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How Marinade Works

For some reason, the go-to recipe for wild-game always starts with “Soak (insert game meat here) in Italian dressing for three days.” Seriously, how many times have you heard a hunter say this?

One argument for using marinades is that they help tenderize tough meat. But this is probably the biggest misconception about using marinades, at least if you believe in science.

“When proteins are exposed to an acidic marinade, the bonds break and the proteins unwind. Almost immediately, one unwound protein runs into another unwound protein and they bond together into a loose mesh. This is the same thing that happens when proteins are exposed to heat. At first, water molecules are attached to and trapped within this protein mesh, so the tissue remains juicy and tender. But after a short time, if the protein is in a very acidic marinade, the protein bonds tighten, water is squeezed out, and the tissue becomes tough.”

This and similar studies have also found that the acids used in marinades penetrate meat at the rate of one to two millimeters per day. So even a three-day marinade isn’t going to penetrate much past the surface of the meat. Now, there are marinades that call for enzymes (such as those found in pineapple, papaya and yogurt) rather than acids, and enzymes actually do tenderize meat by breaking down the muscle fibers and the collagen that holds muscles together. However, you have to be very careful when marinating with enzymes as they can make meat mushy rather than just tender.

If a marinade doesn’t tenderize meat, why use it?

Marinades are great for enhancing the flavor of the meat. Note: ENHANCE, not cover up. For game birds, the lighter flavored the marinade the better. Venison and red meat, particularly from older animals, can handle heartier marinades, but again, be careful not to overpower the game.

Because marinades also coat the surface of the meat, they help keep it moist, which is particularly useful for cooking over high-heat, such as grilling or pan-frying.

Anytime you’re cooking wild-game, it’s a good idea to reserve some marinade for basting. But remember to not reuse marinade that’s had meat soaking in it as your basting. Reserve some liquid separately to prevent cross-contamination.

So what’s the best marinade if it isn’t Italian dressing? That depends on what flavor you’re looking for, but here’s one to use for grilled ruffed grouse breasts. It’s a little sweet and a little salty, with some Asian influence that makes it wonderful for a stir fry or even just grilling and chopping it up to serve in a soup with some noodles. Dress that with some diced jalapeño and some cilantro and it makes a great lunch.

Honey-Ginger Ruffed Grouse Marinade

Ingredients
– 2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
– 2 tbs. honey
– 1 tbs. soy sauce
– 1 tbs. sesame (or olive) oil
– fresh, grated ginger

Directions:
Whisk ingredients together and pour over ruffed grouse breasts. Let marinate 1-2 hours before grilling.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on April 10, 2016 in cooking, game, grouse, hunting, meat, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: grouse, grouse hunting, grouse recipe, recipe, Ruffed Grouse, Wawang Lake Resort

Morel Mushrooms Hunting For The Beginner

07 Apr

Morels are America’s mushroom, more so than any other. It may be because they’re widespread, they’re easy to identify, and they come up in the spring, giving people a reason to get out and enjoy warm weather after a long winter. Or, it could be they’re popular simply because they taste so good. Morels are so prized they sell for up to $20 a pound in grocery stores in most locations. Here’s a quick guide to finding your own. Please note that although morels are easy to identify, this a hunting guide, not a field guide. If you have any doubt about a mushroom, don’t keep it.

Found in much of the U.S. from late March through May, the morel is our favorite mushroom: plentiful, easy to identify, and delicious. It has colorful names like Molly Moocher, Miracle, Dry land Fish—or, my favorite, Hickory Chickens—but mostly, people just call them “mushrooms” and it’s understood that means “morels.”

Identifying Safe Morels

Here are two morels in the wild. Notice the pits (in the top photo), the distinctive conical shape, and the way the bottom of the cap (the pitted part) is attached near the bottom of the stem. Avoid the half-free morel (bottom photo), which has a longer stem and a cap that attaches near the top, looking like an umbrella. These mushrooms can cause some people to have cramps or other forms of gastrointestinal distress.

Definitely Don’t Eat This

Don’t eat this mushroom, which is a false morel and is mildly toxic. Notice that it lacks the cone shape of the real thing, and has wrinkles, not pits, on its cap.

Where to Look

Morels live in and on the edge of forested areas. Look for ash, aspen, elm, and oak trees, around which morels often grow. Early in the spring as the ground is warming, you’ll find them on south-facing slopes in fairly open areas. As the season progresses, go deeper into the woods and onto north-facing slopes.

Well-drained, sandy soils like this creek bottom make good hunting spots as well. You’ll find the first morels of the year when daytime highs reach the 60s and lows stay above 40 degrees.

Hunting Tactics

Hunting morels is like bass fishing. You cover ground until you find one, then slow down and search the area carefully. Concentrate the rest of your hunt on similar areas, on the theory that you’ve found the “pattern” for the day.

Early-Season Morels

The first morels of the season are small. It takes quite a few to make a meal. The acorn top and walnut husk in the hand above help show scale.

Look For Dead Trees

Morels often grow around dead and dying trees. Old apple orchards make good hunting grounds. Always look around dead elm trees like this one. When a tree reaches the stage of decay where its bark is slipping off its trunk you’ll often find lots of morels around it.

Later in the Season

As the season progresses you find bigger, yellow morels. They taste just as good as the smaller ones, they’re easier to spot, and it doesn’t take as many to feed a hungry hunter.

Soaking morels in water for a couple of hours cleans them and washes out any bugs living inside the hollow mushrooms. Some people slice them in half lengthwise for a more thorough cleaning.

Here you see morels sautéing in butter. Cooking in butter brings out their rich, almost meaty flavor. If I don’t have very many, I like to scramble them into eggs with some tarragon. Batter-fried morels are also very popular.

The bounty of spring, fork-ready. Serve with a breast of wild turkey or some fish fillets and it’s totally awesome!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on April 7, 2016 in cooking, do it yourself, hunting, Morel Mushrooms, mushrooms, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: how to find morels, hunting, hunting morel mushrooms, morel, morel mushrooms, morels, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Home Made Wild Game Jerky

05 Apr

This Jerky is a GREAT creation ever. Not to be bragging but this is one of the best jerky recipes around! This recipe is for beef but when wild game is available this jerky is outstanding. This is a must try for anyone who loves to have this on hand.

Ingredients
4 pounds round steak cut into strips no thicker than 1/4 inch (if you freeze the steak a few minutes beforehand, slicing is much easier)
4 tablespoons onion powder
1 1/3 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/3 teaspoons garlic powder
2 pinches sea salt
1 teaspoon dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Directions
Mix together in a large bowl, the onion powder, pepper, garlic powder, salt and Italian seasoning.
Stir in Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and pepper sauce.
Place meat into a container, and combine with marinade.
Cover, and refrigerate and marinate for 24 hours. (use large zip lock storage bags)
Place oven rack on the highest level.
Place aluminum foil on bottom of oven to catch drips.
Preheat oven to 150 degrees F.
Insert round toothpicks through the tops of the strips of meat, and hang them from the oven rack.
Bake in preheated oven for 4 hours, or until dried to desired consistency.
Store finished product in an air tight container.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on April 5, 2016 in Bear, cooking, do it yourself, game, meat, moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: black bear, jerky, Moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort, wild game jerky, wild game recipe

FUN Camo Cupcake Sandwiches

31 Mar

Camo cupcakes are surprisingly easy to make considering how cool they look!

To make the cupcake sandwiches, start by mixing up a box of French vanilla cake batter, then divide the batter into four equal parts in four separate bowls. Use Kelly green, brown, and black gel dyes to tint the batter army green, black, brown, and beige (see handy-dandy chart, below).

Once all the batters are mixed up, spoon the batter bit by bit, color by color, into a whoopie pie pan – or to get the waffle effect shown here, use a Wilton ice cream sandwich pan instead.

Bake the cakes for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. After baking, remove each cake and cool on a wire rack, then sandwich them together with frosting that’s been tinted army green. Be sure to check out Debbie’s blog for her shortening-free whoopie pie frosting recipe!

…and yes – you can make these in pink, too! (Adorable!)

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 31, 2016 in Camping, cooking, do it yourself, how to, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: camo cupcakes, cupcakes, fun camo cupcakes, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Make A Vault From PVC

21 Mar

Whether you’re storing beans, bullets, or bars of gold, you’ll need a secure place to keep these potential survival currencies. For a quick solution, you could purchase some expensive olive-drab burial vaults, but does it really matter what color they are if they’re buried in the ground? Follow these easy steps, and you can put together a PVC pipe vault for $15 or less.

Materials
First, you’ll need a length of PVC drain pipe. Many stores sell pre-cut two-foot sections, but, if you’re planning to make several of these, it’s cheaper to buy an eight footer and cut it down. For each vault you’ll also need an end cap, a female threaded coupling, and a plug, plus some primer and PVC cement. Four-inch pipe and fittings give you a lot more interior room than three-inch line, but the cost of four-inch fittings is roughly double that of three-inch material.

Construction

Apply your purple primer around each end of the pipe, inside the cap, and inside the female fitting (but not on the threads!). The primer dries very quickly. Once dry, wipe the cement around one end of the pipe and inside the end cap. Do this quickly, it sets up fast! Slide the cap on and press it onto the ground to force the cap on tightly. If you don’t apply pressure for 10 to 15 seconds, the reaction from the cement, primer, and plastic will actually push the fitting apart. Repeat this process with the female fitting, but push on it with the threaded section facing upward (solid cap on the ground again). This keeps cement from running down into the threads.

Let the fumes clear out for a day before storing any food in the vault. Otherwise, wait a few hours for the cement to dry. Once you have filled your vault, screw the plug in place tightly. If you’re burying it in a damp area, use a little Teflon tape around the threads. Use pipe dope compound on the threads if you are burying it in a wet location. Use a permanently glued cap on each end if you are submerging the vault in water.

Burial
After you fill your prepper-style treasure chest with loot, bury it in a smart, secure, and memorable location. Fake pet graves, flower beds, and under a mean dog’s doghouse are a few of my top recommendations. You can either bury it horizontally or, if you have a post hole digger, drive a hole straight down and drop it in. The vertical option means minimal surface disturbance and a smaller profile if someone comes along with a metal detector. Just make sure you can find it!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 21, 2016 in Camping, camping equipment, cooking, do it yourself, Off the Grid, preparation, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: diy, Food, pvc vault, storage vault, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

How to Use Wood Sorrel for Food, and Hangovers

17 Mar

If you had a little too much green beer over the weekend, don’t worry — you weren’t alone. St. Patrick’s Day may have a rich historical point of origin in Ireland, but here in North America, it’s often just an excuse to chug cheap brews died into verdant colors. So here’s a little shamrock for the outdoor lover who might still overindulge.

Wood Sorrel

The little green plant known as wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta) has often been mistaken as clover because of its three leaflets. On closer examination, you’ll find a big difference. Sorrel’s leaflets are heart shaped, while clover leaflets are round or oval. Wood sorrel grows in both sunny places and shady spots on the edges of woods throughout North America and it has many relatives growing coast to coast.

Wood sorrel usually tops out at under a foot tall, and it typically has small yellow flowers, though some species have more pinkish or purplish blooms. Looking much like a classic shamrock, the fresh leaves can be eaten raw as a tasty sour salad green.

4-Leaf Clover

You can also make a helpful hangover cure with wood sorrel. A handful of the leaves can be steeped in hot water for 10 minutes and then chilled to make a cold drink. This cold beverage looks and tastes like a green lemonade, and has the remarkable ability to calm nausea and soothe upset stomachs, which often go hand-in-hand with the headaches of hangovers.

While there’s no problem with the occasional consumption of this plant, use it in moderation over the long term. The sour tasting oxalic acid in wood sorrel can inhibit the body’s absorption of calcium and possibly contribute to kidney stones over time.

Look for related edible species such as the violet wood sorrel (Oxalis violacea), the pink wood sorrel (Oxalis montana), and other members of the Oxalis genus.

Have you eaten this wild edible? Or used it to treat nausea? Leave us your comments.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 17, 2016 in cooking, do it yourself, how to, news, recipe, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: clover, Oxalis stricta, shamrock, survival, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, Wood Sorrel

Make A Vault From PVC

16 Mar

Whether you’re storing beans, bullets, or bars of gold, you’ll need a secure place to keep these potential survival currencies. For a quick solution, you could purchase some expensive olive-drab burial vaults, but does it really matter what color they are if they’re buried in the ground? Follow these easy steps, and you can put together a PVC pipe vault for $15 or less.

Materials
First, you’ll need a length of PVC drain pipe. Many stores sell pre-cut two-foot sections, but, if you’re planning to make several of these, it’s cheaper to buy an eight footer and cut it down. For each vault you’ll also need an end cap, a female threaded coupling, and a plug, plus some primer and PVC cement. Four-inch pipe and fittings give you a lot more interior room than three-inch line, but the cost of four-inch fittings is roughly double that of three-inch material.

Construction

Apply your purple primer around each end of the pipe, inside the cap, and inside the female fitting (but not on the threads!). The primer dries very quickly. Once dry, wipe the cement around one end of the pipe and inside the end cap. Do this quickly, it sets up fast! Slide the cap on and press it onto the ground to force the cap on tightly. If you don’t apply pressure for 10 to 15 seconds, the reaction from the cement, primer, and plastic will actually push the fitting apart. Repeat this process with the female fitting, but push on it with the threaded section facing upward (solid cap on the ground again). This keeps cement from running down into the threads.

Let the fumes clear out for a day before storing any food in the vault. Otherwise, wait a few hours for the cement to dry. Once you have filled your vault, screw the plug in place tightly. If you’re burying it in a damp area, use a little Teflon tape around the threads. Use pipe dope compound on the threads if you are burying it in a wet location. Use a permanently glued cap on each end if you are submerging the vault in water.

Burial
After you fill your prepper-style treasure chest with loot, bury it in a smart, secure, and memorable location. Fake pet graves, flower beds, and under a mean dog’s doghouse are a few of my top recommendations. You can either bury it horizontally or, if you have a post hole digger, drive a hole straight down and drop it in. The vertical option means minimal surface disturbance and a smaller profile if someone comes along with a metal detector. Just make sure you can find it!

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 16, 2016 in Camping, camping equipment, cooking, do it yourself, Off the Grid, preparation, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: diy, Food, pvc vault, storage vault, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

ID the Morel – Spring’s Best Mushroom

04 Mar

When the spring gobbler season and shed hunting is in full swing, you’ll probably spending a lot of time in the woods looking at the ground for antlers and turkey sign. Something else you ought to be on the lookout for is a weird little pitted thing that looks like a small, lumpy, brown brain. This time of year, that organism is most likely a common morel mushroom, a popular item of spring foragers. Here’s how to properly identify this delectable fungus.

ID a Morel
The common morel (Morchella esculenta) is a prized wild mushroom that grows in forests and shady areas, primarily in April and May. These mushrooms are usually 2 to 4 inches tall. The tan, gray, or brownish colored head with irregular pitting is well camouflaged against leaf litter. If you cut the mushroom completely in half, it should be entirely hollow inside. Look carefully for the cone-shaped head to be fully fused to the stalk at the lower end.

If the head is only attached at the top, and hangs like a skirt, you are probably looking at a false morel, which can be very poisonous. False morels (the genera Verpa and Gyromitra) usually grow in the summer and fall, which are great times to avoid anything resembling a morel. Another way to properly ID an edible morel is to make a spore print, which, for a common morel is yellowish. Here’s how do that.

Make a Spore Print
1. Handle your foraged mushrooms carefully, and assume that any unidentified mushroom is deadly. Get the whole thing if possible, but the cap is the part you need for spore prints.

2. Wrap each individual mushroom in wax paper or a piece of aluminum foil for transport. Plastic bags will make them sweat, and putting multiple mushrooms in a bag can create confusion.

3. Place the mushroom cap gills-down on a piece of white paper and set a cup or bowl over it. Allow it to sit several hours or, better yet, overnight.

4. Remove the cover and lift the mushroom cap. Observe the color of the spores that were deposited, and use that color for identification. Some mushrooms deposit white spores, which are hard to see on the white paper. Set a strong flashlight beside the paper, shining across the surface, to assist in your identification of pure white spores. Check this color against several guides, and double-check the mushroom’s structures against similar mushrooms to ensure that you have the right mushroom ID.

How is the morel hunting in your area so far this spring? Have you ever had a bad run-in with a misidentified mushroom?

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Posted by Wawang Lake on March 4, 2016 in cooking, do it yourself, hunting, mushrooms, northern ontario, Northwestern Ontario, survival, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: Cook, diy, Food, recipe, survival, Wawang Lake Resort, WMU 15A, WMU 15B

Morel Mushrooms Hunting For The Beginner

19 Feb