need spruce hen recipes

[daughterbear]

Can you guys give me some spruce hen recipes? I know in the winter they don't taste as good and I need ideas to make them taste better. Something simple but takes the gamy taste away. Whats the best way to bake and fry them? Spices etc.
Thanks

[AGL4now]

I breast them, soak them over night in salt water, but them in an appropriate size (not to big & not to small) Zip-lock bag with Italian dressing let them set in the refrigerator over night, bread them in Krusteaz Pancake mix, fry them in bacon grease, bear grease, or butter. Yummmmmmm

[grizzk]

I have had good luck with buttermilk over night and drain and rinse and cook or bread

[BTK]

Wild cranberry sauce "helps" to hide some gaminess and moisten also.

[dandeo2003]

the best way

would be to swap birds with me, my store bought chicken meat for your hens. My wife may not like it but I sure would!

[AKFishOn]

Here is one tried last week with Ptarmigan:

Dry Curry Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Three shots of Appricott Brandy

Marrinade them for a couple of hours the fry in butter, tasted very good

[daughterbear]

Here is one tried last week with Ptarmigan:
Dry Curry Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Three shots of Appricott Brandy

Marrinade them for a couple of hours the fry in butter, tasted very good

Ummm.... is the brandy for you...or the bird?
Hopeak's idea does sound real good. Im going to have to try that one.
Nope dandeo, not going to trade
Keep em coming guys, I need all the ideas you can give me.

[ruffle]

Add perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 cup of soy sauce to a 2-qt. mixing bowl.

Add another quarter-cup to half-cup of packed brown sugar.

Add 1 or 2 tsp. garlic.

Add 1 or 2 tsp onion powder

Add either 1 tsp+ of ginger, -or- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. Chinese Five Spice

Add 1 tsp sweet basil, either standard or Thai will do fine.

Add a couple of Tbsp. olive oil

Add your desired amount of either a crushed Korean red pepper, or some crumbled dried cayenne, or the seasoning hot pepper of your choice.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Note: the above amounts are approximations, as I rarely measure m,uch when I cook.
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Take your 4 to 6 (8 even?) spruce hen breasts, and slice them into strips, cross-grain to the meat (for tenderness in eating), at a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2 inch, by what ever thickness of the breasts.

Add strips to the marinade that you mixed up, and set aside in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of hours.
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Meanwhile;

take the equivalency of 3/4 sweet bell pepper (use several different colors of peppers for a nice array),

1/2 pablano pepper or anaheim pepper ,

one medium sweet onion

a couple of healthy handfuls of trimmed and cleaned snow pea pods,

a couple of smaller tender carrots,

a couple of cups of mung bean sprouts,

and if you wish,

some mushrooms (crimini, oyster, or ****ake),

fresh broccoli flowerettes (2 cups?)

>>>>>> and....

slice sweet or pablano peppers into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices x 1-2 inches in length

slice sweet onion into cresent moon-shaped slices about 2 inches long (+/-)

slice carrots into thin sliced cross-sectional pieces or 'match-stick' slices

if using broccoli, make sure that flowerettes are the size you want in a stir-fry

slice or chunk mushrooms; I leave oyster and ****ake mushrooms in halves or so, but tend to slice the crimini mushrooms into thick slices.
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Add all of your sliced and other veggies into a bowl big enough to hold them together.

Fire up your wok, and get it good and hot, first adding about 2 TBSP of canola oil to it.

When oil is piping hot (good hot wok temp), add the marinated spruce hen breast slices to it, stir-frying 'til they're nearly thoroughly cooked.

Then:

Add the whole, sliced, chopped, and other veggie ingredients to the wok, and continue stir-frying until they're not quite soft, with still a decent al dente' crispness, but done enough to have released their flavors.

Take a 2-cup measuring cup with 1-1/2 cups of hot H2O, dissolving three chicken boulion cubes into it, stirring constantly until the cubes are dissolved. Pour broth over veggies in wok, and continue stirring.

Take a TBSP of milk and mix in approx. 2-3 TBSP corn starch, making a paste, then a thin slip as it dissolves. Add more milk if necessary, in order to achieve the thin 'slip' consistency, but only after you've gotten the corn starch moistened. Pour into hot simmering wok mix, stirring in well and quickly. Continue stir-frying until the broth in the wok is notably thickening.
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Serve over your preferred brown or white rice. If you like, you can add more 'hotness' to it, either in the marinade or on top when done; Thai pepper paste, habanero paste (tread lightly), or other preferred source of 'warmth' are good...

[FamilyMan]

saffron sauce

Try it with a saffron sauce on top. Same sauce also works splendidly with salmon, asparagus, or artichokes; probably with crab too. My wife now has me make a triple batch whenever I make it, so she pours it into little 1 or 2 portion containers and then she can "make it" anytime she wants. It actually does reheat/reuse quite well so long as you've never once overheated it and "broken" the sauce (evidenced by the butter separating).

The sauce is a bit tricky in that the reduction has to be done right and it goes very fast towards the end. And also don't overheat it during the final step of whisking in the softened sticks of butter.

I use the recipe from the movie "No Reservations" and it is first rate. Also its not a bad movie to watch too, if you're in the position of being forced to watch a chick flick. (Thats how I earn my "James Bond" movies for us to watch. :cool: )

[Vince]

our last batch went in the crockpot with the baked beans...might have to try Ruffles recipe there one day i am desiding to destroy the kitchen...

[ruffle]

Thanks Vince.

I forgot to add the several sticks of bok choy/pak choy, (depending upon dialect). Also known as chinese mustard, it is similar to a whiter, more broad-shaped celery, and has a somewhat almond-like flavor. I use it when ever possible. It matures in the garden in a matter of a month or so, making it one of several items that a person can grow multiple crops of in a summer here, if they so desire.

When I was building our house a decade or so ago, I would occasionally show up at night with spruce hens. I would make the 'dish' that I described below, as I had previously done something very similar with scallops and chicken.

After a time of intermittently subjecting my kids to this meal, with no thought really as to what their attitude was, one day one of my kids asked, "Dad, when are you going to make some more stir-fried grouse?"

I was kinda' stunned. Spruce hens, while unique, had never stood out to me as something that I really craved (Ptarmigan and other birds are a different matter, though..)

I was a bit shocked that my kids were specifically ASKING for stir-fried spruce hens, sprucey flavor and all!! WOW!!

BTW, I'm humored that four letters were automatically censored & removed from my two references to a (potentially mispelled) well-known asian mushroom that's rumored to have high amounts of mineral and nutrient value, and as a questionable homeo-pathic remedy for aching joints... Oooops!!! I said 'joints' too!!

[daughterbear]

Thanks all

Thanks for all the yummy recipes.
I'm going to add candlelight to ruffles recipe
I need easy ones also. Something to make while I am remote w/ little ingredients. Have any open fire or wood stove ideas?
I also need some rabbit recipes.
I am printing out all your ideas so please keep them coming.
Thanks again.

I'm getting the munchies:eek:

[Catch It]

All I gotta say is COCONUT CURRY.

I had a freezer full of good luck a few years ago (I didn't shoot a single duck for a year until I had all that "luck" taken care of.

A big part of all this was spruce hens. I ended up making curries of all colors and compositions and found grouse and ducks or all freezer ages to make fantastic meat for them.