Served it last night for the first time for a dear old flyfishing friend who'd requested it as he'd never had it before (a native Texan). Something of an appetizer, served with drinks before the salad and ribeye streak main-course. Nothing fancy, just two birds (breasts only) done bacon-wrapped and aged per Romi Perkins directions in her classic Orvis cookbook. Aged ~5-days undrawn in a refrigerator, then cleaned and frozen (for ~3-months), thawed-out and brined (sugar & kosher salt), boned-out and wrapped in fairly thin-sliced bacon, and then grilled over a hot flame to start (then slowed down to a careful finish). Done to a turn and then rested under foil for a few minutes. By-far, the best ruffed grouse I've ever had. Snow-white and firm (as usual), but... moist, tender, flavorful, and incredibly jucy. Almost like I was having it for the first time(!) My guests and wife were blown away by them (& this wasn't my wife's 1st time). Sometimes the bacon overwhelms the delicate flavor of the bird, but not here. The bacon was clearly part of the show, but these birds were incredibly savory and in almost a new way for me. Nothing like chicken or...game hen or anything else I can think of. My buddy Walt said it somewhat compared to quail for him and I would agree, but better perhaps, and more pronounced than I've ever tasted it before.
Absolutely. I’ve had Lloyd’s late father in laws version of the same thing, as has my dog-Lloyd is a softy at heart, and dogs know exactly who to lay down next to at the dinner table. Cooking the rolls on the hot grille renders most of the fat out of the bacon. A good cut of thick bacon makes for a good show. I know what you are thinking, but, it is wrong. Fabulous, decadent method to prepare Ruffed grouse.
My favorite way to prepare sharptail as well. I have just started playing with brining , the first attempt was a pheasant breasr for Thanksgiving, I will be cooking more birds that way. Nice and moist. Good stuff.
I think there are better destinies for ruffed grouse.
I agree w/ CZ.
I have done ruffed grouse w/ bacon & yes they were good but not better than grouse w/o bacon & they didn't taste like ruffed grouse.
Ruffed grouse IMHO doesn't need anything except for a little butter, rosemary, pepper, shallots or onion, white wine, mushrooms & a Dutch Oven.
Pheasants however are much better barded w/bacon using the same procedure as it adds flavor & much needed moisture. Wright's apple wood bacon is my preference.
My school pal shot a grouse in the UK illegally on an estates land with a .410 no less back in 1967 when he was 17. He took it home and his mother who had no idea what to do, got a cookbook from the library and it said to first hang it for five days before cooking in the oven. That she did but the book never mentioned dressing the bird out first. They could not go into the kitchen for two days afterwards as the stink was so strong, it always makes me laugh to think back.
My school pal shot a grouse in the UK illegally on an estates land with a .410 no less back in 1967 when he was 17. He took it home and his mother who had no idea what to do, got a cookbook from the library and it said to first hang it for five days before cooking in the oven. That she did but the book never mentioned dressing the bird out first. They could not go into the kitchen for two days afterwards as the stink was so strong, it always makes me laugh to think back.
I believe LLBean's cookbook discusses hanging undrawn pheasants from their heads until the neck pulls apart and they hit the floor.
Personally, I've tried hanging game in all varieties of methods. Can't say it does a damn thing good for any of them.
BB, a Red grouse is a very dark meat. Ruffed grouse are as white as blanched endive. While I agree with you on a red’s complex? aroma, the two birds bear no resemblance.
First off, people like what they like. There are lots of people, so there are lots of different ways people enjoy what they eat.
I do not like the flavors imparted in ruffed grouse if they are not drawn quickly. As in, as soon as you can grab them. I find their digestive juices to leave an offensive tang in the meat. But not everyone feels that way. Or can notice the difference.
We did an experiment in college related to ability to taste a chemical, over a gradation of 20 different concentrations. Some people can taste nothing at level 20, and some people can taste it level one.
There is no real right or wrong to it, people are just different.
Ruffed grouse breast fillets lend themselves to being pounded thin, lightly dusted, and fried like a schnitzel. Or a piccata. Any accompanying sauce you would like. Chunked in a cassoulet, or in a curry, because they are so mild, the possibilities are endless. For me, anything with Tex Mex seasoning and a ruffed grouse are contradictory. But that’s just me. So no tacos or white chili.
I’m not fond of anything cooked in mushroom soup, or wrapped in bacon, unless it’s just more bacon I don’t think they roast well on the bone (unlike red grouse), too easily dried out. But they do well sous vide, and then finished under a broiler.
I work hard at cooking game, and eat it regularly. Dinner last night was venison smoked polish sausage. Today, a smoked venison crown roast with new potatoes.
Why bacon? To me, wrapping delicately flavored game with bacon is like creating a hot dog. Ruffs should be eaten cooked just done, along with complementary side dishes.
Think about your favorite style of bacon. Grilled bacon is just one way of dozens that make you smile.
You can’t go wrong wrapping a piece of grouse in bacon.
But if you don’t like grilled bacon, then what?
And if someone suggests that Brussels sprouts and ruffed grouse can be combined gastronomically, I will petition the court for their mental health evaluation.
Has anyone tried wet ageing tough game birds, say breasts of old pheasants, sharptails, or geese? Friends say it does wonders with venison and other big game cuts and is a standard value-added commercial practice with beef. I've never tried it as I didn't want to tie up space in my refrigerator for 30-60 days.
Old pheasants make great bratwurst. Breasts, wings, thighs. Smoke the carcass, boil them down. Pick the meat, strain the broth, discard the rest.
99% of the public only want the crown. Kind of a waste publishing decades of recipes that will never get made. Not worth the work. Real ruffed grouse Marsala over fresh linguini.
I have just read about cooking badger in an old German hunting magazine. It said to skin it then leave it in a fast running stream for five days before cooking it. Hm!!!
I have just read about cooking badger in an old German hunting magazine. It said to skin it then leave it in a fast running stream for five days before cooking it. Hm!!!
I’d have to be really hungry to consider tangling with, skinning, and eating a badger.
Hungrier than I’ve ever been, I’m going to guess.
Bet you have to wrap his ass with a bunch of bacon.....
Badgers of any kind have my respect. There's a video, going around recently, taken of a honey badger that is wrapped in the coils of a 9 ft. python. The constrictor is slowly tightening the wraps on the badger, but he continues to struggle to get free, which he does. Then, instead of running off he attacks the python and kills it. As he is doing so two jackals try to move in and steal the meal from the badger. No dice. The badger runs off both jackals, then drags the python into the brush.
Predators so adeptly equipped as the raptors and badgers will be given a pass on my gastronomic bucket list. I did know a man who claimed to have eaten a hawk. When I asked him how it tasted he replied wryly, "Most like an owl."
Ever been to a big wild 'game' feed at a sportsman's club? I went to one in Mandan years ago with 27 kinds of meat on the menu. Everything from mountain lion to prairie dog and rattlesnake to snapping turtle. All were quite edible although I found the porcupine required a few extra shots of whiskey to help cut the grease.
I love wild game suppers at Southern churches. The only Canada goose I ever tried and actually enjoyed was at one at a church in Princeton, KY.
I have found Canada goose to be wildly variable in flavor and edibility. Seems to depend on how many golf courses are between where they left from, and where you shoot them. And, maybe, what kind of fertilizer and weed killer those courses are spraying just before the geese arrive.
I don't know anything about Ruffed Grouse, but if they're anything like Bobwhite Quail to eat they must be wonderful. I know Huns are every bit as good to eat as Bobwhite Quail. As for Canada Geese, the ones I shoot on the prairie in Saskatchewan are pretty good in my opinion. I don't eat the local golf course Canadas we have around home...Geo
Geo, Bobwhite Quail are wonderful. Ruffed Grouse are a different kind of wonderful. That said, I didn’t find doves, fried in onions and bacon, and served with biscuits and gravy, objectionable at all-I have seen people write that doves are inedible.
How do you "bard" a pheasant with bacon, pray tell. I butterfly cut pheasant chests, mairinate in apple cider, wrap with bacon, apple slices, sliced bermuda onion, double wrap to a tight seal in Reynolds Wrap--and cook over hot charcoal coals 40 min aprox-- serve with Minnesota wild rice and a nicely chilled Lambrusco- and hard crusty rolls. RWTF
sear in buttah an din bake wid onyuns, an mush rooms in ah creme sauce wid creme sherry...serve wid ah dry white an ah salad wid vinnie garette on duh side...ah wood think...
oh, an dont furgit the rice...east texas brown should work...
Stuff cavity with wet sauerkraut and appleslices- secret to roasting waterfowl in oven-- high heat, shorter time-- preheat oven to 450 degrees, roast until a slice into the thickest part of the chest meat has blood just clinging to the blade- remove from over and tent with Reynolds wrap to keep in heat and moisture from the sauerkraut, check about every 10 minutes- when the sauerkraut is dry, the bird is ready to be carved- throw out the dried up sauerkraut- it will act like a blotter and absorb the grease from the bird's skin and flesh--RWTF
Get a large hanging style cookpot of Dutch oven with lid-- fill halfway with water, bring to a roiling boil over an outdoor hardwood fire, dump in your plucked merganser(s), a handful of salt, an a rock about the size of a grapefruit- simmer until you can slce the rock with a sharp carving knife, then serve your fish duck supreme-- Wow!!! RWTF
Ted my rank on geese is same, but I put White-fronted Geese ahead of Snow Geese. I always bake waterfowl low and slow. Like a fat Canvasback with backbone removed and legs folded inside the cavity 4 hr @285. I want the melted fat on the bottom of the roaster, not in any stuffing. How do you prepare your snows? Needless to say no outdoor antics as it is -20F here now.
Cut ‘em up, dry brine ‘em for two days in the fridge, roast ‘em about the same way you do. I use a roasting pan with a cover that allows the fat to drip through. Leftovers often end up in fettuccine and Alfredo the next day.
Been ages since I had one to cook. I’d still rather eat grouse or pheasants. For a few years now, a co-worker who took early retirement has been dropping off some venison in the fall. He hunts on his family’s farm, on the Indiana/Kentucky border, and they are the biggest and tastiest deer I’ve ever had the privilege to cook. Good cuts fast and hot on the grille, lessor cuts in stew with beef stock and rooty type veggies.
frozen dove chests, Eddie. ?? smallish game birds like dove, quail and bogsuckers (woodcock) should never be frozen in the first place-- RWTF.. Tuna fish for your cats? "Listen, listen, cats a pissin'- Where, where?- Why under your chair-- run, son, get the gun--aw shucks, damage done be done-- bad kitty."" RWTF
This is the question of the day. If you are enhancing any meat with a brine or flavoring process, it is best to do that with unpalatable meat sources, which Ruffed or Blue grouse are not.
The best reward I get each fall are elk tenderloins and grouse, I am careful to cook them appropriately, which means leaving all the spices in the cabinet, other than good salt, some garlic and butter.
shrapnel, when you post a picture of your meal, with cucumbers on your salad, your credibility as to culinary taste is out the window. Hogs will eat anything, I mean anything. But, they won't eat cucumbers. You can throw cucumbers into a pen of hogs and they'll lay there til they rot.
Just kidding, my wife loves them. But ...... not me.
shrapnel: Fine looking elk meal. Just back from my latest hunting adventure and I have two animals to process. My son shot his first ever animal, a nice big cow elk.
shrapnel, when you post a picture of your meal, with cucumbers on your salad, your credibility as to culinary taste is out the window. Hogs will eat anything, I mean anything. But, they won't eat cucumbers. You can throw cucumbers into a pen of hogs and they'll lay there til they rot.
Just kidding, my wife loves them. But ...... not me.
You are right about cucumbers, they are only there for the picture, then sent over the table to my wife’s plate.
You might want to use some brown sugar with the salt. I don’t believe the choice of salt matters all that much. The Missus has a spice mixture that goes with the dry brine, but, I don’t know what goes in it. Pepper for sure. I’d have to shake her awake, and a man has got to know his limitations. Blend it up well, coat the bird parts and make sure to hold them at least a day, two is better, in the fridge.
Dry brine: 1/2 cup salt. You can use Kosher salt, but, add 1 1/2 more tblsps. 2 tblsps Black peppercorns. 2 tblsps white peppercorns 2 tblsps garlic powder 1 tblsps light brown sugar 1 tblsps smoked paprika
Grind peppercorns finely. Blend ingredients by hand in a bowl. Sprinkle generously on bird. Allow to stand, in refrigerator for at least 1 but not more than 2 days. Roast.
Thanks. Now ready to roast. The six pieces, breasts, legs, wings, are ready today, but are skinless. How would you roast? LIke you, I have a rack for my roasting pan. Wrap in punctured foil?
Hal, Geez, you got me on that one. The foil isn’t a bad idea at all, but, I haven’t tried that. What about parchment paper? I guess, were it me, I’d step the heat up a bit from what you are used to, leave the pieces unwrapped, so the fat can cook out, put my digital meat thermometer in the middle of the breast, and pull it out when it said 125-130, letting it rest for 15 minutes. A roasted snow is a rare treat in my part of the world. Hope it goes well. Snows must not spend as much time digging and eating mollusks out of sewage lagoons as Canada’s do.
Thanks will try foil as I have no parchment. Don't know if my digital thermometer with plastic body will handle the oven, so will just probe once in awhile.
The necks of these birds felt like soft baseball bats they were so full of corn. Birds are now feeding on the fat laden carcass. Fun to wrap goose and swan skins around boards and nail them up for the birds. I also put deer fat and lard in chicken wire bags and hang them up.
....pull it out when it said 125-130, letting it rest for 15 minutes. A roasted snow is a rare treat in my part of the world....
Thanks for your dry brine recipe, gonna save that one for down the road.
We use our sous vide pretty regularly with game. Season, set your internal temp., then finish up with a high heat sear, broil or grill. We haven't had much luck with low temp game cooking, unless it's long. For the ones I've eaten, northern snow goose closer to the nesting areas, tastes way better to me than winter ground birds. Migrating doesn't always enhance the flavor. Come to think of it, we've had some goose "bacon" this season from a friend. Somehow, they form the mix into a block, and then we slice strips off of it.
I am pleased with how this post has evolved. Lots of first-hand knowledge to share about how to make game first-rate table fare. I have learned much in its reading. I recognize that ruffed grouse needs very little to make it wonderful, and that bacon wrapping risks the loss of the subtile flavors these birds possess. One clearly doesn't need to age a ruffie, but I was looking to make these birds as good as could be and I now think aging has some distinct advantages here. I will draw them next time to see if I'm able to discern the flavors that CZ was talking about (& Romi Perkins agress with him that the birds do need to be drawn immediately).
I'm sure that the late artist James Audubon would agree about immediate drawing of your birds. Not familiar with Romi Perkins-- but I recall many gourmet styled meals prepared by Ed Gray's wife in the early years of GSJ-- both fish and game- all tasty indeed. If you dry pick upland game birds, perhaps bacon is not needed for moist and flavorful cooking-- but IMO, it can't hurt. RWTF
Lloyd, Please remember, the naysayers hadn’t spent the day with us in the woods, with our kids, and weren’t there for Ron’s expert prep or grilling over coal. They didn’t savor the wine (beer) or the rest of the meal, or the company of your kin and the other guests on that wonderful, autumn evening. That meal was, perhaps the highlight of that trip. We didn’t have to harass the kids to eat their dinner, and my dog knew right who to lay down next to at the table. It was a pleasure meeting your brother, and having adult beaverges with him at dinner, and, after. Fine folk. To say I’d do it again in a heartbeat is an understatement. Please don’t misplace that recipe of Ron’s.
Sorry to say my snow goose did not come out well. Dry, tough, and salty. So I guess it is true that the dry brine method apples to fresh killed birds only in order that the enzymes not be destroyed, and preferably with skin intact as Ted recommends. Oh well, my GWP Griffon Gus will enjoy some treats.
Next question is will the tenderizing effect of dry brining remain if the meat is frozen AFTER the process is complete? I would guess yes as the decomposition enzymes have done their work.
Hal, Craig might be onto something with running it at high heat, quicker, rather than low and slow. I don’t hunt snows, my Dad did, but, they were not cleaned the day they were taken-never. Dad came home from hunting, usually late Saturday or Sunday, cleaned up, put his gear away, and mid week or so, went to his buddies to process what they took. It did involve paraffin and water, and mechanized plucking. I never witnessed it. I typically hunted grouse or pheasants with Dad’s dog when he went goose hunting. The dog wasn’t welcome on goose trips. I would get a goose, processed with head, skin, and feet attached. Pretty sure that was the law for transporting waterfowl. I quickly learned to turn the Canada’s down cold. Unless someone I knew wanted one, and I think those birds went to sausage. They make tolerable sausage, if you are into that sort of thing.
Better luck next time. We cooked Canada’s the dog couldn’t eat, if that makes you feel any better.
Mr. Fox: Romi Perkins was Lee Perkin's bride (former owner of Orvis). She authored their game cookbook back in the 80s. The Grey's cookbook you mention was and is excellent as well (Rebecka Gray was the cited author). We use both books extensively here, along with A. J. MClane's various (& wonderful) game & fish cookbooks. There are several others but those three authors come immediately to mind.
Also Margaret Deeds Murphy? Seems to me my shotgunning hero- Nash Buckingham-mentioned the Perkins family of Cleveland, Ohio as having invited him on several occasions to hunt quail on their Southern lands-many years ago- thank you for the information. RWTF
So looks like no one here has tried freezing dry-brined meat. Hunters around here shoot a lot of snow geese are always looking for ways to use the meat. A lot goes for sausage and 'poppers' (breasts with jalapenos and cream cheese inside) are quite popular. Guess I'd better hit the internet and look for answers to my question. Thanks for all the information on wild game cookery.
I tried goose hunting while in college, because one roommate was very enthusiastic about it. We each shot a Canada goose, and he cooked them, doing several things to make them palatable. They weren't, and I immediately lost interest in hunting a bird that tasted so bad.
It's little wonder why geese have become so plentiful compared to good tasting birds like grouse and pheasants. I feel we should harvest geese, and feed them to people on Food Stamps as an incentive to get a job.
I drink bourbon instead of tequila because I don't want to drink a liquor that takes a dose of salt and lime to hide the nasty taste. And I don't want any game bird that needs all sorts of brine, spices, and witchcraft treatments just to make it barely fit to feed the dog.
ed: You know...I had a very good comparison just yesterday. Got to compare some nice young (December '21) mule deer doe loin (the day before) to a chunk of ribeye roast (standing rib w/o the bones) on my birthday. Both were wonderful (had some GF Yorkshire pudding with the beef that was truly a revelation, ala Alton Brown!). Both served with a good big red wine but w/different condiments (cranberry-horseradish for the doe, creamy horseradish sauce for the cow) and sides (blue cheese polenta for the deer, mashed potatoes w/morel gravy for the cow). The beef was extremely rich in comparison to the venison, the big difference being all the fat marbled into the meat on the cow. I liked both immensely but I feel better after eating deer (full, but still capable of doing something). Beef leaves me feeling like I need a nap after dinner.
Keith: I've actually had some very good roasted Canadian goose before (done by a professional chief) but nothing since as good. My father-in-law had mostly defaulted to corned goose breasts and goose stew on those fellows (largely out of necessity) and both were quite acceptable. Clearly, they are lots of work compared to ruffed grouse or pheasants. Tequila can also be darn good, done correctly (a big gold Margareta fan here on summer evenings on my deck, & even for the pricey stuff on the rocks w/a twist of lime) but my first love is clearly bourbon. Just got a jug of the blue corn stuff out of Texas for Christmas. Looking forward to sampling that one when the time comes.
Stew. Use a pressure cooker. Give the meat 12 minutes, use beef stock, let it cool, skim the fat, debone, and get the onions and celery sautéing. Thicken it up to where you like it. My wife likes broth, I like it like gravy. After I loose that argument, she starts cooking barley to add right at the end. Bread, butter, some guys drink wine, I drink beer.
Thanks guys. Per the taco recipe how does braising differ from boiling? Do I have to have all the meat covered with broth and water while pressure cooking in order to skim off the fat? After deboning, do I then add the vegetables and heat in the open pressure cooker till thickened?
pressure cooked for 12 min at ten pounds with chicken broth on bottom. Can't begin to get meat off the bones. Maybe should not have used the perorated bottom plate? Add more water/broth till it covers the meat and pressure cook some more or?
pressure cooked for 12 min at ten pounds with chicken broth on bottom. Can't begin to get meat off the bones. Maybe should not have used the perorated bottom plate? Add more water/broth till it covers the meat and pressure cook some more or?
Sounds like a lost cause, but every cloud has a silver lining... Let's try thinking outside the box.
Bury the inedible goose meat in your garden for a month or so, until it is very ripe. It should then come off the bones easily.
Use the rotted meat for Carp bait. Catch a mess of Carp, and use them as fertilizer for the garden.
Grow a bunch of nice vegetables in your fertile soil, and use them as a side dish or salad when you shoot some grouse or pheasants.
![[Linked Image from ]]( https://i.imgur.com/7AGD6xR.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/wtdP9BN.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/9SZX2tX.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/sDqxVI2.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/T9tPQIF.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/7ar6FIk.jpg)