Wild Game, Parties, and One Man's Prank
My dad loved to cook and his specialty was barbecue, but he wasn't always forthcoming about what type of meat he was cooking up!
Once a month, my mom writes a guest article for Culinary Travelers. There is always a story with humor and maybe even a little “eye-rolling”. Some of my readers knew my dad, so this one will hit close to home. For the rest, well, just know that there was rarely a dull moment! Enjoy Mom and Dad’s groundhog escapades from yesteryear!
I have eaten groundhog since I was teeny, but we have plenty of game birds and venison on the dinner table, along with a variety of fish - fried catfish is my favorite. Mom also shares her pan-seared duck breast method… it’s worth the effort. Delicious!
~Niki
I think young women are attracted to could-be husbands who have traits similar to their fathers. I know that isn’t always true, but certainly was true for me. I just didn’t realize it until a couple years after I was married!
I grew up eating lots of wild game. It was a sport, but my dad would never have killed anything we weren’t going to eat. He was a hunter and a fisherman, and twenty-five percent of our dinner meals were game. Sometimes, more. In retrospect, I know that hunting and fishing was all about putting food on the table for a family of five children. Add a grandfather and elderly neighbors to the guest list and it took lots of food.
When I first met Joe, I think he was intrigued by the fact that I knew all about barbecuing racoons, making fried squirrel with biscuits and gravy, and frying rabbit served with all the fried chicken side dishes. The fact that I knew how to clean fish and that I especially liked little bluegill fried in a big cast iron skillet which was later filled with potatoes and onions made him even more interested in his wife to be!
When he was a bachelor, Joe was notorious for hosting backyard parties. He specialized in filling galvanized washtubs with iced down watermelons. He injected the melons with vodka. Most of the guests didn’t detect the vodka, until they’d had too many bites! He loved to serve sandwiches of pulled barbecued meat. The meat wasn’t pork as you might expect. Joe loved to serve his guests and announce at the end of the party that the meat was groundhog. Yes, groundhog. The women cringed as they thought about what they had eaten. It was a big joke for the men.
Joe loved cooking groundhogs. He’d boil the beasts, then put them on the barbecue grill to draw out more of the unwanted grease. He'd pull the meat off the bones, put it a roaster with homemade barbecue sauce and cook it a little longer in the oven. It was tender, saucy, and topped with sliced onion. It was delicious… and there was bourbon in the sauce.
Southern Illinois is blessed with wild game, and I’ve cooked it all. I learned early in my party giving days that it took lots of quail to feed hungry men. I learned that if racoon was on the menu, there better be something else for the ladies in our circle of friends. I learned that frying enough rabbit for the men in my family also meant making gravy in a big soup pot. It took a lot of gravy and dozens of homemade biscuits.
Pan-Sear Duck Breast
Serving wild game at a party doesn’t meat the menu has to be that “meat and potatoes” country style. While groundhog isn’t on the menu at our house anymore, venison and game birds are frequent meals.
Venison, especially the loin and the roasts, make beautiful hearty holiday meals sauced with cranberries or simmered in red wine.
Game birds make especially elegant entrees. You just have to know how to cook them. One of my favorite dinner party meals is duck breast. It is easy to make and it doesn’t take too long, so you have lots of time to mingle with your guests. Here’s the way to do it well.
Remove the duck from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for about an hour before cooking. This will allow for more even cooking.
As soon as you remove the meat from the refrigerator, use a sharp knife and score the skin of the duck in half inch diamonds. The duck has plenty of fat between the skin and meat and you want to render that fat as it cooks, so give it plenty of places to ooze out.
Use a non-stick frying pan. Place the duck skin-side down on a cold frying pan and then turn the heat to medium. Let the duck breast sear for eight minutes. You can press it occasionally to make sure the skin is crisping. Try not to move it as you press it, though.
Turn the meat over and continue searing it for an additional four minutes. Remove the breasts from the skillet to a warm plate. Turn the heat off but leave the skillet on the burner so the grease doesn’t coagulate. You’ll want to use it to fry a few sliced potatoes or shredded brussels sprouts - or pour it in a container and save it for another use.
Duck is a rich and flavorful meat. I like to serve a green salad with an acidic dressing on the side. There are scores of sauces and delicious side dishes that are excellent with duck breasts. Use your imagination and your recipe research skills to find your favorites. As with all recipes, you should make them your own.