Best Memories, First Fruits of the DeerHunt

First fruits of the hunt are the tenderloins, the torpedo shaped portions of muscle that lay on either side of the backbone INSIDE THE CAVITY OF THE DEER, an area I think many hunters miss. It corresponds to the tenderloin or filet mignon of beef cattle.

It should be removed when you get your gutted deer back to camp. Otherwise it will dry out. Next day for sure.

Slice them in 3/8 inch thick portions. Saute onions till translucent( half carmelized) add sliced mushrooms, cook till soft ( a couple of minutes), add seasoned( salt, pepper, garlic) deer tenderloins to pan and cook a minute or so and turn and cook another minute or two. Add brandy ( 1/2 cup), cook 1 minute, then add butter( 3 -4 pats) and swirl till melted and serve over french bread toasts. Venison should be medium rare.

Tender, luscious first meal of your special deer, as they all are.

Deer Hunting, The Earliest Memories

The best memories of deer hunting are the earliest ones. You knew nothing about it from experience - you were 12 or 15 and hunted with a 12 or 20 gauge slug, or a 30-30.

You'd mostly heard stories from your Dad and your uncles and great uncles. About them and their hunts and Grandpa, too, who'd learned to hunt deer from the Indians who still lived on the homestead when he was young. Before they were called to the reservation. The Indians had no problem getting the deer they needed - my impression was that it was more outsmarting them, than hunting. Which just might be be defined as hunting.

The Indians knew where and what the deer ate, and where and when they slept and since that's about all that deer they do, it was simple. Get there a little ahead of time and watch and wait and then shoot.

Cousin( great uncle) Clifford taught me that deer feed downwind, thus utilizing the great sense advantage they have over us - sound and smell, primarily - smelling upwind, looking downwind and hearing all directions as they fed downwind.

Which helps us to get them and then eat them, which is the original reason for all this hunting. Our advantage is eyesight and reason. Theirs the nose and ears. The deer win most of the time.

Duck Egg Rolls

I thawed a bag of stir fry vegetables- broccoli, pea pods,peppers,onions, etc...-added already cooked duck meat( minced) and ran it in the food processor, added soy, sauce, garlic, ginger, crushed hot red pepper, cilantro all to taste and rolled it up in the egg roll skins.

Deep fried them in about an inch of vegetable oil - small pan so you don't need so much oil, which is one of the reasons we don't deep fry at home often - it takes so much oil. Turned them once. About 2 minutes per side to get them golden.

Served them with a dipping sauce made of chokecherry jam, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, sugar( or honey), garlic, crushed hot red pepper. Sweet and sour and hot.

Exceptional.Sure glad I have friends that shoot ducks and make wild chokecherry jam and give them to me.

Duck Soup

It is great when you have friends that give you ducks because they shot so many yesterday that they don't want to clean today's shoot, which was another good one on Lake Onamia near Mille Lacs Lake.

I got 12, which I skinned and boned out.

Today I made a duck ragout of some, which involved onions, sweet peppers, duck sliced on the bias in quarter inch thick slices, garlic, red pepper, cilantro, bay leaf, red wine( Shiraz), rum, chokecherry jam, and olive oil. Served w/ rice, black beans and cornbread.

If you have ever done anything wrong , this will make it right. This is redemption.

Terve tulua, as they say in Finnish." Come again."

Rao's Lemon Chicken

Lemon Sauce;

2 cups fresh lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 /2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup brandy

Whisk together or use your food processor or wand to make an emulsion.

Slice boneless chicken breasts( or grouse or pheasant) on the bias( diagonally) into 1 /2 inch thick portions. Season w/ salt and pepper, dredge in flour, and fry in med hot oil in frying pan a minute or two per side, remove from pan and reserve on plate and do another batch(s) as necessary. Do not overcook the cutlets. Add all the browned cutlets back into the pan, spoon lemon sauce on top of them, and place under a broiler till reheated and bubbly and bronzed.Place on serving platter and sprinkle w/ fresh chopped parsley. Serve w/ wild rice, white rice, pasta or roasted potatoes. Squash or carrots or spinach for the vegetable. Serve with extra lemon sauce on the side and rustic bread.

Rao's Lemon Chicken

I got a book from the antique store where I have a booth and it is called Rao's Cookbook - over 100 yrs of Italian home cooking - a restaurant in Harlem - in which there are many great recipes, including one for " Rao's Famous Lemon Chicken." It is great. It is simple and exceptional.

I understand and appreciate restaurant recipes because I had one for years. They are easy for me to understand and adapt to the home cook. The lemon sauce is the secret in this one, plus the intricate timing and perfect cooking of the chicken.

I have adapted this recipe, which originally involved whole halved chickens, I also have changed the sauce a bit, but owe the entire recipe and concept to Rao's. Recipe follows tomorrow. Thank you.

Love At First Bite

The Copper River Red or Sockeye is the Queen of all salmon. If you have a friend Kenny who fishes them then you are as lucky as I am lucky. They inhabit the SE coastal waters of Alaska.

The best little open faced sandwich in the world utilizes the luscious flesh of the Red One as gravlax - salt, pepper, sugar and dill cured for a day or two in the fridge, or as I have discovered, simply raw or 10 minutes into the cure.

Slice super thin across the grain of the meat and place on your favorite cracker or crustina and top with sour cream and fresh dillweed. Or top w/ wasabi . Eaten bare even, or unadorned is to participate in the history of this glorious one; it is tasting it's prey, it's fight, it's sex, it's speed, it's high jump. Your first girlfriend or your best wife. Or both. Plus the Pacific Ocean.

Remember the little roll ups Mom made with dried sliced beef and cream cheese with a pickle in the middle? Do it with this salmon. Enclose it w/ lefse, even, for a new take on a classic. Salud.