Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, December 4, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Holiday fare from
fi eld and stream
Bob Mueller/Contributed Photo
A day’s kill of half a dozen mallards and a pair of widgeons will be breasted out, ground up, and made into duck burgers or pepperoni.
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
A
s culinary habits shift,
holiday tables that once
showcased prime rib
and Aunt Sue’s sweet
potato-and-marshmallow delight
are no longer the norm. What
hasn’t changed in my family,
though, is the desire to share
food harvested from the fi eld or
stream. My family might serve a
roasted bird and mashed Yukon
golds for the main course, but a
wide variety of side dishes har-
vested from the wild are off ered to
ensure those with diff erent eating
habits don’t go home hungry.
Salmon was a rare entree until
my work as a fi sheries technician
led to the opening of “Dauble’s
Delicatessen” following a day
spent pulling gill nets on the
Columbia River. You can’t be
expected to monitor salmon popu-
lations without knowing how they
taste. Although those technician
days are decades in the past, I
occasionally land an orange-meat
fall chinook salmon during their
upriver run in September and
October.
A tasty spread from leftover
grilled salmon or scraps from the
fi leting process makes a favorite
side dish during the holidays. I
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
A portion of this large haul of chanterelle mushrooms ended up in a soup pot.
fi rst mash up cooked salmon in a
bowl to prepare as if for a sand-
wich made from canned tuna.
Mix in equal amounts of mayon-
naise and sour cream, diced sweet
onion, a pinch of salt and pepper,
and a generous dash of dill weed.
A shake of Tabasco sauce adds
pizzaz. Serve this fi shy treat with
an assortment of favorite crackers.
No double dips allowed.
The distant blast of a 12-guage
shotgun from the Yakima River
echoes across acres of big sage to
signal the fi rst hour of sunrise and
remind me of duck burgers. I no
longer hunt upland game, but once
raised a small fl ock of domestic
ducks in our backyard. I’d occa-
sionally ask folks if they wanted
to eat a duck egg, but rarely had a
taker. Mention “duck burger” and
you might receive a similar quiz-
zical look.
My introduction to dark-
meat fowl came with a six-pack
of fresh-killed mallards and no
instruction from a hunter friend
other than, “You can pluck the
feathers and save the birds for
roasting or you can breast them
out.”
Two hours of plucking led to
an epiphany (“too much work”)
and the grinding of duck breasts
to make sliders. For every two
cups of duck meat add half a
cup of ground pork or fatty beef.
Season with salt and pepper, and
form patties for frying. Top the
creation with a crispy strip of
bacon, slices of fresh avocado,
and slip it into a fresh baked bri-
oche bun. Don’t forget to save
room for dessert.
Whenever I hear Joni Mitch-
ell’s distinctive mezzo-soprano
intone the lyrics, “ ... he’s staring
a hole in his scrambled eggs,”
the odor of canned mushroom
soup bubbling on the kitchen
stove brings back poignant child-
hood memories when Mom
reminded, “quit staring and eat
your soup. Otherwise, you don’t
get apple pie.”
See, Dauble/Page B2
Preparing perfect pheasant
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
W
hile this column is about
cooking pheasant, it
also applies to turkey
and grouse. If you read my col-
umns then you know that two
weeks ago I was in South Dakota
pheasant hunting. I didn’t want to
use the same ole, same ole cook in
a crock pot with mushroom soup
recipe so I thought I’d try some-
thing diff erent.
When I boned them out, I
pulled the breast and cut off the
legs and bagged each separately.
As a side tip, if you’re fl ying with
meat, you don’t have to use a
cooler. I usually wrap the bag of
meat in clothes in my luggage and
they stay frozen fi ne. It was no dif-
ferent this time. I threw them in
my luggage at 2 p.m. and when I
got home at midnight they were
still frozen. In fact, the next after-
noon when I pulled them out of
the fridge to cook, they were still
crusty.
Let’s start with the breast. I
laid them on a cutting board and
used a thick bladed Smith’s knife
to slice them into thin strips. Cut
them cross grain. I then laid them
out and sprinkled them with the
Hi Mountain Apple Blend Turkey
Jerky seasoning. I then fl ipped
the slices and seasoned the other
side and then put them in a bag
and squeezed the air out.
I like to season my jerky and
marinate my meat in a plastic
bag. That way every few hours I
can fl ip the bag over and gently
massage it for a couple of sec-
onds and be sure that it is getting
evenly marinated.
I let it marinate for nearly 24
hours and then pulled it out and
slapped it on my jerky air dryer.
It dries unevenly due to all of the
slices not being cut uniformly
as well as the tray on bottom
dries faster than the top trays.
I’ll rotate the trays every hour
or two and be watching for any
small pieces that are done. As
they fi nish, I pull them off . Once
again, I was reminded that Hi
Mountain makes the best jerky
and sausage seasoning in the
world. This batch isn’t going to
last long.
Now for the legs. I put them
in a bag and poured in a bottle
of Tony Chachere’s 30-minute
chicken marinade. I also threw
in a dash of raspberry vinaigrette
dressing and pressed out the air
and put in the fridge to season
overnight.
The next day I put them on my
Camp Chef pellet grill on high
smoke, which is high smoke but
low heat. Then I had to run over
and pick up an Anderson Mfg.
5.56 that I had ordered. I have
some Bowden Tactical aftermarket
parts and a Riton Optics scope that
I’m going to trick it out with. I’ll
be writing about that soon.
When I got home I pulled any
jerky that was dried and turned
up the heat on the smoker to get
the legs ready for dinner. By now
the legs were a golden brown and
looked awesome. I only cook real
potatoes and think instant potatoes
are a communist plot but while
shopping I had grabbed a pack
of butter garlic instant potatoes. I
cooked them and threw in some
chopped onions and a spoonful of
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
Pheasant legs on the pellet smoker will get golden brown when you turn up
the heat.
chopped garlic.
Kolby had a dozen tomatoes
left over from the season that were
on the edge. I made some home-
made tomato soup, which is easy.
Cook the quartered tomatoes
in a pan. When stewed, put in a
blender. Throw in a spoonful of
chopped garlic and blend for a few
seconds. Then return to the pan
and throw in some chopped onions
and chopped cilantro and a couple
of cups of half & half or whole
milk and stir.
We were now ready to eat like
kings and queens. As you know
if you’ve ever hunted pheasants,
they’re the roadrunners of the
game bird world. I don’t think that
anything you do will keep them
from being a little tough, but gee,
these had a great fl avor and were
great. We ate some more the next
day for lunch after church.
So if you have a freezer of
game birds you might want to
try these methods on them. And
yes, you can make jerky out of
waterfowl.
I hope everyone had a Happy
Thanksgiving and takes a minute
to give thanks for living in the best
country in the world and for your
many blessings.