doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Long trip to the Grouse woods...

The lesson I've learned (from my wife and her father) about making game meats palatable can be distilled-down to simply brining and ageing things properly. Ageing seems to be critical for some game birds (goose and pheasant come immediately to mind). Goose can be simply awful if you treat it like a chicken and cook it accordingly. My father-in-law was effectively living on social security, so every form of protein he had at hand became quite important. Canada goose went from being just a pleasant distraction to an important resource and he responded by learning how to use it as effectively as possible. From the Orvis Game Cookbook...



A sugar/salt brine is critical for replacing the fluids lost in the ageing and then freezing process. Moreover, any meat frozen (for even a short period) immensely benefits from a brine bath immediately before cooking. A 1/4 cup of sugar, a 1/4 cup of kosher salt, enough hot water to fully dissolve them in a gallon ziplock, some ice then to cool the mixture down before adding the meat. More water can be added to ensure complete coverage and then 4 to 8 hours in a fridge will change the the texture of any meat dramatically.

As far as corning goose goes, after it has been aged and then brined the meat is corned the same way beef is, aged in a pickling solution for a set amount of time and then cooked and consumed. As an example...
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/home_cured_corned_beef/

Ruffed grouse is a unique gamebird for a number of reasons (see below)...



Because ruffies are so darn good and easy to prepare, most are treated like chicken and the results are usually acceptable. There seems to be room for improvement, however, and this year I'm going to see what I can lean about that as well.