Is FOWL really that FOUL?

[bezoar]

I have a really good question for all you bird hunter and bird eaters. Being almost 22, i admit i really havent experienced alot of different foods. But I have always wanted to have some duck, pheasant, goose, grouse.

I have had quite a few wild turkeys,including one i got with a bow, and enjoyed them in overn bags. I have not had any bird except store bought turkey, wild turkey, and chicken.

I really want to have duck,goose,pheasant because i look at alot of old recipies and from what people online write about their latest catch. But my PARENTS have always beat into me that duck and goose are "covered in bacteria, fleas, and mites". And that ducks and geese are rubbery and extremely oily.

Now hunters, is any of that true? Id buy commercially raise duck and geese but i cant afford the exorbinant prices and shipping these farms raise and i realy dont want to waste that much money if the bird is as bad as my parents tell me.

 

[vradin]

But my PARENTS have always beat into me that duck and goose are "covered in bacteria, fleas, and mites". And that ducks and geese are rubbery and extremely oily.

Well.... I should be tellin ya to 'always listen to yer folks' and stuff like that but in this case you can ignore them and give them other foul fowls a taste test.

Waterfowl CAN be oily and greasy if it's not prepared correctly, and ALL wild game has a variety of critters inhabiting the various furry and feathery bits [then again, if you could see what's inhabiting YOUR furry bits you'd be amazed and disturbed Warning- nasty image ahead ]

Commercially raised duck and goose are no different than getting a chicken from the local foodmart. Most any bird can be edible if cooked right, although IME, the meat will be tainted with whatever the bird's been feeding on. So try to stay away from the scavengers and garbage-eaters.

You DO know that you can even eat city flying rat (pigeon) if you want- deep fried and battered tastes just like chicken

vic

 

[bezoar]

Well Vic thanks for an answer, just what is a tasty way to cook a duck or goose that wont give me botulism or only let me taste spices and not meat?

Would a delicate recipe for rabbit work good?

 

[vradin]

Well Vic thanks for an answer, just what is a tasty way to cook a duck or goose that wont give me botulism or only let me taste spices and not meat?

Would a delicate recipe for rabbit work good?

Yer welcome. I don't know too many rabbit recipes-but it seems to me that rabbit is a pretty lean meat and needs extra oil so it doesn't dry out. A couple of tricks I learnt about waterfowl cooking: pierce the skin before doing anything else lets the grease out instead of holding it next to the meat. Par boil goose for about 10 minutes before cooking to remove a LOT of the fat. Cooking on a rack, breast down or using a beer-can to hold the bird upright will allow fat to drain off and not soak back into the bird.

First- find a can that fits the bird's cavity and cut off the top, add 3/4 full with water and about 1/2tsp each of basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. If you use alcomaholic stuff replace water with merlot (the good stuff, not that cooking whine) but keep the other herbs the same. Then...

pierce the skin and par boil for 10 minutes.

Remove from water, drain and dry. Salt and pepper inside the cavity then stick previously mentioned appropriate size can up the bird's obvious opening to keep it "standing" in a 2" deep pan. Lightly season with salt & pepper, if you like spicy use Old Bay seasoning, or some mild paprika.

Dump the whole thing into a 350 oven until the internal temp says yummy (same as for chicken).

DO NOT :nono:SPILL THE CAN OF WINE!!!!! While birdy is cooling strain the merlot into a pan, add a good-sized chunk of butter, a little of the pan drippings and reduce.

Plate up and serve the sauce/glaze/gravy on the side. :imo:Goes well with gently steamed asparigas and brown rice.

dangit. Now I'm hungry. :: gotta go make a sammich or something. more later...

vic

 

[bob1961]

yup pigeons are rock doves...................bob

 

[Stumpkiller]

There is no creature on God's green earth dirtier than a domestic chicken. If you caught the 60 Minutes expos

 

[vradin]

Here's another recipe I like for open fire cooking. You'll need a 10" or so dutch oven, good bed of coals, and an assistant or two to help with the preps.

Clean and quarter a good sized duck, pierce the skin, season with coarse salt & pepper. Put the DO on the fire, lots of coals under, and the lid UPSIDE DOWN raised on stones over a second pile of coals. Let the lid get blazing hot. While lid is heating fry up some bacon (thick sliced) in the DO, take out the cooked bacon save some of the grease. Julienne a couple of onions, red & green peppers, carrot, other root veggies to your taste and saute in the bacon until almost tender. Remove from heat and drain excess fat. When the veggies start cooking, put the quartered duck on the hot lid and sear skin-side down until it carmelizes and most of the fat runs off. Then add the duck to the DO skin-side down. *Toss in some large chunks of taters, bacon on top of that 1/2 to 3/4 cup water and cook for about 1.5 hour. I use about 10-15 coals top & bottom, replenish as needed.

*Or if you prefer rice like I do- forget the taters. Chop the bacon into 1" bits, toss into the pot add 3cup water, 1.5 cup brown or white rice, 1/2 cup wild rice. Cover the DO and cook for about 1.5 hours with about 15-20 coals under.

Add salt & pepper to taste for veggies and you can substitute chicken broth for water for more flavor.

vic

 

[vradin]

yup pigeons are rock doves

Yup, but with attitude But if you live near salt water you don't want to try cooking with tern. It's only good for sausage.

You know....



wait for it.....


I can't believe I'm saying this...



tern for the wurst.

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

I'll go hide in the kitchen now.
vic

 

[Keith]

You are parents are wrong. Duck is excellent. Personally I like to breast the birds and cook in a frying pan. Don't overcook. Lots of wildgame is toughened by overcooking usually medium rare is about right.

One thing to watch for is occasionally you see what looks like rice in the meat. This is no good toss it. It seems more common in warm years but is rare even then.

Ducks, like merganser, that eat fish can only be cooked one way.

Take the duck and breast it out. Marinate the meat for 12 hours in terriyaki sauce.

Bake in oven at 350 for 3-4 hours with the meat resting on a rock from the river. Baste frequently.

When done throw out the meat and eat the rock! :haha:

Fish eaters are poor table fare.

Seriously I have some recipes if anyone is interested. Shameleas plug: I could also sell anyone who wants a cookbook published by the New York Conservation Officers Association of good wild game recipes tried and proven by game wardens. I can't remember what it costs. PM me if anybody is interested.

 

[bob1961]

tern for the wurst.

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

I'll go hide in the kitchen now.
vic

or go lay down by your bowl :crackup: :crackup:.....................................bob

 

[Stumpkiller]

I could also sell anyone who wants a cookbook published by the New York Conservation Officers Association of good wild game recipes tried and proven by game wardens.

So that's what happens to all the game you confiscate for "testing".

 

[bezoar]

"rice" in meat? arent you taking about maggots, if your talking about maggots youve kept it hanging up to long

 

[Keith]

Nope, not maggots. I can't remember what it is called, but it looks like rice in the meat. I never watched it for long but I don't think it moves like maggots. (?)
Anyway, what I am refering to is a parasite. I've seen it breating out ducks only once or twice. Darn, wish I could recal the name of it.

 

[Keith]

Oh No we only use game we've hunted ourselves. :winking:

 

Bezoar

Your folks may just not have had much exposure to hunting and the preparation of game.

Duck, pheasant, goose and grouse are all excellent fare when field dressed and prepared properly. I liked to gut the bird in the field (pheasant and grouse) and hang it on a belt hook instead of stuffing it in a pouch when continuing the hunt. The quicker you can rinse out the cavity, the better off you are too.

But I never field dressed (on the water) ducks and geese. Not convenient and no control over when birds would be jumped or fly over. May have been a legal thing too, can't remember. I hunted them from blinds, canoes and in waders with my Lab.

Most game birds' legs and wings are pretty tough, being full of tendons. So I when I got home, I would simply breast out duck and geese and skin pheasant and grouse whole. Pheasant and grouse would be par boiled and then cut up and added to a pot of cream of mushroom soup with wild rice added later on. Any game cookbook will give you ideas for cooking them and I would bet that the cookbook Keith mentioned would be a good reference.

I also got lazy over the years and stripping feathers was just too tedious, messy and time consuming. That is another reason I would breast out duck and geese and skin pheasant and grouse. To breast out a bird, make a shallow slit on each side of the breast bone, pull the skin (and feathers) back and filet out the breast.

It is very important to check all wound channels for pellets and to remove any blood clots and bruised meat before cooking. Any damage to the gut that spills bile onto the meat will destroy the meat too. This is another reason to field dress and rinse very well as soon as convenient.

Rinse the breast very well, slice thinly and quick fry them in butter with a bit of salt and pepper until medium rare. Deglaze the pan with a bit of wine and pour the sauce over the breast before serving. You can taste the meat this way. If you marinate the meat, you tend to loose the real flavor of the bird. But I also like to try different marinades on various meats, so you may like that flavor and additional tenderizing too. Overcooking any bird/game/fish will ruin it.

You owe it to yourself to taste game birds!:thumbsup:

 

[riarcher]

You're all wrong!
The absoutely best way to have fowl is shoot it fresh in the morning. Pheasant, duck, goose, don't matter.
Now start your treking (still hunting)for the day. Keep moving (and working on your apetite). Around 2:00-3:00(ish) skin the rascal out and roast it over a nice wood fire while relaxing for the afternoon hunt of more fowl on the way back.
Garentteed - No salt, pepper, nothing but a wood cooked bird when your stomack is gnoring at your backbone is mighty fine vidles. Sure beats a Macy D's all to he!!. :imo:

 

[16gauge]

I'm a little late on this thread, but I will add my 2 cents.

Bird hunting is my favorite...more so than deer. Not only do I find it more challenging, but I also find the meat to be excellent table fair; a TREAT! :thumbsup:

A few quick rules of thumb: make sure that you clean the bird as soon as practical.....I don't let them "hang" for any length of time. Also, while it is more practical to skin and fillet a bird, esp. if you have a fair amount of them to clean, you should try plucking and roasting one with the skin on....you don't know what you are missing!
I have found that most wild game tastes better when marinated in something, and one of the easiest is Wishbone Italian salad dressing. Just put it in a bowl with the meat, and turn every so often, and after 24 hours, grill on bed of hot coals........YUM!!
I usually cook duck so it is just a little pink on the inside; pheasants, grouse, ect I cook until they are done through and through.
As far as diseases go, you can get them from eating any food...animal or plant. You can get salmonella from chicken, mad cow from cattle, tularemia from rabbits, and ergot poisoning from wheat.
The disease that was talked about in an earlier post sounds like "rice breast".....here is a link:

http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/aawildlife/disease/guide/muscle3.cfm

 

I have to say that your way sounds better and more like fun! :thumbsup: