John Bourbon
Well-known member
Anybody who has ever spent any time hunting Lake Champlain will tell you that it has plenty of mergansers. Some days, you can't keep them out of the decoys. There have been plenty of times in the past where I let them pass unmolested when I didn't feel like fooling with them. A while back, Brandon made an offhand comment in a posting about merganser sausage, and it got me to thinking. Quite often that ends badly, but not this time......
I thawed out 6 skinless merganser breasts, trimmed all the fat off them, and soaked them in pineapple juice for 24 hours in the fridge. After rinsing them off, I cubed the breasts into cubes about a half inch in size. I bought a small pack of lamb shoulder and cubed up half of it. I don't have a meat grinder so I used the wife's food processer and "pulsed" them whole affair into what was almost a puree. After taking the mix out of the food processer, I mixed various and sundry spices from the cabinet into the meat by hand. I used Montreal Meat seasoning, various pork rubs, a tablespoon of finely cut sage, a dash of thyme, and table pepper. I fried up a couple of pattys and if anything, they were bland. No funky merganser taste. So then, I mixed in several heavy shakes of something we've had around the house, Kansas City Steak seasoning. I made a couple of more pattyies and brushed them with olive oil and grilled them. I brought them into work to share with some of the guys. We heated them in the microwave, some with cheddar on them, some with blue cheese and some with munster cheese. Success! All were pronounced not just edible, but good. My favorite was the one with blue cheese.
Next year the mergansers get no break from me....
John
I thawed out 6 skinless merganser breasts, trimmed all the fat off them, and soaked them in pineapple juice for 24 hours in the fridge. After rinsing them off, I cubed the breasts into cubes about a half inch in size. I bought a small pack of lamb shoulder and cubed up half of it. I don't have a meat grinder so I used the wife's food processer and "pulsed" them whole affair into what was almost a puree. After taking the mix out of the food processer, I mixed various and sundry spices from the cabinet into the meat by hand. I used Montreal Meat seasoning, various pork rubs, a tablespoon of finely cut sage, a dash of thyme, and table pepper. I fried up a couple of pattys and if anything, they were bland. No funky merganser taste. So then, I mixed in several heavy shakes of something we've had around the house, Kansas City Steak seasoning. I made a couple of more pattyies and brushed them with olive oil and grilled them. I brought them into work to share with some of the guys. We heated them in the microwave, some with cheddar on them, some with blue cheese and some with munster cheese. Success! All were pronounced not just edible, but good. My favorite was the one with blue cheese.
Next year the mergansers get no break from me....
John
