Having a small gathering here tomorrow night. Serving a mix of gamebirds and even some elk steak. The birds are all long-term residents of somebody's freezer (a mix of Bobs and Blues). Because of the long-term freezer effects we're brining the birds extra-long and avoiding any recipes that would further mask the flavor of the meat. Some of the birds had already been parceled into bacon wrapped treats, but I threw them into the brine as well (so we'll see how all that goes?). Any suggestions for the grilling process here? Butter, salt and pepper is what I'm planning on, perhaps spatchcocking or some other simple marinade that might be appropriate?

my aunt ruby used to bread um, fry um like checken, and then stew um in brown gravy till the meat fallin off the bones...um, um, um...

I always spatchcock them dry them completely and then I brush on any number of those marinades they sell these days.

A favorite is the one with mango in it and a little bit of spice

A few months ago, friends made a cacciatore style dish with I think they were Huns, because of a similar freezer worry. It doesn't help with the meat save and grilling you want to do, but was an unexpected treat.

Reminds me of a gathering of Australian big game hunters at my house in East Texas a few years ago. A local hunter brought Alligator and another provided Bobwhite quail as appetizers. One Aussie liked grilling and took over for me. When the quail showed up, he was ecstatic and went on how it had been years since he tasted quail. Made the trip worthwhile, he said! Needless to say, he had his fair share. The main course was well marinated backstrap and brisket of water buff - smoked whole and then sliced! . Very little left over that night.

Reminds me of a gathering of Australian big game hunters at my house in East Texas a few years ago. A local hunter brought Alligator and another provided Bobwhite quail as appetizers. One Aussie liked grilling and took over for me. When the quail showed up, he was ecstatic and went on how it had been years since he tasted quail. Made the trip worthwhile, he said! Needless to say, he had his fair share. The main course was well marinated backstrap and brisket of water buff - smoked whole and then sliced! . Very little left over that night.

Going with "Simple grilled quail" on the All Recipes webpage. Paprika, parsely flakes, olive oil, garlic salt, black pepper, & kosher salt make up this simple marinade. Grilled whole birds, 8-minutes per side over medium heat. Served with a chilled Savignon Blanc, west-slope peach caprese, wild rice w/morels, grilled califlower, and GF French bread cristini (using our own home-grown cherry tomatoes and basil). I'm also grilling some elk and mule deer backstrap, which we serve with blue-cheese sauce and/or a homemade cranberry/ horseradish sauce accompaniment. Fresh berry tart for dessert (& a good big red wine for the venison eaters). Hope this works...

Lloyd3,
Sounds good, but complicated and the reason my wife and daughter do the food prep here. They do let me kill the game they cook.

After action report here. A wildly successful evening it would seem. The quail turned out very nicely. I suppose I could have pulled them a bit earlier but....they were still quite good. Nothing but compliments from all of our guests (& several were southern folks that know their quail). I'm a ruffed grouse guy and I thought the birds were very tasty. Better than ruffed grouse.....maybe not, but darn close. At least I now understand the appeal. Also, there were no complaints about the venison either. No leftovers there.

Lloyd,
Having eaten your cooking, there was never a doubt in my mind.

Sounds wonderful.

Best,
Ted


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Maybe stay away from that one Grunt’s wine suggestions.

Thanks Ted! We'll have to try to duplicate it sometime this Fall, with grouse instead.

Lloyd, if your gonna serve bobwhite quail to Southern guests you should learn to cook grits and homemade biscuits. Fried quail, with those sides, are to die for. I know that grilled stuff sounds better (I enjoy it often, too), and more sophisticated, but it's hard to improve on fried bobs.

The best improvement to fried quail is to not serve them w/grits.

As a mater of fact, the only thing I like about grits is the satisfying "plop" they make when you scrape them off your plate into a trash can.

Cheese grits are good. Regular grits with sugar and cream are great, but that’s a YANKEE sort of change, I think 🤔 . I like grits, but gotta dr them up. Try some cheese grits Brittany Man..Yum!

I had cheese grits in New Orleans once. A waste of good cheese IMHO. I can eat grits w/ ham & eggs for breakfast if I need to avoid insulting someone when I'm down South (lots of butter & pepper) but to serve grits w/ a gamebird is an insult to the bird & especially to a quail.

Stan: I just can't do much fried food anymore. I'm not knocking your ideas of a great meal and... if I could still eat them that way, I'd dearly love to try it. Sophisticated isn't my goal here, I'm just trying to learn what works with what. My guests included a couple from Oklahoma (probably not considered Southern in the strictest sense, but...evidently there are a few quail there as well) and they seemed well-pleased with the outcome.

As a late comer to cheesy grits, I think some folks are missing out. Bump it up a bit with good ingredients, and it's not just for breakfast anymore. Not too long ago, we used it as a bed for medium rare sliced elk steak, and left overs the next morning with game sausage processed by a good butcher shop and over easy eggs. Use good stock, a quality cheese, we sub in a fresh salsa for a rotel recipe, and put a good brown on some savory sausage to go in it. Tons of flavor, a little casual and rustic, but it moves upscale pretty well, and people go back for more. Thanks Stan, and sorry it's not the traditional path.

We fry almost nothing here, Lloyd. I'm with you on that. It's not healthy to eat much fried foods, I know. But, having had quail other ways I still prefer them fried (properly) to any other way. I'm sure yours were delicious, and may have changed my mind had I tried them.


An insult to the bird, eh? Well, looks like I opened up a can of worms.

C'mon now, BM. Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel .........

Stan is ground swatted quail tenderer than quail shot on the wing ?

If your quail have skin on, we use a recipe from Goode’s in Houston. I always have quail for breakfast there. Just the best. With the breastbone removed we spread the whole bird out like butterflying. Apply light olive oil, then a liberal rubbing of some bbq [Goode’s is the best] rub. Grill at about 350 degrees about three minutes per side. Awfully fine eating . The secret for us is getting the proper grill time, depending on the birds used.

Grits, like cathead biscuits, are gifts to man from the good Lord. And grilled quail and dove are treats us Damn Yankees can only hope to taste-- very few quail here in MI, and we do not have a legal season on doves- damn shame too- as I see tons of them around the dairy and beef cattle farms where I get my best pigeon shooting. RWTF

I never met a biscuit I did not like. I had a grandmother who kept a wood stove in her kitchen just for biscuits along with a propane gas stove until she passed in 1970. She made several different types including Cathead, Biscuits with lard and a whole wheat biscuit which I really wish I could duplicate. I expect the little oven must have been 600 plus degrees. Biscuits were fast to bake golden with a delightful crunchy edges. With five kids, biscuits were essential fare during the Depression. She learned several different types for variety. All were superb. Sure your grandmother had a couple great one as well.

My maternal grandmother passed in 1972 and I still fondly remember her "cat head" biscuits. She always kept her bread making implements consisting of a large bowl carved out of a solid piece of poplar (which I now have) and a maple rolling pin on her kitchen counter. That bread bowl was always filled with white flour and covered with a cloth when not being used. When ready to make a pan of biscuits she'd hollow out a space in the flour, add a glob of lard, butter milk, salt, and maybe some other stuff (?); mix it all up and make those fist-sized biscuits. She'd always have a pan of biscuits atop the stove when us kids got home from school; so we'd get a biscuit, punch a hole in the side with our finger, then fill it with sorghum syrup or with whatever home made jam or jelly she had at the time. They were delicious; but in all honesty, as a kid I never understood how much to appreciate my grandmother and her biscuits till long after she was gone. But I do have those cherished memories.

Another fan of those Southern biscuits was the central character in the movie "Slingblade"-- he liked his with mustard, also his french fries-- to each his own, but for me, mustard is for ball park hotdogs-also with sauerkraut--RWTF

Fox the character he played was tOuched in the head....everyone in the South knows you can't have mustard on a cat head biscuit without some hog sausage.

Goode & co BBQ, on I-10, by Gessner?
I always ate lunch there after gun shows; sliced brisket on jalapeño cheese bread, with a Shiner.

He loves Beer, He loves Texas, He Loves Texas Beer.

Beer = Good

And yes, butterflying a quail and properly grilling it is a great way to cook it.

Lafayette or American Coney Island in downtown Detroit? Depends on who’s buying.
We always eat there after a hockey game. Coney, heavy onion with a Vernor’s.


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If I owned Texas and Hell I’d rent Texas and live in Hell. Phillip Sheridan

I've got both Shiner Bock & Shiner Oktoberfest in the fridge. Both are very good although I give the Sam Adams Oktoberfest a slight edge.

I've read that Spoetzl Brewing of Shiner TX uses some corn in their brewing process. Making beer & bourbon is a much better way to utilize corn than turning it into grits.

I have not tried grilled Quail & I would have to agree w/ Stan that pan fried Quail done properly would be difficult to improve upon however I would be willing to give grilling a try if presented with the opportunity. To me, Quail is a lot like Ruffed Grouse in that it doesn't need much in the way of spices or marinade to be excellent on the table.

Love Vernor's ginger ale...
JR

I can see you as the poster boy....

Vernor's Ginger Ale and Stroh's Bohemian style lager- both made with unfiltered Detroit River water- now Coors, with fresh mountain spring water- the Banquet beer..RWTF

["Love Vernor's ginger ale...
JR"]

Oh no, I agree with him about something!...Geo

So you like the taste of Detroit sewer water too....

Well, there’s always Rock & Rye, jOe.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/faygo-pop-rock-n-rye


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It’s a Kafkaesque world and Ted’s merely an ugly, fat, one eyed, broken armed dung beetle living in (sh)it.

You forgot old.....

Best,
Ted
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Put a picture of you up, Juggalo. Facing Windsor, in good shoes.