FOOD!

[sprzout]

I remember eating some German or Swiss chocolate from you at FTFF a few years ago. Maybe u can find some of that to supplement your diet.

With all you chef types and nice food I thought I'd input my food. Anybody here had squirrel stew? I guess they call it Brunswick stew. Alaska squirrels aren't like the fat things in the lower 48 so it takes like 20 squirrels to feed 6 people.

I've had Brunswick stew; however, I had it in a place in the Carolinas, and they didn't put squirrel in, they used chicken, beef, and pork roast. It wasn't bad, but unfortunately, it wasn't great, either - reminded me of a runny, meat pudding that didn't have much in the way of flavor. The place I had it wasn't exactly known for it, either, so maybe it wasn't the best example of Brunswick stew...

 

[foamtest]

I have an instant pot at my house and that thing is freaking awesome. It makes the best pulled pork I have ever tasted, and cheddar broccoli soup that's better than Panera's. Seriously if you don't have one, get one, they are great. Also I can get the recipies for them when I get home later tonight.

Also I think we should all meet up at FFOhio and cook the FT Team a lunch on Saturday night, anyone else with me?

 

[robobob]

Also I think we should all meet up at FFOhio and cook the FT Team a lunch on Saturday night, anyone else with me?

If I come to a flite fest in the upcoming year (I want to take a gap year before I head off to uni, so it's looking a little more likely) I am totally down for that!

 

[sprzout]

I have an instant pot at my house and that thing is freaking awesome. It makes the best pulled pork I have ever tasted, and cheddar broccoli soup that's better than Panera's. Seriously if you don't have one, get one, they are great. Also I can get the recipies for them when I get home later tonight.

Also I think we should all meet up at FFOhio and cook the FT Team a lunch on Saturday night, anyone else with me?

If they do a FF West again, I'll be down for it - going to Ohio this year isn't in the books for me.

 

[cranialrectosis]

Anybody here had squirrel stew? I guess they call it Brunswick stew. Alaska squirrels aren't like the fat things in the lower 48 so it takes like 20 squirrels to feed 6 people.

When I was a kid in southern California I would hunt the big Western Grey squirrels and fish the streams north of Kernville. I was 12 or 13 and carried my rifle and a sidearm a topo map and compass. Me and my dog would be gone for days at a time just hunting and fishing and exploring the Sequoia National Forest.

Squirrel on a spit creekside with raspberry or gooseberry juice as a baste is pretty darned good. The meat is very sweet and subtle. Raspberries really make the drumsticks pop.

It was a great way to grow up.

Thanks pop.

 

[rockyboy]

When I was a kid in southern California I would hunt the big Western Grey squirrels and fish the streams north of Kernville. I was 12 or 13 and carried my rifle and a sidearm a topo map and compass. Me and my dog would be gone for days at a time just hunting and fishing and exploring the Sequoia National Forest.

Squirrel on a spit creekside with raspberry or gooseberry juice as a baste is pretty darned good. The meat is very sweet and subtle. Raspberries really make the drumsticks pop.

It was a great way to grow up.

Thanks pop.

I never did like common Montana squirrel much (only tried twice) and we wouldn't eat the groundhogs, but fresh brook trout with just salt and pepper on a hickory or apple wood fire under the stars really hit the spot!

 

[SlingShot]

When I was a kid in southern California I would hunt the big Western Grey squirrels and fish the streams north of Kernville. I was 12 or 13 and carried my rifle and a sidearm a topo map and compass. Me and my dog would be gone for days at a time just hunting and fishing and exploring the Sequoia National Forest.

Hmmmm...........Hank only mentions North California. If you are around, I will need to remember to change that lyric

 

[SlingShot]

Seafood Gumbo

I got hungry.


The flash made the roux look lighter.


But after sauteing the garlic, onion, bell pepper and celery for 15 mins I think you get the idea.


And the finished product.

 

[PsyBorg]

hehe I grew up near the pinelands in Jersey. Best we had was them swamp squirrels. Unless you wanted to pop the grey squirrels in the front yard with a pellet pistol for a meal. I did hunt them for a while as they were coincided with rabbit season and I HATED to go home empty handed after walking so much hunting. Super rare that happening since we had arrangements to hunt the apple orchards that were near to where we lived so rabbits were a plenty. I did not bother too much with squirrels as they were the same amount of work for less then half the meat of them plump bunnies.

Now pheasant on the other hand.. mmmmm boy.

 

[rockyboy]

Oh man... pan roasted pheasant in a light gravy sauce...:applause: I haven't thought about that in years!!

 

[PsyBorg]

Glad I could help

 

[rockyboy]

Glad I could help

Would be more helpful if I knew anyone who still hunted pheasant... I always loved being out in the cool morning air with mist and dew hanging over the ground and the smell of sagebrush. And the dinner that night too. But the whole cleaning birds and cooking part in the middle, not so much

 

[PsyBorg]

there are several game preserves up in Jersey that stock over 50k Pheasant each year with a good portion not being killed so there are also wild bred stock in the mix as well. Seems the one I used to go to all the time no longer exists.

http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/smgame_info.htm

There is information on the WMA's as well as the breeders. Maybe you can get with the breeders and import your own stock and bypass the middleman + travel + hunting expenses.

 

[SlingShot]

Would be more helpful if I knew anyone who still hunted pheasant... I always loved being out in the cool morning air with mist and dew hanging over the ground and the smell of sagebrush. And the dinner that night too. But the whole cleaning birds and cooking part in the middle, not so much

When I lived in Cincinnati we used to go out in the fall once in a while. They would release pheasants a few time each year. One day being Thanksgiving day. It seemed a little dangerous with the above average number of people.

There was also a private farm we went to once. You paid a fee and got a dog. You had the opportunity to kill 2 birds and they gave you a great lunch. Good times.

 

[PsyBorg]

Same here. My uncle and I would be at the preserve at 5:30 and it would already be packed. I remember one year when the sun came up and that air horn sounded. The very first bird of the day flew past the line of hunters and straight up the service road and nearly every one of them idiots shot at that poor thing. THEN they all fought over who would get the bird ( lead weighted loose skin holding a few feathers)

We got outta that area as fast as we could and out in the marshes where no one wanted to walk the muck n mire. that was where all the birds pretty much ended up at since it was the quietest place in the preserve. We would get our limit of two each and be home before lunch time.

 

[rockyboy]

Growing up in rural Montana, we just went for a drive early in the morning to a favorite sage covered meadow area near water and went out looking for the pheasants and the grouse. This whole concept of 'released birds' and paying for access to an organized location is strange to me

 

[PsyBorg]

Beggers cant be choosers mate.. just saying

 

[sprzout]

I got hungry.

View attachment 102702
The flash made the roux look lighter.

View attachment 102703
But after sauteing the garlic, onion, bell pepper and celery for 15 mins I think you get the idea.

View attachment 102704
And the finished product.

That roux looks like what I'm used to seeing, either from the Louisiana cafe that we frequent (I don't know what seasonings they use to get it so tasty; all I know is that it is the best seafood gumbo I've had yet), or the Zatarain's box mix that my wife likes to make because she doesn't want to take the time to do a proper gumbo (I know a lot of people mock box mixes, but I gotta say that Zatarain's is pretty good compared to some of the others she's brought home).

Dang. I think I know what I'm doing for dinner tonight!!

 

[SlingShot]

I don't know about insta-gumbo, but Zatarain's Crab Boil is THE go to for boiled seafood. Shrimp, crab or crawfish, Zatarain's Complete will do you right. There's a couple of things you can do to jazz it up (more cayenne pepper, some whole garlic e.g.) but it is pretty awexome on its own.

 

[rockyboy]

Beggers cant be choosers mate.. just saying

Funny you say that, I grew up in that economic class of folks for whom poaching a deer in the summer was just how we put food on the table. If it weren't for 'guvmint cheese' back in those days growing up - the white labeled generic velveeta style crap - then the meat we hunted, veggies from our own garden, and mushrooms picked in the woods would have been the whole family diet for most of the summer when us kids didn't get the free school lunches. Went through about 6 or 7 years like that.

I remember those being some really happy times too, which doesn't always match up with expectations of living way below the poverty line. Probably easier to do that in a rural setting compared to an urban one though. More resources in the woods and the earth that you can use just for the labor of doing the work yourself.

Anyway, sorry about the thread highjack here - back to the food channel! :applause: