Our Favorite Grouse Recipes

After writing Seven Tips to Improve Your Grouse Hunt last week it’s time to share some of our favorite grouse recipes. Grouse, also known as partridge, cooks up quickly. The birds are small so one grouse feeds one or two people.

Grouse looks very much like chicken but is a little darker in color. It often tastes like the bird’s diet. We cooked two last year that tasted a lot like pine. It wasn’t very good when the meat finished cooking so I seasoned it heavily, added water and used it in fajitas. I’ve cooked two dozen grouse a year for 20 plus years, and that was the first time I found the flavor to be unpleasant. We don’t waste meat so we made it work.

If you missed any pellets in the meat while cleaning the bird you should be able to see and remove them easily before you start cooking.

Seasoned Grouse Meat

Sliced grouse breast

Lightly oil the fry pan and place the grouse so that a full side of each slice touches the pan. Sprinkle with taco or fajita seasoning. Turn heat onto medium high and cook until the meat starts to brown. Stir to turn the pieces and flatten them on the pan again. Cook two or three minutes more.

Variations:

• add additional seasoning and water to create a sauce
• add sliced onions and/or bell pepper at the beginning of cooking

You can use the seasoned meat in fajitas, grouse salad (like chicken salad) or on top of a leafy salad.

Seasoned grouse meat

Roast Grouse

One grouse per person, whole
1 tsp fresh thyme per grouse
2 slices bacon per grouse
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper inside of a whole, washed grouse. Place on a baking sheet with breast side up. Cut bacon slices in half and place on top of the grouse. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. The birds are small and wild birds cook quickly. This is excellent served with mashed potatoes and wild fall mushrooms or winter squash.

Grouse Caccitore

3 or 4 grouse breasts, halved
1 quart stewed tomatoes
1 tsp fresh or 2 tsp dried oregano
1 small onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper, any color, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup water

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker. Turn to low heat and allow to cook eight hours. Serve with wild rice and a vegetable.

Grouse is a nice addition to a pot of baked beans. Place the deboned breast meat on top of the beans during the last hour of cooking.

Camp Fried Grouse

A lot like fried chicken, but better! This is a popular grouse recipe during bird camp. Bag limits determine how many grouse you can possess at one time so we usually eat what we shoot so we can keep hunting, and take home the birds we bag in the last two days.

3 grouse breasts (again, one bird equals one breast)
2 eggs, scrambled
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
Bacon fat

Warm the bacon fat in a cast iron pan. Dip breasts in eggs first then bread crumbs. Allow to sit in crumbs for two or three minutes. Shake off the excess crumbs and pan fry in bacon fat.

Tips to Improve Your Grouse Hunt

Hunting was one of the most important skills homesteaders could have back in the day. Before factory and even small local farms were common, hunting was the most important means of putting meat on the table and in the larder. For many of us, it’s still very important. We have seven tips to improve your grouse hunt that you might find helpful.

When most hunters talk about “hunting season” they usually mean deer – whitetail, blacktail or mule (muley). While one deer can put a considerable amount of meat on the table, birds can do their share to fill the dinner plate. Grouse, also called partridge, is a popular upland game bird.

Ruffed Grouse

Grouse are tricky. The blend into the brown grass on the sides and middle of gravel roads. They stand in grass taller than they are and are often first spotted when they burst into the air and fly away. Hunting with dogs adds to the success rate but not everyone has a bird dog. There are ways you can improve your grouse hunt.

Suitable shotguns for grouse include 12, 16, 20 and 28 gauge. I started with a youth model (more  on that in a moment) 20-gauge and was quickly discouraged. My hit to miss ratio was pathetic. I needed to be closer to the birds than I could usually get before they flew into the trees. I now hunt grouse with a 12-gauge. I use 2 3/4″, No. 6 game shot.

A few things to do and remember before you get started: Safety first. You’ll probably have to take a hunter safety course before you can obtain a hunting license. Choose a gun you are comfortable carrying and shooting. Try as many guns as possible.If you are of slight build, try a youth model. They’re made for smaller people. Become a safe, accurate shooter. Practice often in a safe area. Rod & Gun and shooting clubs often make their facilities available for use. Hire an instructor if necessary.

These tips should help you improve your grouse hunt.

1. Look for the brown that doesn’t belong. Grouse blend into dead grass and debris along roadsides. What doesn’t look quite right?
2. Look in clover. Clover provides protein needed by grouse.
3. In the early part of the hunting season, look for a second or third bird when you see the first. Later in the season they split up and you’ll usually see only one at a time.
4. Grouse like mixed stands of trees. Evergreen/softwood and hardwood provide cover and food.
5. Listen for rustling. Rustling in the dead, dry leaves often means a grouse is moving.
6. Listen for “quit quit quit quit quit.” It’s the alarm call of a grouse.
7. Most grouse (also called partridge) are shot within 100 feet. Without a dog to find and flush birds for you, you’ll want to watch the sides and center of gravel roads most often.

Grouse are often found on the edge of gravel roads.

One more thing to keep in mind. This is easily overlooked. States impose a “bag limit.” You may shoot a certain number of grouse per day. There’s also a “possession limit.” You might be able to shoot four grouse per day every day of the hunting season but be limited to having eight birds, for example.

Good aim and safe shooting!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

By the end of the day this week’s drops will be applesauce.

Future applesauce