Season recap...
- Thread starter tod osier
- Start date
tod osier said:
I could easily see the new again and fun. Plus frustrations, but you sometimes have that with old farts too
The carnitas looks delicious. I have a bunch of pheasant legs I have been contemplating what to do with. The smoking and turning into carnitas or pulled pheasant is one of the options I have considered. Is the brining enough to keep the meat from getting dry?
Looks like you had a pretty good season. The oyster thing I wondered about when I saw Beaver standing on the mud flat...gee don't they have oysters up there to tear up dog feet? Or maybe not as many as down here.
Dani said:
Thanks Dani, you are right on the frustrations with old farts too, I have a yellow dog that was a old frustrating fart for 12 of his 11 years.
.I think the pheasant legs would be fantastic carnitas, but you would need fat like the pork belly I used with the duck to have it be moist enough and to fry it to finish it (I added ca. 1 pork belly to 3 duck). I don't know if the delicate pheasant would necessarily need smoke, but smoke is never the wrong choice. One thing I'd consider that would be super easy and add some smoke with no work is to just put some thick cut bacon or chunks of bacon in with the legs to braise (since bacon is just smoked pork belly). The carnitas were really fantastic, it is a great way to prep game and gives you multiple chances to find any stray shot in it
- once when prepping and then when pulling it. Having broken that tooth this year, I'm a little leery, but it was totally my fault. I was munching on some carrots when cooking and popped a piece of sausage in my mouth and chomped it like the carrots I'd been eating - CRUNCH.
MLBob Furia
Well-known member
Always great to see a dog doing what he was born to do!!!
Wonderful pics.
Wonderful pics.
Cody Williams
Well-known member
Thanks for the recap Tod, I really enjoyed following along with you! Looks like Beaver is coming along well. Those Carnitas look delicious also! I have worked out a similar recipe for dealing with less-than-great ducks that end up in the bag (shovelers, goldeneys, and the like) that involves aging, brining, poaching, pulling, and then turning the meat into carne asada that works great, especially in a taco.
tod osier said:I think the pheasant legs would be fantastic carnitas, but you would need fat like the pork belly I used with the duck to have it be moist enough and to fry it to finish it (I added ca. 1 pork belly to 3 duck). I don't know if the delicate pheasant would necessarily need smoke, but smoke is never the wrong choice. One thing I'd consider that would be super easy and add some smoke with no work is to just put some thick cut bacon or chunks of bacon in with the legs to braise (since bacon is just smoked pork belly). The carnitas were really fantastic, it is a great way to prep game and gives you multiple chances to find any stray shot in it
I hear ya on the breaking teeth thing. I have popped off fillings doing the same thing (granted they were old fillings).
Would you brine the pheasant legs first just to help them retain some moisture? I like the chunks of bacon solution.
Speaking of pheasant legs..... I saw this YouTube video of pheasant leg confit that might be the perfect way to cook them. I follow Scott Rea's YouTube Channel because he has so many informative videos about wild game butchering and cooking. I suggest you all follow him also. Lots of good things on there. But anyway I have not ever have eaten or even hunted pheasant but found this video very good. Especially since according to him that the legs are very sinewy (full of tendons). The results from video looked good. He just posted this yesterday.
https://youtu.be/U8PWBCo9AtY
https://youtu.be/U8PWBCo9AtY
Craig F
Well-known member
Tod I bought a little wand-like metal detector on Amazon for finding pellets. Works great for steel, not as great for bismuth and unfortunately that's what I'm shooting these days. Hasn't presented an issue yet as I've been double grinding breasts for sausage and snack sticks and I'm very cautious when prepping, but it could be an option for you if you're shooting steel.
Dani said:
I would not worry about a brine since they are going to braise for hours and hours and that will add moisture, especially with fat in there from pork. I brined those black ducks because although they were inland ducks and although they generally are excellent, I'm suspicious of blacks so near to the coast they they may have been coastal snail snacking birds and therefore a little stronger eating.
Craig F said:
The grinder finds pellets pretty well and I have the knives to prove it
, but obviously it isn't 100% given my tooth (but that was a small tss).The Garrett Pro Pointer is $130 and it is supposed to be the best of the small metal detectors, but the videos I've watched and comments I've read do not have me convinced. If I was shooting only large steel, I think I'd go for it. Watching videos even with large steel it seems like you have to be really thorough with the wand. I'd love an x-ray machine.
.Isn't bismuth supposed to crush when you bite it?
Okay Tod, you did it, you made me feel guilty for not pulling my camera out very much this season. What a great scrapbook of this year you've created. Nice, very nice.
Eric
Eric
Eric Patterson said:
Thanks, I appreciate it. It was a memorable year for a lot of reasons. I hunted more this year than probably ever, putting in easily 100 days (lotta deer days, but more waterfowl days than normal). I usually struggle and get worn out with a lot of hunting, but this year I changed my schedule, go to bed early, get up really early with lots of time to putter around and not rush (sounds stupid to say get enough sleep and take it slow, but I always have a lot of irons in the fire). It felt good to get out several days a week and feel good vs being crushed. With the new pup everything seemed new again, so that was helpful to push to document his firsts. I also did a bunch of deferred boat work in summer (like the new starter, new tach, just general touchups on wear items), so it reminded me how glad I am to have it and document it, since I haven't taken a pic of it in years. I'll say instagram helps too, just to remember to snap random shots to share. I'm also kinda looking at CT with a rearview mirror lens, so I'm reminded to savor the aspects that I like.