wild game?

Dogonpoint

ok, so some of you may not like it... some people buy their chicken at the store, I prefer to harvest mine in the wild "free ranged". Anyway, I was wondering if anybody had some good recipes you would like to share and I will be posting a few of my own. Though I may have to get creative with sauces or all those other high calorie addiditves... fare game = rabbit, fish, anything that flies, & hogs... I also like to smoke (instead of bbq)...
thanks.
oh yea, I know we all have an opinion on harvesting wild game, please don't turn this post into that... I am just looking for healthy recipes with the food I like to eat.

xsargex

Just curious. Your from Orange County... where do you have access to all this hunting? Regardless, kudos for your conservation.

slimmingmom

My dad smokes his too, but also likes to bbq. He hunts mostly just deer and bear though. My uncle makes his geese into Jerky, and my brother ONLY bbqs his stuff but mirinates it all night, usually in teriaki sauce, or sometimes beer and bbq sauce.

slimmingmom

My dad smokes his too, but also likes to bbq. He hunts mostly just deer and bear though. My uncle makes his geese into Jerky, and my brother ONLY bbqs his stuff but mirinates it all night, usually in teriaki sauce, or sometimes beer and bbq sauce.

Lol, I forgot to mention that i'll ask them if they have any particular recipes!!!

CasperO

It has been my experience that you can take almost anything edible, and put it in a crockpot with a can of cream of mushroom soup and come back several hours later and pour the grease off the top and eat it.

mmmm,,, possum. It's what's for dinner!

SpiveyMay

My husband and I eat a lot of wild game. We eat deer, elk, pheasant, and we also have some caribou from a hunting trip my husband took. We usually just have the best parts made into steaks and have the rest made into burger, jerky, or sausage. I use the burger in anything that will be seasoned like spagetti or tacos. We do the steaks just like beef steaks, season and grill. I also like to use the rounds for things like stir-fry or fajitas. We raise pheasants and usually grill it or oven-fry like chicken.

Thanks for starting this, I will be interested to see other ideas.

xsargex

In all seriousness, its great to see alot of people on here that still have great respect and class regarding where their food comes from. I have alot of friends that chose to be vegan and vegetarian. Which is great and all, because its their personal lifestyle choice and not for everyone. But none of them have ever hunted, fished, or put back into nature what they took (to include all their precious vegetables). I just have a hard time listening to people's political/social tirades about food, when they refuse to show a little respect towards someone's opposing viewpoints. Not to mention, are complete contradiction to their own arguments about nature and animal rights.

I wish, I had the means and access to be more involved in hunting and conservation. I miss growing up and feeling that excitement for hunting seasons. Being out on that opening day for pheasant hunts.
The sun slowly rising. The anticipation of making that first walk thru the field. The ground still wet from morning dew. The smell of bore cleaner floating off my shotgun mixed in with the smells of nature. Blasting my first bird. Finishing the day up, cleaning and waiting that first cookup.

Man good times.

bethrs

I'm one of those veggie heads now, but my family eats the meat that my Father in Law kills- we think it's good meat and food should never go to waste. I ate it until I became a pescatarian again. I totally respect hunters, especially those who eat their kills. It is a better way to get meat than to buy something that was tortured all it's life before it was sent to the grocery. I still buy grocery meat, I'm just saying not all vegetarians are haters.

That being said, I have nice Deer Burger Cook Book by Rick Black. I haven't tried many of the recipies but some sound pretty good.

I really don't have any novel suggestions- we do a lot of deer substituions for beef -DeerBurger Helper, etc. Deer Chili rocks. We just add some of the canned chilli starters and carry on from there. We eat the steaks just like a beef steak.
If anyone on here is interested in trying wild game but doesn't enjoy that natural gamey flavor a friend suggested that we soak the meat in milk before cooking. It does take that gamey flavor down a notch.
I'm excited to see what other folks come up with. :drinker:

maurierose

I grew up with a lot of wild game (lived in the mountains, my dad and brothers all hunted whatever was in season that they had "tags" for). When I was a little kid, I was the one who wrote heartfelt "please go away and don't kill our animals" letters and posted them on the cars/windshields of out-of-town hunters.... I had a hard time eating what my dad brought home because I was emotionally involved with the animals I saw on hikes. Sometimes my parents would just cook a beef steak or normal hamburger for me (somehow that's always been easier for me to handle because they're RAISED and INTENDED for meat. lol)

That being said.... I've grown up, matured, I don't post 11-year-old-activist letters on hunter windshields anymore, nor do I live in the mountains. Things change. To each their own.

My mom used to stuff wild fowl with fresh veggies, onions, celery, carrots, wild rice, etc... bake it on low or stick it in the crockpot.... then she insisted that the stuffing used while cooking it be thrown away or fed to the dogs... she always said it was just for drawing the wild taste out of the meat and to give it some flavor. Then she'd make fresh sides... most people (like myself) were surprised that it was wild game because it didn't taste so wild/greasy. (Geese and duck seemed to be a greasier meat, for lack of a better way to describe it)

We also had a lot of ground venison mixed with taco seasoning and made into little tiny 1/4 sized hamburgers, and summer sausage made with venison. We had a local butcher that would dress deer, and that gave a lot more options on cuts of meat, varieties, etc.

xsargex

I'm one of those veggie heads now, but my family eats the meat that my Father in Law kills- we think it's good meat and food should never go to waste. I ate it until I became a pescatarian again. I totally respect hunters, especially those who eat their kills. It is a better way to get meat than to buy something that was tortured all it's life before it was sent to the grocery. I still buy grocery meat, I'm just saying not all vegetarians are haters.

That being said, I have nice Deer Burger Cook Book by Rick Black. I haven't tried many of the recipies but some sound pretty good.

I really don't have any novel suggestions- we do a lot of deer substituions for beef -DeerBurger Helper, etc. Deer Chili rocks. We just add some of the canned chilli starters and carry on from there. We eat the steaks just like a beef steak.
If anyone on here is interested in trying wild game but doesn't enjoy that natural gamey flavor a friend suggested that we soak the meat in milk before cooking. It does take that gamey flavor down a notch.
I'm excited to see what other folks come up with. :drinker:

And by no means was I scoulding anyone for chosing to be vegetarian or vegan. I know not everyone is an extremist. I just think there is alot of grey area on the topic that doesn't get recognized by either side; sport-hunters and vegan-activists alike. I think there is a happy medium between recognizing not just the harms and dangers of meat-factories, but also respecting what Conservation is all about.
Not every hunter blows away animals for the sake of putting rounds down range. And not ever vegan is a crazed activist burning down slaughter houses.

I've heard both sides of the arguments. It seems that alot of people get way too political about it, and fail to grasp the logical medium. The only thing more annoying to me then a vegan-activist preaching to me about how I'm supporting the torture of animals by eating meat..... is having some rednecked "hunter" with a beer and assault rifle talking about how American he is. I'd like to shoot both of those groups so we can start cutting down on our own population. haha

Dogonpoint

here is one such recipe... jalopena peppers cut in half, seeded roasted for 15 minutes 400 degrees, fill with cream cheese, topped with dove breast & small piece of bacon. cook another 15 minutes... yummy!
of course anything with cheese & bacon keeps the calories up. most people over cook their waterfowl, it should be served rare to med rare and goose actually taste like fillet mijon. During the off season I do a lot of conservation and habitat work. as far as living in OC. we have the Cleveland National Forest in our back yard, san diego has a lot of wild turkeys, salton sea is the southern end of the pacific flyway and anytime after thanksgiving will hold up 100's of thousands of snow geese.. not too mention CO river is only 4hrs, bishop and mamoth 6hrs. We just saw a herd of elk up there... kids loved it. San Luis Obispo, sacromento etc... only 3-6hrs away. the mojave desert is loaded with quail, chukar, deer, big horn sheep... once you get outside you will be amazed what you can see... talk about getting off track, the other day, we had a bunch of kids over for a swimm, (anaheim), and we managed to call in 2 parigan hawks from an oak tree across the street with a hawk call... throw the ocean in there and walla... tons of wild life in our little neck of the woods. I refer to it as the concrete jungle.... (sorry for the spelling but went off on a little tagent there). but any low fat or reduced caloric substitutions would be great.... thanks again.
oh yea, that poor little dove from above... try shooting that little bird at 60mph with a shotgun... not as easy as one might think...

thury

One tip when cooking a white meat game (pheasant, turkey) an option instead of using bacon to wrap it in. Use a large piece of roasted red pepper. If you make your own its extremely healthy, if you use jarred the sodium level is really high but still better then using bacon.

msarro

Grew up in a hunting/fishing family, even though I'm a vegetarian now. In my experience venison can be used pretty much anywhere you would use beef, from steaks to roast to burger. Personally never noticed a "gamey" flavor but then again I grew up with it.

Basically like I said, just use it anywhere you'd use the beef. Same goes with bear.

Gators are an iffy one though, if they've been fed fish you use them in fish dishes. If they've been fed chicken use them in chicken dishes. Or you can use them in dishes where both are applicable.

Rattlesnakes are good thinly sliced and bbq'd.

Rabbit backs/legs cooked all day in marinara sauce and then served with some buckwheat/quinua pasta is delicious.

mrd232

I really love a spicy alligator gumbo.

My favorite way to eat venison steak is with a basting of homemade BBQ sauce or spice rub on the grill.

Bison is my favorite at the moment. Nothing beats a good bison burger.

I grew up eating a lot of wild game, became a vegetarian for a while, then became a carnivore once again. There's certainly a lot of thought that goes into my meat purchases, though. Local, grass-fed...I'm sure there's a lot of argument as to what's humane, what's "healthy" what have you, I do eat meat. I found I'm just better with it. I like knowing where it comes from. I don't like factory farming and try to avoid it. I'm even thinking about taking up hunting because I don't think there's any greater respect or homage to our roots than hunting for our own meals.