By: Angelo Biondo
Rabbit, Pheasant, Squirrel etc.
Wild Game Recipe’s
Up until my cataract surgery several years ago, hunting was one of my passions. Each year I would look forward to opening day of small game and would be out every weekend until the close of rabbit season in late February. During the big game season, I would take time off from work and be out as much as possible. My friends and I hunted everything: Duck, Partridge, Pheasant, Rabbit, Squirrel, Turkey, Woodchuck, Woodcock, etc., and Deer during the big game season.
In the over 45+ years of hunting I have accumulated an innumerable number of wild game recipes. With the onset of hunting season, I would like to share some of my favorite recipes with you.
If you are new to hunting, you need to keep in mind that wild game is just that, wild and must be treated as such. Wild animals are subjected to many adverse conditions in the outdoors and encounter or come in contact with many types of bacteria and germs and viruses domestic animals are protected from. I’ve seen a squirrel fight a rat over a black walnut. Many wild animals are bitten by mosquito’s carrying the “West Nile Virus” and others are bitten by rabid skunk’s. Skunk, are the ultimate scavenger. They eat dead carcasses of bats that died from eating rabies carrying mosquitoes.
I tell you this, not to discourage you from hunting, but to point out the importance of being careful when handling game. If you have any open sores on your hands, be sure to wear gloves when field dressing them. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend using rubber gloves when dressing game and preparing for cooking or storage.
Keep in mind that wild game that has been shot will have steel shot embedded in the flesh, always remove the shot from the flesh when dressing and cleaning. Steel shot has a tendency to crack or break teeth when one bites into it.
Game taken in the field, is usually dead before it hits the ground or takes its next step, so unlike domestic animals that are professionally slaughtered in slaughter houses are not properly bleed out. In preparing game prior to consumption you need to bleed out the game as much as possible, or it will have a strong wild taste. To bleed out small game, I place the game in a porcelain canning pot, fill it with cold salt water (about 2 tablespoons salt to 1 gallon of water), and let set in the refrigerator for several hours. After removing from the refrigerator, rinse thoroughly and re-fill the pot with cold water, leave in sink and let cold water trickle in pot letting water overflow until water in pot is clear. The small game should be visibly lighter in color, almost white.
As far as I know, all States today require the use of steel shot. Lead shot is no longer allowed and is in fact illegal for use in hunting small game. I’m told the bad side of steel shot is that it rusts. As I used lead shot for most of the years I hunted, and only used steel shot for the last few, I can’t say for sure. But I never took any chances of letting the shot rust in the meat by taking every precaution to remove all shot before freezing.
So now that we have the essentials out of the way, let’s cook! Here are some of my favorite small game recipe’s:
Roast Rabbit: (I have used this recipe for Grey and Black Squirrel and Pheasant as well)
Ingredients:
1 rabbit – cut into pieces (optionally Pheasant, or Squirrel)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt (to taste)
½ teaspoon black pepper (to taste)
¼ lb butter
Instructions:
Melt butter in small pan, add salt, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon and mix together.
· Place rabbit pieces on a cookie sheet or small flat pan.
· Brush rabbit with seasoned mixture
· Bake in 350o pre-heated oven for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on size of rabbit)
· Turn after 15 to 20 minutes and brush again.
· Remove rabbit from oven and dip pieces in remainder of seasoning and serve.
Hasenpfeffer
(A German Rabbit Recipe)
1-2 rabbit/s cut into pieces
1 ½ cups dry red wine like Zinfandel, or Cabernet
2-3 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
½ tablespoon salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon whole cloves
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 bay leaves
Place the cut-up pieces of rabbit in a covered refrigerator container.
· Combine ingredients listed above in a bowl.
· Pour the mixture over rabbit pieces covering completely.
· Marinate in refrigerator overnight.
· Place marinated rabbit in Electric Crock-Pot, and add 1 ½ cups marinade.
· Cover and let cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours.
· Remove rabbit from Crock-Pot and place on serving platter.
· Thicken gravy, with flour or cornstarch and serves.
Serves 4
I like to use a good Zinfandel for this recipe, and the friend who’s family this recipe came from uses a good red cooking wine, however – others I have talked to say they have used white wine with success. I have always gone with the rule of red wind for meats and white wine for fish, but I guess it’s one’s own personal choice. If you are not familiar with cooking wines some of the leading dry white wines are:
· Sauvignon Blanc
· Chardonnay
· Chenin Blanc and
· Riesling
Some of the leading red wines are:
· Zinfandel
· Cabernet Sauvignon
· Bordeaux
· Pinot Noir
· Grignolino, and
· Côtes-du-Rhône.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Some of the wild game recipe’s I’ll be listing in the next few blogs will cover woodchuck (groundhog), Turkey and Deer.
