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Joe Rogan Experience #1676 - Jesse Griffiths

Jesse Griffiths is a butcher, hunter, author, and restauranteur. He is the co-owner of Dai Due Supper Club and The New School of Traditional Cookery. His new book "The Hog Book: a Chef's Guide to Hunting, Butchering and Cooking Wild Pigs" is available now only at TheHogBook.com

Joe RoganhostJesse Griffithsguest
Jun 26, 20243h 8mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Chef-Hunter Redefines Wild Hog: From Invasive Menace To Gourmet Resource

  1. Joe Rogan talks with Austin chef and hunter Jesse Griffiths about his restaurant Dai Due, his new self-published ‘Hog Book,’ and a philosophy of cooking that centers on local, wild, and fully utilized ingredients.
  2. They explore how Griffiths blends old-world craftsmanship with hunting and fishing, teaching people to kill, butcher, and cook wild pigs ethically while challenging myths that feral hogs are inedible or unsafe.
  3. Much of the discussion covers feral hog biology, overpopulation and damage in Texas, proper game handling and butchery, and how diet, stress, and processing radically change meat quality.
  4. They also branch into related topics like wild game culture, catfish and other fish species, fire-based cooking, food sourcing, and why connecting to the origins of food changes how people value all resources.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Feral hogs are both a severe ecological problem and a major untapped food resource.

Texas alone may have around 3 million feral hogs causing billions in damage; Griffiths argues we should be killing more of them but also eating far more of the ones we kill, rather than leaving carcasses to rot.

Diet and stress shape flavor more than age or size in wild pigs.

Pigs gorging on acorns and pecans can taste as good or better than domestic pork, while stressed animals (e.g., snared or badly handled) can become inedibly gamey regardless of age, showing handling matters as much as the hunt.

Proper cooling and dryness are critical for good game meat.

Griffiths strongly advises never putting skinned meat directly on ice; instead, bag carcasses, ice around them, and keep drain plugs open so meat gets cold and stays dry, avoiding waterlogged, mushy, off-flavored flesh.

Treat different hogs differently instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.

He categorizes pigs (large boar, large sow, medium, small) and uses different butchery and cooking strategies for each—e.g., sausage and long-braise dishes for big boars, more delicate cuts and quick cooks for small pigs.

Hands-on hunting and butchery classes create lasting respect for food and resources.

Participants learn to sight in rifles, hunt, gut, skin, break down, and cook their own game; even if they never hunt again, many report a permanent shift in how they value meat, vegetables, water, and material goods.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I like to tell our staff that we’re plumbers—we’re more craftsmen than artists.

— Jesse Griffiths

A feral hog is just a pig without an address.

— Jesse Griffiths

I’ve eaten 300‑pound boars that had testicles the size of cantaloupes and they were absolutely delicious.

— Jesse Griffiths

If you can feel sad about taking the life of a deer or a pig or a squirrel, then you can also understand what a case of carrots rotting at a grocery store means.

— Jesse Griffiths

You wouldn’t go to the store, buy a ribeye, and to keep it cold on a hot day take it out of the package and stick it on some ice.

— Jesse Griffiths

Dai Due’s local, wild, and fire-based cooking philosophyFeral hog overpopulation, biology, and invasive-species management in TexasMyths and realities about eating wild pigs (taste, safety, and stress)Teaching hunting, butchery, and game cookery through small, hands-on classesMeat quality factors: diet, handling, cooling, and preparation methodsEthics and culture of hunting, fishing, and species people refuse to eatSelf-publishing The Hog Book and building direct producer-restaurant relationships

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