ShopPosts Tagged ‘wild game’
Peking Pheasant
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
- (From left to right). Lucy the Lab, Matt Kucharski, me and my shorthair Trammell
At the request of @Noah B, a commenter of my “Wild Game Dinner Parties” blog post, I attained my buddy Matt Kucharski’s spectacular Peking Pheasant recipe. Matt is a savvy public relations professional, a dynamic adjunct college professor and a skilled wingshooter; however, his true calling may be in the kitchen tied up in an apron as a wild game chef. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with Matt’s Peking Pheasant preparation. Here you go!
Ingredients (serves 3-4 four):
- 1 lb pheasant breast, cut into ½ inch by 1 inch slices (cubed also fine). Thigh meat can be used to stretch, but can be chewy.
- 3 tbsp corn starch or flour (corn starch preferred)
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp frying oil (canola or vegetable)
- (Optional) 1 whole sweet red bell pepper, julienned
- (Optional) 1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
- 2 minced garlic cloves or tbsp of minced jar garlic, separated in half
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup House of Tsang Spicey Szechuan Stir Fry sauce (available in most grocery stores – other brands can be substituted but this one works well)
- (Optional) 3 tbsp packed brown sugar
Preparation:
Sauce: Mix 1 tbsp garlic, ketchup, soy sauce, stir fry sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Brown sugar gives the final dish a little bit more caramelizing and a hint of sweetness.
Meat:
- In a wok, heat oil and lightly sauté remaining garlic.
- Mix corn starch, salt and pepper in a plastic bag. Add small amounts of pheasant to coat and set aside.
- Oil is hot enough when a small piece of pheasant sizzles the moment it is dropped in. Gradually add small amounts of pheasant and stir fry until golden brown and slightly crisp, keeping pieces separate to create individual “nuggets”. Add more oil as needed, and set aside finished pieces on paper towel.
- When pheasant is cooked, remove from wok and stir fry pepper and beans until barely tender
- Add pheasant back into wok and lightly stir fry until warm
- Add sauce and toss to coat all contents and heat until sauce bubbles.
Serve hot with rice and lo mein noodles.
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
Wild Game Dinner Parties
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
The calm before the feeding frenzy
Every holiday season, my wife and I host a party we call “Pheasant Feast.” In fact, last month we hosted Pheasant Feast IX . . . Yes, we’re now using Roman Numerals in our invitations. Nevertheless, this has become an annual tradition and a lot of fun for our friends and family. I’ve even enlisted my hunting buddy Matt Kucharski as co-chef for the event. This year, we were joined by two dozen guests for a night of taste-testing comprised exclusively of wild game.
The 2011 Pheasant Feast menu included:
- · Peking Pheasant
- · Pheasant a l’Orange
- · Poached Blueberry Ruffed Grouse
- · Roast Moose with Coffee Gravy
- · Pheasant Tortellini with Brussels sprouts
- · Minnesota Wild Rice Soup
- · Duck Rumaki
- · Jalapeno Pheasant Poppers
- · Tenderloin of Venison
- · 7-Up Northern Pike
- · Pheasant Pesto Pizza
- · Desserts, Beer & Vino
As you can imagine, some of these dishes turned out better than others when more than ten preparations are on the grill, stovetop and oven. The low spot of this roster was certainly the 7-Up Northern Pike . . . I won’t be reproducing that funky fish anytime soon. However, I plan to do my best to replicate Matt’s Peking Pheasant recipe this weekend. All in all, leftovers were non-existent which I consider a good indication of success.
As I reflect on this menu, I naturally think about the camaraderie of a day spent afield with friends and family pheasant hunting. However, what Pheasant Feast also reminds me of is the power wild game has of bringing family and friends together around the table. For me, the meal is almost, almost as important as the hunt and also nearly as fun.
What about you, have you ever hosted a wild game dinner party?
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
Hank Shaw: Pheasant Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Hank Shaw's fantastic new book: HUNT, GATHER, COOK
Editor’s Note: Hunt, Gather, Cook author Hank Shaw has penned a portion of Pheasants Forever’s “Wild Game Cooking” special section appearing in the upcoming winter issue of the Pheasants Forever Journal. If you’d like to become a member of Pheasants Forever and receive this issue along with a full year’s subscription, join today by following this link.
According to Wikipedia, the market for organic foods grew from nothing to a $55 billion industry by 2009. I believe a similar trend is developing around our roots as hunters and gatherers. From Steven Rinella’s Travel Channel show, The Wild Within, to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg declaring that he’d like to become a hunter, folks that hunt, fish and gather their food are becoming today’s pop culture trendsetters. Suddenly, mainstream America has an interest in the origination and acquisition of the food on their tables.
One of the leaders bridging our hunting and gathering roots to mainstream America is Hank Shaw. Shaw is most known for his popular blog: Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook. I caught up via email with Hank to ask him about a couple of his new endeavors; including, a fantastic new book titled Hunt, Gather, Cook.
St.Pierre: The Minnesota DNR’s Chris Niskanen, a mutual friend of ours, was the guy that introduced you to hunting when you were 32 years old. Tell me about that experience; why were you interested, what surprised you, and what hooked you on hunting to the extent that you make your living today as a result of your ability to hunt, write about hunting and cook the fruits of your labor?
Shaw: I first became interested in hunting because, oddly, of my fishing abilities. When I’d lived on Long Island, I developed a deep knowledge of the waters there – to the point where I could almost always catch something. I knew the tides, moon phases, and seasons. I could read current breaks, knew where structure was to hold fish. And, most importantly, I had the skills to make pretty much any seafood taste great.
When I moved to Minnesota, I wanted that same ability on land. Chris took me out to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. It was a hard hunt, as it was the last week of the season and we were hunting public land, but Chris could still easily come away with his limit of pheasants each day. I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, but I was hooked.
What surprised me most was how engrossing hunting became. You can drink beer and shoot the breeze when you are fishing, but when you are hunting you must live completely within the moment. You become a set of ears and eyes, you start to notice smells you’d never notice before; I’ve smelled deer before I could see them. I never felt so truly alive as when I am quiet in the woods, hunting for deer, rabbits or squirrels. Even when I don’t come home with anything, I feel rejuvenated after the experience.
St.Pierre: Both your book and your blog are subtitled “finding the forgotten feast.” To me, that subtitle echoes of Aldo Leopold’s often referenced passage from A Sand County Almanac in which he talks about food not coming from the grocery store, but from the land. Why is it important to you for America to rediscover this “forgotten feast?”
Shaw: Because we are one of the only cultures that does not, for the most part, eat food from our land. Very few of the foods Americans now eat are native to the 50 states. This was not always the case. Muskrat (called “marsh hare”) was sold in the finest restaurants in America a century ago. Our basic knowledge of plants and animals was far greater than it is today. Wild game and wild foods were once a normal part of the fabric of our lives. Now they are an exotic novelty.
What I hope to achieve is to rekindle people’s interest in nature’s bounty – and I am not talking about living off the grid or anything. I am talking about it becoming normal for people to own their own slice of nature within an otherwise “normal” life: Maybe they’re anglers, maybe they gather wild rice or berries or mushrooms. Maybe they hunt a deer for the freezer every year. Minnesota is one of my favorite states because so many Minnesotans already do this, so what I do is not such an alien concept for them.
St.Pierre: I consider myself to be a hunter, angler and gatherer. I pick morel mushrooms and wild asparagus, hunt voraciously, and fish adequately, but some of the things you pursue had me thinking some of this stuff is more work than it’s worth. The effort to make a cup of acorn coffee, for instance, seemed a painstakingly long process for the reward. Where do you find the balance between adventure and practicality?
Shaw: Everyone has to find his own balance. I don’t really do acorn coffee so much because its flavor is only so-so, but acorn flour has such a distinctive nutty flavor I find it more than worth the effort. It is the perfect flour to use when cooking game.
But you bring up a good point, because if your calculus is always cost-benefit, or whether wild foods are cheaper than Wal-Mart, wild food will always lose. But there is a spiritual, emotional component to this that cannot be quantified. Anyone who has ever gone fishing on a camping trip, and who’s fried that fish up over an open fire that night, knows just how good that fish will taste – it’s more than the sum of its parts. There is something deeply satisfying about working for your dinner.
St.Pierre: Of all the crazy things you’ve chased, gathered, and cooked, what is: a) your favorite and b) the thing most of us would think odd that you absolutely loved?
Shaw: I dunno. There are so many awesome experiences. But I have to say ruffed grouse hunting in the far north of Minnesota is right up there. Hunting grouse in the forest touches me in a way that no other hunting does. I grew up around very old forests in New Jersey, and whenever I return to that kind of woods – no matter what state I happen to find myself in – I get the feeling I am home. I love the desert, I love the mountains, but I am most at home in the forest. And there may be no other game bird as delicious as a ruffed grouse. Maybe a woodcock, but that’s arguable.
Hank Shaw prepares a "forgotten feast"
Crazy things? Hard to say. Maybe periwinkle snails off the rocks of New England. Blue camas bulbs in the High Sierra, which you need to be sure aren’t the disturbingly named death camas bulbs. I also happen to love the freshwater drum of the St. Croix River, which most people scorn. I love that they are fatty and rich, just like their cousins the redfish of Louisiana.
St.Pierre: Since I’m a pheasant guy, I’ve gotta know your favorite pheasant meal, the sides you like to serve with your pheasant and the drink to wash it down?
Shaw: OK, this is tough one, because I eat pheasant all the time. But I do a dish where I gently poach the pheasant breast in pheasant broth, then crispy-fry the skin separately. I serve the poached breast with the crispy skin on top, with a sweet-savory corn sauce underneath. It is just awesome. Sure, it’s a little cheffy, but I like my pheasant breast gently cooked and I love, love, crispy skin.
A drink to wash it down? I think a heavy white, like a Cote du Rhone blend, a Viognier, or an unoaked Chardonnay are good. But so are dry roses from southern France or Spain, and even light reds such as a Gamay, Grenache or Pinot Noir work well, too. It depends on how you’re serving the pheasant. Same goes with beer: Everything from a Grain Belt to an expensive Chimay Belgian beer works with pheasant, depending on the preparation.
St.Pierre: My wife and I are looking forward to dining at Corner Table in Minneapolis next Monday night when you will be the guest chef for the evening. What can folks attending your special appearances expect to taste and learn from these events?
Shaw: Our wild food book dinners are expressions of time and place. I work closely with the chefs, in this case Chef Scott Pampuch, to create a multi-course menu that can only really be done in one place and in one time – in our case, we’ll have lots of autumn Minnesota products, like walleye, pike, highbush cranberries, real Ojibwe wild rice, pheasant, venison – that sort of thing. Minnesota has such a wealth of wild foods that Scott and I are really looking forward to putting together a symphony of the North Star State’s finest foods. Even experienced eaters will taste something new here. I guarantee it.
Hank Shaw will be appearing at Corner Table in Minneapolis on Monday, October 10th at 6 pm. Reservations for this special meal can be made by calling 612.823.0011. Price is $65 per person.
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
Facebook Founder to become a Hunter?
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
You can find Pheasants Forever on all the major social networking sites.
According to a CNN Money story today, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, has made an interesting personal commitment:
“The only meat I’m eating is from animals I’ve killed myself,” says the Facebook founder and CEO.
In Zuckerberg’s Facebook account of the decision, he goes on to say:
I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn’t want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don’t have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from.
Amen to that! Perhaps Zuckerberg has been studying up on the great Aldo Leopold, because his rationale sounds a lot like Aldo Leopold’s famous passage from A Sand County Almanac:
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
To avoid the first danger, one should plant a garden, preferably where there is no grocer to confuse the issue.
Since his commitment, Zuckerberg and his girlfriend have been slaughtering their own goats, chickens and other animals for meat. Zuckerberg goes on to say that he’s interested in going hunting.
Well, in a world increasingly detached from the land that sustains us, it’s incredibly interesting . . . and I’d even say encouraging, that Mr. Facebook himself is interested in getting reconnected to our hunting heritage. I, for one, would like to invite Mr. Zuckerberg on a bird hunt with me and my bird dog, Trammell, this autumn.
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobStPierre.
Cranberry Soup with a Side of Pheasant
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
The plucked pheasant goes into my new Dutch oven.
I fancy myself a pretty good wild game cook. I’m not at “chef” status, but I can turn traditionally gamey meats into dishes worthy of a second helping by most folk’s standards. However, tonight’s kitchen effort knocked my ego down a few pegs.
Last Sunday, I purchased a toy that I’d been eyeing for over a year – an enamel cast iron Dutch oven. I didn’t splurge on the uber expensive Le Creuset brand, but dropped $50 on a Food Network knockoff at Kohl’s.
I took out the lone pheasant in my freezer still wearing its skin. Like most pheasant hunters, I have a hard time finding the time to pluck my birds even though I know they’ll taste better with the skin sticking to the meat. However, one duck hunt last November in North Dakota also produced a rooster that cleaned up nicely with the lodge’s Duck Naked contraption that removed the bird’s feathers while leaving the skin intact.
It comes out of the oven looking & smelling good.
I thawed said rooster and brined it for two days as I studied pheasant roasting recipes. I finally settled on a treatment featuring a cranberry glaze.
Uncharacteristically, I followed the recipe almost exactly (I’m notorious for using recipes as nothing more than an outline). Unfortunately, this evening’s “roast pheasant with cranberry glaze” went awry despite my best efforts to follow instructions.
First, in my excitement to pluck the rooster’s feathers last autumn, I failed to remove the bird’s crop. Imagine my surprise when I sliced into the bird’s perfectly moist white flesh to uncover a sack filled with roasted insects, corn kernels, soy beans and leaves. Yuck! After removing the contaminated meat, I carefully deboned the clean meat from the carcass.
I then covered the roast pheasant meat with the cranberry sauce as instructed by the recipe. While the roasting Dutch oven did an absolutely perfect job of keeping the bird’s flesh moist, the cranberry sauce was so intense it covered up any hint of pheasant. I was left to eat what essentially tasted like cranberry soup.
I begin carving the bird and moments later find the crop still intact.
Oh well; it’s the failures that make the successes so sweet, right? Not sure my wife, Meredith, will buy that train of thinking at the moment though. I better see if she’s still throwing up after eating a grasshopper covered in cranberry sauce. Whoops!
If you see this dish on your kitchen table - DO NOT EAT IT!
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing.
The Rise of Wild Game Foodies
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Popular culture has learned that venison tenderloin is the best meat on the planet.
In this era of Top Chef, Iron Chef and the Food Network, America’s palates are becoming more adventurous at the dinner table. Enter wild game meats.
No longer is beef the only thing for dinner or pork the only other white meat. On the contrary, pheasant, quail, duck, elk and venison are now regular visitors to most white linen restaurants. I believe this is good news for hunters.
As more folks outside of the hunting community experience the tastes of the field, the more widespread acceptance there will be of our pursuits. It’s this trend in eating game meats that I see popular culture beginning to ride. At Pheasants Forever, we are tapping into this new wave with added cooking demonstrations at Pheasant Fest this year, new cookbooks and more online recipes.
What do you think? Is fine dining on game meats going to open new doors for hunters?
The Pointer is written by Bob St.Pierre, Pheasants Forever’s Vice President of Marketing.
Pheasants in the Vineyard
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Wild game and wine go well together.
On Saturday morning, after my co-hosting duties on FAN Outdoors radio were complete, I drove over to Haskell’s in downtown Minneapolis for a wine tutorial with Beau Farrell. The Farrell family has owned Haskell’s for more than four decades. In that time, Haskell’s has become Minnesota’s wine experts. Additionally, the Farrell’s are a hunting family with a fondness for yellow Labs, duck blinds, pheasant fields and matching the perfect vintage with wild game. In other words, they’re my kind of folks!
My goal for the morning was to learn how to pair wild game with the right variety of wine. Beau was up for the challenge and started off by explaining four basic principles about wine pairing.
First, wild game is difficult for most people to match with wine because folks are accustomed to beef or chicken; or white meat with white wines and read meat with red wines. That basic principle doesn’t always hold true anymore; especially, when dealing with wild game meats.
Second, as with any meat, how you prepare the dish (marinades, sauces, spices, etc) has a big impact on how the wine will compliment the food.
Third, the goal of pairing any wine with a meal is to find “balance.” In Beau’s words, “you don’t want one to over-power the other. You want the wine to compliment the meal.”
And lastly, Beau advised me to remember two rudimentary rules of thumb; “opposites attract” and “likes attract likes.” In other words, a big bold venison steak pairs well with a similarly big and bold red. In contrast, a hot & spicy dish often marries well with its cool & sweet wine counterpart.
So for this exercise, I picked six of my favorite wild game recipes and asked Beau’s assistance in pairing the perfect wine to match the meat. We wound up selecting two options for each dish. All of the wines selected are part of Haskell’s Summer Sale which runs through September 6th, 2010.
1) Duck Rumaki (appetizer): Cube a couple duck breasts, marinate them in boysenberry pancake syrup, wrap each piece around a water chestnut, and then wrap it in bacon holding the combo together by a tooth pick. Throw these tasty appetizers on the grill till the bacon is crispy.
- Wine Pairing Option 1: #627850 –N/V Centenaire Brut $12.99/bottle
~A Non-Vintage dry French sparkling wine such as Centenaire Brut will serve two purposes here. It serves as a great starter, or welcoming wine to any party or dinner, and it will compliment the duck & bacon quite well. It is very crisp and has a small amount of yeast.
- Wine Pairing Option 2: #612544 –2009 La Forge Viognier $12.99/bottle
~This Viognier (VEE-OH-NAY) is a grape from the Languedoc. La Forge Estate makes excellent wine. This wine will dazzle you with flavors of peach, apricot and vanilla. The wine finishes with a mineral component that will serve the appetizer quite well.
2) Pheasant Kung Pao: I’ve always been a fan of spicy Asian dishes utilizing wild game, but have often found it difficult to pair with the right wine.
- Wine Pairing: #603958 -2003 Vereinigte Hospitien Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese $17.49/per bottle.
~This Riesling is from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, which is a river valley in western Germany. Spatlese indicates a medium amount of sugar in the Riesling. Simply put, a spicy dish is complimented best with a sweet wine, hence the rule of thumb, opposites attract.
3) Roasted Quail: With bobwhite quail’s delicate white meat, Beau recommended quail be treated similarly to chicken when pairing with wine. A good medium to light bodied red wine should suffice.
- Wine Pairing Option 1: #625150 -2007 Chateau de la Chaize Brouilly $9.99/bottle
~Brouilly is a small town in the region of Beaujolais. Beaujolais, which is Beau’s actual name shortened, is a region in France that grows the Gamay grape. They produce mild and fruity red wines that are light to medium to bold in body. Serve this red wine slightly chilled.
*(Each November another Beaujolais, Beaujolais Nouveau, is released to celebrate the year’s harvest. They say if you drink a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau within the year it is produced, you will have good luck the following year. Stay tuned for the Beaujolais Nouveau release in November during hunting season).
- Wine Pairing Option 2: #552328 -2007 Domaine Serene Yamhill Cuvee $44.99/bottle
~Domaine Serene is a great vineyard situated in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Ken & Grace Evenstad, previously from Minnesota, have built a top notch vineyard there. They have taken on some of the finest Pinot Noir wine regions in the world and won. Not only famous for great Pinot Noir, the Willamette Valley is the birthplace to pheasants in America. That’s right; pheasants were first introduced to the United States in 1881 by Owen Denny, the U.S. Ambassador to China at the time.
4) Grilled Pheasant Breast: My question to Beau; “What is the best wine for a classic grilled pheasant entre?” His answer; “Pheasant just screams the Rhone Valley in Southern France.”
- Wine Pairing Option 1: #625854 -2007 Cotes-du-Rhone “Les Trois Couronnes” $11.99/bottle
~A great value in the current wine world is just about anything from the Cote-du-Rhone region. The “Les Trois Courronnes” or “3 Crowns” is primarily made from the Grenache grape. It is 80% Grenache, 20% Syrah.
- Wine Pairing Option 2: #625672 -2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape ‘Les Amadous’ $29.99
~Another gem from the Rhone Valley. It’s a very hearty, big red wine that goes well with a variety of pheasant preparations. 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah
5) Venison Steak: A tender venison back strap lightly seasoned with garlic and pepper is my favorite meal on the planet.
- Wine Pairing Option 1: #625944 -2006 Chateau Malmaison $19.99/bottle
~Chateau Malmaison is from the Medoc Region in Bordeaux, France and features the region’s classic blend of Cabernet and Merlot creating aromas of blackberry and raspberry jam. This wine is 80% Merlot & 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. On the palate, the wine is full bodied with very soft tannins. Great finish. 90 point rating from Wine Spectator. Also, #84 out of TOP 100 wines of 2009.
- Wine Pairing Option 2: #610001 -2006 Aguaribay Malbec $8.99/bottle
~Argentina’s famed wine regions are geographically situated for some ideal growing conditions. High elevations, Pacific climate, long hot sunny days followed by cool nights create some great everyday drinking wines. Malbec marries well with garlic & peppered steak. It has a spicy element to it. Likes attract likes.
6) Classic Cream of Mushroom Pheasant over Mashed Potatoes: Every pheasant mom’s favorite crock pot creation.
- Wine Pairing Option 1: #610304 -2007 Cotes du Rhone Rasteau “Les Peyrieres” $12.99/bottle
~This little wine is the perfect vino to compliment mom’s hearty pheasant meal on a chilly autumn day. The wine is a blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, & 10% Mourvedre. A very versatile wine that has great structure and balance.
- Wine Pairing Option 2: #611500 -2004 Savigny Les Beaune “Le Village” Villamont $29.99/bottle
~100% Pinot Noir from Savigny Les Beaune, Burgundy. This is an amazing wine with elegance and good structure and has lots of ripe red fruit on the nose, such as strawberry and cranberry. Nice round edges and a solid backbone. A classic meant to compliment a classic dish.
Do you have a favorite wild game meal you’ve been searching to pair with the perfect wine? Do you have any other random wine questions? Email Haskell’s Beau Farrell at pfarrell@haskells.com.
Haskell's downtown Minneapolis location.
A lineup of wine to pair with wild game.
Preventing Pheasant Freezer Burn with Wanchai Ferry
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Kung Pao Pheasant with Wanchai Ferry is an easy and delicious way to prevent freezer burned birds.
Allowing wild game meat to spoil away for months and years in the freezer is a pet peeve of mine. Killing it should be followed by eating it.
I do recognize that many game meats are strong and many spouses’ palettes are delicate. So with those factors in mind, I’ve got a sure fire solution for any game bird sitting in your freezer and any discerning spouse sitting across the dinner table – Wanchai Ferry’s Boxed Dinner Kits.
I first picked up a box of Wanchai Ferry three years ago prior to a big wild game dinner my wife and I host each Christmas season. From the start, I had my eyes on the Kung Pao kit with pheasant breast meat in mind. There’s no doubt General Mills dreamed up these kits for chicken, but I’ll testify to the deliciousness of Kung Pao Pheasant using the Wanchai Ferry kit. I’ve had similarly tasty experiences with Spicy Garlic Grouse, Orange Pheasant and Cashew Hungarian Partridge. They are not gourmet recipes, but they are tasty and easy ways to turn your frozen birds into dinner.
I know there are plenty of dead birds hidden away in the depths of your freezer. In a couple months you’ll be looking for space to store the 2010 season’s bounty. Give this easy recipe a try and make good use of those birds.
I’m a Frying Pan Killer
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
Last night's pheasant stir fry complimented by some fresh veggies from the St.Pierre garden
On Monday evening, I polished off the final two pheasants in the freezer from the 2009 hunting season. At the risk of freezer burn, I always try to save a couple of birds ’till my garden starts producing fresh veggies each summer. This evening’s entrée featured a pheasant stir fry complete with peas, carrots, celery, zucchini, and peppers. I washed it down with a Keweenaw Brewing Company Pick Axe Blonde Ale, but I can’t take credit for producing that delight.
It wasn’t the best pheasant feast I’ve ever prepared, but something about growing my own vegetables mixed with a couple of roosters I killed over my pointer seems to make any meal taste better. That thought got me thinking.
When it comes to passions, bird hunting is about my favorite thing to do in life. And when I start to examine why that is, the joy of cooking and pleasure of eating wild game ranks pretty near the top of the list. Sure, I love watching my shorthair work a rooster, the aesthetic beauty of an autumn walk in the waving prairie, and the thrill of the flush WITH the satisfaction of a killing shot all rank 1, 2, and 3 respectfully. However, cooking and eating wild game are right there rounding out my top 5 pleasures of bird hunting.
Examining that hierarchy, it’s pretty easy to discern why I turn my attention to ice fishing when bird season ends instead of going crow hunting. I see the thrill in shooting crows, I’d just rather put a mess of crappies in the frying pan. The delicious taste of Sandhill crane has made me an avid crane hunter, and my love for mountain lion meat has got me thinking there will be a lion hunt somewhere down the line. However, I don’t see myself chasing coyotes, raccoons, prairie dogs, or muskrats anytime soon. No offense to any folks that find great joy in any of these pursuits, I’ve simply tasted raccoons basted in blueberry barbecue sauce and would rather spend my time killing something with tastier backstraps.
So the question I post today is this: How High Is Eating What you Kill on your List?
A few other quick hits to round out today’s blog:
- If you recently checked out the Fall Preview issue of the Pheasants Forever Journal and are looking for my blog titled “I’m Just Dating My Shotgun,” follow this link.
- Also, if you enjoyed my blog titled “Please Don’t Name Your Bird Dog That,” then you’ve gotta check out my good friend Jeff Idleman’s blog in Prairie State Outdoors about nicknames earned by bird dogs in his most recent post titled “What’s in a Name?”
Rating the Home Restaurant
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Some see antlers in this photo, I see venison steaks sautéed in garlic and butter.
Although my dad would never be mistaken for a Renaissance man (he’s never folded a load of laundry in my lifetime), I did grow up in a household where both Mom and Dad enjoyed sharing the cooking responsibilities. Those meals often focused on wild game and fresh-caught fish, and rarely utilized conventional recipes.
Over time, my family developed a mandatory ritual prior to being excused from the table at the completion of every meal – RATE IT. That’s right; whether it was venison stew or a northern pike omelet, my brother Matt, Mom, Dad and I were compelled to give each and every dining experience a rating from 1 to 10. It was a fun way for all of us to learn about food and flavors.
As I read Anthony’s fantastic blog about rating the difficulty in hunting each game bird, I thought back to my folks’ own rating roots. So, to add the St.Pierre family twist to Anthony’s piece, I’ve offered my wild game rating for a few different animals’ flesh as table fare, along with a brief description on my favorite preparation.
Game Rating from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) Dish
Pheasant 8 – avoid drying out and its pink flesh is succulent Pheasant in orange sauce
Ruffed Grouse 8 – almost translucent white flesh is very mild Sauté in butter
Venison/deer 10 – my favorite meat on the planet Sauté w/garlic pepper & butter
Duck 8 – breasted / 9 – plucked / 10 – teal Grilled skin down on cast iron skillet
Goose 6 – a little gamier than duck Meredith’s goose stroganoff
Sandhill Crane 10 – “ribeye of the sky” or “flying fillet” Red meat cooked just like venison
Bobwhite Quail 7 – great flavor, but a lot of work for a little meat Roasted with apple cider glaze
Hungarian Partridge 8 – cross between pheasant & ruffed grouse Sauté in butter
Wild Turkey 7 – a leaner version than what you’ll find at Cub Deep Fried
Timberdoodle 5 – “flying liver” is not my favorite Looking for a good recipe
Sharp-tailed Grouse 4 – envious of the timberdoodle Still looking for a good recipe
Mountain Goat 8 – full of flavor, but not over-powering Roasted
Mountain Lion 9 – pinkish meat is a crowd-pleasing surprise Lion jambalaya
Elk 9 – slightly different than venison, little tougher Sauté w/garlic pepper & butter
Black Bear 6 – pretty tough, but excellent flavor Roasted in red wine & pepper
Snapping Turtle 8 – white meat that’s a little chewy Pan fried
Frog Legs 7 – white meat that’s a little chewier than turtle Fried
I haven’t had a chance to try moose or the wide variety of quail and grouse species, but they are definitely on my short list. How would your ratings differ from my palate?
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