Its Tasty Tuesday and today we are tackling wild game.  If you follow the blog, you know the brown dawgs spend the fall out hunting wild birds.

If they are successful, I add wild birds to my freezer.

But I don’t want the birds they worked so hard to get to stay in my freezer so I am always looking for recipes.

These are a couple of my favorites.

Tasty Pan Fried Wild Grouse

Grouse have been a bit scare the last couple of years.  When the brown dawgs bring them home, I have to admit that they do not stick around long.  Usually they do not make it to the freezer.

We bring them home and hubby breasts them out and we cook them for lunch.

If you have never had wild grouse, you are missing out.  They are by far my favorite of the wild birds.  They are very mild and do not taste “gamy” which is what most people complain about when they say they do not like game.

Because they are so mild, they do not need a lot of cooking.  I just lightly dust them in seasoned flour and pan fry in a bit of olive oil.  I season the flour with whatever dried herbs I have on hand.

You do not want to cook them too long because they can get tough so depending on how thick they are, usually 3-5 minutes per side.

That is it–easy.

Here is a handy recipe card…just click, save and print.

Duck Breast Rumaki

In my opinion wild duck is not as mild as grouse.  It can be gamy tasting, especially if you cook it too long.

Duck Breast Rumaki is one recipe that I make over and over again, tweaking it a bit each time I make it.  In our house, it has become a tradition to make it on Thanksgiving Day.  It is a great little appetizer even for people who do not always like wild duck.

Traditional Rumaki is chicken liver and a water chestnut wrapped in bacon.  This recipe substitutes marinated duck breast for the liver.

I have tried different marinades over the years.  The marinade is the key because it can help to minimize the gamy taste.  The marinade I like the best has sake wine as one ingredient and makes all the difference.  It is worth the purchase of the additional ingredient.  You don’t have to buy an expensive bottle, but buy one if you do not have it on hand.

This year I also brushed the Rumaki with a bit of grill honey just as they were finishing. It added a bit of sweetness to offset the saltiness of the bacon.  You could substitute regular honey but grill honey is made to hold up in higher heat.

I cook my Rumaki in an electric frying pan because I find that I can cook them more evenly and efficiently, but you can cook them under a broiler.

Here is the full recipe.  Again just just click, save and print.

What about you?  Do you have any favorite recipes for cooking wild birds?

I still have a lot of duck in my freezer.  I am hunting around for other recipes so if you have them, I would love to hear them.