quote:
Originally posted by bartsche:

quote:
Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:
I onle ate elk once in my life and it was great.



Elk is great.....moose is even better!


thumbdownNot to my taste budds. holycowroger


I'll send you some!


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AC-

I sure agree with you on that one. The best venison out there, as far as I am concerned, is moose meat. Second best for my tastes is sun-dried caribou ribs.

A huge fat mule deer. After hanging awhile a back strap was butterflied salted and peppered and fried in bacon grease.
next an antelope mini porterhouse,
Third was elk
fourth a canada goose breast also fried in bacon grease
I had moose only once and don't care if I ever eat it again.
The only game less palatable to me was Mallard.
Almost forgot: loved deep fried Bob White.

Learn something all the time*** thought those sun dried ribs were for the sled dogs. roger

The best wild game I've had is the sitka deer of SE Alaska, especially the island deer in Prince William Sound. Delicious cooked in a variety of ways.

Second best that I've had was a young wild hog, cooked slow over Mesquite coals in South Texas.

The piglet may have been the best, but I would have to try each side-by-side to decide.

Many years ago, when I was a lad in Georgia, cottontail rabbits were really plentiful, and we ate a lot of them. I really liked them cooked slow in gravy, until the meat would just fall off the bone with a fork. They were also good pressure cooked to make tender, then bar-b-q over smoky hickory coals.

For wild game, it's hard to compete with slow bar-b-q wild piglet.

KB

Hands down..Scimitar Oryx.

Fabulous wild game includes Eland, ruffed grouse, ptarmigan, quail, moose, elk and roughly in that order.....execpting for walleye and other fish species of course.

It would be tough for me to pick between frog legs and quail.

quote:

Originally posted by dave-t:
It would be tough for me to pick between frog legs and quail.

Do you know the difference?

Addax and Scimitar horned oryx are my two favorite. Glad a have one of each in the freezer at the moment!!!

A Guinea fowl casserole made by the mother of a PH/Outfitter friend in Zimbabwe. Absolutely the best wild game dish I have ever eaten. Second was a Sable roast prepared by a Tobacco Farmer in the Doma area and served with a Zimbabwe wine that was unusually good. Both prepared with game I had shot that day.

I dunno, probably the fresh gemsbok backstrap hot off the braai ... but by then I had had several Namibian beers.

Can't think of any that I've disliked.

Some of the most memorable on the Damn Good side were:

Cow elk loins cut like thick filets and pan-seared to medium rare with just salt and pepper. Had this in deer camp last year.

Mule deer loins and Antelope loins cut like little T-Bone lamb chops, grilled with salt and pepper to medium rare.

The same bonless loins cut an inch and a half thick and pan-seared to medium rare, removed from the pan then saute mushrooms and wine of your choice to a reduction, finish with whole butter. Great with Marsala!

Grilled Duck and Canadian Goose breast filets. One that no one really likes because they don't know how to do it right. Just salt and pepper or use a fresh herb dry rub and grill to RARE. No gaminess whatsoever! Tastes like Beef Filet Mignon!

Pheasant Breasts in Red Wine, one of my favorites right out of the Ducks Unlimited Cookbook. Browned in butter then removed. Saute mushrooms, deglaze with a good Red and reduce, add heavy cream and reduce till almost thickened before returning the Pheasants to the pan to finish. Unbelievable!

Dove Breasts done with a sweet and sticky Tai chicken wing recipe I have!

Dove Breast filets simply tossed in cornstarch, salt and pepper and fried in Argentina.....





Deer or Elk Liver and Onions, Roasted Garlic Mashers, Asparagus....





Venison-Green Chile-Bacon-Cheddar Burgers with oven-baked home fries....





The game I probably like the least is the one everyone always raves about...Oryx. Every one I've shot has the toughest loins I've ever had. I have to make thin cutlets out of them and pound the hell out of them with a meat hammer to make any of it edible. Make Oryx Parmesan out of them, Marinara, melted Mozzarella... Still tough and flavorless.

The ground Oryx for burgers is so lean it won't hold together in a patty.

Does Morel mushrooms count?

Of what I have eaten, Axis Deer ranks first, Antelope, Elk, Quail, and then on down from there. Really have had no meat properly cared for that was really bad, with the possible exception of Duck. Just never developed a taste for them.

Fresh Trout with a spinach and arugula salad tossed in truffle oil and rice wine vinegar....





Red Chile Lamb Enchilada with an over easy egg on top from last night. It would be great with ground venison of any kind!

.

Yes Vapo! Morels and wild porcini count!

Vine Ripened Tomato (Caprese), Fresh Mozzarella, Basil salad...





I know this may not apply as the tomatoes were "farm raised" in an enclosure!

rcamulia, that's funny!! Great looking plates. Looks like some of the plates my wife cooks. Are you a chef also?

We really enjoy eating everything we kill (with the exception of varmits and some predators). When we have a tough animal, we use the pressure cooker, braise it or make sausage/chorizo/hamburger. Try throwing in some chunks of fatty bacon (or whatever fat you prefer) when you grind the meat.

Favorite hoofed game: Axis, Red Stag, Elk, Bison and Whitetail.

Feathered game: Pheasant, quail, dove.

We haven't quite mastered cooking wild hog yet. We braised a red stag neck a few weeks ago. When we pulled it out of the oven, the meat fell of the bones and it was delicious.

The head of a goat but it might have only tasted that good because I hadn't eaten anything for a few days.

I loved Nilgai. A friend of mine hunted them on the King Ranch and would grill steaks on the weekends.

Eland with nilgai a very close second. Addax backstrap pretty hard to beat, as well.

Worst game I ever put in my mouth was bear and Javelina not one of my favorites, either.

Regards,
hm

Zebra, Cottontail Rabbit, Caribou, Gemsbok. In that order.

blackbuck doe, eland, feral sow, cottontail or swamphairs!

quote:

Originally posted by rcamulia:
Fresh Trout with a spinach and arugula salad tossed in truffle oil and rice wine vinegar....

When living in GJ CO. caught and ate a lot of trout. Really didn't care for it that much but the kids and wife liked it.
Small brooks gutted and put in the fire till they were near black, split open and finger fed with potato chips(salt) were good.
Heavily smoked, consumed with pretzles and beer while watching football was tasty.
You also can have my share of salmon.
Could never bring myself to eat Jack Rabbit either.
Could have shot a lot of wild turkies but didn't, so I never ate any.Don't see any listed on this thread either. roger

Zebra backstraps over the braai...Most EXCELLENT!!!

Funny thing was I was hesitant at first as it looked too much like a horse...

A lot of the elk I have eaten has been very tasty, but I generally prefer pronghorn antelope. Absolutely the best game meat I have ever eaten is big horn sheep.

quote:

Could have shot a lot of wild turkies but didn't, so I never ate any.Don't see any listed on this thread either.

Here we are allowed seven per year......and they are darn good eating sir.....

at jack rabbit once.. smoked it.. tasted it.. made spagetti sauce out of it.. was still horrible

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Could have shot a lot of wild turkies but didn't, so I never ate any.Don't see any listed on this thread either.

Here we are allowed seven per year......and they are darn good eating sir.....

Yes, chicken fried wild turkey breast makes some pretty good chompin.
Damn, I'm gettin' hongry!

Barbequed alligator.

The best wild game I have ever eaten was a moose from Wyoming, and an Axis deer from Texas. Both were over the top fantastic.

Feathered critters, I would say doves are my favorite.

For fins, I would have say Cobia is the best I have ever had. But I have eaten more walleye than a person should and salmon also.

Spring Black Bear tenderloin with 4-spot shrimp and halibut on the side.

The Prince William Sound Tri-Fecta (Thanks Dan and Chris for welcoming me to AK - I can't wait to get back up there).

Nate

Dall Sheep by far!!! It might be that I carried it 15 miles to camp, but dang it is good.

You guys are making me hungry.

I would rather have some wild game or fish anytime over something from the store.

I forgot about the wild turkey. I had one once that was a young bird, and the cook marinated it with something that included apple juice, then he smoked it for a long time, which cooked it at the same time. That was some of the best wild game.

When I lived in SE Alaska I joined up with some native guys and went clam digging for cockle clams, which live in the mud at the places where creeks flow into salt water, in the tidal zone. They removed them from the shell, cleaned the clams, marinated them in a brine with spices, then smoked them carefully, then put them in jars and pressure cooked them. What a delicacy. You just can't buy that in a store, as far as I know.

I have heard about dall sheep several times, but that's the kind of meat that isn't given away, even to best of friends. It's too difficult to pack out. I've heard several times that it is absolutely the best wild game there is.

I've heard mixed opinions about black bear meat. Some like it, but I won't eat it. I had a close friend describe his experience, in detail, about when he tried cooking and eating some brown bear. He said it stunk when cooking, and didn't improve when done, and was so tough that he couldn't chew it. I couldn't believe he actually tried to eat it, but you would have to know him to appreciate what he was saying. He couldn't even get his dog to eat it, so threw it away.

I think the opinion that jack rabbit is not human food is universally accepted as fact.

Anyway, it's dinner time. I have some fresh caught and fresh cooked silver salmon waiting, and a flavorful bottle of chardonnay.

KB

Pronghorn or Coues deer liver....simply pan fried medium rare, a little salt and pepper.

Roger - I never really liked moose much either until one cold Fall day in Edmonton, my young wife and I cooked it "wrong".

We were pretty pressed for money at the time and were pretty much living on moose meat (steaks, roasts and sausages) three meals a day every day. (Once a month I'd get a couple of three pound Choice beef Porterhouse cuts, but that was only enough for two suppers.)

Well, it was her birthday and I had bought a couple of bottles of cheap Portuguese sweet red wine (Palmela) she particularly liked.

She had prepared a moose roast same as always...just like a beef roast, and stuck it in the oven to cook for the same length of time as a beef roast of the same weight.

Well, between finishing off the two bottles of wine and a little fooling around, etc., the roast cooked in the completely closed roasting pan with the carrots, potatoes, etc. for just about exactly twice as long as it should have.

We tried it anyway (we didn't have anything else for supper).

Man, IT WAS FABULOUS!!

So the next time, we tried that again...the long cooking, that is, not the wine. And it was fabulous AGAIN.

After that we always cooked the roasts that way. MMM, mmm, GOOD!!

I still don't like moose roast cooked the same length of time as beef roasts, but leave them in there at about 350 degrees until you just know they will be ruined, and they are great!! Just make sure they don't get the least bit dry. Plenty of juice, plenty of time, that's what they seem to need.

The caribou ribs don't need anything to make them delicious except sunshine to dry them, and some thin cheese cloth or a good breeze to keep the flies off while the sun does its thing.

I stuck a few of the ribs in my pack when I was still-hunting, and would occasionaly gnaw the meat off of one...both wets the mouth as the gnawing gets the saliva going, tastes really good, and provides some long term energy. If I stopped for lunch, I'd both "bile the kittle" to make a cup of tea, and gnaw on those ribs.

When its right around -5 F to +5 F, nothing is nicer. Not cold enough to be even mildly bothersome in Alberta where the relative humidity is often right around 2% when the temp is about zero degrees, so the tea gives a nice internal warmth, so does the food, and it is easy to just ease along afterward and look for skookum mowitch in a nice relaxed fashion.

P.S.: the "kittle" is not a real kettle. Any thin tin can with a bail will do. I squash it pretty much flat to carry in or on the pack until needed, then make it round again as best I can, fill it with water or snow, and hang it over a very small camp fire. Toss the tea in when the water begins to boil, and take the can away from the fire. Some sugar will give you more energy for the afternoon of the hunt, but unlike coffee good tea is plenty sweet and refreshing without sugar.

BTW, if you use snow, you'll have to add more to the can several times to get enough water for tea. Snow is roughly 10 imes more bulky than water...that is, 10 " of dry powder snow will give you about 1" of water when melted.

Ah yes, memoires of the good old days....a little strawberry schnapps, Ross's apricot brandy, or Slavik pear liqeur (SP?) never hurt a good cup of tea either when tossed back separately!! BTW strawberry schnapps is NOT strawberry flavoured. It is MADE from strawberries. And Ross's brandy isn't like that cheap apricot Hennessy trash we get here in the "States"...not a sort of cheap brandy with artificial apricot flavouring added, which is still raw and very alcoholic to the palate. Ross's is so thick it is almost like thinned apricot flavoured honey and there is no acoholic backwash to it at all.

Damn! Makes me wanna go back even at this age.

The best moose roast I ever had was maybe fifteen years ago, and comes with a story.

I was unemployed at the time, and decided to do an adventure. I read about a place near Telegraph Creek, B.C. with accomodations. I had been wanting to go there for a long time. So, I took off in my little Toyota P.U. in March, from Soldotna, Alaska. I had talked with the owner of the place by radio phone, connected through the RCMP in T. C. and she knew I was on my way. I knew it is remote there, so I picked up a rubber maid box and filled it with treats at the grocery store for gifts. Drove to Dease Lake, then down that switch back road into the Stikine River canyon to Telegraph Creek. That was an adventure in itself. I stopped for a long time and watched a lynx hunt - no fear at all. The road keeps going a ways to a community that I can't remember the name, along the way there are some nice houses.

So, I met her there, at the end of the road, where it meets the river crossing. Now I can't remember her name. She was a tough old biddy, about 65, running an old skido. That was the most uncomfortable ride I've ever had. We crossed the frozen Stickine, following the sticks in the ice, and on to her ranch. It wasn't what I expected. Much more rustic. Outdoor toilet, etc. Very cold - near 30 below one night as I recall, and the wind moaned. Her house was old and rustic too, and had three wood stoves. One was a wood oven, which was huge. It had to be taken apart to get in the house. She burned birch wood that she cut herself. She had an old Mauser 30-06 hanging near the door, no scope - iron sights, and wolverine and wolf hides stretched on the porch.

She was the real deal.

I stayed a week, and paid for the accomodations. She loaned (rented) me the skidoo one day to go with a young fellow from down the river. We followed the frozen Stikine, alternating sides to avoid the rapids, up the bank and through the woods at one point where the ice was thin on both sides of the river, to the first main tributary, then turned around, about 30 miles each way. For a guy not used to snow machines, it was indeed and adventure. I discovered later that my "guide" was only 14. He was running skis with carbide ridges. The skis on the skidoo were standard, and wouldn't hold the track on ice as well. I struggled, to say the least.

It's a long story, but the point is that she cooked a moose roast in that wood oven, and it was tender, moist and very good. She shot and butchered that moose herself. She took me to the place, and it was covered in wolf tracks where they were still gnawing the bones and hide.

I took lots of pictures, but later found that the camera malfunctioned, and none survived. The memories sure did though. Although the place wasn't what I expected, in many ways it was better, and the money and gifts I gave her surely made a difference in making it through the winter. About the only income I could see was from the sale of hay, which she took across the river ice on a sled behind the skidoo, and locals bought on the honor system.

KB

African?? Hard to beat Giraffe. Leopard a VERY close second. USA?? These little Blacktail are tasty but the Hawaiian Axis is better by far. Then there is the best!!------Cougar!
MP

best.. Moose
Worse..Dove

Quail are excellent, but, I never could aquire a taste for dove.
The best way to cook doves is to stick a jalepeno inside of them and wrap a slice of bacon around and stick a toothpic through it to hold it all together and stick it on the pit.

When it's done, you just eat the jalepeno and bacon and chunk the dove.

Gemsbok, Eland
Axis, Elk

Whitetail heart

Has anyone ever eaten a beaver ? roger