Those of you who know me have probably figured out that I am really into food. I hesitate to label myself as a foodie, as I see that term as mildly pretentious, but I have sometimes described myself as a “hobby chef.” My restaurant, Chez Teak, is located on the south end of The Hill, perhaps the last authentic Italian neighborhood in the United States.

While I love Italian food, there’s only so much pasta and veal a guy can take. Most of the food I cook at Chez Teak (my wife is my only regular customer, since it’s just one table and our dog is always nosing up to it) is inspired by a variety of cultures and techniques. Increasingly, wild game has become the foundation for the entrees. But that’s only because I’ve just now gotten to the point where I can kill my own food with any consistency.

I read cookbooks the way many people read novels. Yeah, I like to curl up on the couch with my wife and dog, listen to soft music, and read about broiling and broasting.

The recipes I read are usually just idea generators. I rarely follow them precisely and I almost always change them a bit, sometimes so much so that they no longer resemble what I had intended to cook. I got that style of cooking from my mother, who is a genius at grabbing some things out of the pantry and magically whipping up something incredible without ever cracking open a cookbook.

I also hardly ever write down a recipe, so the nightly specials at Chez Teak vary greatly from one time to the next.

Wild game doesn’t have to be bland and doesn’t taste “gamey” when prepared right and imaginatively. The Missouri Department of Conservation has a great website dedicated to cooking game, and most outdoors magazines are now dedicating substantial space for recipes that go way beyond grilling meat with bacon (but really, can you ever go wrong with that approach?)

So I’ve decided to start writing down some of my recipes and sharing them with other outdoors lovers.

The first recipe is duck prosciutto, in honor of all the great Italian fare within walking distance of Chez Teak. It’s easy and an incredible appetizer.

♣ Bury fresh, boneless duck breasts with skin on in a bunch of kosher salt. I mean really bury them, so salt covers them completely. Put it in a container in the refrigerator for 2 days. Mallards are best and it has to be a puddle duck. Divers are horribly fishy with this recipe.

♣ After two days, remove the breast and brush most of the salt off. Wrap it in cheese cloth. 2 layers is enough. Tie the ends of the cloth and hang it in a cool, dry place for three weeks (a wine cooler is perfect).

♣ Once the three weeks is up, remove the breasts from the hanging place and slice really thin. A commercial slicer or razor-sharp knife is important. The thinner the better, just like the prosciutto you get from Volpi.

♣ Wrap a little strip around a pear with some good cheese like brie and keep your buddies begging for more.