Some Sketches + Italian Wedding Soup

A quick poem, a half-baked idea, and a fully-simmered soup.

When I’m looking for something quick to read, I’ll often open a copy of One Man’s Meat¹, a compilation of E.B. White’s essays for Harper’s Magazine. I love this style of writing — an informal essay, familiar to the reader, writing that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but treats its subject with the appropriate amount of respect. I suppose it’s no secret that Mr. White’s works have played an outsize influence in how I frame my own writing for this newsletter².

Currently, I’m reading Aldo Leopold’s seminal A Sand Country Almanac³, which is written in much the same manner. When I’m reading good writing, inevitably, I want to imitate it in my own work. Often, this leads me to realize that I have a long way to go before I’ll have my own column in Harper’s. That’s okay — the practice is worth it — but perhaps it’s for this reason that I want to try something new this week. Rather than pontificate at length⁴ on a single topic, I’m going to include in this week’s dispatch three short pieces. Think of them as sketches, the first drafts of larger ideas.

The first a quick sketch poem, a la Jack Kerouac; the second, and excerpt and commentary on a piece from the NYT about wolves and me trying to wrap my head around something bigger; the third, a discussion on our recipe this week — minestrone soup with venison neck.

Let’s see how this works.

I. Table’s Set

It’s time for dinner and you say
reaching into the silverware
drawer

we’ll need some spoons
& forks, too
& H. needs a bib.

You bring them over to the waffle
table — that’s where we’re sitting? —
and place them down.

Mommy, you sit here
Daddy sits here &
I’ll sit next to H.

Table’s set — no need for knives —
we eat, proud of you.

II. Of Wolves and Men

From “What Can Americans Agree On? Wolves” in the New York Times, January 30, 2024.

The whole article is well-worth reading, but this excerpt feels a fitting culmination to the slew of books I’ve just finished: Wild New World by Dan Flores, The Last Ranger by Peter Heller, Scarcity Brain by

Michael Easter

, The Need to Be Whole by Wendall Berry, and A Sand Country Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I’m sure I could write an entire essay on this — and who knows, might even do so — but I’ll summarize my current thesis with this⁵: In a time when we find ourselves so divided, perhaps it’s a detachment from nature, from community, from food, from each other, from ourselves that is at the root of our issues. We don’t know wolves beyond that of a stereotype — so we fear them. We don’t know our neighbors beyond their address — so we wave from behind locked doors. We don’t know food beyond the aisles of the grocery store — so we take the land that it comes from, is grown on, for granted. We don’t know what we want beyond what we can buy — so we trudge onward in pursuit of materialism. Only when we make the effort to get to know an animal, a person, a place, each other, beyond surface level can we build those shared connections and values — and ultimately, that’s how we can end up with a sustainable future.

III. Minestra Maritata

Sadly, we’re nearing the end of the venison from my deer last fall. I suppose this is partially my fault, choosing to process it into mostly large format cuts — the only steaks I cut were from the front legs and backstrap; the grind and sausage were scrap trimmings; I took some stew meat from the shoulders; the bulk of the deer was turned into 5+ pound portions of neck, ribs, and legs. Eating this configuration makes 80lbs of meat go by pretty quickly!

As much as I’d like to stretch the deer out longer, I prefer the big, bone-in cuts. They’re more fun to cook⁶. With the remaining half neck, we made a version of

Hank Shaw

’s⁷ “Minestra Maritata” — or, Italian Wedding soup. I have fond memories of Italian Wedding Soup (and Minestrone Soup, which are not the same thing, though similar) from countless bottomless bread-and-soup meals at Olive Garden growing up⁸. This version, likely more authentic, is phenomenal and perhaps the best soup or stew we’ve made in awhile⁹.

The version recounted below is mostly true to Hank’s rendition, except we used a boatload more veggies, a bone-in neck cut, and let it simmer for about 6 hours¹⁰. I’d encourage you to go as heavy as you’d like on all ingredients — this scales well and it’s pretty hard to overload a soup¹¹.

Enjoy.

In a large stockpot, heat up bacon grease if you have it, olive oil if you don’t, and brown a well-salted hunk of meat¹² on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot and add one or two diced onions, some garlic, and roughly chopped carrots, turnips, radishes, and celery¹³. Mix well and let the veggies soften, then add back in the meat (and any accumulated juices). Pour in 3-4 cups of stock¹⁴ and bring to a roiling boil¹⁵. Reduce to a simmer, drop in 2-3 parmeggiano rinds, a few bay leaves, and some rosemary, and simmer for 4-6 hours¹⁶.

When the meat is beginning to fall off the bone, remove it from the pot to cool a bit, and add in a pound or so of Italian sausage¹⁷, some diced salami¹⁸, and whatever greens you have on hand¹⁹. When the meat has cooled enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone, add that back into the pot, and stir it together. Let the flavors marry while you bring a pot of water to a boil and cook some small pasta noodles just short of al dente. Serve the soup over the noodles, sprinkled with parm cheese²⁰.

So there you go folks — some quick thoughts and soup for married Italians²¹. What’s not to like?

I’ll let you get on your way with that. We’ll be back next week with our regularly scheduled programming. Don’t forget to buy some flowers, chocolates, and maybe even a card — Cupid is watching!

1. “One Man’s Meat” would be a great rebrand for Cow We Doin’.

2. Though I suppose I haven’t overtly made it a point to exclaim my imitation, either.

3. Shockingly for the first time, if you can believe it.

4. Though not lengthily — I’d hate for my own essays to ever feel overwritten.

5. And yes, I acknowledge this is just a variation on Leopold’s land ethic and Wendell Berry’sentire oeuvre. Like I said, I’m still working through making this my own.

6. It does mean next year I’ll need to get a few more animals, though!

7. Hank’s Buck, Buck, Moose is a wonderful resource for cooking antlered stuff. Between that and The Meateater Fish and Game Cookbook (thanks, Matt!) we haven’t had a bad venison dish yet.

8. Olive Garden, of course, being fine Italian dining in rural Florida.

9. I say this fully acknowledging how much I raved about the chilindron we made a few weeks ago (also a Hank Shaw recipe, for what it’s worth).

10. The ingredients here were also a family affair: We threw in ground Italian sausage from Auntie CWD and Uncle Steady’s local farm we found in the freezer as well as some elk salami that Auntie and Uncle CWD down in Florida were so kind to send our way.

11. Which anyone who’s had Nana CWD’s chicken noodle soup can attest.

12. Again, we used a venison neck, but braising cuts of lamb, pork, or beef would work equally well here.

13. You could just stick to onions, celery, and carrots if you’d like — but use whatever you have on hand. From a process standpoint, I’d recommend salting the meat and then prepping the veggies — that way, once you’re done, you can just roll right through and you’ve allowed a fair amount of time for the salt to do it’s job on the meat.

14. Homemade, if you have it.

15. If you have the time, you can also start to skim any of the foam that accumulates on the top during the boil — but not entirely necessary.

16. If you’re not using a bone-in cut, cut the cook time in at least half.

17. We used loose, but links work just as well.

18. It doesn’t have to be elk salami, but it doesn’t hurt either.

19. We used a mix of collard greens, arugula, and spinach.

20. We did not sprinkle ours with cheese, as you’ll note, since earlier this week, while we were putting the Kiddos to bed, Doggie CWD managed to grab our hunk of parm off the counter and eat it.

We weren’t mad, just impressed.

21. Did I get that translation right?