In another life, Elias Cairo鈥攁 45-year-old charcuterie expert and the owner of Olympia Provisions, a groundbreaking restaurant and sausage-making operation in Portland, Oregon鈥攚as on a path to becoming a professional snowboarder. He was raised in Sandy, Utah, about 15 miles from Alta, and his go-for-it attitude landed him a Burton sponsorship.

Life, however, has a way of derailing plans. When Cairo was 15, his father, John 鈥淵annis鈥� Cairo, passed away. John had emigrated from Greece in 1962, still in his twenties, and his dream was to carve out a life in the U.S. while drawing on the customs of his native country. To that end, he created a Greek-inspired agricultural oasis in the middle of Utah.

鈥淲e raised our own meat, had gardens, preserved everything, had beehives, and made our own wine and liquor,鈥� Cairo says. 鈥淕rowing up, I was just with my dad鈥攊f he was cooking, I was cooking. If he was gardening, I was gardening.鈥� They also hunted to help fill the family larder. His parents owned two Greek-American restaurants: Queen One and Queen Two, both in the town of Murray, just south of Salt Lake City.

A few years after losing his dad, Cairo told his mother, Karen, that he was through with snowboarding and wanted to be a chef. Culinary school wasn鈥檛 an option鈥攖oo expensive鈥攂ut an apprenticeship was. With help from an aunt, Cairo was put in touch with Annegret Schlumpf, the chef of Stump鈥檚 Alpenrose Hotel in Wildhaus, Switzerland. Schlumpf had one question for Cairo: How soon can you get here?

Cairo sold his snowboard and Subaru, then went to the library to learn everything he could about the Alpine village of Wildhaus. He discovered that it鈥檚 famous for cheese, charcuterie, and skiing. Within two weeks, he was standing at the front door of the picturesque hotel, partway up the slopes of the Gamsalp Mountain ski resort. He didn鈥檛 speak the local languages, but that didn鈥檛 matter: he was industrious, eager to learn, and ready to work.

The surprises started coming fast. On Cairo鈥檚 first day, he walked into the cooler and saw a huge ibex hanging there. 鈥淚 was like, What in the world is going on here?鈥� he says. The restaurant, it turned out, processed wild game鈥攊bex, marmot, chamois, rabbit, and more鈥攆or valley residents.

Cairo already knew how to field-dress game, including elk, deer, and pheasant. But the precision and skill demonstrated by the Alpenrose butchers were pure artistry, and the craftsmanship fascinated him. A transition began when he was temporarily assigned to the butcher station after injuring his hand in the kitchen. 鈥淚 got to hang out with all the butchers, and I thought, This is so fun,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚t was better than cooking.鈥�

Cairo still had to complete his kitchen apprenticeship, but he found ways to work with the butchers on the side. He spent just shy of five years at the Alpenrose, apprenticing under chef Schlumpf. During that time, he learned to speak Swiss German and came away with expertise he probably wouldn鈥檛 have picked up in the U.S. When he returned home in 2003, he saw an opportunity. He imagined a restaurant with a USDA-approved meat plant next door; his sister, Michelle, believed in his vision and became an investor.

Cairo opened Olympia Provisions in 2009, and it has since expanded to five restaurants in Portland, with a much larger facility processing more than a million pounds of pork a year鈥攅verything from p芒t茅 to pancetta. He鈥檚 a passionate advocate for a better and more humane meat industry, and for teaching both providers and consumers that good food doesn鈥檛 happen fast.

鈥淚f you make something special, you can鈥檛 rush it,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he American meat industry is built on margin and speed. There鈥檚 nothing special or quality about it.鈥�

To underscore his point, Cairo often refers to a story about Bueger Stump, a co-owner of Stump鈥檚 Alpenglow, who has become a close friend. Mounted in Stump鈥檚 home are 12 sets of antlers, collected from a single elk he brought down after observing it for more than a decade. That, says Cairo, is the very definition of respect.

Ethical hunting remains a touchstone for Cairo. He heads for the field or forest when he needs to recharge and reset, and hunting serves as a reminder of how close we can and should get to our food to adequately appreciate it as a gift from nature.

Cairo brings this same spirit to The Game Show. Over the course of six episodes, he combines his love of hunting and the outdoors with techniques for cooking wild game. He teaches viewers about rabbit, duck, quail, wild turkey, and venison鈥攈ow to break them down, and how best to utilize these meats in savory dishes that can be cooked over an open fire or on the grill. For viewers who don鈥檛 hunt or can鈥檛 buy game, Cairo offers alternatives, like substituting a whole chicken in a recipe for rabbit cacciatore.

The key is to find beauty. For Cairo that was once snowboarding; then it was immersing himself in the culture of the Swiss Alps. Now it鈥檚 making and enjoying the highest quality meats. One thing鈥檚 for sure: whatever he鈥檚 doing comes back to the nourishing simplicity of hands-on fun.

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翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 The Game Show with Elias Cairo Teaches You Everything You Need to Know About Cooking Game Meat

Chef and butcher Elias Cairo of Portland鈥檚 launch a six-episode cooking series about the unique thrill of cooking wild game in the outdoors.

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Duck Confit and Seared Duck Breast with Apple-Walnut Salad

You might associate duck confit with fine dining, but at its core the dish is rustic and rather simple to make. All you need is time.

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Grilled Venison Steak Frites

Protein and nutrient-dense venison cooks up quickly and pairs perfectly crisped potatoes

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Red Wine Braised Rabbit Cacciatore with Wild Mushrooms

This hunter鈥檚 stew highlights rabbit鈥檚 delicate meat and is best served over rustic mashed potatoes.

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Honey-Glazed Crispy Quail with Spiced Biryani

鈥淪patchcocked鈥� is just a fancy word for butterfly, and the technique ensures the quail meat to cook evenly.

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Venison Stew with Barley and Root Vegetables

Got stew meat in your freezer? Add a few ingredients鈥攔ed wine, barley, and cabbage鈥攁nd dinner practically makes itself.

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Smoked Turkey Cabbage Rolls

This turkey is brined in homemade stock, smoked until tender and juicy, and served with melted brown butter.

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Three-Minute Venison Steaks with Mushroom Marsala Pan Sauce

Venison and wild mushrooms fight for the spotlight in this grilled steak recipe.

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Crispy, pan-seared quail are the easiest game meat to cook. Whether hunted or purchased from a purveyor like , quail are small, mild-tasting birds that cook in mere minutes and take well to a wide array of flavor profiles. Spatchcockting the birds, or butterflying them by removing the backbone so they lay flat while cooking, shortens the cook time to ensure the meat stays juicy. Here, chef and butcher Elias Cairo finishes the crispy quail with a lemony garlic-spiced honey glaze and pairs it with Spiced Biryani from chef Biju Thomas.

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Steak frites is a classic pairing of steak (in this case, venison backstrap) and fries (in this case, duck fat-roasted fingerling potatoes). The recipe calls for either duck fat or butter, but chef Elias Cairo recommends using duck fat because it鈥檚 packed with flavor. The venison steaks cook quickly because they鈥檙e so lean, but even so, don鈥檛 be afraid to get them really close to the flame for awesome char.

Find venison loin .

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鈥檚 easy duck confit recipe yields tender meat seasoned with garlic, peppercorns, herbs and spices. Confit, a cooking and preservation technique where you season and slowly cook meat in its own fat, is an ancient method but more commonly thought of as fine dining today. Rustic and simple, the process requires some advance preparation to cure and cook the meat but finishing the dish takes mere minutes, making it a perfect recipe for entertaining or after a long day of outdoor adventures. Don鈥檛 be intimidated by the length of this duck confit recipe; broken down into steps it鈥檚 quite easy and mostly hands off. If using a whole duck, break it down into quarter parts and remove the breasts from the bone. Store breasts in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the finished dish.

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Elias Cairo, a dedicated hunter and the chef of Olympia Provisions in Portland, Oregon, fills his freezer with lean venison stew meat 鈥� cuts from a deer鈥檚 shoulder, hindquarters, and belly. Paired with root vegetables, red wine, and barley, this elemental stew is hearty and warming without being too heavy. A dollop of savory whipped cream adds just enough richness to finish the dish. For the deepest flavor, make this stew a couple of days ahead and refrigerate it until ready to reheat and serve.

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Venison loin, or backstrap, is a tender cut perfect for quick cooking. It is very high in protein and low in saturated fat, which makes this lean meat a standout. Chef and butcher Elias Cairo pairs venison loin steaks with a seared mushroom pan sauce, deglazed with aromatic Marsala wine for a date night worthy dish.

Make sure to remove the silver skin, a swath of connective tissue that runs lengthwise along the loin and is extremely chewy once cooked. Gently insert a sharp knife underneath it and run the knife along its length to remove.

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Chef and butcher loves cooking game, and uses a whole turkey broken down into parts and cooked separately for his smoked turkey cabbage rolls. The legs and wings are braised in homemade turkey stock until tender, then the pulled meat is folded with hearty vegetables for the cabbage roll stuffing. He brines and smokes the turkey breasts until tender and juicy. Finally, the assembled dish is briefly smoked to bring all of the flavors together.

This smoked turkey recipe will work with a farm-raised or wild turkey. If you鈥檙e fortunate to cook a wild turkey, it鈥檚 important to note that the bird bears little resemblance to the domestic version you pick up at the grocery store. Wild birds are structurally different and have tiny bones and tendons in their legs that need to be removed before eating. This is a lengthy recipe but the results are worth it鈥攁nd nothing goes to waste. The braised turkey legs and wings can be made a day ahead and stored in their braising liquid. The breasts should be brined the night before smoking.

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A rustic Italian hunter鈥檚 stew, Elias Cairo鈥檚 rabbit cacciatore features wild mushrooms, bacon lardons, and hearty vegetables in a red wine sauce. Wild rabbit picks up the herby terroir of its environment, and cacciatore is the perfect way to showcase the meat. Rabbit meat can be quite lean, so take care to gently simmer the stew until the meat is just tender. Serve over mashed potatoes and pair with an Italian red wine.

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In 鈥淭he Game Show,鈥� the new cooking series from 国产吃瓜黑料, chef and butcher Elias Cairo combines his love of the outdoors with cooking wild game鈥攐ften over an open fire. From rabbit and quail to venison and turkey, he clearly explains butchery and whole-animal cooking where nothing goes to waste.

Based in Portland, Oregon, Cairo grew up in a Greek family outside Salt Lake City. His dad, who immigrated from Greece when he was in his twenties, brought his Old World lifestyle with him. 鈥淢y dad did his darndest to turn his property and house into a green village,鈥� Cairo explains. 鈥淲e raised all of our own meats, had gardens, preserved everything, kept bee hives, harvested glue, made our own wine and liquor, and had two restaurants鈥� And they would venture into the surrounding mountains and hunt and fish.

Some might call Cairo a maker or a man who lives close to the land. Cairo would say he鈥檚 just following in his late dad鈥檚 footsteps. 鈥淚 grew up with what people now call DIY; most folks like my dad just called it 鈥榣ife,鈥欌�� he writes in the introduction to , the cookbook that serves as an ode to Cairo鈥檚 .

Cooking as a Way of Life

Everything Cairo learned about food and the land came from how he grew up. When his father was cooking or gardening or hunting or fishing, Cairo was right by his side. His father passed away when Cairo was 15 but he has chased and honored his legacy ever since. This is something Cairo is especially aware of when he ventures into the wild to hunt and fish. 鈥淚 realized hunting is just a pastime for some people, but it was in my dad so deep.鈥� And for Cairo, it isn鈥檛 just the end result, it鈥檚 the experience and the time spent in the woods, the grasslands, and the open air. 鈥淚t鈥檚 physically demanding and there鈥檚 the solace and peace of mind that comes from nature,鈥� he explains.

Cairo, who learned the art of charcuterie when he apprenticed and worked in Switzerland, has since become the face of American salumi. He is also a huge proponent of hunting and cooking wild game. Case in point, in 2018, he appeared in a video series with Bon App茅tit detailing a pheasant hunt, complete with animal butchery and cookery. 鈥淚t was the first time the magazine had ever shown what it really means to have meat on a plate,鈥� he says.

If this sounds potentially chest-thumping and testosterone-infused, you鈥檙e wrong. Cairo is down-to-earth, knowledgeable, and even funny. The reverence for the animals he hunts and subsequently cooks and eats, is front and center, and that deep respect informs his meat-eating philosophy. 鈥淎s a meat maker that owns a meat company. I think the vegetarians are right: The current way we make meat on a mass scale is horrible,鈥� he explains. But when it comes to hunting, 鈥渋t鈥檚 very hard to find a more positive impact than getting a year鈥檚 worth of meat from an animal like an elk. And your only carbon footprint is getting to and from the hunting ground.鈥�

During the course of 鈥淭he Game Show鈥� the show, Cairo offers readers tips and tricks鈥攖ry serving whipped cream over stew instead of sour cream; insert your knife here for an easy cut; use duck fat instead of butter or oil for a natural, delicious, and keto- and paleo-friendly alternative, for example. Most importantly Cairo wants you to get outdoors, cook something new, and lean into the process. 鈥淓very time I get the opportunity to cook outside, 鈥漢e says with his characteristic smile, 鈥淚 kinda get to cheat because I know ambience is one of the best flavors in the world.鈥�

With small exception, recipes on “The Game Show” are simple, and even if you鈥檙e not the hunting or butchering type, you can still make many of the dishes with store-bought proteins. Or better yet, befriend someone who is a hunter and promise that, if they share a little bit of the wealth, you鈥檒l make them an Elias Cairo-approved dinner.

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