Steven Rinella – författare

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and host of Netflix’s MeatEater comes “a unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from” (Anthony Bourdain). “Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson, and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book ReviewMeat Eater chronicles Steven Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska. A thrilling storyteller, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as consumers lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. The result is a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are—as humans and as Americans.

From the host of the Travel Channel’s “The Wild Within.”A hunt for the American buffalo—an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the American imagination. In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds—there’s only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful—Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Throughout these adventures, Rinella found himself contemplating his own place among the 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters in North America, as well as the buffalo’s place in the American experience. At the time of the Revolutionary War, North America was home to approximately 40 million buffalo, the largest herd of big mammals on the planet, but by the mid-1890s only a few hundred remained. Now that the buffalo is on the verge of a dramatic ecological recovery across the West, Americans are faced with the challenge of how, and if, we can dare to share our land with a beast that is the embodiment of the American wilderness. American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a “bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china; and even to an abattoir turned fashion mecca in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, where a depressed buffalo named Black Diamond met his fate after serving as the model for the American nickel. Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.

From the host of the television series and podcast MeatEater, the long-awaited definitive guide to cooking wild game, including fish and fowl, featuring more than 100 new recipes“As a MeatEater fan who loves to cook, I can tell you that this book is a must-have.”—Andrew Zimmern When Steven Rinella hears from fans of his MeatEater show and podcast, it’s often requests for more recipes. One of the most respected and beloved hunters in America, Rinella is also an accomplished wild game cook, and he offers recipes here that range from his takes on favorite staples to more surprising and exotic meals. Big Game: Techniques and strategies for butchering and cooking all big game, from whitetail deer to moose, wild hogs, and black bear, and recipes for everything from shanks to tongue.  Small Game: How to prepare appetizers and main courses using common small game species such as squirrels and rabbits as well as lesser-known culinary treats like muskrat and beaver.  Waterfowl: How to make the most of available waterfowl, ranging from favorites like mallards and wood ducks to more challenging birds, such as wild geese and diving ducks.  Upland Birds: A wide variety of butchering methods for all upland birds, plus recipes, including Thanksgiving wild turkey, grilled grouse, and a fresh take on jalapeño poppers made with mourning dove.  Freshwater Fish: Best practices for cleaning and cooking virtually all varieties of freshwater fish, including trout, bass, catfish, walleye, suckers, northern pike, eels, carp, and salmon.  Saltwater Fish: Handling methods and recipes for common and not-so-common species of saltwater fish encountered by anglers everywhere, from Maine to the Bahamas, and from Southern California to northern British Columbia.  Everything else: How to prepare great meals from wild clams, crabs, crayfish, mussels, snapping turtles, bullfrogs, and even sea cucumbers and alligators.    Whether you’re cooking outdoors or in the kitchen, at the campfire or on the grill, this cookbook will be an indispensable guide for both novices and expert chefs. “Rinella goes to the next level and offers some real deal culinary know-how to make sure that your friends and family will dig what you put on the table.”—Guy Fieri “[A] must-read cookbook for those seeking a taste of the wild.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “An imperative call to action” (Nick Offerman) to get children off their screens and into nature, with tips for bonding activities that teach the importance of outside time and build tough, curious, competent kids—from the host of the Netflix series and podcast MeatEater“A revelation for families struggling to get kids to GO OUTSIDE, or to just stop using the darn smartphone.”—Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Hunt, Gather, ParentIn the era of screens and devices, the average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors, and children are no exception. Not only does this phenomenon have consequences for kids’ physical and mental health, it jeopardizes their ability to understand and engage with anything beyond the built environment. Thankfully, with the right mind-set, families can find beauty, meaning, and connection in a life lived outdoors. Here, outdoors expert Steven Rinella shares the parenting wisdom he has garnered as a father whose family has lived amid the biggest cities and wildest corners of America. Throughout, he offers practical advice for getting kids radically engaged with nature in a muddy, thrilling, hands-on way, with the ultimate goal of helping them see their own place within the natural ecosystem. No matter their location—rural, suburban, or urban—caregivers and kids will bond over activities such as: • Camping to conquer fears, build tolerance for dirt and discomfort, and savor the timeless pleasure of swapping stories around a campfire. • Growing a vegetable garden to develop a capacity to nurture and an appreciation for hard work. • Fishing local lakes and rivers to learn the value of patience while grappling with the possibility of failure.• Hunting for sustainably managed wild game to face the realities of life, death, and what it really takes to obtain our food.  Living an outdoor lifestyle fosters in kids an insatiable curiosity about the world around them, confidence and self-sufficiency, and, most important, a lifelong sense of stewardship of the natural world. This book helps families connect with nature—and one another—as a joyful part of everyday life.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A hands-on, gloves-off, muddy-boots activity book for young adventurers ages eight and up, offering fun projects and adventures to build lifelong skills and knowledge about the natural world—from the host of MeatEater and author of The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and SurvivalDoes climbing a tree, building a bug hotel, spearing a bullfrog, stalking wild animals, and scouting for petrified wood sound more fun than homework or chores? If so, this guide is your perfect companion to endless summer days and rainy fall afternoons alike. Filled with advice, insights, and activities to inspire wonder and excitement about the natural world, Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars is a curious kid’s treasure trove, filled to the brim with outdoor projects, skills, and adventures complete with illustrations. The book presents a ton of fun and exciting ways to explore the natural world, like• building an outdoor exploration kit• identifying constellations and navigating using the sun and stars• collecting fossils and other geological wonders• tracking animals and following weather patterns• making your own compass• growing your own fruits and vegetables• building survival shelters and primitive hunting weapons• fishing, hunting, and foraging for wild foods• making cool art projects using natural materialsA must-have guide for budding naturalists, scientists, gardeners, anglers, foragers, and hunters, Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars helps get kids out into nature, imparting lifelong knowledge and skills along the way.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A hands-on, gloves-off, muddy-boots activity book for young adventurers ages eight and up, offering fun projects and adventures to build lifelong skills and knowledge about the natural world—from the host of MeatEater and author of The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and SurvivalDoes climbing a tree, building a bug hotel, spearing a bullfrog, stalking wild animals, and scouting for petrified wood sound more fun than homework or chores? If so, this guide is your perfect companion to endless summer days and rainy fall afternoons alike. Filled with advice, insights, and activities to inspire wonder and excitement about the natural world, Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars is a curious kid’s treasure trove, filled to the brim with outdoor projects, skills, and adventures complete with illustrations. The book presents a ton of fun and exciting ways to explore the natural world, like• building an outdoor exploration kit• identifying constellations and navigating using the sun and stars• collecting fossils and other geological wonders• tracking animals and following weather patterns• making your own compass• growing your own fruits and vegetables• building survival shelters and primitive hunting weapons• fishing, hunting, and foraging for wild foods• making cool art projects using natural materialsA must-have guide for budding naturalists, scientists, gardeners, anglers, foragers, and hunters, Catch a Crayfish, Count the Stars helps get kids out into nature, imparting lifelong knowledge and skills along the way.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The eagerly anticipated new cookbook with 100+ recipes from the author of The MeatEater Fish and Game CookbookIn his previous books, outdoorsman and hunter Steven Rinella brought wild game into the kitchen, teaching readers how to butcher and cook wild fish and game to create standout dishes with reliable results. Now, Rinella is hauling the kitchen outdoors, with a cookbook that celebrates the possibilities of open-air wild game cooking. Because food just tastes better when it’s caught, cooked, and eaten outside.  Each chapter covers a different outdoor cooking method—grilling, smoking, cooking over coals. Throughout, recipes are tagged for backyard cooking, car camping, or backpacking. There’s something here for everyone who loves the outdoors, from backyard grill masters to backcountry big game hunters. The over 100 easy-to-follow recipes include:• Stuffed Game Burgers 3 Ways• Bulgogi Backstrap Lettuce Wraps• Hot-Smoked Trout• Grilled Lobster with Kelp Butter• Venison Stir-Fry with Cabbage• Coal Roasted Bananas Along with recipes, Rinella explains essential outdoor cooking techniques like how to build the perfect outdoor kitchen for any scenario and what it takes to maintain a fire. With preparations ranging from simple backcountry fare to guest-worthy showstoppers, The MeatEater Outdoor Cookbook is the essential companion for anyone who wants to eat well in the wild.

“Revelatory . . . With every chapter, you get a history lesson, a hunting lesson, a nature lesson and a cooking lesson. . . . Meat Eater offers an overabundance to savor.”—The New York Times Book Review  Steven Rinella grew up in Twin Lake, Michigan, the son of a hunter who taught his three sons to love the natural world the way he did. As a child, Rinella devoured stories of the American wilderness, especially the exploits of his hero, Daniel Boone. He began fishing at the age of three and shot his first squirrel at eight and his first deer at thirteen. He chose the colleges he went to by their proximity to good hunting ground, and he experimented with living solely off wild meat. As an adult, he feeds his family from the food he hunts.   Meat Eater chronicles Rinella’s lifelong relationship with nature and hunting through the lens of ten hunts, beginning when he was an aspiring mountain man at age ten and ending as a thirty-seven-year-old Brooklyn father who hunts in the remotest corners of North America. He tells of having a struggling career as a fur trapper just as fur prices were falling; of a dalliance with catch-and-release steelhead fishing; of canoeing in the Missouri Breaks in search of mule deer just as the Missouri River was freezing up one November; and of hunting the elusive Dall sheep in the glaciated mountains of Alaska.   Through each story, Rinella grapples with themes such as the role of the hunter in shaping America, the vanishing frontier, the ethics of killing, the allure of hunting trophies, the responsibilities that human predators have to their prey, and the disappearance of the hunter himself as Americans lose their connection with the way their food finds its way to their tables. Hunting, he argues, is intimately connected with our humanity; assuming responsibility for acquiring the meat that we eat, rather than entrusting it to proxy executioners, processors, packagers, and distributors, is one of the most respectful and exhilarating things a meat eater can do.   A thrilling storyteller with boundless interesting facts and historical information about the land, the natural world, and the history of hunting, Rinella also includes after each chapter a section of “Tasting Notes” that draws from his thirty-plus years of eating and cooking wild game, both at home and over a campfire. In Meat Eater he paints a loving portrait of a way of life that is part of who we are as humans and as Americans.Praise for Meat Eater   “Full of empathy and intelligence . . . In some sections of the book, the author’s prose is so engrossing, so riveting, that it matches, punch for punch, the best sports writing.”—The Wall Street Journal   “Steven Rinella is one of the best nature writers of the last decade. . . . This book was a page-turner.”—Tim Ferris   “Rinella’s writing is unerringly smart, direct, and sharply detailed.”—The Boston Globe   “A unique and valuable alternate view of where our food comes from.”—Anthony Bourdain

A comprehensive small game hunting guide for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with photography by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner   Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting wild game to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.   This invaluable book includes • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from footwear to cutlery to camping gear to weapons • basic and advanced hunting strategies for all North American small game, including drive techniques, solo and group hunting, ambush hunting, the use of hunting dogs, and techniques for decoying and calling • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land; how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using; and how to make competition work in your favor • detailed sections on furred small game, upland birds, and waterfowl, covering the biology and best hunting methods for a total of thirty small game species  • comprehensive information about hunting wild turkeys in both the spring and fall seasons • how to master the arts of wingshooting and rifle marksmanship, and detailed information about shot placement, ammunition selection, and field maintenance of firearms and archery equipment • instructions on how to field dress and butcher your own small game animals for a variety of preparations • techniques and recipes for both indoor and outdoor wild game cookingFrom the Trade Paperback edition.

When outdoorsman, avid hunter, and nature writer Steven Rinella stumbles upon Auguste Escoffier’s 1903 milestone Le Guide Culinaire, he’s inspired to assemble an unusual feast: a forty-five-course meal born entirely of Escoffier’s esoteric wild game recipes. Over the course of one unforgettable year, he steadily procures his ingredients—fishing for stingrays in Florida, hunting mountain goats in Alaska, flying to Michigan to obtain a fifteen-pound snapping turtle—and encountering one colorful character after another. And as he introduces his vegetarian girlfriend to a huntsman’s lifestyle, Rinella must also come to terms with the loss of his lifelong mentor—his father. An absorbing account of one man’s relationship with family, friends, food, and the natural world, The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine is a rollicking tale of the American wild and its spoils.   Praise for The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine   “If Jack Kerouac had hung out with Julia Child instead of Neal Cassady, this book might have been written fifty years ago. . . . Steven Rinella brings bohemian flair and flashes of poetic sensibility to his picaresque tale of a man, a cookbook, and the culinary open road.”—The Wall Street Journal   “If you rue the ‘depersonalization of food production,’ or you’re tired of chemical ingredients, [Rinella] will make you howl.”—Los Angeles Times   “A walk on the wild side of hunting and gathering, sure to repel a few professional food sissies but attract many more with its sheer in-your-face energy and fine storytelling.”—Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall   “[A] warped, wonderful memoir of cooking and eating . . . [Rinella] recounts these madcap wilderness adventures with delicious verve and charm.”—Men’s JournalFrom the Trade Paperback edition.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The MeatEater Fish and Game Cookbook comes a comprehensive big-game hunting guide, perfect for first-time novices and seasoned experts—featuring more than 400 full-color photographs, including work by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner  Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting an animal to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well. This invaluable book includes:• recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from clothing to cutlery to camping gear to weapons• basic and advanced hunting strategies, including spot-and-stalk hunting, ambush hunting, still hunting, drive hunting, and backpack hunting• how to effectively use decoys and calling for big game• how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land, and how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using• how and when to scout hunting locations for maximum effectiveness• basic information on procuring hunting tags, including limited-entry “draw” tags• a species-by-species description of fourteen big-game animals, from their mating rituals and preferred habitats to the best hunting techniques—both firearm and archery—for each species• how to plan and pack for backcountry hunts• instructions on how to break down any big-game animal and transport it from your hunting site• how to butcher your own big-game animals and select the proper cuts for sausages, roasts, and steaks, and how to utilize underappreciated cuts such as ribs and shanks• cooking techniques and recipes, for both outdoor and indoor preparation of wild game Becoming a master hunter has never been so easy!

A comprehensive big-game hunting guide for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with more than 400 full-color photographs, including work by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner   Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting an animal to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.   This invaluable book includes • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from clothing to cutlery to camping gear to weapons • basic and advanced hunting strategies, including spot-and-stalk hunting, ambush hunting, still hunting, drive hunting, and backpack hunting • how to effectively use decoys and calling for big game • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land, and how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using • how and when to scout hunting locations for maximum effectiveness • basic information on procuring hunting tags, including limited-entry “draw” tags • a species-by-species description of fourteen big-game animals, from their mating rituals and preferred habitats to the best hunting techniques—both firearm and archery—for each species • how to plan and pack for backcountry hunts • instructions on how to break down any big-game animal and transport it from your hunting site • how to butcher your own big-game animals and select the proper cuts for sausages, roasts, and steaks, and how to utilize underappreciated cuts such as ribs and shanks • cooking techniques and recipes, for both outdoor and indoor preparation of wild game