Meet Michael Hunter, chef and co-owner of Antler Kitchen and Bar in Toronto, a Michelin-recognized restaurant that specializes in game.
He’s also written two cookbooks — 2021’s Hunter Chef Cookbook and last year’s fire-focused Hunter Chef in the Wild.
And he’s got some secret wild recipes to turn your kills into delicious post-hunt meals.
READ MORE: The Story of the Hunter Chef
Michael Hunter's Journey to Becoming a World-Class Chef
Hunter was raised on a horse farm in Western Ontario, working in restaurant kitchens throughout high school.
The summer before his senior year, he learned he was about to become a father, and realized he’d need a career to help support his new family.
“I was motivated to start my career, where some other people might still be figuring it out,” he says.
“I decided I’ve got all this experience in the kitchen, so I applied to chef schools.”
While in school, his mom introduced him to the man who ran fox hunts at her local equestrian club, who was also an avid turkey hunter.
“I didn’t realize wild turkeys existed,” he says. “And that was kind of my introduction to hunting.”
Hunter lived up to his name by shooting two birds on his first hunt. The experience blew him away, and he became fascinated by killing his own meat.
“When I tasted it for the first time, I was just shocked. I grew up eating turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this was so much different and more flavorful,” he says.
“My mom tried it and said, ‘This doesn’t even taste like turkey.’ The man who took me hunting said, ‘No, that stuff in the grocery store doesn’t taste like turkey. This is how turkey’s supposed to taste.’”
After chef school, Hunter went on to work in several notable restaurants, including Scott Conant’s Scarpetta.
After reading Conant’s cookbook, Hunter got the idea to write his own, focusing on game.
To work through the recipes, Hunter began throwing ticketed game dinners, which quickly became a social media sensation.
“We started getting some major press about it, which wasn’t the intention at all,” he says.
“But the restaurant group I was working for was named in this article where they talked about hunting.
"So, they called me in and said, ‘What you do in your off time is your business, but we don’t want to be named in these hunting pieces.’ So, all this good press didn’t have a home.”
After months of game dinners, Hunter and his business partner realized they had enough recipes—and enough of a following—to open their own restaurant.
And in 2015, Antler opened with a menu unlike anything Toronto had seen.
READ MORE: Choosing The Right Italian Sauces For Wild Game Recipes
Secrets To Masterful Wild Game Cooking
Ten years later, Hunter’s has one of the toughest tables in Toronto, creating game-based dishes with mass appeal.
He’s succeeded because he understands the nuances of cooking game.
“Game doesn’t have any marbling, any fat, so you’ve got to treat it a lot differently,” Hunter says.
“Like wild turkey legs. A wild turkey is three to four years old and is running around constantly, so you’ve got to stew that for five to seven hours.”
Grilling, the focus of Hunter’s new cookbook, also takes some different techniques when working with wild game.
“With deer steaks, for example, I like to get nice marks on them, then take them to indirect heat. The top rack of the barbecue, or turn that side off and just cook with the other side,” he says.
“If you cook something hard and fast, it tightens up the muscle. When you cook it slowly, it gently cooks it and you just end up with a more tender piece of meat.”
He advises starting with backstraps if you’re grilling, because they’re relatively tender and require less technical skill.
For seasoning, Hunter prefers sweeter notes, using sauces like blueberry compote with deer and blackberry sauce with elk.
Juniper, clove and star anise are also perfect game spices, he says, adding that he likes to cut the flavor with some vinegar or alcohol to keep a dish from becoming dessert.
Hunter also points out that when and where you shoot your animal can make a huge difference.
“If it’s in the middle of the rut and you shoot a monster whitetail, that thing is going to be gamey because it has all those rutting hormones running through it,” he says.
“With ducks, mallards on the coast are going to have a fishier flavor because of what they’re eating, versus mallards on the prairies eating lentils and corn.”
The key, he says, is patience and repetition, perfecting one dish before moving on to the next.
“Pick one thing and work on that until you’re happy with it,” he advises.
“Start with simple things like pasta sauces, chilis and ground meat. There’s a bear ragu in the cookbook, I know it might not sound easy but it’s actually quite simple.”
He also suggests trying a stew, so you can cook the meat for longer periods of time, with more room for error.
Whatever you choose, following his tips might have you creating dishes your family will actually ask you to make.
And before you know it, they’ll have acquired a taste for game, too.
READ MORE: Easy Wild Turkey Francese Recipe
Where to Find Michael Hunter's Wild Game Recipes
Now that you have a taste for what chef Michael Hunter is all about, you owe it to yourself to try some of his amazing recipes.
His new cookbook, Hunter Chef In The Wild, sports the tagline Game, Fish and Fowl Recipes and Techniques for Cooking Outdoors.
Editor’s Note: Accompanying this article in the printed issue of Hook & Barrel March-April 2026 are two freebies we hope you enjoy. Excerpted from Hunter Chef in the Wild by Michael Hunter. Copyright © 2025 by Michael Hunter. Food photography by Jody Shapiro. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved. For more information, check out thehunterchef.com and antlerkitchenbar.com.
