In the hunt and the kitchen

When Jack Madden was 11, he and his buddy, Gary, started cooking outdoors.

The two were Cub Scouts, equipped with bikes, mess kits, canteens and enough money to buy a couple of hot dogs or even pork chops from the corner store in their St. Louis neighborhood.

The grocer would fill their canteens with water from a pump behind the counter and the two boys would bike several miles away to a woody area, build a fire and cook over the open flames.

"When you cook over open fire, there is a sense of adventure to it," he says. "We were just playing pioneers, being out in the woods."

Jack branched off into hunting in college, always with an eye toward eating what he caught or killed.

"Every animal I've shot I've eaten, or tried to eat," says Jack, who admits to a healthy enthusiasm for food. Once when he accidentally killed a porcupine with his car, he took it home and cooked it.

"I tried to eat it, but it was really bad," he says.

Married for 38 years to Enriquetta, 67-year-old Jack has always prepared the meals at home in Schaumburg,

Game often is on the menu. Jack almost always has venison in the freezer, which he limits to two or three meals a month in order to make it last. He hunts doves and his friends sometimes contribute a pheasant or duck to his stores.

He goes fishing and camping in Wyoming and Canada with a group that includes chef Pierre Pollin, former owner of Le Titi de Paris in Arlington Heights.

Jack's approach to cooking is freewheeling, unencumbered by recipes with precise measurements.

"I'm too undisciplined to deal with recipes real well," says Jack. He does skim through cookbooks and watches cooking shows, "but I never write anything down. Every time I make something, it's different."

For weeknight meals, Jack relies on simple and easy preparations, heavy on garlic and dried herbs.

But when company comes, he spends hours preparing.

Appetizers are routine, like homemade, garlicky hummus, chicken liver pate or prosciutto wrapped around a bread stick or with melon. Home-cured salmon, served with chopped raw onions and capers, is his signature bite.

Jack coats the fish with brown sugar and salt, sprinkles it with liquid smoke and dill, and lets it cure for several days in his refrigerator.

"So many people have enjoyed this," says Jack, who often is asked for the recipe. "I can't tell you how many people are making their own lox at home."

A meat lover, Jack's entrees are protein driven. A favorite one-dish meal is Ajiaco Santafareno, a Colombian version of chicken soup that he tried years ago while visiting his wife's relatives in South America.

For this dish, bone-in chicken pieces are cooked in beef stock with potatoes that thicken the broth. It's garnished with heavy cream, capers and avocado. The soup is seasoned with a weedy, aromatic herb called guascas, which grows wild in Illinois and many other states, but can be difficult to find at grocery stores.

Locally Jack buys it at a Latin market, La Unica, 1515 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, or you can buy it online or hunt for it outside.

For dessert, try Jack's broiled pears filled with graham crackers and chocolate chips and drizzled with Grand Marnier. They are easy enough for an everyday dessert, elegant enough for company.

You might even want to try cooking them over an open fire.

Uncle Jack's "Smoked" Salmon

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup Kosher or sea salt

2½-3 pounds (about) Atlantic salmon fillet, 1½-inches thick, thin tail end removed

1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Dried dill, optional

Cracked pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, mix the salt and sugar. Spread enough of this mixture over the bottom of a baking dish so you cannot see the bottom, about inch deep. Lay the fillet on top.

Drizzle liquid smoke on fillet and spread around with fingers. Cover fish completely with remaining sugar/salt mixture over fish; if needed, mix more brown sugar and salt in a 50-50 ratio. Sprinkle top with black pepper and, if desired, dried dill. Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate 48-60 hours. (A thinner fillet will be done in about 24 hours.)

When finished rinse the salt/sugar mixture off under cold water. Dry fish well and place on rack to air dry for 2 to 3 hours. Slice thinly at a 30-degree angle and serve with toasted bread rounds, chopped raw onion and capers or with bagels, cream cheese and onions. Leftovers may be frozen for several months and thawed for a quick party appetizer.

Serves 20-24.

Ajiaco Santafereno -- Colombian Potato Soup

3 pounds beef bones

2 large onions, quartered

6 sprigs parsley

Salt and pepper

2 whole chickens, cut up

5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

4 ears corn on the cob, broken in halves or thirds

3 tablespoons dried guascas, optional (see note)

Heavy cream

Capers

In a large pot, cover beef bones with cold water; add onion, parsley, salt and pepper and bring to simmer slowly. Cook about 1 hour or until you have a hearty beef broth. Remove from heat and discard bones; allow broth to cool until fat solidifies and can be removed.

Put chicken pieces into beef broth and bring to simmer slowly. When chicken is cooked, about 45 minutes, remove meat to covered pot or dish.

Put potatoes into broth and cook until very soft. Use a potato masher to break up, or puree in a blender, processor or with a submersible blender until velvety.

Boil corn in a separate pot of water for about 2 or 3 minutes. Add to the soup pot along with the chicken pieces.

To serve, ladle broth into bowl with a piece of chicken and corn. At the table guests may add sliced avocado, a dollop of cream and capers to taste.

Serves eight to 10,

Cook's note: Guascas is a South American herb with a grassy flavor. Check for it at Latin markets or online.

Nutrition values per serving: 400 calories, 8 g fat (2 g saturated), 48 g carbohydrates, 4 g fiber, 31 g protein, 70 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium.

Broiled Pears

4 pears

8-10 graham cracker rectangles, crushed, divided

½ cup dark chocolate chips

Coarse raw sugar

Grand Marnier liqueur

Blue cheese, room temperature, for garnish

Chocolate sauce, for garnish

Set oven to broil.

Slice bottom of pear so it will stand upright and core from the bottom, using an apple corer, knife or melon baller. Peel, leaving the stem in place.

Combine half the graham crackers and all the chocolate chips; divide among the pears, pushing the mixture into the empty cores. Roll the pear in the coarse sugar, covering well.

Spread remaining graham cracker crumbs in an ovenproof dish and stand the pears upright in the crumbs. Place pears in oven until the sugar glazes and begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Allow pears to cool and transfer to individual dessert dishes. Drizzle a little Grand Marnier liqueur over the pears. If desired garnish with crumbled bleu cheese or chocolate sauce.

Serves four.

Nutrition values per serving: 280 calories, 3.5 g fat (0 saturated), 59 g carbohydrates, 6 g fiber, 3 g protein, 0 cholesterol, 190 mg sodium.