Tatanka...

Hunting wild chukars and huns on the Camas Prairie in Central Idaho

Tatanka - v (trans):  To try and use every bit and part of a bird for culinary or fly tying purposes

The first time I saw the movie Avatar, it was called Dances with Wolves.  And instead of giant smurfs with tails, it had Lakota Indians whose life was centered around big, furry mythical creatures with horns, called Tatanka.  -Oh, wait, those still exist. I got my movies confused.-   But in the resourceful spirit of the native peoples of the Great Plains, whenever I shoot a bird, I tatanka the heck out of them, skinny legs and all.


Demi-glace and Stocks

There's not much to little bird legs, which is why most hunters don’t keep them, but get enough of them, mix them with some bird feet, you’ll have yourself the perfect ingredients for demi and stock.  Demi is a super condensed flavor paste, traditionally made from roasted pork bones.  But the technique used with game birds can render some delightfully savory and mildly sweet flavors, perfect for gravy, sauces and soups.


Hungarian Partridge Demi

Ingredients:

A handful of legs
A handful of feet (*boiled and skin removed)
*This is key. I don’t always trust where a bird has put its feet, especially if it’s in a flight pen.

3 or 4 carrots roughly chopped
3 or 4 stalks of celery roughly chopped
1 onion roughly chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Don't be afraid

 Feet are full of connective, gelatinous goodness that will help thicken your stock or demi.

Directions:
It's going to take a good day of cooking for demi to happen (4-6 hours). Preferably pick a cold, winter one, where you are tied to your vise and angry at the weather anyway.  The good news is if you mess up, you’ll still have some pretty hefty stock that tastes great.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 or 400 degrees

Pan-sear your legs with a little olive oil in a heavy sauce pan.  (Be sure you like the pan you choose, because if you do it right, you’ll probably be eating the microscopic parts of the cooking surface.  I use cast-iron.  It holds heat evenly, and ingesting iron is good for your bones, right?)

Add the chopped vegetables, salt/pepper, feet and more olive oil;  then place the sauce pan in the oven to roast for a few hours.
(You want a good roast on your bird legs and feet,  a nice dark brown, where a lot of the meat sticks to the bottom of the pan. Those little burnt bits of goodness will be the base for your stock and demi.)

After peak roastness has been achieved, deglaze the bottom of the pan with a little white wine, and return the pan to the stove top.  Cover the ingredients with water, and reduce. And reduce, then add a little more water, then reduce. And reduce.  (This is the most time consuming process.  If you get tired of reducing, just leave it, strain out the vegetables and bird bits and you’ll have a nice stock.)

If you continue, you’ll  get a nice brown liquid from your ingredients. When this happens, strain out the remaining vegetables and bird parts.

Let the brown stock cool, and while doing so, strain out any fatness that rises to the surface with a cooking spoon or ladle.

Then back to the stove top and reduce. And reduce, until it thickens into a syrup, or sort of a thick runny paste. (similar to the consistency a jar of peanut butter left out in the sun)

There you go.  You just spent 6 hours boiling bird parts to get a ¼ cup of thick brown flavor goo.  But its worth it.  Demi is pretty potent stuff.  It only takes a teaspoon to add to water for stocks, soups or other sauces.  Just don’t tell people it had bird feet in it.

Tatanka...