Cooking with Game

If you breast out your duck or goose you end up with “parts”. My husband doesn’t like to waste anything, so here is how I make the parts edible:  I call this

Pot ‘O Parts

Ingredients:

1 T butter

1 T oil

1/2 onion diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 cups chicken stock (or 2 cubes of bullion in 2 Cups water)

1 cup water (or amount to barely cover)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

parts for 2 or 3 ducks or 1 large goose

Directions:

Add butter and oil to a stock pot over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 – 6 minute.

Heat the water and chicken stock. Don’t add yet

Add the parts and stir around just to lightly brown. Stir and brown for about 4 minutes. Now add the liquid and the rest of the ingredients.

Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer 4 to 6 hours (goose could take longer) until meat starts to separate from the bones.

This is not a pretty dish and I guarantee your kids won’t eat it, but your hunter will!! If you are really industrious you could cool the meat, remove it from the bone and use it for taco meat or add to chili. We just eat it off the bones. I wouldn’t recommend doing the breast this way. It will get too leathery.

To store I remove the meat to a dish, strain the liquid into a fat separator and then pour the liquid back over the meat to keep it moist and dispose of the fat. I do recommend storing it with some of the liquid. If you don’t want to strain, or don’t have a fat separator just pour it all over the meat and refrigerate. The fat will solidify on the top and you can remove a lot of it then.

This really is very tasty. My husband loves it, and so do I actually. It just isn’t very pretty and you have bones to deal with.

I should address Giblets here. We like those too, so I sprinkle them with Adolf’s (or any brand) meat tenderizer and use a steel pronged meat tenderizer to poke them a lot. This isn’t real easy, but if you use your body weight you can break up the tough membrane pretty well. Then just add to the pot.

Cheesy Mini Elk Loaves

6 servings of 1 mini elk loaf (My Guy needs 2 of these)

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (about 1 slice)
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup, divided*
3 ounces white cheddar cheese, diced**
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish (less if you don’t like spicy)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (again regular to reduce spice)
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground elk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs; cook 3 minutes or until toasted, stirring frequently. Or toast in toaster oven at 350° for 5 minutes.

3. Add onion and garlic to a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Spray lightly with cooking spray and mix. Cover with a plate or lid and microwave 3 minutes on high, stir and microwave another 3 minutes. Or heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes.

4. Combine onion mixture, breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients.

5. Shape into 6 (4 x 2-inch) loaves on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; spread 2 teaspoons ketchup over each.

6. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until done.

* If you like a little more spice, top the loaves with a spicy style ketchup.

** Use any cheese you have, even grated is fine.

Pressure Cook Your Goose

Goose meat can be prettytough and I personally don’t care for it’s taste.

Pressure Cooking can help tenderize and flavor it. It is also faster.

The Pressure Cooker I have is 12 PSI. If the one you have is a 15 PSI you will need to shorten the cooking time.

Because my hunter brought me home a big fat goose this time, I had to cut it up to fit it in the pressure cooker. I only used the breasts and legs. I even cut the breasts in half so they would cook better. The wings, neck and gizzards I cook separately. My hubby loves the parts this way as I cook them for hours until the meat falls from the bones. I will add the recipe for that soon.

For the liquid I used the same ingredients that I used for the Upside-Down Roast Goose Recipe since it flavors the meat so well. I’m including it here again for convenience:

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

* 1 cup carrots, shredded

* 1 cup celery, diced

* 1 cup onion, finely chopped

* 1 medium apple, cored, peeled and chopped

* 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

* 1 cup chicken stock

* 1/2 cup dry white wine

* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 2 T dried)

* 1 1/2 Tablespoons dried rosemary

* 1 1/2 Tablespoons dried thyme

* 4 bay leaves

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon cracked pepper

* 1 cut up wild goose, up to 10 pounds

Melt 2/3 of the stick of butter in the pressure cooker over medium heat.

Add the goose parts and brown lightly. You may have to do it in two batches.

Remove the parts to a plate.

Add the other 1/3 stick of butter to the cooker.

When hot add the carrots, celery, onions, apple, and garlic. Sauté for 10 minutes.

Then add the stock, wine, parsley, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil for 1 minute.

Lower the heat to medium-low, simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the goose back in. Spoon some of the liquid over the meat.

Put the lid on the pressure cooker. Raise the heat to medium-high. When the steam issues steadily from the stem, add the pressure regulator (mine has to click down to be on properly).

Lower the heat to medium or medium-low depending on your heat source (mine is an electric glass top). Regulator should maintain a gentle hissing.

Start timing from placing the regulator. Cook for 1 hour.

Remove from heat, let sit for 5 – 10 minutes. Relieve pressure and remove top.

This can be served with any number of side dishes. Cous cous, rice or potatoes are good.

This is a great recipe from Food.com for Venison.

Wow, this really is good and super easy! Here is what I did differently:

I used the backstrap instead of the tenderloin. It was in two parts, and one part was skinny, so I doubled up the skinny part and then sort of over lapped the two pieces to make one piece as close to equal thickness as I could. Then I wrapped it in the bacon. I too recommend thin sliced.

I baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (Meat thermometer measured below 125). Turned it over, poured a spoonful of marinade over and turned on the broiler (500 degrees). I broiled it for 4 minutes. (Leave in center of oven). Turned it over again and broiled another 4 minutes.

BEWARE: Marinade is sugary so will smoke under the broiler and set off the smoke detector in your kitchen! Turn on your kitchen fan.

I removed it from the oven and transferred the meat to a cutting board. Then covered it with foil and let it sit while we ate our salads. The meat turned out medium rare and juicy. Being backstrap it was as tender as I expected and the flavor was wonderful!! Great way to disguise gamey meat.

Yes it is sweet and a bit salty. If you want to reduce the saltiness, rince the meat after removing it from the marinade and pat dry before wrapping in bacon.

Duck Breast Schnitzel is a very fast, easy, tasty way to fix duck:

2 boneless duck breasts * flatten with meat mallot 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness
Flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
Fine, dry breadcrumbs (do not use Panko for this one)
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or margarine

Dredge duck in flour and then dip in egg. Dredge in breadcrumbs. Salt and pepper to taste.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add duck and fry until golden brown, turning once.

Serve with a nice gravy of your choice.

*You may want to brine for a few hours (or overnight) before hand. If so, mix 1/2 cup hot water with 1/8 cup coarse salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir to dissolve. Pour into a large bowl add 2 cups cold water. Rinse and add the breasts. Cover, refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight. Make sure to rinse and pat dry before cooking or they will be too salty.