It’s a Good Day When.......

[stumpstalker]

Dean:

I can’t claim “a method”, as in the past, were I so lucky to “catch” a Grouse at all, I would have the camp cook take care of the culinary part. Just like an effete sportsman.

In the past everything was consumed at camp.

This year, due to a great guide; great dogs and a whole lotta birds, there were four breasts that came home with me.

So, today I went with the most shot-up breasts for a country-style stew, my notion of starting at the bottom of the learning curve.

So, in the crock pot were placed pieces of wild Grouse breast, some tap water and a couple of splashes of White Sauvignon Blanc (for tenderizing, I hoped); fresh cut up carrots, green beans; peas; mushrooms; onion and celery. All stewed for several hours.

And, NO SPICES. I wanted the subtle flavors of the wild birds and fresh vegetables to be detectable, albeit blended; but not over-powered by such as hot pepper sauce or garlic. Otherwise, doesn’t everything end up tasting the same, no matter how pleasing and reliably familiar?

I thought it came out very well and was pleasantly surprised. Kathy G. liked it, but did add some "Mrs. Dash" seasoning to hers. The tenderizing worked great, too. Plus, no dental problems developed: as you suggested, all of the # 8 shot must have blown through the birds before thy hit they ground.

Being more of what Julia Child referred to as ”an eater” than a chef, I welcome comments from Members on what I might have done better (or done wrong). I plead guilty to caution, laziness and pedestrianism in not plucking and cooking with skin on. I may be missing a lot.

As for the next two breasts, I am thinking of something more in the Escoffier tradition. I am on a strict diet: I eat solely for taste.

[Dean Romig]

Sounds delicious Russ!

Grouse has a wonderful delicate 'nutty' flavor and can be served in several ways that do not drown out its natural flavor.

Bon Apetit!





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[birddogdoc]

It’s a good day when you can shoot at birds in the open and not in that gosh awful thick stuff that you guys hunt grouse and woodcock in!

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Shawn Wayment

It’s a good day when you can shoot at birds in the open and not in that gosh awful thick stuff that you guys hunt grouse and woodcock in!

I'd sure like to hunt the western quail species in the open. It's one of the things on my bucket list. I especially want to take a cock Merrns some day. Gorgeous bird. But I love the thick coverts in autumn in the east. I am invigorated and enchanted by the smell and everything about New England grouse and woodcock hunting. It's in my blood.


Dean.....I cooked up some woodcock last night following your instructions. Well, almost. I plucked the breasts and then popped them out. I just couldn't bring myself to skin them. I would have felt dirty . You are right Dean. For the first time I actually enjoyed eating woodcock breasts done your way. Where the hell were you 55 years ago!

[Dean Romig]

Tom - Some friends I hunt with said exactly the same thing a few years back when they invited me to a game supper. There was venison, bear roast, roasted mallard (plucked, not skinned), and Grouse and woodcock stew () where the birds were plucked and put in a pot with carrots, turnips and potatoes and several seasonings I would never, ever put on my food. The grouse weren't even okay and the woodcock were reduced to garbage before they even came out of the pot.... in a word, disgraceful! They swore that's the way they always cooked them....

I was invited again the following year but I insisted I would cook the birds...
And that's when they asked where the HE77 I had been all these years.




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[Tom Flanigan]

I needed you a long time ago Dean. But better late than never. The breasts were wonderful.

I like bear also. I took five in Saskatchewan before I stopped shooting them. I had all three color phases, black (rare in the West) brown and cinnamon. I used to shoot them in a farmer friend Snuffy's field. He wanted them shot since they do a lot of damage to the oat crops by rolling on them so they can't be combined. The bears show up in his oat fields when they ripen in September. They don't touch canola or other grains but they are a nuisance in the oat fields. He said he'd seen as many as 17 bears at a time in his fields but the most I ever saw was five.

I don't know why bear meat has such a bad reputation. Canada has very strict laws about wasting game. Each bird shot must be promptly included in the bag and leaving big game meat to waste is against the law. Except for bear. You are allowed to just take the skin and leave the rest for the coyotes. That is something I would never do.

I stopped shooting them because I had all three color phases and I really didn't need any more skins. I consider them big racoons and I never took a lot of pleasure in killing them.

[Dean Romig]

I like bear meat if it's a young bear.





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[Tom Flanigan]

Dean, I’ll give you my perspective on young animals vs. old on the table. The meat of very young animals is tough for some reason. Take veal as an example. It is sliced into cutlets because it is too tough to eat thick. And even the cutlets are tough. It’s the same with all animals, I believe. It is my opinion that a year and a half old buck is no more tender than a five and a half year old deer. If both are aged properly, it makes no difference. Aging properly at a constant temperature is the key. Aging breaks down the muscle and makes meat more tender. Some deer take more aging time than others, without regard to age. I can tell by the smell of the meat when it’s ready to be cut and packaged. I let my venison and other large game age for about a week and then I smell it every day to determine when I should process it. I once left a hindquarter age for two months just to experiment. It was the most tender venison I ever had. The only problem is that the hindquarter had almost two inches of crust that had to be removed. Hence, there was a lot of waste so I never did it again. Hindquarter should not be covered with anything to age properly. A week and a half aged hindquarter will have some crust but it is minimal.

It is important also to skin the animal as quickly as possible to permit rapid cooling. I never take a deer whole out of the woods anymore. I treat it like I treat a moose. I skin it by cutting a slit on top of the backbone and then skin down the sides, remove the backstraps and then skin out the hindquarters and take them out in two pieces by breaking the hindquarter joints. It takes me about 20 minutes to process a deer in the woods. I had a friend time me once. He said I looked like the guy on the Ginsu knife commercial.

Bears take more time to process in the woods since you have to skin to the feet and then break the bone so the feet stay with the skin. But aging of all game and quick cooling are the keys, in my opinion. I’ve never had a bear, moose or deer that was tough, regardless of the age.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Tom Flanigan

The meat of very young animals is tough for some reason.

It is my opinion that a year and a half old buck is no more tender than a five and a half year old deer.

Well Tom, that has not been my experience...

I've had older bear that was aged properly and at the right temperature and the meat, although tender and tasty, had that stringy consistency of a pot roast... while the meat I have had from younger bears was also tender but wasn't stringy at all.

Deer meat - I'll call it venison - I much prefer from 1 1/2 year old deer but the venison from older deer isn't necessarily tougher but the meat, even though aged the same way as younger venison, has a more 'dense' consistency than that of a younger deer. The age of the animal when it is killed certainly must have an effect on the fibers of the muscle - they have been used longer and harder and that must make a difference - I can usually tell a young deer's venison from that of an older deer.

I love deer liver and certainly prefer it from a 1 1/2 year old deer. Today I won't even consider eating the liver from an older deer because of an experience I had a few years ago...
A friend shot a buck that was determined by a biologist to be 6 1/2 years old and my friend gave me the liver within two hours of having killed the buck.
It was tough on the outside (not dried at all - it had been in a zip-lok bag since the deer was gutted) and mush on the inside. Never again will I even consider the liver from an older deer.

I know, everyone has different experiences and opinions on this topic and the folks that will shoot an animal but won't eat it stems from the fact that the meat/carcass was not handled properly from the moment it was killed.
You can't drive around with your buck in the back of your truck for several days showing it off to all your buddies and expect the meat to be fit for consumption - those are the folks who don't really care for venison 'cause "it tastes too gamey."





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[Tom Flanigan]

Your experiences have been different than mine Dean and that's fine. I never eat deer liver but I love the heart. One of my bears was a big boar that was probably a bit over 350 lbs. I watched him in the oats for a while as he fed closer. It was a beautiful animal and it looked like his muscles were flexing as he lumbered within sure range of my .270. He was certainly was a muscular and magnificent bear with a big bulky head and I thought about letting him walk. But I did shoot him although I had regrets afterward. He was one of the few animals that I regretted shooting.


His meat was not stringy and was tender, like all my other bears that are properly aged. I don't know how the bears you ate were handled after shooting. But if the meat bought in the grocery stores was handled the way a lot of folks handle venison, I'm sure it would be sub par also.


Anyway, interesting discussion Dean. Thanks for participating.