BUFFALO TWP — Six students in Jason Crighton's advanced culinary class at Freeport High School had questions about preparing wild game, so they went straight to an expert.

The students on Friday were treated to a video chat with chef Scott Leysath, the host of the TV show “The Sporting Chef,” which airs on the Sportsman Channel.

The celebrity game and fish expert was beamed into Crighton's classroom to talk to students about his experience in the culinary arts and game cooking, as well as to take questions.

The easygoing Leysath told students that he ended up as a chef as a result of working as a bouncer after earning a degree in technology many years ago.

He had the chance to work with troubled youth or stay with the restaurant, and he chose the latter.

Within a few years Leysath was vice president of the restaurant chain, which grew from seven to 33 stores during his tenure.

“My so-called career was not planned at all,” he said.

Leysath quit the chain and opened a restaurant outside of Sacramento, Calif., where he accepted cuts of wild game and fish that he cooked for patrons.

He soon got noticed by executives from the Sportsman Channel and began preparing his simple-yet-delicious fish and game dishes for all to see.

Leysath also hosted other shows, like “Dead Meat,” in which he hunted and cooked exotic foods like snake and nutria rat.

In one episode, Leysath told rapt students, a dish called machito was prepared for him on the Mexico-Texas border.

Machito is the internal organs of a goat wrapped in goat fat and intestines. The dish he was served was not cooked completely.

“It's probably not the best thing I ever ate,” Leysath said as the students groaned.

On the show “Hunt, Fish and Feed,” Leysath cooked fish and game for hundreds of homeless Americans, including many veterans.

The students asked questions nervously at first, and later in a more relaxed manner as Leysath's approachable delivery made them feel at-ease.

Thomas Meighan, a junior, asked if Leysath enjoyed seafood as well as game.

He replied that raw oysters, homegrown tomatoes and sashimi are his three favorite foods.

Leysath said his current favorite fish is moonfish, which is a huge specimen that is not commercially caught.

Senior Taylor Lichty asked Leysath to name the hardest meat to cook, which Leysath said is the merganser duck.

Although it has a strong game taste, Leysath said brining or hours of marinating make it palatable.

“The biggest problem people have with wild game is overcooking it,” Leysath said. “They're afraid of their food.”

He said venison can be cooked “low and slow” in a slow cooker with liquid, or medium rare on a skillet or grill. Cooking the meat to a well-done stage will produce a gamy, tough entree.

Spencer Brubaker asked Leysath how difficult it is to open a restaurant.

“Don't do it,” was Leysath's immediate reply.

He explained that while it looks like fun, a restaurant owner has to pull in $1 million in profit to earn $40,000 while working 70 to 80 hours per week.

Leysath counseled the students to do their time in several restaurants to see if food preparation is really their vocation.

Lichty also asked about Leysath's pet peeves in the kitchen. He replied he will no longer hire culinary school graduates because they refuse to wash dishes if needed.

“You've got to be able to do anything,” Leysath said. “If I'm not above doing dishes, neither should you be.”

Leysath said a chef he looks up to is Emeril Lagasse, but he eschews most competitive chef shows.

“Cooking on TV has become really annoying,” he said.

Leysath had one last piece of advice for Crighton's students.

“Don't be afraid to make mistakes,” he said. “That's how we learn.”

Thomas was amazed that Leysath has cooked for thousands of people in a restaurant.

Lichty appreciated that Leysath has used his culinary skill for charity projects and not just profit.

“He seems like a very down to earth person,” she said.

Crighton said the advanced culinary students made tacos and teriyaki meatballs this year from venison donated by a shop teacher at the school.

Students must try at least one bite, he said.

“I'd say 50 percent of them like it, about 10 percent don't like it, and 40 percent are like 'eh',” Crighton said.

He said the gamy taste many people associate with venison is often due to the deer being improperly field dressed or processed. He recommends aging venison for two weeks in a temperature of 30 to 40 degrees, even though a certain amount of the meat must be trimmed away because of dryness.

Crighton said he focuses on game cooking as a lesson in his advanced culinary class to perpetuate the Western Pennsylvania tradition of hunting and appreciating the great outdoors.

“There is a lot of urban sprawl now and we are losing our wild spaces,” Crighton said, “so this is my way of talking to the students about conservation issues and preserving some of those wild spaces we have.”