Mushroom and Bear Sausage Risotto

Ingredients:


1/2 lb black bear sausage
8-10 Asparagus stalks
1 cup arborio rice
2 cups stock (chicken, or game)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 white wine
2 tbs butter

Salt and pepper to taste









In a medium skillet, cook the bear sausage until brown and crispy, rendering out the fat and flavor to build your risotto on.   Remove cooked sausage and set aside.  Add 2 tbs of butter and add rice.   As the rice cooks, make sure each grain gets coated with the rendered bear fat and butter.   Slightly brown the rice, careful not to let it fry in the pan.  Deglaze with white wine.  Then start stirring and slowly adding stock, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more stock.

In a separate pan, saute mushrooms and asparagus.

Continue to stir the risotto until it has absorbed all the stock.  It will slowly release its starch creating a creamy consistency.  Return bear sausage back to the risotto, along with the mushrooms and asparagus. Finish with parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper.

Marsh Hens and Collards

Grilled Marsh Hens w/ Wild Rice and Homegrown Collards

Legs on a game bird suck.  Tough, full of tendons, too much work and not enough meat.

I'm a leg man, so I disagree.  Well, to be more honest, I'm a equal opportunist when it comes birds; legs, breasts, *gizzards, I'll take it all -sometimes even the feet.  

*If you haven't had the privilege of ordering fried gizzards from a small town, dive bar kitchen, after a a long day looking for birds, and a few pitchers of cheap beer, I would sincerely recommend it.

But the legs on a marsh hen are where it's at, which is not surprising considering they make up almost 60% of the bird's body.

Grilled Marsh Hens

A dozen marsh hens (breasts and legs separated)

     -marinate in red wine, just enough to cover the birds

         *it seemed that the longer the birds rested in the refrigerator, the more pronounced the marshy, salty flavor became.  Which is good.  It's not chicken.

Heat grill.

-A grill works in two ways:  If you can't get it above 350 degrees, it's called an outdoor oven.  If you want it to actually grill, and get a good sear, you'll need a higher temperature.

The hardest part about grilling is finding the hottest part of the grill.  Place your bird parts on the hottest part to get your grill marks.   If the grill is hot enough, it shouldn't take long.  Then flip the legs or breasts over, and move to a less hot section of the grill, close the lid, and use the grill as an oven to cook the birds the rest of the way through.

Grill in batches

6-8 minutes per bird part.

Grilled Chukar Salad w/ Huckleberry Vinaigrette

 This one is pretty easy.  Make a salad and put grilled chukar on top of it.  The hard part is hunting the chukars and trying to find the huckleberries.

Grilled Chukar
4-6 chukar breasts (brined)
        brine- 2 tbs salt* 
                   1 tbs apple cider vinegar
                   3 cups warm water
*(I use Montreal Steak seasoning because the salt content is so high, plus you get garlic, onion powder, and other little granulated bits of goodness)

A brine will give you a little more wiggle room when it comes to doneness.  There's no fat on a chukar breast, so a brine will help keep you from turning your well earned piece of meat into a dried up strip of jerky.

Sear over high heat to get grill marks on both sides.
Cook through.  Rest.


Huckleberry Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup huckleberry vinegar
(take some vinegar- 2 cups, and some sugar -1/4 cup, boil it.  Cool it down Turn off burner. And add 1 cup of huckleberries and let it rest for 5 hours or so. Easy)

1/4 Olive oil
1/2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
2 tsp sugar
1 tbs of finely chopped onions
A little bit of Italian seasonings
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
 1 squirt of lemon juice

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...

The "I Only Got Five" White Quail Chili

It happens. The first hunt of the season can be rough, even if you have spent some time shouldering your gun during the off-season. Nerves can get the best of you. The birds never fly the way you expect them to. And it’s easy to psyche yourself out and forget that it’s not all about pulling the trigger. Those are my excuses anyway; I blanked eight times on opening day of Duck season.



So I could sympathize with my long time hunters, Chip and Chet Oehme, after we finished our first trip out at Wintergreen.

“Well Pop, at least we have enough to make a sandwich.”

And unlike me, at least they didn’t go home empty handed.

　

Here is an easy way to make a little go a long way…and a creative way to use game.

5 Quail Breasts

1 can of Great Northern Beans (un-drained)

1 can of Cannellini Beans (un-drained)

Optional: 1 can of Black Beans (drained/washed)

1 packet of McCormick White Chicken Chili Seasoning

2 cups game stock or water

Sour Cream

Cilantro

Avocados/ Guacamole

Serves 4

Grill or Roast Quail Breasts just to the point where you can pick the meat of the bones. Finish them off in a medium to large sauce pot with a little oil and packet of seasoning (cumin, cayenne, paprika, garlic, salt/ pepper, oregano).

Cook until each piece of Quail meat is coated with seasoning. Use water or better yet, game stock to sort of deglaze all that goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Note: I save/freeze all my carcasses from ducks, quail, pheasant, etc. to make stock, as well as keeping my trash can from smelling for a week.

Add Beans, reduce heat and bring to a slow boil. (15- 20min)

Place in bowls and top with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, avocados or guacamole

 

Swamp and Surf

This recipe comes from one of my hunters from Louisiana. I had a hard time understanding the accent without subtitles, but besides the rice and few other accoutrements, this version is about as local as you can get; The shrimp came from Stump Sound. The Wood Duck from a nearby swamp. And the brussel sprouts, green peppers, and okra came from the Old Man’s garden.

*Even if you can’t get all these ingredients locally, or can’t find Wood Duck at your local grocery store, or understand the cajun accent, it still tastes good as gumbo over rice with just shrimp.



Ingredients:

2-4 grilled wood duck breasts(brined, wet rubbed)

*check teal taco recipe for brining and wet rub

1 pound of shrimp(peeled, de-veined, marinated in whatever you can find in the frig, Italian dressing, steak marinate, etc.., and grilled)

Rice( read the box to see how many servings you need)

A handful of Brussel Sprouts

1 green pepper

1 Vidalia onion

3 stocks of Celery

1 can of chicken broth

2 cups chopped Okra

¼ cup melted butter


Salt and pepper to taste.



Finely dice onion, celery and green pepper and add to pot with olive oil. Let it cook down, and add chicken broth.

Read the back of your box o’ rice and start your rice in a separate pot or microwave.

Tear off brussel sprout leaves, coat in butter(or olive oil) and salt and roast in oven at 400 degrees.

Cook until they get all burnt on the edges and crispy. (It’s supposed to look like you screwed it up)

As your pseudo-gumbo mix is cooking, skewer shrimp and prepare Wood Duck for the grill.
*I chose not to soak my skewers in water before grilling, because when they catch on fire and turn to charcoal, I know the shrimp is done.

Add Okra to onion, celery and green pepper. Stir and continue to let it cook and thicken.

Grill your shramps and duck(med rare)

Rest yo’ meat. Slice thinly.

Plate your rice, spoon your gumbo mixture(if it doesn’t turn out call it a okra gravy, I did) over the rice, top with grilled duck and shrimp, garnish with roasted brussel sprouts.

"Houdini-ed"

Three generations of hunters walking through the woods and sharing a duck blind is the best Wintergreen can offer. When I met Boyce at the clubhouse he introduced me to Bray’s Island and Cherokee hunting guide Jaime Cook, Jaime’s family and a chocolate lab escape artist known as “Houdini.” Jaime came to Wintergreen, like many hunters do, for a overnight, Quail hunt in the afternoon/ Duck hunt the following morning. And after our first sweep of the field for quail, “Houdini” had chewed through the bottom half of his dog kennel and sat anxiously awaiting our arrival at the truck.


A closer inspection of his crate revealed numerous repairs from previous escapes. Pieces of wood patched here, metal brackets there, and a 6 foot heavy chain were all signs of Houdini’s spectacular career. As I laid the contents of my vest on the back of the truck, I realized the dog wasn’t the only one who had pulled a Houdini on us.

Jaime has worked dogs before and knows this game well. Birds that run, muddle the scent making it difficult for a dog to pinpoint its location. And a bird that hunkers down after dodging a gauntlet of shotgun pellets can give a dog hell trying to find it. Sometimes the best strategy is hunt your way back to the truck, water your dog, and let the birds settle.





As the sun hung close to the horizon, we finished our afternoon chasing down the birds that had escaped us earlier. And Houdini had two little kids positioned as chaperones back at the truck. I enjoyed hunting with Jaime, talking shop, and watching him teach his children the importance of having a safe hunt. In many cases, gun safety is something passed on from generation to generation. But just because your father taught you well, doesn’t mean someone else’s father did the same. So I was glad to see Jaime putting such an emphasis on safety whether you’re carry a gun or not.

“Its just a bird, let it go. Its not worth shooting a dog or someone else”

Jaime’s Grilled Quail

Whole quail marinated in Game Tame and Italian dressing

Grilled, wrapped in bacon.

Quail Quesadillas

Lets face it. Mexican just goes well with mystery meats. So does Chinese for that matter. But more importantly, its cheaper to cook Mexican than Chinese. And if you really knew how fish sauce was made, you would think twice about eating your Szechuan Beef or Moo Goo Gai Pan. Mystery meat would be the least of your concerns.

So lets get down to the basics of Mexican: Meat, Cheese and Tortilla. A Cost-Co Churro being the only anomaly. That being said, a soft shelled taco is just a lazy attempt at a quesadilla and a chimichanga is just a rolled quesadilla deep fried and dressed up in a white cheesy sauce that says, “I want to be formal, but I’m here to party.” Hence the sprinkling of cilantro.

Quail Quesadillas

Meat:

Grilled Quail breasts

Cheese:

Shredded (mine comes from a bag)

Tortilla:

Flour or Corn, complimented with grilled onions, finely diced raw onions, diced roma tomatoes and cilantro





Cover quail breasts with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped garlic. Grill 5-10 minutes. Rest. Then pull meat from the breast bone.

In a heated pan(medium to low heat) add a tablespoon of oil and tortilla. Cover tortilla with cheese, onions, tomatoes, pulled quail and cilantro. Sandwich another tortilla on top and continue to cook. Then try to flip without spilling contents out on the burners or kitchen floor.

Rest. Then slice into wedges and serve with sour cream, guacamole, and sirach. And sprinkle more cilantro on top.

Teal Tacos?

Yes! Let’s look at the history of a taco. No, they were not invented at a late night fast food chain for drunk college students. And if you’ve ever eaten a taco at such a establishment, you loose all sincerity scoffing at the idea of a “duck” taco.

The word “taco” roughly translates to sandwich and has origins that go back thousands of years in Meso-America. Tacos started simply as tortillas(made from corn or flour) wrapped in whatever meat early Mexicans could get their hands on. And in some respect, a very clever way to eat without utensils. So the fairly recent craze of expanding the taco’s contents to fish, isn’t something new. I’m sure the Aztecs beat you to that a long time ago.

The essence of Mexican cuisine for me is freshness. Local meats complimented by extremely fresh, bright ingredients: tomatoes, onions, avocados, peppers, cilantro, lettuce, etc. All things that can be grown in your backyard garden. So really, a duck taco is more traditional than its conventional late night greasy ground beef counterpart. And for that matter, deer tacos would be just as legitimate.

Teal Taco Recipe:
2-4 fillets brined and grilled teal (any wild duck, wood duck, mallard, etc)
1 tomato
1 yellow onion
1 Cup shredded cheese
Cilantro
Sour cream
Guacamole



Wet Rub
¼ cup freshly cracked pepper
1 tbs Worchestershire sauce
Brine
4 cups water
¼ cup montreal steak seasoning

Now that we an understanding of what a taco is, lets talk preparation. The secret to any wild game is brining. Brining allows for a deeper penetration of flavor than a marinade, and makes cooking game a little more forgiving considering its lack of fat. The basic recipe of a brine is water and salt. 1 cup of salt for 1 gallon. Or ¼ cup salt for 1 quart.

I prefer to clean and cook my ducks the same day I shot them, only because I can’t think that far ahead. And I would rather spend 6-8 hours brining my duck adding flavor, than waiting for it to thaw. But for those of who you have the foresight to tomorrow’s dinner, just thaw before brining.

So the first step is filleting the breasts. I save the flank feathers for fly tying, and freeze the breast bone, legs, and feet. Yes, feet. I’d wash them pretty thoroughly first. Ducks aren’t the cleanliest birds out there. So at the end of the season you’ll have a freezer full of duck parts perfect for making duck demi glace. Something you would pay an exorbitant amount of money for in a restaurant, if you could find it. Then the fillets go into the brine.

My brine is: 1quart water and 1/4cup montreal steak seasoning.
(there’s plenty of salt in that mixture to act as a brining agent, plus it gives you whatever other flavorful goodness is in there)
Brine for 6-8 hours, then rest for 2-4 hours. Resting allows the brine to fully disperse throughout the meat.

Once brined, make a wet rub of freshly cracked pepper and Worchestershire sauce.
Coat the fillets with the rub and grill fillets to medium rare, rest, and slice thinly.

Fill flour tortillas with shredded cheese, thinly sliced duck, diced tomatoes and onion.
Top with guacamole, sour cream, caramelized onions and cilantro.