A Single Man

One good thing about not being married or having a live in girlfriend is you get to clean your ducks and fish and deermeat in your kitchen where it is warm and you have a large maple chopping block island. Plus easy access to all the tools of the trade.

Lucky me, kind of... .

Me, My best friend, My Daughter, and a Duck,Best meal ever

So I did it.I cooked those wild Mn mallard duck breasts as in my previous post and it was the best meat of any kind that I have eaten in 60 plus years of eating meat and believe me as a hunter and professional chef in the business, I've had access to and have cooked and eaten a lot of meats, domestic and wild.

I recall a leg of organic lamb done on a weber at Tim and Beth's in NW Wisconsin, and a number of venison chops braised w/ onions, mushrooms and brandy
that have come close.

But nothing quite like this.

Beyond your dog getting a surprise chicken bone, your 1st girlfriend and your first kiss, or your best wife and your best time w/ her,beyond just palate and taste and memory to a deep in your chest satisfaction.This was complete. You could ask for nothing more.

Dark and wet and cold outdoors so I did them indoors on a black cast iron pan on the stove top in olive oil. Seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic, skin side down on med heat till crisp - 4 to 5 minutes, flipped and sauced w/ the orange marmalade sauce/glaze( added worcestershire,and soy sauce to previous recipe) and cooked for about 2 minutes and the breasts were med rare.

Sliced duck breasts a quarter inch thin at an angle and layed out on a plate and covered w/ additional sauce. Served with butternut squash and warm fresh baked whole wheat bread w/ butter. The breast medallions melted like butter in my mouth. Herbed, sweet and sour, spicy, complex, deep.Wow.

Brandy, dark chocolate, and espresso for dessert.







herbed, spiced

They Shoot You Eat

Gotta love it when you have friends that are good at shooting ducks but they don't want to clean them and they give them to you.

Rick showed up at the bar/restaurant that I work at the other day and said the guys don't want to clean the ducks they shot but he knows who does and that was me. I said you're right and he gave me 4 mallards. Boy oh boy lucky me.

I put them in the walkin cooler and two days later I brought them home and plucked the breasts and boned them out and skinned the wings and legs. The wings and legs will make a luscious broth which will be incorporated into a reduced sauce involving red wine, balsamic vinegar, garlic, hot peppers and orange marmalade, as well as cilantro and parsley.

Cook the duck breasts med rare on your weber over charcoal or preferably local maple or oak and glaze with the sauce. Nothing better. Serve with butternut squash seasoned w/ butter, brown sugar and ginger. Accompany w/ Sam Adams or a cabernet.

A Garden of Earthly Delights

It is that very special time of the year when we can be eating straight out of the garden.

Green beans from mine. Sweet corn from a local grower.

Boil green beans till al dente. Drain.Add olive or canola oil or your favorite healthy oil to a preheated saute' pan and add beans, season w/salt, pepper, garlic,crushed red pepper. Add dry roasted peanuts. Saute' over medium heat for a couple of minutes until beans are tender, but not overcooked.

Do fresh cooked sweet corn - either shucked and boiled - or roasted on the grill or a weber unshucked - you do not have to soak them in water - control the temperature and turn so you do not burn them up. Do yourself a favor and use a real wood fire in your weber - oak, maple, birch or whatever hardwoods you have available. The woodsmoke adds a dimension of flavor that you cannot get otherwise.

Shuck the roasted or grilled corn, and slice the corn off the cob. Make a batter like a scratch pancake batter - 1 cup flour, 1egg, 1 teaspoon baking powder, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in corn - 2 cups. Here's the best part - add garlic, fresh or granulated, diced green onions, and crushed red pepper( if you have hot peppers in your garden, use them but be careful they can be very hot). Add oil to your frying pan and fry big spoonfulls of cornbatter over medium heat for a couple of minutes till golden, turn, and fry till golden again.

Serve the corn fritters with a sauce of orange marmalade, balsamic vinegar, garlic, crushed red pepper( or your own garden hot peppers), chopped parsley and cilantro. and a little soy sauce to taste.. It is a spicy asian adaptation of the traditional southern fried corn fritters.

You will know that you are eating when you are eating these green beans and corn fritters. Have some cold beers at the ready.

Give Me The Money , I'll spend it at the Bar

I went to a wedding last Friday at The Refuge in Oak Grove. Beautiful weather, great preacher that really personalized relevant scripture to the soon to be bride and groom, verdant landscape, geese in the distance, lowering sun, etc... . Ceremony not too long. Perfect.

Reception, dinner and dance immediately following in a spectacular post and beam constructed lodge type bldg reminiscent of Lutsen on the N shore of Lake Superior. I was impressed.

And then came the food. Iceberg lettuce - the bagged pre-prepared foodservice kind w/ the shredded carrots and red cabbage - plastic tomato wedges and of course, ranch dressing. Accompanied by a super market soft wheat roll.

Um - where's the dixie cup w/ the peanuts and mints was my first thought and then I went oh oh remembering that I ordered salmon.

Worse than expected. Way overcooked dry as a dead stick salmon topped w/ a cucumber dill creamy salad dressing. Under cooked carrots, decent skin on mashed potatoes, which I used to envelope the salmon so I could swallow it. The plate probably cost the father of the bride 20 or 30 bucks or more.

I would rather spend the 20 or 30 bucks at the bar. A relative, Jim, said he'd had worse food at weddings. He also said that in the south burbs its better, but as you get north the food gets worse. Even at these fancy places. Millions on the bldg and grounds and a pittance for the food and chef/cooks.Sad. Inexcusable, embarrassing, pathetic.

Family Friendly Chili

If you are going to make chili for your family and you have kids and they don't like beans like most kids these days it seems, use refried beans - your own or canned( w/o lard). They will not identify them by sight, yet you get the wonderful depth and heartiness of flavor as well as the health benefits of beans. Good for both of you. A twofer.

Serve the chili over brown rice or angel hair pasta. If you serve it over pasta, add allspice to the chili , as well as the usual suspects of chili powder, garlic, red pepper, bayleaf and parsley. Garnish w/ grated or canned parmesan cheese.

As a special treat serve it over polenta - seasoned corn meal mush - recipe on the carton of Quaker cornmeal - but add garlic and parmesan cheese to it. Simple, family friendly, delicious.

Perfect w/ a cabernet or shiraz or zinfandel or your favorite beer.

Salmon and Fresh Fruit Salsa Celebration

My sister is visiting from S California so I am cooking up a summer thunderstorm for her.

Wild caught Alaskan salmon is on the menu.I do it in the Weber. I use red oak, rather than charcoal.Oak is abundant here so why would I pay an exhorbitant price for Kingsford charcoal.

Start your fire in the Weber with birchbark - birch abounds hereabouts - and small pine branch kindling - if you live amongst tall pines as I do there will be plenty of small dead branches of pine on the ground. Add small and medium split oak and let the fire roar till you have a bed of red and white hot coals. Just like charcoal.

Finely dice fresh mango, strawberries, an orange, sweet red and green peppers and green onions. Add salt, black pepper, red pepper, garlic,chopped fresh parsley, cilantro and mint to the fruit. Add lime juice, balsamic vinegar and honey. This makes it a little sweet and sour. You can add any other fresh fruits that you have like kiwi, papaya,cantalope, honeydew, raspberries,etc... .

Put salt, black pepper and olive oil on the salmon filet(s).Grill over wood coals in the Weber for 2 or 3 minutes and turn, grilling for 2 or 3 more minutes. You do not want to overcook the salmon filets - med rare to med is fine. A general rule of thumb is 7 minutes per inch of thickness of fish till well done. Do not overcook. Err on the side of underdone.

Serve with fresh garden vegetables like green beans and zucchini sauteed with salt, pepper and garlic, and brown rice. Put plenty of the fruit salsa on the salmon and the brown rice.