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Wild Game Recipe: Rabbit Sott’olio

rabbitsottolioEmploying an old Italian method of preserving meats and vegetables called sott’olio, submerge rabbits in oil and slow-cooks them until the meat is tender and rich. Then dress the warm meat in a salad for a perfect counterbalance. The only difficult part of this recipe is pouring that much oil into a pot—but it’s worth it. Be sure to fish the garlic out of the oil for later: Spread the cloves on toasted bread for a killer snack.

Ingredients
– 2 whole wild rabbits, cleaned
– About 3 quarts vegetable oil
– About 1 quart, plus
– 1 Tbsp., plus 1⁄4 cup, olive oil
– 2 whole heads garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves
– 6 sprigs fresh thyme
– 1⁄3 cup, plus 1⁄4 cup,
– red wine vinegar
– 1 red onion, sliced
– 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1⁄2-inch pieces
– 4 cups baby arugula
– 1⁄4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
– 1⁄4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, shaved or grated
– Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rub the rabbits with salt and pepper and place in a Dutch oven. Pour in about three parts vegetable oil to one part olive oil, enough to fully submerge the rabbits. Add the garlic and thyme, and cover the Dutch oven. (A sheet of aluminum foil underneath the lid is a good idea.) Place in the oven and cook for about 11⁄2 hours, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. Let cool.

2. Meanwhile, combine the 1⁄3 cup red wine vinegar in a small saucepan with 1⁄3 cup water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Put the red onion slices in a bowl, and pour the vinegar mixture over the onions. Stir, add salt and pepper, then allow the onions to pickle at room temperature.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over low heat in a saucepan, and add the carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the carrots are tender but not mushy. Add salt and pepper, and reserve.

4. Make a vinaigrette: Put the remaining 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar in a bowl and gradually whisk in 1⁄4 cup olive oil, until the oil and vinegar are thoroughly integrated. Add salt and pepper.

5. When the rabbits are cool, remove the meat from the bones and reserve.

6. To serve, reheat the rabbit meat in a pan with some of the oil, over low heat, just to warm through. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the arugula with the red onions (drained), carrots, pine nuts, cheese, and about 3 Tbsp. vinaigrette. Divide the salad among four plates, and top with the rabbit, adding a few more shavings of cheese and salt and pepper as desired. Serves 4

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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.

realmarinade

“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.

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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 pheasant breasts. Let marinate 1-2 hours before grilling.

 

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FUN Camo Cupcake Sandwiches

camo_cupcake_sandwiches
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).

camo_cupcake_batter

 

how_to_make_cake_camo_colors2
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!

camo_cupcake_sandwiches_pink

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

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Morel Mushrooms Hunting For The Beginner

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.

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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
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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
MushroomX_
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
Mushroom4
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.

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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
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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
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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
Mushroom8
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
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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.

Mushroom10
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.

Mushroom11
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.

Mushroom12

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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Home Made Wild Game Jerky

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.

jerky

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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Venison Tenderloin – Bacon-Wrapped

Venison Bacon WrapIngredients

Servings 2-3 

  • 2 lb. venison tenderloins (a single deer loin or Moose or Elk or Pork or Beef)
  • 12 lb. bacon (Plain, thin-sliced Bacon is best)
  • 3 cups dark brown sugar
  • 2 cups soy sauce (Regular NOT low-sodium. You’ll want the saltiness)
  • 14 cup white sugar (Optional for added Sweetness)

Directions

  1. Mix brown Sugar and Soy sauce together in a bowl. They should combine nicely into a soupy soy liquid.
  2. Put Deer Loin in a cooking tray and pour Brown Sugar/Soy Sauce mixture over loin. Roll tenderloin over in mixture, completely covering it.

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  3. Let meat marinate in mixture at least 3 hours or overnight in fridge. It’s best to marinate for 8 hours if you have the time. Also GREAT to use a Food Saver or other Vacuum device to Vacuum pack/seal the meat with Marinade. With this method, you can achieve Overnight-level marinade in just a couple hours!
  4. Remove loin from tray, and place on a slotted bake sheet with a drip pan or aluminum foil below to catch dripping. Don’t throw away marinade.
  5. Wrap a piece of bacon around the very end of the tenderloin, securing the bacon strip with a toothpick.
  6. Repeat this process until the entire loin is wrapped in ten or so bacon “loops.” The tenderloin should look like an arm with a bunch of wrist watches on it, the watches being the bacon strips.
  7. Drizzle remaining marinade over deer loin. You can continue to baste the loin with the marinade throughout the cooking process with either a brush or a turkey baster.
  8. Place on center rack in oven and bake at 350°F for 30-40* minutes. *This should cook the meat to about Medium. For those of you who prefer rare meat, cut the time to 25-30 minutes and then follow with the “OPTION 2” step below regarding searing.

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  9. OPTION 1 – with about 10 minutes of cooking time left, you can lightly dust the top of the loin with white sugar. This creates a sweet crust on top of the bacon. Might be too sweet for some. Try doing it on just HALF of the loin to see if you like it!
  10. OPTION 2 – For a crispier crust and crispier bacon, remove Loin from oven and place the Loin(s) directly on a Grill over medium-high heat to sear the bacon and outer loin.
  11. Remove from oven and place on cutting board. Using a knife, cut the loin between each strip of bacon so that you have many pieces of meat, each with their own toothpick.
  12. You can eat these pieces directly from the toothpick or remove the toothpick and eat like steak.

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Roasted Grouse With Mushrooms

Make your own cream of mushroom sauce (and add bacon and whiskey) for this classic grouse recipe

grouse

Ask any deer camp old-timer for a foolproof recipe, and you’re likely to encounter a lot of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. There is a reason for that: Mushrooms plus cream plus game meat adds up to a perfect trinity of flavors. This recipe chucks the can, and all its high-sodium gloppiness, while retaining the earthy comfort that made mushrooms and cream the go-to sauce for generations of hunters.

Ingredients

Grouse:
4 grouse
4 Tbsp. butter, softened
8 strips bacon

Sauce:

2 Tbsp. butter
20 oz. cremini or wild mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin (morels, chanterelles, or a mix of wild and cultivated would be good)
1 shallot, minced
1 cup rich chicken stock (or defatted drippings from the pan)
3 sprigs thyme
12 cup cream (or crème fraîche)
(or)

1 Tbsp. bourbon
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. ROAST THE GROUSE: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rinse the birds, pat dry, then smear each with a tablespoon of softened butter. Generously salt and pepper, inside and out. Wrap 2 bacon slices around each grouse, then set them in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven until the grouse is browned, about 25 minutes. Remove to a plate and let rest, covered loosely in tinfoil, while you make the sauce.

2. MAKE THE SAUCE: Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and about 1/2 tsp. salt and sauté, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms release a lot of moisture and begin to smell fragrant, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallot. Sauté until soft, and until most of the moisture has gone out of the pan, about 4 minutes. Add the stock (or defatted drippings from the roasting pan) and thyme sprigs and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Pour in the cream and bourbon and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 3–5 minutes.

3. TO SERVE, spoon the sauce onto four plates, and rest a grouse in the center of each. Sprinkle thyme over the grouse. SERVES 4

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How to Use Wood Sorrel for Food, and Hangovers

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.

4 clover

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

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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Wild Game – Goulash

Is there a goulash soup recipe for those cold nights after being out all day?  Well, yes, there is!  And, even better yet, it includes wild game meat!

goulashsoup

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 lb ground deer/elk meat
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • pepper, to taste
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1 (10 ounce) can condensed beef broth
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 cup egg noodles (optional)

Directions:

  1. In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown meat in vegetable oil until it is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.
  2. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, pepper and celery. Saute until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.
  3. Sprinkle flour over meat and vegetables and cook for 2 minutes, stirring a few times.
  4. Add paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir.
  5. Add potatoes, beef broth and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes until potatoes are almost done. Add egg noodles and cook for an additional 5 minutes until done.

Garnish with sour cream, chopped fresh dill and serve with pickles.

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Posted by on February 14, 2015 in Bear, moose, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

 

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Country-Style Fried Bear Steak

This recipe will bring out the southern drawl in anyone. It’s great for any game meat but extra special with bear. It uses a blended creole seasoning mix recipe, which are also included.

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Creole Seasoning

  • 2 tbsp. onion powder
  • garlic powder
  • dried oregano leaves
  • dried sweet basil 1 tbsp.
  • dried thyme leaves
  • black pepper
  • white pepper
  • cayenne pepper
  • salt 3 tbsp.
  • sweet paprika

Blend together in a food processor. Store in an airtight container.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. bear steak, cut into 4 equal portions
  • 3 tbsp. creole seasoning,
  • divided ½ lb. bacon, chopped
  • 11⁄4 cups all-purpose flour,
  • divided 1 large egg
  • 2½ cups milk,
  • divided 1 cup bread crumbs
  • ½ cup yellow onion, minced
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. pepper

Instructions
Place the bear steak on a piece of plastic wrap and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Pound steak with a meat mallet until it’s ¼ inch thick. Season both sides of meat with 1 tsp. of creole seasoning.

Fry the bacon in a large, heavy skillet until just crisp. Remove and drain. Set pan with the bacon grease aside.

Prepare 3 bowls to dredge the meat.

Into the first bowl, add 1 cup flour and 1 tbsp. creole seasoning.

To the second bowl, add egg whisked with ½ cup milk and ½ tsp. creole seasoning.

Into the third bowl, add bread crumbs mixed with all but ½ tsp of remaining creole seasoning.

Dredge the meat in the first bowl, shake off any excess, then dip in second bowl and again shake off excess, then roll in crumb mixture. Repeat with all steaks.

Reheat the bacon fat in skillet until hot, but not smoking. Carefully add 1 piece of meat and fry until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towel to drain, repeat with other pieces of meat.

Add ¼ cup flour and ½ tsp. of creole seasoning to drippings in pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add onion and cook, stirring until onions soften, about 4 minutes. Whisk in remaining milk and salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in bacon. Serve with steaks.

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Posted by on February 12, 2015 in Bear, black bear, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

 

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