Help Me Make My Book Better
Next year will mark 10 years since my venison cookbook Buck Buck Moose came out. And because it was the first book put out by my own publishing company, I have the freedom to update it. I’m exercising that freedom.
But I’d love your help.
The plan is to expand the book from 304 to 336 pages — I might expand it further, but that gets spendy — add at least 25 new recipes, drop a few of the least popular ones from the first edition, update photos and techniques and instructions throughout.
Why? Simply put, another decade of deer hunting has given me so much more knowledge that I’ve been itching to improve BBM for years. The ten-year anniversary is a great time to do it.
Here’s how you can help:
Go through your copy of the book and tell me what you’d change. This can be organization, recipes to improve or drop, a technique I haven’t mentioned, etc.
Is there a venison recipe that you’re surprised isn’t in the book? Something iconic to you that isn’t there? Not so much looking for your own quirky recipes — I got plenty of quirky in me already — so much as recipes that you’ve had to go elsewhere to find.
I am also happy to say that my ex, Holly Heyser — co-founder of To the Bone — has agreed to photo edit the new edition; it makes sense, because in this book 95 percent of the photos are hers.
Buck Buck Moose has been one of the most important moments in my life. It has sold more than 100,000 copies since 2016, and I don’t go a week without someone saying it’s changed the way they think about big game cookery. It’s a legitimately important work in our little world.
This is an exciting opportunity to make a great book even greater. So please give it a little thought, and tell me your ideas in the comment sections. Let’s go into the next decade with an even better BBM!
Pictures of every recipe.
Additionally I think a unique aspect that is missing is a cut-by-cut guide that tells the reader which recipes are appropriate for which cuts of meat. For example, if I just butchered an animal I want a breakdown of which recipes would work with sirloin, eye of round, top round…
You do a great job of being recipe diverse, but could be better when it comes to cut diversity. Too many recipes with backstraps
I would love to see some recipes for a way to take a single pound of ground meat, venison, elk, pork…. And make loose sausage, especially breakfast sausage. My wife is not a huge wild game fan. But we often cook together. And having a way to make one pound of ground wild game into breakfast sausage, or Italian sausage, to add in to recipes would be something we would use weekly. Specifically what spices/ seasoning to add, and tips for making it in smaller batches.