BRAISED WILD GOOSE

1 wild goose (any type)
juice of 1 lemon
6 cups stuffing (optional)-see my stuffing recipes: http://thegirvan.blogspot.com/2009/12/stuffing-recipes-for-fish-meat-poultry.html
2 Tbsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups stock, if available, water, or fruit juice

• Prepare the goose. Brush the cavity with lemon juice. Insert stuffing if used (and remember, you can have stuffing without putting it in the bird) and sew up the cavity. Melt butter and shake in as much salt and pepper as desired Brush the mixture over the outside of the goose.
• Pour 2 cups stock, water, or fruit juice into the bottom of a braising pan or casserole. Arrange the goose on a rack in the pan-preferably use a miropox to raise the bird slightly off the bottom of the pan. Goose flesh sticks easily to the pan and the bird will be  hard to lift, if not on a rack of some sort.
• Bake uncovered in a 400F oven until light brown. Then turn the heat down to 325F-cover, and  continue to braise  until tender-usually about 20 minutes per pound. If the goose is very fat (wild goose usually is not), pierce the flesh with a fork or skewer to release some of the fat.. If the bird is old and tough, allow extra cooking time Even though you are using the braising method, baste frequently with the drippings. Wild birds are generally not as fat as the domestic type and may still dry out during the braising process.

CRAV'IN THE RAVEN

Crows, Jays, Ravens-The Corvidae Family and Some Very Clever Birds.

Most people, especially  aboriginal and"First Nation" groups would not even  think of "eating crow". What a humiliation!  What an insult! What a put-down of "human dignity", not to mention "human" and traditional rights.They would  much rather fight, riot, or STARVE TO DEATH.


 Man; especially the aboriginal man, "deserves" the best  of everything and should be able to eat chicken-KENTUCKY FRIED- every day if he so pleases.


CHICKEN: one of the most cannibalistic, disease ridden,  dirty, omnivorous scavengers known.

On the other hand, the Corvidae family contains some of the most familiar and well-known birds- crows, Ravens, Jays, Magpies, Nutcrackers and Rooks. These birds have become legendary in many of the world's mythologies. They have a reputation for intelligence (some claim above human) and have been observed using tools. They can talk, whistle, an vocally imitate many other animals and birds. They may be aggressive (so are humans; it is often necessary for survival) and may even seem to be playful. Like most all birds corvids are omnivorous (like man- basically scavengers) eating from many sources. Being so smart and omnivorous allows them to expand their geographic range, perhaps more than any other bird, although they still face their limits in harsh environments and with competition from other birds.  In the Pacific Northwest, the Stellar's Jay British Columbia's provincial bird sometimes steal nuts out of the paws of squirrels. A crow or raven might attack a dog, cat or human just for fun and because they can. They are a very interesting group of 'strange birds".


Raven Recipes:
Some people claim, because ravens are a very tough bird, you should boil the hell out of them. "We are talking about a TOUGH bird that has an enormous breast. It has such a  strong flavour, that you will end up with a fairly decent stock (providing of course that you reserve it, that is where most of the nutrition will then lie) and a very dark meat that is still somewhat flavourful after it has become tender. The meat of any corvid is high in protein, low in fat, remarkably clean and disease free-despite being a scavenger. 
MUCH PREFERABLE, IN MY OPINION, TO DISEASE RIDDEN, OFTEN FLAT TASTING, RUBBER CHICKEN.

NO MEAT OR VEGETABLE SHOULD EVER,EVER, BE BOILED.

 BOILING ONLY DESTROYS: MINERALS, NUTRITION, TASTE, VITAMINS.

Much more economical, nutritious and practical than "boiling the hell out of ravens would be using one of my braising, en-casserole, fricassee, steaming, or stewing recipes. What ever the method used, the main thing to remember is "what's put in the pot stays in the pot and is eaten from the pot-that where the food value and nutrition lies".

Planked Birds

 Planked Birds

1. Prepare and cook as for broiled birds; then place on greased hot plank and brush with melted butter.

2. Arrange a border around edge of plank of fluffy mashed potatoes, brushed with beaten egg.

3. Broil or bake in a hot oven (450 F.) 10 minutes, or until potatoes are browned. Garnish with parsley and buttered green peas.

Broiled Game Birds

Broiled (Roast) Birds

          1. Split the birds down the back.

            2. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour to keep in juices.

3. Place inside of the bird near the fire first (preferably in a wire broiler).

4. Brown the bird on both sides, allowing 25 to 40 minutes for partridges and pheasants. A strip of bacon, smoked ham butt, or salt pork may be placed over the top of each bird.

5. When done, brush with melted butter. During broiling, if the breasts are quite thick, cover with foil and lengthen the cooking time, using lower temperature.

Game Bird Pie

 Game Bird Pie

                   6 birds

                   4 cups water

                   Salt and pepper

                   1/4 cup minced parsley

                   1/2 cup diced onion   

                   2 whole cloves

                   1/4 lb Diced salt pork

                   2 Tbsp. flour

                   2 Tbsp.  fat

                   1 recipe Plain Pastry

       2 cups  diced cooked potatoes

            1. Clean the birds thoroughly and split into halves.

            2. Cover with water and heat to boiling.

3. Skim top and add salt, pepper, parsley, onion, cloves and salt pork.

            4. Simmer until tender, keeping birds covered with water.

5. When done, thicken with roux made from flour and fat and let the gravy come to boiling.

6. Remove from fire and cool. In the mean time, line the sides of a greased baking dish with pastry. 

7. Fill dish with alternate layer of birds and potatoes (birds can be deboned if desired and cooked peas may be added).

8. Pour in gravy and cover with top crust, slashed in center. Bake in hot oven (450 F) for 10 minutes, then in a moderate oven (350 F.) for 30 minutes. Serves 6.  

Pheasant or Chicken with Sauerkraut

 Pheasant or Chicken with Sauerkraut

          Prepare 3 plump young pheasant that have hung for a week and wipe them with a cloth soaked in brandy. Let them stand for 30 minutes at room temperature, then rub them inside and out with mixed salt and black pepper and 1 Tbsp. Hungarian paprika. Put inside each bird 1 small crab apple peeled and cored and a mixture of diced onion, parsley, celery, green pepper, chervil and 1 garlic clove, crushed. Sew up the opening.

            Cover the breast with a thin sheet of larding pork brushed with a bit of anchovy paste the size of a small pea mixed with 1 Tbsp. butter. Truss the birds and roast them in a moderate oven (350 F.) for about 25 minutes, or until they are about half done and nicely browned on all sides.

            Have ready 3 lbs of wine sauerkraut marinated overnight with 1/2 cup seedless raisins, 4 freshly crushed juniper berries, 2 whole cloves, 1 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds, 2 small carrots and 1 onion, all thinly sliced, and 12 whole peppercorns. One hour before serving the pheasant, cook the sauerkraut, its liquid, and 1/2 lb. Canadian bacon, cut in small cubes, in a heavy kettle for about 35 minutes. Arrange the half -roasted pheasant on the sauerkraut, cover the pot and bake the birds in a hot oven (400 F.) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until they are tender. Add salt to taste. Arrange the sauerkraut on a heated large serving platter. Carve the birds, reshape them, if desired, and nest them on the sauerkraut. Serve with a chilled mixture of red currant jelly.

Show- Piece Roast Pheasant

 Show-Ppiece Roast Pheasant

          Clean, pluck and singe three 2- 1/2 to 2- 3/4 lb. pheasant that have hung for at least 6 days. Do not pluck or remove the heads but protect them in oiled paper. Reserve the tails to decorate the platter. Rub the birds inside and out with salt and pepper.

            Inside each bird put 1 bay leaf, 1garlic clove, 1whole clove 1 Tbsp diced parsley mixed with 2 Tbsp. coarsely minced green celery leaves and 1 thin slice of lemon, seeded, and diced. Cover the breast of each bird with a thin sheet of larding pork. Sew the openings, truss the birds, and lay them side by side in a small roasting pan. Add 4 or 5 thin onion slices and 2 Tbsp. fresh mushroom peelings and moisten with 2 cups chicken stock. Season with a little salt and add 10 freshly bruised peppercorns.

            Roast the birds in a moderate oven (350 F) for 40 to 45 minutes, basting every 10 minutes. Carve the birds, slice the breasts, and reshape the birds on a heated serving platter. Remove the paper from the heads, arrange the feathers neatly, and decorate with the tails.

            Strain the pan gravy through a fine sieve into a saucepan and let it stand until the fat floats on the surface. Skim off the fat thoroughly. Bring the gravy to a boil and stir in 3 Tbsp. red currant jelly. Taste for seasoning and pour the sauce into a heated sauceboat. Bread sauce may also be served.

Roast Pheasant

Pheasant is generally hung for four days to a week, to bring out the aromatic, rich flavour, which is reminiscent of deer and of chicken and possibly better than either. Pheasant is lean and it too should be covered with fat for cooking.


Roast Pheasant

1. Sprinkle young pheasant with salt and pepper to taste and rub them well with butter.

2. Wrap a thin sheet of larding pork around each and tie with string

3. Roast the birds in a moderate oven (350 F.) for about 40 minutes, or until they are done to taste.

4. Remove the larding pork and arrange the birds on a serving platter garnished with watercress.

5. Serve with wild rice and a tart jelly and the pan juices, partially skimmed of fat and strained.

Braised, And Larded Grouse

           Braised and Larded Grouse-Apparently, many of you are wondering about the small rectangle preceeding the name of this recipe. on the cook-book page, published in 1995, and written  entirely in script. It is where my initials were; but since blogger can not reproduce them the rectangle appears here, In order for my initials to appear, I would have to insert them manually, as a picture image, like so.

            Properly prepared grouse are delectable, the flesh, probably superior to any of the introduced varieties of birds, but grouse are rather dry; so braising is probably the better choice, rather than roasting and they will still need to be properly larded in order to be really succulent .

1. Clean and wash quickly under running water.

2. Cover bird entirely with thin slices of bacon, tying them in place with crossing of butcher twine.

  3. Place in a braising pan and pour over enough boiling water to use for basting the birds.

4. Braise in a moderate oven (350 F.) about 45 minutes. Baste frequently.

5. When done, remove bacon strips, brush birds with oil and melted fat, dredge with flour and place in oven again and bake (Uncovered, braising is complete) just until brown.

6. The liquid, remaining in the pan, may be thickened (using a brown roux), seasoned, and used as gravy.

7. Arrange the birds on a platter and garnish with rings of sautéed green pepper, and strips of bacon. Allow 1 grouse per person.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D Girvan 1995. .All rights reserved.

            

Grouse in Casserole

Pheasant, Partridges, and Grouse

           

           



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grouse3DonLJohnson.jpg
 Grouse, partridge, pheasant, and quail can all be prepared in a very elegant fashion as indicated by the following recipes

Grouse in Casserole

1. Prepare 6 plump grouse that have hung for 4 days. Rub them inside and out with mixed brandy and lemon juice lightly seasoned with salt and powdered thyme to taste. set them aside
2. Skin the six grouse livers and 12 chicken livers and put them through the finest blade of a food chopper with 6 hard cooked egg.
3.  Put the mixture in a bowl rubbed with a cut garlic clove, season highly with salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg, and moisten with 1/4 cup brandy.
4. 4. Blend the mixture thoroughly, divide it into six portions, and fill the cavities of the birds.
5.  Wrap the breasts with thin sheets of larding pork and truss the birds.
6.  In a flameproof casserole heat 6 generous Tbsp. goose fat or butter with generous, 1/2 cup small cubes of raw lean ham and 1 large bay leaf to the smoking point.
7.  Cook the birds in the fat over medium heat, turning them frequently.
8.  When they are nicely browned, add 4 whole garlic cloves, parboiled in a little water for about 2 minutes, and drained.
9.  Cover the casserole and set it in a hat oven (400 F.) for 30 minutes.
10.  Reduce 2 cups chicken stock by half over high heat and add it to the grouse with 12 small mushroom caps, sautéed in butter and well drained, 3 dozen small green olives, pitted, blanched and well drained and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice.
11. Cover the casserole and cook the mixture for 10 minutes longer.
12. Thicken the sauce, if desired, with 3 Tbsp. potato starch mixed with 3 Tbsp. cold water.
13. Serve in the casserole, with a glass of red currant jelly mixed with 1 tsp. drained horseradish, bread sauce and roast potatoes.

Roast Goose with Baked Apple:

           Roast Goose with Baked Apple:

                   1  8 pound goose

                   2 quarts  bread crumbs

                   2 onions, diced

                   2 Tbsp. fat

                   1 tsp.  sage

                   2 tsp. salt, dash of pepper

                   6 to 8  apples

                   1/4 cup brown sugar

          3 cooked, mashed sweet potatoes or yams

1. Cook giblets until tender, dice and mix with bread crumbs, anion, fat, sage, salt, and pepper.

            2. Clean and wash the goose thoroughly.

            3. Rub inside of goose with salt, stuff with bread mixture and truss.

4. Place in a roaster on rack and roast uncovered in 325 F. oven until tender, allowing about 25 minutes per pound.

            5. Every hour, skim off fat from broth in pan.

6.Wash and core apples; sprinkle with brown sugar, stuff with seasoned sweet potatoes and place in the pan with goose 1 hour before goose is done. Serves 6

Devilled Goose:

           Devilled Goose:

                   1  8-pound goose

                       Potato Stuffing

       1/4 cup  vinegar

                   1 tsp. pepper

                   2 Tbsp. prepared mustard

                   1 tsp.salt

            1. Cover goose with boiling water and simmer for 1 hour.

            2. Remove, drain and dry.

3. Fill body and neck lightly with Potato Stuffing, skewer and truss

4. Roast in moderately hot oven (350-365 F.) allowing 15 to 20 minutes per pound.

            5. Mix vinegar, pepper, salt, and mustard and use to baste goose.

            6. Serve with Giblet Gravy.

An old, less-tender goose may be prepared this way, allowing 2 hours for simmering instead of 1.         Serves 6.

Roast Domestic Goose:

Roast Domestic Goose:

                        1   8-pound goose

                         Potato Stuffing

                          Salt and pepper

              Flour

1. Select a young goose, wash in hot water, and dry on the outside. Flatten breastbone by striking with a rolling pin.

2. Fill body cavity lightly with Potato Stuffing, skewer the opening or truss.

3. Roast goose in slow oven (325 F.) for 45 minutes, on rack in uncovered roasting pan.

4. Remove from oven; pour off fat, season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour and return to oven.

5. When the flour is browned, pour 1 cup hot water into pan, and baste goose often, dredging each time with a slight sifting of flour to absorb fat. Allow 20 minutes per pound for a young goose, and 25 minutes for older goose.

6. Remove from pan, add 1 cup hot water to gravy, and thicken with prepared roux if necessary.

Garnish goose with parsley and serve with applesauce, hot or cold spiced fruit, cranberry-orange relish, or coddled minted apples. Serves 5

Roast Wild Goose

Goose

           Roast Wild Goose

                      1    wild goose

                   1/2 cup   butter

          1/2cup  orange juice, fresh or frozen

                   3  juniper berries

            1. Draw, hang, pluck, and singe goose, same as for wild duck.

            2. Rub cavity of goose with salt and pepper.

3. Roast uncovered for 3 hours in a slow oven (375 F.)Baste frequently with orange juice, juniper berries, and 1/4 cup water. Prick lightly all over to allow fat to drain off.

4. Prepare dressing in a separate pan to keep it free from excessive fat and wild flavour.

            

Wild Ducks

Wild Ducks

          Mallard, Canvasback, Teal and the rest of the wild-duck brotherhood may be hung for at least twenty-four hours and preferably for forty-eight hours, before cooking. Or the game may be plucked and cleaned and stored in the refrigerator. The oil sacs in the duck's tail should be very carefully removed in the cleaning. The blood of the wild duck retains the best flavour, so the duck should be wiped with a damp cloth, not washed and it should be served rare.

            Nearly all wild ducks are likely to have a fishy flavour and when dressed, by an inexperienced cook, are often unfit to eat. This flavour may be much reduced by placing in each duck a small peeled carrot, plunging the fowls into boiling water and simmering them for ten minutes before braising. The carrot will absorb some of the unpleasant taste. An onion will have some-what the same effect, but unless a stuffing with onions is used, the carrot is to be preferred. When there is an objection to parboiling (as when the ducks are young) rub them lightly with an onion cut in two and put three or four uncooked cranberries in each before cooking or a whole peeled lemon. Parsley and celery, an apple, or a strip of bacon will also work.

            Hang duck by feet in a cool dry airy place for twenty -four to forty-eight hours.

            To pluck wild duck, remove large feathers dry. Melt 3/8 lb. of paraffin in seven quarts of boiling water. Dip the duck into the mixture several times and let the paraffin harden. Strip off the paraffin and feathers at the same time. Singe and remove any remaining pin feathers. Check carefully for shot and damaged areas. Remove the oil sac from the base of the tail. Small birds may be skinned when they are cleaned

 

ROAST PARTRIDGE OR GROUSE

NOTE: I include this recipe only because some people insist they want to" ROAST" partridge and grouse--they would be better braised, as they still practically are even in this recipe. Be sure to check out my other game bird recipes in the older posts.


3 grouse or partridge
salt and pepper
celery leaves or apple slices
3 tsp. butter
6 slices side bacon or side pork
1 cup red wine of apple juice
1 Tbsp. cornstarch 
1/4 cup water

• Prepare the birds. Pepper and salt the cavity and stuff with celery leaves and/or apple slices. Also put 1 tsp. butter in each cavity. Put on a shallow roasting pan and cover birds with the bacon or side pork. Roast (uncovered) in 350F oven for 15 minutes.
• Pour the wine, stock or juice over the birds and continue baking 1/2 hour or until tender. Baste frequently. SAUCE: Mix 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 1/4 cup water(slurry) and stir until all lumps are gone. Add to the wine mixture in pan and let cook until clear. Strain. Spoon over birds and serve.