Cagey T's Cherry Goose Recipe

Wow your family and friends with this elegant and delicious appetizer

2 goose breast halves (from 1 goose)
1 1/2 cups of port
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 garlic cloves or 1 T. minced
2 T. maraschino cherry juice and ~15 cherries for serving
1/4 cup dried cherries
2 T brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
dash of chili powder or cayenne pepper
Dark chocolate sauce (such as a melted bar or Hershey's sauce)

Marinate the goose in about 1 cup of port, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 T. of minced garlic, and a dash of salt and pepper mixed in a glass, ceramic or plastic bowl. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 days, turning the goose occasionally.

When ready to cook, have ready a skillet, tooth picks and a serving plate. Drizzle the dark chocolate on your serving plate in a decorative pattern and set aside. Heat 1 T. olive oil over medium high heat in a heavy skillet until hot (about 300 degrees). Add the goose breasts and sear both sides, 1-2 minutes a side until brown. Remove pan from heat and remove goose from the pan and cut into bit sized chunks (when cool enough to handle). Lightly flour the goose (about 1 T. of flour sprinkled over meat). Put skillet back on medium heat and add 1/2 cup of port, 1-2 T of Maraschino cherry juice, and 1/4 cup of dried cherries. Bring this mixture to a gentle boil and scrape up any bits of browned goose from pan. Add the goose chunks back into the pan, along with 2 T. of brown sugar and cook the goose a bit more, turning it in the sauce as the sauce thickens. Stir the sauce constantly as it thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Add a dash of salt, pepper and chili powder to taste (just a sprinkle should do). Remove the pan from the heat and remove each piece of goose, swirling it in the sauce, with a tooth pick (for serving) and carefully place each piece of goose on the chocolate drizzled serving plate. You may add a maraschino cherry to each bit of goose for serving.

Venison steaks! Tomorrow is opening day for Deer (gun) in Seneca County

Here is tried and true way to make venison steaks....

Swiss-steak Style Venison
1 lb. venison steak or boneless chops
1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 small onion (about 1/2 cup), chopped
1 clove of minced garlic (1-2 tsp)
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped peppers
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 pint diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
2 tsp Italian seasoning or a mix of oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, etc.
salt and pepper to taste

Flour the venison steak and pound with a meat mallet until about 1/4-1/2" thickness. In a large braising pan or cast iron skillet(properly seasoned, of course)heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the steaks and cook about 3 minutes until well browned. Flip and brown the other side. Remove the meat and set aside on a plate. Add the onion, carrot, pepper, mushroom, garlic and 1 tsp herbs to the skillet. Saute the veggies 3-5 minutes. Push the veggies aside, put the steaks back in the pan, and arrange veggies around and on top of the meat. Mix the other 1 tsp herbs with the tomatoes and pour on top of the meat and vegetables. Cover pan and cook in a 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Serves 4. Can be served over brown rice or whole grain noodles with a side salad for a balance, nutritious meal!

Waterfowl season opened Saturday

Ducks opened Oct 24th until Dec 6th for the first season in Seneca County. Canada geese also opened Oct 24th and go until Nov 21. NYS DEC has a very informational migratory game bird pdf that includes a waterfowl hunter's code of ethics, some guidelines for waterfowl consumption, license requirements, shipping information, etc. Of particular interest to wild harvest feasting is a short section that reads as follows:

"The NYS Department of Health recommends
that:
• You eat no mergansers.
• You remove all fat and skin from waterfowlt
before cooking.
• You discard stuffing after cooking waterfowl.
• You eat no more than two waterfowl per
month."

Here is an easy way to prepare duck or goose breast in a way that masks any hint of gameyness...

Thai (red or green) Waterfowl Curry
1 duck (both halves)or goose (1 half)breast cut into thin slices
1 Tbsp red or green thai curry paste found in the asian section of many grocery stores (check for a curry recipe on the jar)
1 can coconut milk (low-fat if possible)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
3 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup chicken stock
1 cup fresh veggies, such as thin sliced onion, carrot, broccoli, celery, etc

Par boil the thin sliced duck or goose breast for 1-2 minutes and drain liquid. Then proceed to make the recipe for red or green curry dish on the label of the Thai curry paste. Basically, simmer all above ingredients for 10-15 minutes.

Fall Harvest

This year the forest mast is plentiful. The acorns, hickories, and apples are abundant and the squirrels are fat! The harvest photograph pictured above (courtesy of Keith Tidball) includes the tasty mushroom/fungus, Chicken of the Woods, which is also found this time of year.

Here is a recipe to enjoy two specimens of the Fall Harvest; squirrel and apples. Enjoy.
Squirrel Braised in Apple Cider
1 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
1 dressed squirrel, cut in pieces and very lightly floured
1 medium onion, cut in quarters and separated
2 medium carrots, diced
1-1/2 cups apple cider
1/4-1/2 t. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
2 medium cooking apples, cored and quartered

In a dutch oven or similar braising pan, melt butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add squirrel pieces and brown on all sides. Add onions and carrots and cooks for 3-5 minutes. Stir in cider and scrape up any brown bits in the pan. add thyme, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Reduce heat and cover, braising until squirrel is tender and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Add apple pieces on top, cover and cook an additional 15 minutes, until apples are tender. Remove the squirrel pieces and take the meat off the bone. Place the meat back in the pan and increase the heat, bringing the cooking liquid up to a gentle simmer. Reduce the cooking liquid to a nice thick sauce (about 5 minutes). The mixture can be served on toast as an appetizer or served over whole grain rice as a main course.

How to season your cast iron skillet

A properly seasoned cast iron skillet is an excellent culinary tool; for cooking up a shore lunch, sauteing fresh duck breast with a side of eggs for an after hunt brunch, or making a stir fry from the previous post. If you are just purchasing a cast iron frying pan or are restoring an old one, the first thing to be done is to scrub it well with steel wool and hot water to remove any manufacturing film or rust. Once it is thoroughly clean and dry, heat the pan over medium to medium high heat until hot and then rub vegetable (olive is best) oil into the hot pan. Wipe out excess oil. This process may need to be repeated again until a smooth, slick surface is created. You now have a seasoned cast iron pan. An old-fashioned cast iron skillet should not be washed with soap and water because it will rust and not have the "seasoning" that prevents food from sticking. Rather, to clean your cast iron skillet, sprinkle some coarse salt (pretzel salt works great, but any salt will do) and a drop of olive oil in your pan and rub it with a cloth to remove any food and particulates. The salt helps with abrasion and to sanitize. Then heat your pan over medium high heat for a few minutes and wipe the pan out again with a paper towel or clean cloth. You may need to add a few drops more olive oil before heating the pan to create the nice seasoning (this is especially true if you are seasoning a new pan or had been cleaning with water and soap in the past). If you clean your cast iron skillet with salt and oil each time, you will have a natural non-stick fry pan. And yes, you do get extra iron in your diet when using a cast iron skillet!

Dog Days of Summer

August is an excellent time to start cleaning out the freezer. You may have some venison packages tucked in the back, perhaps a duck breast or pheasant buried in the deep freeze. Some of this meat may even have a little freezer burn on an outer edge. But before you decide to cook them up for the pooch, here are some ways to make those lost freezer relics tasty.

First, defrost the meat safely in the refrigerator. Then look for any whitish discoloration along the edges where it may have gotten freezer burn and trim this off.

Stir Fry with Seasonal vegetables (and out of season meat)
1/4 cup soy sauce (low sodium preferably)
1/4 cup sherry or chicken broth (or water if need be)
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp. ginger
1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne to taste
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb. game meat (such as venison steak, duck breast, pheasant or quail) sliced- you may want to tenderize the meat before slicing by pounding it with a meat mallet.
2 Tbsp. flour, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper
2 cups of fresh sliced vegetables, such as carrots, zucchini, sweet peppers, brocoli, greens beans, etc (you can use frozen veggies in a pinch)

In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, sherry (or chicken broth), garlic, ginger, brown sugar or honey, and red pepper. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet or wok over medium high heat. Dredge the meat in the seasoned flour and put in skillet with hot oil to brown meat. Cook about 3 minutes and then add the vegetables. Cook for another minute or two stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce mix and stir until sauce thickens, 1-3 minutes (if sauce doesn't thicken enough to your liking, you may add 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed in 1 Tbsp water or chicken broth to the pan). Serve over whole grain rice.

Smoked Lake Trout

Seneca and Cayuga lake provide delicious lake trout, brown trout, rainbow trout and landlocked salmon. Seneca Lake is hot right now for lakers (with less spiny water fleas to mess up fishing lines). You may keep in combination up to 5 fish a day (to include no more than 3 lake trout and no more than 3 landlocked) with a minimum length of 15", though there is an 18" minimum for landlocked salmon on Cayuga lake. DEC has a nice, one page fishing regulation guide for the Finger Lakes region to print and have on hand. Some of the lake and brown trout caught over the weekend had a lovely orange hue, similar to salmon, due to the carotenoids in the flesh from the fish eating small crustaceans. Wild trout is very nutritious, being high in Omega-3 fatty acids and an excellent source of vitamin B12, Niacin, and protein.

To fillet the trout start with a very sharp fillet knife (a good fillet knife should have some flex to it). Place the fish on a cutting board with it's spine facing you. Cut behind the gill in a slight arc to the backbone and slide the knife in a gently see-sawing action along the backbone and ribs to the tail. Leave the fillet attached to the end of the tail and turn the fillet over so the skin side is down. Then, starting where the fillet is attached to the tail, gently slide your fillet knife along the skin, keeping the skin taught, to remove the skin from the fillet. West Virginia Extension has an excellent Trout processing resource, including pictures and videos on how to butterfly fillet trout.

Once you have filleted and rinsed your trout place it in a brine for 6-12 hours. Brine should be kept cold, such as in a refrigerator.

Brine for trout:
1/2 cup pickeling or sea salt
2 qts. cold water
2-4 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp pickling spices (you can experiment with other flavors, such as dill and lemon peel, garlic, asian flavorings of soy, ginger and lemongrass, etc)

Mix all ingredients, making sure the salt dissolves. Make sure the brine is cold when fish are placed in it. Use a glass or ceramic container, do not use a metal bowl.

After you have brined your trout fillets, place them on slightly oiled metal racks (can use the smoker racks) and let them dry for about one hour to form a slight glossy shine, a pellicle. This locks in the juices and flavors. A fan can be used to speed up the process.

Preheat the smoker and then smoke your fillets according to the directions of your smoker. Usually the fish will be smoked at 225 degrees until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees (about 2 hours).

Smoked Trout fillets are excellent served with crackers and cheese as an appetizer. They also make nice sandwiches, salad (similar to a tuna salad), and a spread when mixed with cream cheese, spices and spread on crackers or crusty bread. Delicious!