Jeff Senger left accounting to buy a small slaughterhouse in rural Alberta. What followed was sixteen years of working directly with animals, farmers, hunters, and the realities most of us never see behind plastic-wrapped meat.
We talk about what changes when food becomes a commodity, why some meat tastes alive and some doesn’t, and how much control we actually have as eaters. Jeff shares what it’s like to stand on a kill floor, why he believes butchers still matter, and how flavour, ethics, and responsibility are tied together whether we want to admit it or not.

Topics include:
What slaughter actually looks like and why hiding it matters
How feed, age, and handling shape flavor
The difference between real butchery and portioning
Chronic wasting disease and what responsibility looks like in real life
Why whole animals used to feed communities, not markets
How trust is built between hunters, farmers, and butchers

The Wild Kitchen with Tiffany Bader Ep. 4

🌿 Learn more about Jeff Senger:
https://www.instagram.com/jeff_senger/

🔥 The Wild Kitchen:
https://thewildkitchen.transistor.fm
https://instagram.com/thewildkitchen
_____

Silvercore is built on a lifetime spent outdoors, on ranges and in the company of people who live with skill, purpose and integrity.
Here you will find real conversations, fieldcraft, practical training, stories from the wild and the lessons that help us grow mentally and physically.
Whether it is a podcast with someone who has been tested, a tip you can use today or a look behind the scenes, the goal is to help you live stronger, safer and more capable in the outdoors and in life.

Silvercore Club members receive exclusive podcast episodes, online courses, insurance for their adventures and discounts on premium gear:
https://bit.ly/2RiREb4

Online Training: https://bit.ly/3nJKx7U
Training and Services: https://bit.ly/3vw6kSU
Merchandise: https://bit.ly/3ecyvk9
Blog: https://bit.ly/3nEHs8W

Host Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bader.tiffany
Silvercore Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors

Contact:
info@silvercore.ca
604 940 7785
www.silvercore.ca

All content on this channel is for informational purposes only.
Always follow the law, follow safe handling practices and train with qualified professionals.
Silvercore assumes no liability for the use or misuse of any information shown here.
_____

00:00 – Leaving accounting, buying a slaughterhouse, and why food pulled him in

05:10 – Why meat quality starts long before the kill floor

10:45 – Calm, responsibility, and what it means to take a life seriously

17:40 – Marbling, Wagyu, grass-fed beef, and flavor reality

24:30 – Hobby farming, bad beef, and uncomfortable truths

31:15 – What modern butcher shops often aren’t doing anymore

38:50 – Tenderloin myths, forgotten cuts, and education fatigue

46:10 – Waste, culture, and what’s been lost

55:40 – Chronic Wasting Disease Explained Honestly.What Jeff has seen firsthand and how to think clearly about risk

1:10:30 – Why Europe Treats Food Differently

1:18:45 – Teaching Kids Where Food Comes From

1:27:00 – Why Buying Less Meat Might Matter More

1:36:20 – Trade, Sharing, and Old Food Economies

1:43:50 – What Jeff Hopes People Actually Take From This

Why do some foods make us uncomfortable while others feel familiar?

In this episode of The Wild Kitchen, Tiffany talks with James Beard Award–winning author Hank Shaw about how modern eaters learned to fear foods that were once ordinary. From fermented fish and haggis to offal, fat, and texture, they unpack how culture, upbringing, and convenience shape what we consider “real food.”

The conversation moves through old cookbooks, whole-animal cooking, and the way children learn disgust. Hank draws on a lifetime of hunting, foraging, cooking, and writing to explain why taste is rarely instinctual, and what gets lost when food is stripped of context and tradition.

Guest links:
Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: https://honest-food.net
Hank Shaw on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huntgathercook
To The Bone: https://tothebone.com
Hank's mincemeat pie recipe: https://honest-food.net/venison-mincemeat-pies/

_____
Silvercore is built on a lifetime spent outdoors, on ranges and in the company of people who live with skill, purpose and integrity.
Here you will find real conversations, fieldcraft, practical training, stories from the wild and the lessons that help us grow mentally and physically.
Whether it is a podcast with someone who has been tested, a tip you can use today or a look behind the scenes, the goal is to help you live stronger, safer and more capable in the outdoors and in life.

Silvercore Club members receive exclusive podcast episodes, online courses, insurance for their adventures and discounts on premium gear:
https://bit.ly/2RiREb4

Online Training: https://bit.ly/3nJKx7U
Training and Services: https://bit.ly/3vw6kSU
Merchandise: https://bit.ly/3ecyvk9
Blog: https://bit.ly/3nEHs8W

Host Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bader.tiffany
Silvercore Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors

Contact:
info@silvercore.ca
604 940 7785
www.silvercore.ca

All content on this channel is for informational purposes only.
Always follow the law, follow safe handling practices and train with qualified professionals.
Silvercore assumes no liability for the use or misuse of any information shown here.

Fermentation has been framed as risky, technical, even dangerous - and Sandor Katz thinks that fear is the whole problem.

In this conversation, the author of Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation breaks down why sauerkraut is simpler than we’ve been taught to believe, what that “weird layer” on top actually is, and how fermentation often makes food safer than it was before. We talk about trusting your senses again, the lies of expiry dates, and the tradeoffs between low-tech tradition and modern tools like vacuum sealing and the Instant Pot.

Plus: Koji experiments with chestnuts, black garlic myths, the real reason fermentation takes time, and a reminder that you don’t need a starter culture to do what humans have done for thousands of years.

Guest links:
https://www.wildfermentation.com
https://linktr.ee/sandorkraut

_____
Silvercore Club - https://bit.ly/2RiREb4
Online Training - https://bit.ly/3nJKx7U
Other Training & Services - https://bit.ly/3vw6kSU
Merchandise - https://bit.ly/3ecyvk9
Blog Page - https://bit.ly/3nEHs8W

Host Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bader.tiffany
Podcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thewildkitchenpodcast
Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors

____
Timestamps:
00:00 — Tiffany’s intro: how Wild Fermentation changed her early chef career
01:15 — Why fermentation seems technical (and why it isn’t)
03:20 — Sauerkraut is absurdly simple - fear of bacteria is the real barrier
04:10 — “Fermentation makes food safer” (acidity vs pathogens)
07:20 — Expiry dates are arbitrary + trusting smell/taste again
08:20 — The “kahm yeast” moment: why people throw away perfectly good ferments
11:05 — Hard rules: what growth is harmless vs what to toss
14:35 — The real worst-case ferment: flies + eggs (practical warning)
15:05 — Lids vs cloth vs crocks: how Sandor actually covers ferments
17:30 — Brine vs dry-salt: when to add water and what it costs (flavor dilution)
20:15 — “There’s no singular way to ferment vegetables” (core philosophy)
21:50 — Fermentation Journeys + Tiffany’s inscription story
24:55 — New book: Fermentation: A Natural History (what it is / isn’t)
26:40 — Chestnut shio-koji project (enzymes + umami)
29:45 — Koji Alchemy + growing koji on “almost anything”
31:00 — Simple DIY koji incubation setup (light bulb + controller)
33:10 — Black garlic isn’t really fermentation (and the Instapot workaround)
35:30 — Tradeoffs: vacuum sealing vegetables (benefit vs waste)
37:05 — Chestnut miso + spontaneous pancakes (dosa, buckwheat, mung bean)
41:00 — Why he teaches so much: the hunger for fermentation confidence
44:50 — Pear pressing → accidental vinegar (and why timing matters)
47:50 — Packets of yeast are new; wild fermentation is the old standard
50:05 — “You don’t need a packet of white powder to make sauerkraut” (mic drop)