I decided I'd make a new post instead of derailing the brown bear thread even further.
It was there that two posts, one about bear meat and one about hackle roosters got me to thinking about my favorite wild game meats.
By far my favorite meat I've experienced is Montana pronghorn antelope. It can be pretty tough and has an intense herbal flavor. I prefer it dredged in flour, salt, pepper and pan fried. I generally eat it medium if I'm cooking for myself and nobody else.
I love pheasant. Even when it has been stringy and chewy, I've enjoyed it.
I'll never turn down deer and elk, but they are second tier below antelope.
The wild boar I've had has been great, but every time I've eaten it was at restaurants and there were sauces on it...not conducive to tasting the actual flavor.
The bison I've had was among the worst culinary experiences I remember--expensive and bland.
I won't eat bear or any other scavenger/predatory mammal. Yes, I realize that boar are pretty much omnivorous.
No. the only fat is in the skin, as a buffer to cold. Otherwise the meat is almost totally fat-free. I suppose you could add a lot of bacon or other fatty pork, but why waste a bird? Commercial bird would be an entirely different thing though. Might work there!
Some of those Nordern birds have quite a layer of fat; different frame of logic, but I say a guy could play with a recipe on a bird that cost him nigh but time and see what he comes up with. Maybe a Cassoulet variant as well?
...just saw a recipe for Garbure, prolly wouldn't be epic with wild birds, but if it keeps me getting the shack nastiest one evening this Fall, then it's time well spent.
Walleye and perch are my favorite freshwater fish. Here in Montana they are called "freshwater lobster". Properly breaded and cooked they are VERY good. Just don't over cook.
I refer to Walleye as "freshwater halibut." Nothing better than a walleye fillet fried over a campfire just after pulling it out of a lake -- preferably, a remote lake in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area.
The best halibut I ever had was baby halibut at a sushi restaurant...on Aurora Ave north Seattle. Place didn't look like much from the outside, but they had live fish/shrimp/octopus/squid in well maintained tanks inside. A table ordered the live halibut and since I was friendly with the chef, I was asking him about it and he cut me a piece from the fish for me to try. Really was amazing.
Yes, it's definitely had an effect on the flyway! Even on our club grounds though, the last year I hunted there, we had greatly reduced harvests simply because the birds stayed on the flooded rice fields where no one was allowed. Once this was established, duck hunting changed drastically. We used to refer to Fall, and the migration of millions of ducks and geese as the Grand Passage. It was great to lie in your bed at night and hear the song of the geese overhead. But no more. There's now well over a million acres in northern CA under rice cultivation, and it's done a great job of disrupting something that's been going on since the beginning of the Pleistocene. Sad.
Question: have any of you other hunters ever shot marsh hens (.clapper rails)? Hunted them for about six years in coastal Georgia, had a neighbor who cooked those things so well, they were outstanding.
But I'll never turn down a Canadian shore lunch with fried walleye, taters and fresh bannock bread washed down with leinies. Finding a comfortable rock to sit on while dining is a plus and light breeze to keep the black flies skeeters at bay
Thanks for all the input. I can't disagree with any, except the bison--it was horrible when I had it.
I hate the thought of eating predators like bear because they, by definition, ingest the parasites of the things they eat. Add that to the fact that I think meat is overcooked when it isn't pink (purple for beef) in the middle, I can't justify those animals.
My mother is very german in her cooking, so everything is very well done. Deer and antelope were still my favorites, but when I cooked them at a medium, I loved them even more.
One of my favorite meals ever was my father's stroganoff. He made it with venison burger and put the sour cream in way too early. It kinda became a greasy mess, but I LOVED it.
Recently did a trip to the Baja and must say that fresh Dorado straight from the panga to the grill are awfully good not to mention the fish tacos with the left-overs the next day.... probably has more to do with catching and grilling them myself...... fresh Elk back-straps are right up there!
My tops:
Game - antelope loin with sage and butter or elk steaks
Fowl - teal are fantastic
Upland - pheasant and morel stew
Fish - tie between salmon and halibut
Shellfish - I can eat shrimp cocktail all day
You guys are way out of line...
This is a fly fishing website and beaver don't take flies because flies aren't woody enough!
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