There’s a contingent of readers out there who arrive at my humble blog-abode by googling for ideas on how to use their game meats. I’ve read a lot of game cookbooks, and have looked around online, and recipes tend to be…not so good. Not-so-interesting, at the very least. So in an effort to help out some fellow game-eaters [and use … Read More
Bull Moose Tenderloin & Ruffed Grouse Breast
My dad invited us over for dinner tonight, and I had my first full-on game dinner of 2007. The photos below show the hefty tenderloin [note: bull moose are damn large] and the chain separated [top strip]. The right bottom right: the portioned tenderloin and ruffed grouse breasts seasoned and ready for the pan. We did this up with some … Read More
Goose & Duck Hunting 2007 – Hunt 2
When my uncle was meeting me to butcher the birds from the last hunt, he noticed these birds going into a swathed barley field. Having secured permission from the farmer, we ‘spotted’ it Friday morning and evening to observe where the birds were feeding, and went in yesterday morning. It was yet another successful hunt. So what do we do … Read More
My 30th Birthday
My dishwasher full of dirty dishes smells fantastic. I know. Gross. But it’s true. Today is my 30th birthday. My dinner guests just left, and I’m extremely tired. I was up at 04:00 to go waterfowl hunting again this morning. Maybe not the wisest thing to do before hosting 15 dinner guests. 40 more geese and 13 ducks this morning, … Read More
Goose & Duck Hunting 2007
I was actually up even earlier than planned this morning. Our daughter was awake at 03:10, so I got up and got ready for the morning’s hunt. It’s not a sleeper-inner’s kind of activity. We were in the field early enough to enjoy the clear sky of bright stars, got set up in the -4C cold, and enjoyed some coffee. … Read More
Ruffed Grouse with Red Currant & Rosemary Sauce
It’s a notable occasion. This is the first game to enter my kitchen this fall – ruffed grouse. We call them ‘chickens’ more often than not, and they do have a similar texture and flavor. Except for their distinctive, almost ‘sharp’ flavor. They have a definite sour, evergreen gaminess to them that is definitely not chicken-esque. Kind of like lamb … Read More
You should thank Gordon Ramsay
I hunted, killed, butchered, cleaned, cured, and confit’d 11 wild ducks. Not 1. Eleven. I pitted and dried a bunch of evans cherries that a friend picked for me. I roasted a sweet potato, days ahead. I ground pork fat and the above mixture. I moistened the mixture with some white wine I made. I stuffed it in hog casing. … Read More
Culinary Accomplishment
My brother in law and I just wrapped up a goose sausage making session. We made roughly 20lbs, about 5 lbs of each of the following: Garlic Sausage with Sage Lots of garlic, and dried sage from my garden, with my red wine. Provencale Dried tomatoes from my garden, herbes de provence I brought back from Ile de La Sorgue … Read More
Blind Tasting, and BAD butchering
I just had dinner guests do a blind tasting of two different species of geese to tell me which they preferred. Both were rotisseried, basted in garlic butter with fine rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley. The final concensus: both were extremely close in flavour and nearly impossible to distinguish one for the other. And both tasted so much like roast … Read More
Wild Geese
I gave up hunting altogether for quite a few years. Lots of reasons why, and beyond the scope of today’s blog. I gave it another shot in the last couple years, and have been really enjoying it. It’s fun to be outdoors with the guys, and culinarily it’s a tremendous opportunity for me. I just got back from goose hunting … Read More