- Luke: This week on Wisconsin Foodie .

I feel so lucky to be out here with you, and to have you show me the secrets of catching monster bluegill that Mirror Lake is known for.

- Ryder: [chuckles] Monster is maybe stretching it just a little bit, but... One of the things I like about my job is the opportunity to get people out and give them the chance to experience some of these properties, and some of these opportunities that are out here.

I mean, just the phenomenal public land that we have in the state of Wisconsin.

- Some days I have to pinch myself.

Aldo Leopold in this shack created A Sand County Almanac .

A book that has influenced generations in the conservation movement.

I have the honor and privilege of putting together the Leopold corn bread.

I can't think of a better way to spend a summer evening than in front of Leopold's shack, putting together a family recipe of corn bread, and treating ourselves to some bluegill that were harvested from these waters behind us.

This is a dinner that Leopold himself would have been proud of.

[gentle music] Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie , and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk with just a few simple ingredients: sun, soil, rain, and grass.

And grass, and grass.

- Yee-haw!

- Organic Valley Grassmilk: Organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from the Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Additional support from the following underwriters.

[upbeat music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[upbeat music] - Luke: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[sizzling] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clinking] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[gentle music] What's up, man?

- Ryder: Hey, good to see you.

- Good to see you, brother.

Thank you so much for having me out.

- Yeah, you bet, yeah.

Let's grab some poles, we'll start talking about what we're gonna catch.

- Okay.

- Sounds like a plan?

- Sounds great.

Mirror Lake, this is all bluegill, right?

- Yeah, I mean, there's a variety of fish here in the lake.

The most luck that people have is gonna be with bluegill, different panfish.

We have a few different fish that get stocked occasionally.

There's actually a decent Northern fishery, but guys generally have more luck, like, in the wintertime, ice fishing for Northern.

So today's not gonna be the day to go out there trying to hit the Northern.

But, yeah, I think bluegill is probably gonna be our target that's gonna make the most sense for us today.

- Luke: Okay, excellent.

I will say, usually, I go into fishing experiences thinking like, "Eh, you know, I'm great to do that," but I always end up with that one hammer handle Northern that gets me completely slimy and disgusting, and you smell like a Northern for the rest of the day.

I think that's their gift to me.

That's the curse of the Northern.

But I think this one feels like it's ready for some action here.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Should we do it?

- Ryder: Yeah, let's hit the water, man.

- Luke: That sounds great; I can't wait.

Here we go.

[gentle music] I feel so lucky to be out here with you, and to have you show me the secrets of catching monster bluegill that Mirror Lake is known for.

- Ryder: [chuckles] Monster is maybe stretching it just a little bit, but yeah, we've got some bluegill in here, and we'll be happy to see if we can find a few of 'em to get our hands on for dinner.

- Luke: Well, let's get on 'em.

[gentle music] So Ryder, this is gorgeous.

Tell me a little bit about Mirror Lake.

- Yeah, so we are an impoundment of Dell Creek.

And so that means there's a dam a little further down the lake from where we are.

And we're about 139 acres of water.

The park itself, Mirror Lake State Park surrounds the lake.

The park is about 2,200 acres, so there's a lot of land opportunity to recreate as well.

But the lake itself is surrounded, and about 70% of the shoreline is owned by the state through Mirror Lake State Park.

So even though we're not very far from the Wisconsin Dells, we've got a pretty rustic nature to the shoreline, and you can kinda get that Northwoods feel, you know, without having to go too far from home, if you're in the southern part of the state.

- I mean, like, this lake and the Wisconsin Dells in general, is thought of as, like, a recreation, or a vacationer's paradise.

But this is actually really quiet in comparison.

- But what's cool is you could spend the day here relaxing, and then at night, or the next day, man, go to the Dells, go crazy, hit all the waterparks, do whatever you want, and you can kinda get the best of both worlds, you know?

- Like, what are your favorite activities to suggest for people coming into the park, maybe for their first time?

- Being out on the lake and paddling, experiencing the park and the area from the water, is probably my favorite thing to do.

People can bring their own boats, their own canoes, kayaks, those kinda things, motorboats, but we have a really robust rental here as well.

So there's the opportunity to rent boats.

You don't have to have all the high-end equipment yourself to come out and do it.

- Can you talk to me a little bit about your love for the wild places of Wisconsin, and how that influenced you coming back almost home, to manage this property?

- You know, growing up, I had the opportunity to come to Mirror Lake and Devil's Lake, some of the other places too, in this area, you know, the Leopold Reserve is an area that's not very far away, International Crane Foundation.

So growing up in this area, I had a lot of opportunity to get into the outdoors and experience it both just as a passive user, or as a consumptive user.

Fishing or, you know, taking hunting opportunities, those kinds of things.

And so one of the things I like about my job, is the opportunity to get people out and share that with them, and give them the chance to experience some of these properties, and some of these opportunities that are out here.

I mean, just the phenomenal public land that we have in the state of Wisconsin.

- Yeah, that is actually one of my favorite parts about the state of Wisconsin, are all the wild places that are here and protected and preserved.

I have a real agenda here today.

I think it's super important for people to understand where their food comes from, and, you know, like, have that connection to actually harvesting their food; if it's plants, or things that they're foraging, or even, you know, pulling fish.

And we gotta get on some bluegills here, man, because there is really nothing better, in my estimation, than a shore lunch fish fry of bluegill.

- Yes, I can wholeheartedly agree with that.

And how cool too, you know, you've got the opportunity, you can catch a fish from a lake that you're staying on, go back to your campsite, cook it up, and like, not farm to table, right?

Lake to table.

- [laughs] Lake to table.

I love it, I love it, that's Northwoods for sure.

[gentle music] Oh, eh, ayoo!

- Fish on!

[Luke laughs] - You liked that hook set?

- That was good.

- What a little guy!

Scoreboard!

- Yeah, cool, cool.

- We could have our own fishing show.

We could call it Gettin' Lippy with Luke and Ryder .

[laughs] Do you see people who come to the state park with the intention of making what they catch, or they find or forage, or hunt their dinner?

Like, is that a trend that you see growing?

- Yeah, I would say so.

I mean, it's not like everybody stops at the office window and says, "Hey, I'm here looking for my dinner."

But you know, having the opportunity to talk to people that come out on the property, there are a lot of people that are really interested in having a hand in what they're eating.

It's one thing to know where it came from, from the farmers market or, you know, maybe a grocery, or a boutique shop, or something like that.

But man, you know exactly where it came from, if you're the person that harvests that deer or catches that fish.

- Oh, no way, get out of town.

Ladies and gentlemen.

[laughs] Look at that slob!

- Blammo!

- Blammo, he says!

Scoreboard!

Count one for the park's super.

- Hey, buddy.

- Oh, yeah.

- That's right.

- Got one, oop, doubles.

Hey, ho, hey, little perch again.

Well, Ryder, I'd love to see a couple more of the cool features that this lake has to offer.

You mind if we paddle for a little bit?

- Yeah, I'm all about that.

I think this lake has got a lot of character to it, and there are some just great little places that you can get into and check out.

Yeah, we can paddle down.

We'll go into what we call the Narrows, I think is gonna be a real good spot.

Really cool location.

There's some cliffs that are on either side of you, you're kind of closed in.

To me, it's the most scenic part of the lake, and there may be some fishing opportunity down there too.

- Cool, let's bebop down.

[gentle music] So obviously, there have been generations and countless people who've loved this place before us.

Can you tell me a little bit about that history, as it's come through Mirror Lake?

- Yeah, as we sit here in the park, we are on lands that are the traditional lands of the Ho-Chunk Nation.

And so, they have a long history here, and then certainly Indigenous people before them as well.

And, you know, as those of us nowadays are still here, you know, making use of these resources, those people did long before us as well.

- You can't be in this narrow part of the lake and have anything less than awe for everything around you.

If it's the oaks leaning over the lake, or the white pines towering and the glens, it is truly spectacular.

What a fun property to be associated with, and spend your life exploring and maintaining and managing.

Man oh man, Ryder, this has been absolutely gorgeous, but I know you've got stuff that you've gotta do here in the park.

And I actually wanna take the opportunity, since I'm in the area, to go check out the Aldo Leopold Shack.

- Yeah, sounds like a plan, and I think you will be well-served to head over to the Leopold Shack.

Excellent place to check out.

If you wanna try your hand at fishing on the Wisconsin River, it's right there too.

So maybe those guys will be more lucky for you, and you'll find some stuff on the river, you know?

[gentle music] - So we decided to leave Mirror Lake.

The fishing was gorgeous, and no offense to Ryder, but we thought we might bebop ourselves over into the Wisconsin River and take a stab at fishing here.

[water splashing] Mmm.

[oar clanking] So this is one of the apex fishes in this river system, the northern pike.

Also, that's a good-sized fish.

Not bad for landing it from a canoe.

Feels big; she's powerful.

You can tell.

[water splashing] Let's see if we can't post up right here, and see if we can't catch some fish.

Oh, got one.

Oh, shoot.

[water splashing] I gotta say, there isn't anything that's more fun.

Being in a wild space, in a canoe, to have the opportunity to catch this beautiful smallie, right here at home.

This is a smallmouth bass.

Now, in cold water, these are delicious.

They have really nice, meaty filets, and can be sautéed up or added to a chowder, or anything that you might wanna eat.

But the really amazing thing, is that it comes right from this place.

This is its home, just like mine.

And in the spirit of Leopold, we're all connected.

One of the things I love about the Wisconsin River is that it courses the entire length of the state, and it's a great reminder that we're all connected by it.

And there's always that sense of connection that unites the purpose of the river.

We're gonna stop by someplace that's extremely special to me.

It's a lesson in connectedness and mindfulness, and how we as human beings interact with the world around us, and especially through our food.

[gentle music] - Aldo Leopold was a early conservationist who became a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and was teaching students about how and why they should manage for wildlife.

In order to kind of practice what he preached, he bought his own farm here on the Wisconsin River to employ the same practices that he was teaching in his class to improve the health of the land.

Aldo Leopold's lasting legacy is his concept of a land ethic.

And that is really helping humanity recognize that we're a part of the biological community, not apart from it.

And if we recognize that, then it is our obligation to extend the same care and ethical considerations that we do our friends and family, to the flora and fauna.

And this notion that we're all in this together, that we're a community is really, I think, what has transcended his writing and ideas through time and through space.

A Sand County Almanac has been translated into 15 different languages.

So this book that started right here on the sandy shores of Wisconsin River is really now one of the platforms of the international conservation biology movement.

For him, food was one of the ways that we all connect to the earth.

One of his best quotes is, "There are two spiritual dangers of not owning a farm.

"The first is expecting that heat comes from the furnace, and the other is that breakfast comes from the grocery."

Right out of the opening of the February essay "Good Oak."

So he uses food over and over again through A Sand County Almanac to connect the reader to the places where they live, the way those communities function ecologically, and how we build relationships to one another.

[gentle music] - Some days, I have to pinch myself.

There are a few times when we're filming the show that I land in the front yard of one of my own heroes.

Aldo Leopold, in this shack, created A Sand County Almanac , a book that has influenced generations in the conservation movement.

And when I say conservation movement, I don't necessarily mean environmentalism.

But Leopold examined, and lived, and listened to the ethic of how man enmeshed with the world around him.

I have the honor and privilege of putting together the Leopold corn bread, created by his wife, Estella, and passed down through generations of Leopolds.

So I'm actually gonna jump inside, and I'm gonna use some of the cast iron cookware that Leopold and his family used when they were living here, or vacationing here, and we're gonna put that together today for you.

[gentle music] So we're cooking on the original Leopold family fire pit.

This is where they would've done their cooking, but we brought something today that allows us to not leave a burn scar.

I also packed in charcoal because in my canoe, it's a lot easier and more efficient than packing in wood.

The first step we wanna do is actually place a few hot charcoal briquettes in that pan on the ground.

Again, the reason that I'm putting them in a pan on the ground is because I want to alleviate a burn scar, leaving no trace.

It seems like the most reasonable thing to do when you're cooking in front of a conservation legend's shack.

[gentle music] Corn bread is one of those surefire, easy peasy recipes that's really hard to mess up.

I'm gonna start with Meadowlark Organics cornmeal.

This cornmeal is lovingly raised outside of Ridgeway, Wisconsin, and I'm gonna measure this into my handy-dandy camping cup.

Now, I'm gonna approximate two cups here.

Next up, I'm gonna add one cup, or half of this cup, of Meadowlark Organics all purpose bolted flour.

So I don't forget, I need just a little pinch of baking powder.

The recipe in this case indicates one teaspoon.

I'm gonna go with a nice little zizh of sugar, because I like my corn bread sweet.

And now I need one teaspoon of salt.

So this is the time where I wanna actually check my Dutch oven.

One of the ways that I check it is by adding butter to the skillet to see kinda how it sizzles.

What that's also doing is it's seasoning the pan for us with that nice, luxurious bit of grease to make this process sing.

So what I'm seeing in here, when I add that little bit of butter, is I'm actually listening for to how it reacts with the cast iron first and foremost.

I want that to be a very lively reaction because that tells me that the cast iron is heating up nicely.

Additionally, I'm looking at where the heat points are as I move that butter around.

And in this case, they're most certainly in the center of the pan.

I'm gonna sneak a little bit more heat around here so I get a nice, even bake.

We'll let that heat up.

The last three ingredients that I have to add are oil, and I'm gonna put in about a quarter cup of this oil.

We need one egg.

We need one cup of liquid.

I really like whole milk.

It adds an element of richness, and it keeps that center nice and moist as we cook it over these coals.

I'm gonna mix them all together.

So I want this corn bread batter to move, to dance.

When I pick it up and put it down, I wanna see it with soft, soft peaks.

We can see inside the Dutch oven that that butter is starting to brown up nicely.

That's a good starting spot for me to add my batter to the pan and get this party started.

That smell of brown butter is gorgeous.

It's time to put the lid on [metal clanking] and create the oven effect.

This Dutch oven has a number stamped on top, and this one happens to be an eight.

The way that heat is calculated in Dutch ovens is we would take eight briquettes of this size, plus two, to give us approximately a 350-degree Dutch oven.

Because we want this corn bread to be nice and delicious and golden on the outside, but soft and fluffy and ooey gooey on the inside, I'm gonna cook this a little bit hotter.

So I'm gonna go eight plus four, giving me 12 briquettes.

We are going to let this cook just like this for approximately 30 minutes.

All right, so we've let a half hour pass with this corn bread.

And remember, we wanted this to cook up a little bit hotter than 350 degrees.

So it's the time for the big reveal.

Oh, man.

And the best way to test any kind of bread, or corn bread, is to insert something clean into the middle and then pull it out.

And if it pulls out clean, just like that, this is done.

We're gonna remove this from the heat and let it rest while we cook up the bluegill that we took from the river.

When I'm frying fish, specifically outdoors and in the wilderness, I bring with me a little brick of Crisco.

It's not as flashy or glamorous as cooking fish in butter or lard, or even duck fat in some cases, but it's consistent.

And when we're doing a shore lunch fish fry, I wanna take half of this brick, and I'm gonna add it to my pan.

In this instance, I have a mix of Shore Lunch.

Shore Lunch is a fish breading that can be purchased in just about any grocery store across the United States.

We are going to place the bluegill filets into the Shore Lunch, and we are going to delicately lay them into the sauté pan.

And we'll add a little bit of our remaining butter to the pan to give it that really lovely Wisconsin finish.

I can't think of a better way to spend a summer evening than in front of Leopold's Shack, putting together a family recipe of corn bread, and experiencing the absolute ethic of his work in treating ourselves to some bluegill that were harvested from these waters behind us.

I'm gonna cut this corn bread into some wedges.

Mmm, ready for the reveal?

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm gonna add a healthy pat of the Westby Co-op Creamery butter.

Every single one of these ingredients is local.

Every single one of these ingredients came from within a hundred-mile radius from where we're at right now.

And if that isn't the absolute ethos of Aldo Leopold's round river ethic, I really don't know what is.

From a food perspective, being able to see all those little pinpoints in the entire food shed and connect the dots together, leaves us with one big conclusion.

We're all connected.

All of this food is important to every single farmer, producer, citizen, eater in the state of Wisconsin.

[gentle music] One of the absolutely mind-blowing parts of this dinner experience for me, is to think that Leopold himself most likely sat right here, and ate meals exactly like this.

I love bluegill.

It's like the morel mushroom of the lakes and rivers of Wisconsin.

Only with this fish do you get that nice, crispy, really rich, meaty flavor, and it's cracking.

That corn bread's ridiculous too.

You get the richness and the sweetness of that corn, but it's balanced by that nice, dense, moist center.

That little hint of sugar just takes it straight over the top.

This is a dinner that Leopold himself would have been proud of.

[gentle music] And quite honestly, that's why I love Leopold's work.

It's a story of connection.

It's a story of being right here in this very place on the Wisconsin River, right outside Leopold's Shack.

And throwing your lure into a tree.

[gentle music] - Ryder: I mean, there's some monsters that if you bebop around in the woods a little bit, you'll find some really cool stuff.

So yeah, it would be easy for me to just kind of bebop down here, and go swimming for a little bit.

- That's not the first time that you've used bebop today.

- No, I don't think so.

- Bebop, I'm gonna start, that one's going straight into the repertoire.

[laughs] It's literally one of the best Wisconsin quotes I've heard in a long time.

You won't be bebopping into the blooper reel any time soon.

[laughs] Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk with just a few simple ingredients: sun, soil, rain, and grass.

And grass, and grass.

- Yee-haw!

- Organic Valley Grassmilk: Organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from the Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically-raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Additional support from the following underwriters.

[gentle music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Still hungry for more?

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.