of a discard one. you make your starter and then you take that discard work that into a dough, basically adding in more flour. I think you only let it proof overnight or at least for a couple hours. And then you end up with your, your dough. Then you just pour it's real loose, but you pour that onto your cast iron, sear that up. And then you have your semolina flour, the real core stuff on there.
And man, it's like a legit, English muffin and having those for like breakfast sandwiches. Dang. Like that's, that's kind of changed our approach to that is as much as it's, you know, you can go get a package of English muffins from the store. They're probably not going to be the greatest, but something about me making them and having them in a bag, like they last less than a week. Like we, everybody just gobbles them up. And then at that point you're like, well, shoot, now I got to
I gotta make another one of them. So I'm sure that's how bread is now going in your household. You went from no bread to man, I need another loaf already.
Andrew Muntz (43:29.272)
Right, yeah, no, is. My favorite that I've done is the cinnamon rolls, which try to lay off the sweets, but every once in a while, if those are done right, those are really good. yeah, the whole thing, it is time consuming if anybody hasn't done it. My main bread recipe, it's essentially a three day process, because you start, what is it, leban, I think is how you pronounce it.
11, but the, then you get into the actual working of the dough and then the third day you bake it. But, you know, as a hunter, the first time I ever sat down and I ate a hamburger or a deer burger that I had shot the deer, I had, you know, gutted the deer. I heart, you know, broke the deer down. I grounded the deer and I ate that burger. What a rewarding feeling, right?
And it was just like, it is literally field to table. did this, like I did this and I, I say, it sounds so stupid, but as a, as a, as a city kid, you know, basically grew up, you know, my parents that were in the restaurant business, everything like that. I always had good food, but this, this was something different. And I was sitting here not long ago and I, after the sourdough thing and I haven't breakfast the one morning and I, had some venison, something I don't remember it was. had eggs from the chickens that I raised.
and I had the bread that I made. Now I didn't mill the flour, but besides that, like I made this. I made this meal. And it was just like very rewarding. And I think that, you know, as hunters, if you're eating your meat and like you should be, that's a huge part of it. So the bread is just another component. And like growing your vegetables out in your garden and that kind of stuff, it just makes you feel good.
And I don't know, maybe it's a little bit of a sappy side of things, but I enjoy it.
Nick Otto (45:32.634)
Well, Andrew, we're on the we're on the short side of the stick here when it comes to being 40 years old. And, know, there used to be like, we'd talk about quads, we'd talk about dirt bikes, we'd talk about adventures, we'd talk about all this like, amazing adventurous, crazy stuff that we would do. And now, now, even I mean, you and then even my friends here, we talked about
We talk about the bread that we're making. We're talking about the chickens that we're raising. Like the millennial exchange to becoming homesteaders. that's, that is now our excitement. Like we're, we're, we're well established. We're putting down roots into homesteading. And I'm, I don't think, I don't have a problem with it. I like, I'm actually excited to see that people are getting into taking on more of their stuff. Just like you said.
a burger that you made wholeheartedly by yourself. Bam. Isn't that cool?
Andrew Muntz (46:37.71)
It is, it's great. It's just, we were talking earlier about the kids and all that kind of stuff. know, life is life and you have things that keep you on your toes.
You get to a point where you gotta slow down.
Andrew Muntz (46:59.214)
I've had some things that have caused me to slow down a little bit, but you also have to stop and then, you you got to go out on the quads and on the dirt bikes and adventuring and that's great, but just to stop and slow down and enjoy, you know, a piece of bread with your meal is great. I got to tell you a story, Nick. Okay, so this has nothing to do with hunting. This is more as a dad to dad. I think you might be able to relate.
Nick Otto (47:18.276)
Absolutely.
Andrew Muntz (47:27.33)
I have two kids. have my daughter, she's 10. At the time of this story, she was nine and my son who's eight. And they're on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Daughter is brilliant. Not that my son's not, he's very smart in his own way, but he is a boy and a young boy that is just very hyperactive.
We sit down at the breakfast table the one morning. I don't remember what reading, but my daughter says to me, dad, can you tell me about the Cuban missile crisis? She was nine. And I looked at her and I said, what? And she said, can you tell me about the Cuban missile crisis? What are you talking about? And she's like, well, I watched this documentary on John F. Kennedy and they mentioned that and I didn't know what it was, which I am a history person. I love history. I do like politics. So I was like, I...
We got deep, right? We got, cause you can't talk about the Cubanist crisis without talking about the Soviet Union and the World War II. I was like, then the other day we're driving down the road, quiet. I don't even think I had the radio on. My son sitting in the back seat, not saying anything. All of a sudden on nowhere he says, dad, how do spiders poop?
And I'm like, what? So I got one talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I got one asking me how spiders poop. Now the stupid part is, I didn't know how spiders pooped, right? So I can't answer that question. So who's really the dumb one here, right? I actually, had to call for my job. have pretty good ties with like the entomologist at Ohio State. I had to call him and find out. So now I know, but at the time I didn't.
Nick Otto (48:40.774)
You
Nick Otto (48:50.778)
Right.
Andrew Muntz (49:07.958)
Long story short, it's just like, you know, the kids are such an integral part of my life and being able to feed them real food and hope that their little brains developed so we all know about the Cuban Missile Crisis and how spiders move. There you go.
Nick Otto (49:21.998)
Yes. Just the gear shift. Maybe that's why we're trying to slow down is that is a w what a change to go from one thing to the next. now they don't actually poop. Do they? They don't, they just ingest, through their, like, I guess it would be their fangs. Don't they just ingest the fluid and then discard what they
Andrew Muntz (49:30.712)
Right.
Nick Otto (49:51.578)
what they ate, don't actually, they don't have any feces or do they?
Andrew Muntz (49:55.822)
Yes, no, you are right. So you are the winner, right? Like basically they live on a liquid diet. And if you were to look on, I'm told if you look underneath the spider web in the corner of your house, maybe on the below it, you'll find little drops of what may look like a little stain or something, but that's just their excrement coming out. It's water essentially, but they don't actually, they don't have mouth parts to chew like a caterpillar or something. They are just ingesting liquids.
Nick Otto (50:23.28)
Gotcha. And you know what? think that was just being a lifelong Bill Nye the Science Guy fan. That was, that's my only guess, but like I'm still baffled that, you you went from Cuban missile crisis to, to spider poop.
Andrew Muntz (50:38.026)
I got any any given day Nick on the way to school it can be any other it was why why Israel and Iran don't like each other I mean we got into we get into so much stuff. It's that little girl is something else man
Nick Otto (50:50.094)
Right. The drive in is her question and the drive home is this little guys. I, I like that we're, learning with my boys. have three, we haven't, they're not big enough to dent, drywall yet. We are getting to that point. All three boys are in wrestling. we're learning a lot about time and place. They, they cannot not pestering each other.
It is always between the three of them. You know, there's a there's a 10. There's an eight and there's a six and they are I don't know. Each of them are like rock, paper, scissors with each other. One knows the secret weapon on the oldest and the middle ones got his trigger and the youngest has that one. It just it just constantly. But I was actually we have a wrestling mat in our basement and I was working on
showing my oldest how to run a half his half, his half Nelson was not, he doesn't dig it in very deep. So I was actually showing him how to really get that in. You want the guy to pin himself. So I'm talking with him and the middle one was running around the two of us, just pestering, just jumping on me and then jumping on the other one. Well, it gets in the way of my explanation and my oldest turns and just punches him.
Square in the sternum and just kind of knocks the wind out of the middle boy for a minute. And part of me was ready to, we need to talk about this, but then part of me was like, you know what? That was time and place. That middle boy didn't know when to stop. And that was his knock it off. And you know, he kind of had that gasp, you know, the air gets out of his lungs and then he, turns and looks at me like wanting me to do something, but I just kept going on with my explanation.
And the kids stopped. There wasn't any other drama. was like, that was, think our lesson in time and place is if we're on the mat, all bets are off. But you know, when we're in the car, no, keep your hands to yourself. But it was just one of those, was, I don't know, watching wild animals learn something new. That's really what I was just amazed, amazed with. They are such savages, but at the same time, like they do, have moments, moments of, mean,
Andrew Muntz (52:59.566)
That's great.
Nick Otto (53:19.054)
My oldest is into he plays the bass, he plays the four string stand up bass and to hear him actually get like really good notes out of that is is wonderful. But then, you know, the youngest has his little like kazoo and he'll just run around making noises with it. And at some point that kazoo is going to get lost and he'll have to figure out what else to do. So, yep. Thank you for that story. That was wonderful, Andrew.
Andrew Muntz (53:43.438)
That's great.
Andrew Muntz (53:47.758)
So for all your listeners, if anybody had on their bingo card Cuban Missile Crisis and kids teaching each other like wild animals, you might have just won.
Nick Otto (53:52.646)
Thank
Hey, there you go.
Andrew Muntz (53:58.766)
Throw in football and bread, like whatever else. We've covered a lot.
Nick Otto (54:03.898)
We've covered it a lot. Well, Andrew, is there any last points that you need to say or where can my, where can my listeners connect with you? I know that, that you've, you've moved on from podcasting, but, how can we continue to follow along with, the Hunter who puts arrows in the hind legs and yet still can proof up a nice batch of, batch of dough.
Andrew Muntz (54:26.638)
man, I guess I'm on Instagram. My thing is months, Andrew. I don't really do much, as far as posting and stuff every once in a while, I'll throw up some stuff on my story or whatever. But if anybody wants to ask questions or would like to reach out, I think our podcast page is still active, but don't do anything on there at this point. but yeah, or through you, I don't, you know, I'm, I'm just, yeah, I'm an average Joe. I don't know anything. I've, I've tried to learn as I go, but.
Nick Otto (54:49.648)
Perfect. I'll field all those.
Nick Otto (54:58.148)
Well, awesome. Andrew, hold on for just a second as I let folks on out. Folks, I hope you enjoyed this just BS session. Just getting to go face to face with a friend who, you know, we've been texting back and forth, but finally get a chance to just unpack life. And as we do life, as we get into the nitty gritties of either kids or maybe you don't have kids, but we take a look at things that are worthwhile pursuing, whether that is
taking a new hand at a hobby of doing sourdough, whether that's even just taking more ownership of your meat, either grinding it yourself or either processing yourself or even just acquiring it by being in the field. Whatever that avenue is that you plan on doing, make sure that the knife you are using is very sharp.
