Venison Breakfast Sausage
Add 1 tsp per ¼ lb of ground meat, and —poof— instant fresh breakfast sausage! Make up a batch of this spice mix ahead of time to use as needed.
Adventures with the ultimate organic free range food.
Add 1 tsp per ¼ lb of ground meat, and —poof— instant fresh breakfast sausage! Make up a batch of this spice mix ahead of time to use as needed.
This is a basic recipe for brown stock, using bones and meat from just about any seafood, game, poultry or livestock. Click here for a detailed treatise on stock.
Brining improves flavor, reduces toughness, and adds moisture. Most meats benefit – but lean, tough meats (like game) benefit most of all.For wild birds brining opens up vast cooking options that otherwise may produce dry, tough meat.
Ok, ok. It’s beans, not wild meat. Hey, it uses venison stock. And it’s so good it’s a perfect side dish for many other recipes.
It’s sad that many restaurants no longer accompany shellfish like shrimp and crab with this iconic American dipping sauce. Nowadays what they bring seems bland and sort of pointless, completely lacking “zing”. Yeah, I get it. Shellfish flesh has a delicate flavor. And there Read More …
Of course this works best with wild birds like turkey, pheasant — or even a big mess of quail. PLEASE do not just “breast ’em out” and toss the rest — all those bones and meat are a first-class ticket to great stock!
OK, it’s not wild game. It’s hard to work game into desserts. Besides, it does have “Moose” in the name. You could use it to say “OK kids, eat all your venison and daddy will make moose munch.”
If popping your own from kernels, keep in mind that freshness matters — Not because popcorn kernels go bad, but because over time they lose some of the moisture they need to pop properly. If it’s been on the shelf for a year just buy a new batch.
Another fine addition to taco night.
When boning out whole processed grocery store chickens, the weight ratio if what you are left with (after subtracting giblets & neck if included) will be about 52% boneless meat, 20% skin and 28% bones.
So, for instance, to wind up with 12 lbs of bones you may need over 40 lbs of poultry.
Game birds may have different ratios, but not dramatically so. You may just have to keep track – and if you have too little for the size batch you want, you can always supplement with chicken.
Whether wild or store-bought, save the skins! Roasted and crumbled into the stockpot they add tremendous flavor. And for commercial chickens or turkeys, it lets you harvest much of the fat. Of course with wild birds that means you need to do a thorough plucking job… which can be a big hassle.
Normally the limiting factor for the number of “Servings” is either the weight of bones you have available, or the capacity of your stock pot.
So fiddle with the pot size below until you come up with a number that is both a) not bigger than your biggest pot and b) not more bones than you expect to use. All of the other ingredients will fall into line.
Some of the boned meat will be called for in the stock recipe. It will be mostly leg meat, wings and if necessary some of the boneless thighs or breasts – depending what you prefer to keep for other purposes.
If starting with whole birds you’re likely to have a lot of boneless meat left over – plan in advance for how you want to use it. When I’m done processing the birds, I salt the extra meat as if dry-brining (google it), then vacuum seal in meal-size packages and freeze. It will partially dry-brine as it freezes, then the process completes when thawed for cooking. It’s super convenient – and dry-brined poultry is outstanding (adjust your recipes to accommodate the salt that is already in the meat). It’s more chicken than I normally need to have handy, so I share it with friends, neighbors or relatives.
Some stock recipes (including mine here) call for adding chicken feet for body. I always do that, but it becomes extra important if you are saving the chicken wings for other purposes (om nom nom). Even though the wings are great for stock, I usually do the freezer dry-brining trick in quantities of a dozen or so.
A spicy, delicious condiment that makes things pop!
A versatile condiment — limited only by your imagination. It’s native home, however, is the taco.
This is a fairly standard stuffing/dressing recipe, but with some tricks that make a difference: Use schmaltz (rendered poultry fat) instead of butter. Reserve 1/3 of the celery raw until final mix before the oven step (adds crunch). Don’t brown the sausage crumbled. Form it Read More …
This is not the “ultimate” Mai Tai, an endlessly elusive target — the pursuit of which can be complex and expensive (though always fun). The google offers endless ratholes to join that merry chase. But this tasty recipe is fast, easy & cheap, kind of Read More …
Clarified butter is a common kitchen term for butterfat – which is what’s left after you remove the water and milk-solids from butter. Traditionally it’s made by heating butter to around 260°F and holding it there (stirring occasionally) until the last of the water is Read More …
For venison Reubens, etc. Less “meh” than Thousand Island.
It is NOT hard to make excellent Caesar Salad! The big secrets to making it “pop” are anchovies, good fresh crisp romaine, and properly emulsified dressing. The other ingredients are important too… but those three are where most people take shortcuts that make the result Read More …