October 2011 Hunting Trip

Another fall hunting trip is in the books.  My brother and I along with two other buddies roughed it in the Chequamegon National Forest couple of weekends back.  A little grouse, woodcock, and duck hunting and some rustic camp cookery.  Fortunately we brought plenty of food because there were no ducks and we didn't shoot many grouse.  We did however get 2 woodcocks and 1 grouse.  So Saturday afternoon I whipped up a appetizer to throw on the grill.  And it also happened to coincide with cocktail hour, go figure. Here is the recipe.

Bacon Wrapped Grouse and Woodcock

Ingredients

·        2 Boneless, skinless Grouse Breasts

·        4 Boneless, skinless Woodcock Breasts

·        ¼ cup Kosher Salt

·        ¼ cup sugar

·        1 cup of hot water

·        1 can of Point Beer

·        1 Tbs Black Pepper

·        2 Cloves of Garlic, smashed

·        1 Tbs Italian Herb Seasoning

·        Thick Cut Bacon

Mix salt and sugar with the hot water. Add the pepper, garlic, and Italian seasoning to the brine liquid.  When salt has dissolved, add half of the beer to the brine and drink the rest. Cut the breast halves into 1-½ inch pieces and place into zip top bag containing the brine.  Place in fridge or cooler for about an hour.

Drain liquid and discard; wrap each piece with a half strip of bacon.  There should be enough bacon to go around the breast pieces twice.  Secure with a wooden toothpick.  If you don’t have toothpicks you could whittle some out of a chunk of wood or use wooden matchsticks with the tips cut off.  Whatever works?

Place the bacon wrapped breasts chunks on a grill.  Grill them slowly, about 20 minutes or until bacon is crispy. For extra flavor, drop the grill grate into the fire so you coat the pieces with ash.  You know who you are.

Trout Almandine

• Fresh Rainbow Trout, filleted
• 2 cups Sliced Almonds, divided
• ½ cup flour
• 8 Tbs Butter
• ¼ cup Amaretto

Place 1-cup almonds in a food processor and pulse to a fine texture.  Place in a shallow bowl with the flour, mix well to combine.  Heat a non-stick skillet to medium high and add 4 tablespoons of the butter. Meanwhile add a heavy pinch of the remaining sliced almonds to the flour-almond mixture. Take the trout, flesh side down, and dredge them in the flour and almonds, pressing down on the fish.  Repeat with the remaining fillets.  When the butter is melted and bubbly, add the trout to the skillet carefully flesh side down.  Sauté for about 5 to 6 minutes or until browned.  Carefully flip fillets and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.  Remove fish to a plate and loosely cover with foil.  Wipe the skillet clean and return to heat.  When the skillet is hot again, add the Amaretto and flambé.  Allow the alcohol to cook off.  Then add the remaining butter.  Stir to combine and pour over the trout.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with parley boiled red potatoes and fresh asparagus.

Apple Waldburg Balsam Smoked Pork Porterhouses

When it comes to pork, nothing beats a thick-cut bone-in pork chop.  I brine all my pork now.  Brining is a great way to increase flavor and moisture content of leaner cuts of meat, such as pork.  If you have never brined a piece of pork before you don't know what juicy and tender is all about.  Not only does it provide flavor it prevents the meat from drying out as you cook it.  Brining is simple and basically there are no rules.  Brine is salt...  You can use whatever you like with it; water, beer, or wine.  Most of the time I use beer or vinegar.  This time I used some artisan vinegar I got at Vom Foss.  The vinegar was a Apple Waldburg Balsam vinegar. The pork was 2-inch thick, bone-in pork porterhouses.  The brining took 24 hours.  The fun started at the smoking process, time to tap a frosted glass of Point Special and watch pork chops smoke.  The rest of the story goes as follows:

Brine:

·                    1 cup water

·                    ¼ cup Kosher Salt

·                    ¼ Brown Sugar

·                    1/3 cup Waldburg Apple Balsam Vinegar

·                    1 Tbs Whole Peppercorns

·                    2 Tbs Pickling Spice

·                    2 cups Ice Cubes

Put a medium saucepan over high heat; add water, salt, brown sugar, vinegar, peppercorns, and pickling spices.  Heat just to a boil; remove from heat and mix thoroughly to dissolve the sugar and salt.  Add ice cubes to cool brine completely before using.  Put the chops and the brine in a zip top bag and place in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. 

 Brining Ingredients

 Smoker:

After the brining process, prepare smoker for low heat.  Place chops on the grate and smoke slowly for 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Make sure smoker temperature is around 160 to 170 degrees.  You do not want to cook the chops in the smoker.  Add wood chips to the coals to produce a nice smoke.  You can use any fruit wood chips like apple or cherry, but don’t use mesquite, oak, or hickory, they are too overpowering.

 Chops on the Smoker

Smoked Chops Ready for a Spice Rub

Grill:

Prepare your gas or charcoal grill for direct high heat.  When the chops are done smoking you can add any spice rub you would like at this time.  I chose to use a herb seasoning made from crushed brown mustard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and sage.  The chops will be somewhat dry to the touch after smoking, so you can brush a little olive oil on them prior to the seasoning.  

 These chops are ready for some grilling action!!

During the smoking process, the chops have cooked partially.  They do not require long cooking time when they reach the grill.  Put the chops on the hot grate and grill for 4-5 minute or until the internal temp. reaches 145 degrees for medium doneness.  Remove them to a plate and allow them to rest for 5 minutes.

 The final product, yum!

Sorry no photo of the inside of the chop, by this time I had a few beers and was too hungry to take any more photos, you know how it goes.