Wisconsin is Wild About Wildcat
Some call it wildcat. Or tiger meat. Others call it a cannibal sandwich. If you ask the Wisconsin Health Department, they’d call it extremely ill-advised. It’s a sandwich made of freshly ground, raw beef, on a slice of rye bread, topped with raw onion and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. It’s served cold. And it’s a mainstay at Wisconsin social gatherings.
On this week’s episode of Milk Street Radio, reporter Mackenzie Martin joins her fellow Wisconsinites to investigate—and celebrate—their fun but strange piece of culinary culture. Listen to the full episode here, then scroll on to get a look at the polarizing sandwich, the people who make it and the people who love it.
Townline Meat Market in Wausau, Wisconsin, is a tiny shop that sells ground-to-order wildcat.
Dave Jagler’s (center) family has owned this meat market for 54 years. Happy customers (left and right) show off their wildcat orders.
Just like old fashioneds—another Wisconsin classic—everyone has their own take on wildcat.
Dave mixes and enjoys a fresh batch of wildcat.
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Claire Lower
Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.
