The Best Chef You’ve Never Heard Of

There are a few people in life who make you rethink what “good food” means. My buddy Kevin is one of those people.

He’s not the kind of chef you’ll find behind the line at a Michelin-star restaurant, wearing a starched white jacket and yelling “Yes, Chef!” across the kitchen. Kevin’s kitchen has a  kids homework on the counter and a wild game quarter thawing somewhere in a cooler. He’s a dad of three now, which means the chaos has a rhythm to it. One that somehow fits perfectly with his style of cooking.

This week, we made bear and boar sausage together. Not just any bear sausage. This was from a thick, fall-foraged boar that Kevin harvested himself. The kind of bear that had spent the summer eating manzanita berries. The fat on this boar was white as lard and smelled faintly sweet when we trimmed it. I’ve processed a lot of game, but these stood out right away as something special.

Watching Kevin work is like seeing someone play jazz with meat. He’s precise, but loose. He knows the rules, but doesn’t care about them. He had his own blend of spices, stuff I couldn’t even begin to identify. At one point, he leaned over the grinder, tasted the raw mixture off his finger, and nodded slowly, like a winemaker checking the nose of a vintage. I remember thinking, Who does that? But sure enough, when it came out the other side, the smell told me everything I needed to know.

When we fried up the first test, the sizzle alone was enough to make me stop mid-sentence. Rich, savory, just enough wild edge to remind you it came from the woods...not the store. Kevin might never have his name on a restaurant sign or a glossy cookbook. He probably wouldn’t want that anyway. But I’ll say this: he’s taken culinary skill and game processing to a level most people will never see. He cooks with the kind of respect that reminds you food is more than a meal. It’s a story of where you’ve been, what you’ve hunted, and who you shared it with.

So yeah, Kevin’s the best chef you’ve never heard of. And if you ever get the chance to taste his bear sausage, you’ll understand exactly what I mean.