The Mincemeat Pie was not a hit but it was more the unwillingness of folks to even give it a try. A pie with deer meat in it was a pretty foreign concept and seemed to be a hurdle hard to overcome.
My wife tried it and she liked it but being married to me she knows wild game is often on the table and she will usually try something once. I had a nephew who gave it a shot and while we haven’t talked about it I hear he thought it was ok.

I realize that much of this is a cultural thing growing up in New England it was a pie I saw often around the holidays. Here in the South its not a pie people have seen before. I’ve tried grits and don’t see what the big deal is I usually pass on them. I got a brother who lives in Maine that every time I go up there I bring him grits…. he just loves them.
The dessert table at Christmas was overflowing with goodies…many time tested in the family…. so it was understandable my pie got looked at and past over.
I guess if your not going to push me to eat grits I won’t push ya to eat my mincemeat pie… but I’ll tell ya you don’t know what your missing.

Chances are good if you stop by my house on Christmas next year there be a slice of mincemeat pie and a good cup of coffee waiting for ya but if ya looking for grits you better head to my brother’s house in Maine.

With plenty of venison in the house what to make for Christmas? I knew it would have to have venison in it so that’s when I decided to try to make a Mincemeat Pie for Christmas.
Never heard of mincemeat? Well it is an old pie that is older than our country, and probably was made by some of the first settlers to travel over from England.

Mincemeat developed as a way of preserving meat without salting or smoking some 500 years ago in England, where mince pies are still considered an essential accompaniment to holiday dinners just like the traditional plum pudding. This pie is a remnant of a medieval tradition of spiced meat dishes, usually minced mutton, that have survived because of its association with Christmas. This pies have also been known as Christmas Pies. Mince pie as part of the Christmas table had long been an English custom.

Today, we are accustomed to eating mince pie as a dessert, but actually “minced” pie and its follow-up “mincemeat pie” began as a main course dish with with more meat than fruit (a mixture of meat, dried fruits, and spices). As fruits and spices became more plentiful in the 17th century, the spiciness of the pies increased accordingly.

Whats Cooking In America

Mincemeat pie is one of those old fashion pies that I remember from my childhood growing up in New England. Many people are unfamiliar with this pie that does like it’s name suggest contain meat. The mincemeat pies I’m most familiar are made with moose or deer meat, typically neck meat. They also contain apples, raisins, and other dry fruit. Commercially made pies and pie mix no longer contain meat just the fruit and not traditionally enough for me and Christmas.

Having never made a mincemeat pie I first set out to get a recipe which proved a little bit more difficult. My inquires with family and friends finally paid off when my sister in law sent me one she had but hadn’t yet tried. After looking the recipe over and then trying to acquire the necessary ingredients I began to make some changes to replace ingredients I couldn’t locate and to add some things I’d seen in some of the other recipes I found on line. The following is my recipe for Mincemeat Pie.

Moose’s Mincemeat Pie
Ingredients: (makes 2 pies)

Two 9” Pie Crusts
2 lbs. venison
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 lb. beef suet
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 lbs Macintosh apples
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 cups apple cider
1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup raisins or currants
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of dried papaya, pineapple, mango
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:
- soak papaya, pineapple, mango in brandy (at least 2hrs but longer be better)
- Simmer meat covered in water for 2 hours, adding suet for last 1/2 hour; drain, chop meat and suet fine and set aside.
-Peel, core and chop apples.
-In apple cider apples, raisins and dried fruit soaked in brandy; set aside.
-Combine dry ingredients with nuts.
-Prepare 2 nine-inch pie crusts.
-Combine meat and suet in apple juice mixture and then add dry ingredients; mix and let sit 5 minutes.
-Fill pie crusts with mixture and cover with top crusts, cut vents for steam.
-Place pies on cookie sheet (catch any filling that may boil over) in pre-heated oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes; then reduce to 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove and cool on rack.

The recipe my sister in law sent me called for citron( I could not locate any) which I replaced with dried fruit mix soaked in brandy. As far as the beef suet goes your local butcher shop should be able to help you out with that but be sure you tell them you need it for a recipe cause most people get it for bird feeders. I used some of my deer meat left over from last season so the quality was a bit better than neck meat but with this seasons success I’ve got plenty of deer meat.

Well how did this experiment in pie making go for me? You’ll have to wait to see.

Food Networks Recipe

NCWRC has released a free Game & Fish cookbook that looks pretty good. It is a collection of staff recipes for a wide variety of species found in the woods, fields, air and water across North Carolina. So if you want to make some Fricasseed Raccoon or maybe Crappie Tacos or a number of other dishes then you should check the cookbook out.
Judging by the great collection I suspect that there is some good eats at company parties or potlucks.

I can hardly wait to give some of these recipes a try. Never know when a beaver or groundhog maybe a possum will end up in my game vest.

This past weekend I was on a bit of a road trip that took me by one of my old hunting buddy’s house so I had to stop in and see what was up. Jody had a couple of rock fish that had been caught earlier that morning he was getting ready to clean. Rock Fish or Striped Bass is one species of fish that I’ve always wanted to go after but thus far the opportunities to pursue them have alluded me.
Striped Bass or Rockfish are an Atlantic Ocean fish that come into fresh water to spawn so a number of river systems up and down the eastern seaboard are prime places to fish for them. They are a highly sought after sport fish as well as a commercial fish. Here in NC there has been a recent effort to have it officially declared a sport fish to help protect the specie from wasteful commercial harvesting practices that kills many more than they actually process.
Having a cooler in my truck paid off as Jody gave me two fish to take with me. That then began the quest to find the perfect recipe on how to prepare these fish. There were a number of suggestions from on line where I posted an inquiry as well as a few recipes I found in one of my wild game cookbooks but when it came down to decision time I opted for the traditional batter and hot grease.
So last night’s dinner was fried rock fish made with House of Autry Seafood Breader , some fries and some coleslaw. I took the fillets rinsed them off and dropped them in a ziplock bag of the breader giving them a good shake. Put the fries on to cook first and then mixed up the slaw. I make up a slaw by mixing the cabbage with some Miracle Whip, crushed pineapples, old bay, caraway seeds, and whatever other spices strike me. You get a spicy sweet slaw that I think is pretty good and goes well with fish. Adapt the ingredients to your own taste make it spicier or sweeter.

Then the main event with the fries done I let the grease get back up to temperature then I dropped the rock fish in. The fish cooks a lot faster than the fries so be careful not to overcook it. The Rock fish was awesome and while I’m sure many of the other methods of preparation would have given me a great dinner as well the old fish fry was rocking last evening.

Put a chili together tonight for my wife’s office Christmas party tomorrow mostly vegetarian with a little omnivore thrown in to make it interesting. I guess to be specific most of it is made with deer meat, I guess herbivore is probably the more accurate description rather than vegetarian. I also added some black bear that someone gave me, black bear is wonderful table fare and a omnivore.
A point of contention is always over the amount of heat my chili has, I like a hot chili but for such gatherings like this I tone it down to a “mild chili”. I think four jalapenos is just a slight hint of heat but my wife thinks any chili with jalapenos is hot.

Here is my basic recipe for a pot of chili or this pot;

1 ½ lbs of ground bear
2 lbs of ground deer
2lbs of deer steak
1 onion
Water about a quart
Dash or three of cyan pepper
Black pepper to taste
Sea salt to taste
Chili powder about ¾ of a cup
Taco seasoning a couple of packs
3 cans of black beans
A splash of Tabasco sauce (I make a big splash so it’s about a third of a bottle)
4 Jalapenos sliced and deseeded (leave seeds in for more heat)
Then a dash from a variety of spices in the cupboard to taste.

I just cook to whatever looks good so there is no real specific recipe so rarely is any two of my chili’s ever alike. Some of the key things in my chili is almost always made with wild game whatever I have on hand. Secondly you’ll never find tomatoes in my chili.
So there you have it my infamous mild chili guarantee to warm you up on the coldest day of the year. So what do you think is four to many for a “Mild Chili”?

I’m not sure which I like better Raspberries or Blackberries but they are surely some of the best stuff on earth. Blackberries probably win out because I remember a few family memories around picking blackberries. I discovered a number of wild blackberry bushes turkey hunting this year so I’ve been watching them mature. Well last week I check on them and knew they’d be ready this week. The thought of blackberry pies and maybe some blackberry jam was running through my mind all week.

This weekend I headed out to pick them and I discovered that trespassers had beaten me to them. The tell tale 4 wheeler tracks across the fields was all I needed to see to know that we had lost our wild crop. What should have been an easy effort turned into a chore to find pockets of berries that the trespassers had missed. I ended up with enough to make one pie which was pretty awesome.

I use a pretty basic recipe 1 ¼ cup of sugar ½ cup flour pinch of salt 4 cups of berries mix the dry ingredients then mix the berries in. Put into a pie shell cook at 375 for about 45 minutes.
As for what to do about trespassers I guess we’ll have to catch some and make examples out of them. This is the same place where I had two guys walk in on me when I was working a gobbler this past season. I don’t know why people don’t respect private property but it is ongoing issues for a lot of people not just us.
Well I can’t worry about that now just sit here and enjoy my pie and the Red Sox game. Summer is here so stay cool and enjoy natures bounty.

So has the French ever won a war? Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican Holiday celebrating a victory over the French. Anyways I need little excuse to make Mexican food so with fresh wild turkey in the fridge I made some Fajitas. Easy recipe… Fresh Turkey Breast cook in cast iron pan with a little peanut oil sprinkle some salt and favorite Mexican spices. Then add Peppers and Onions to the pan and cook for a few minutes but don’t overcook. The Peppers and Onions should still have a little crispness to them. We used whole wheat tortillas and added our favorite condiments for me that includes chipotle Tabasco sauce.

I’m sure if you don’t have a wild turkey available you could substitute domestic turkey but it won’t be as organic and healthy for you as the wild one.

Well after work today I’m off to hunt camp for the weekend. In the morning we have plans to hunt ducks and geese I’m hopeful the geese will show up. A goose for Christmas for some is a holiday tradition and one I started a few years back. I like to cook a Apple Hickory BBQ Goose breast for our family gathering on Christmas night. I didn’t have one last year to cook despite my effort to get one so I’m hopeful that the cloudy misty weather forecast for in the morning will aid me in my endeavor.

I enjoy creating recipes and presenting wild game for folks in a unique ways and to get past the standard objection of “I don’t like wild game”. Try this recipe out and I’m sure folks will have a hard time even guessing it is goose never mind wild game.

My recipe for Apple Hickory BBQ Goose
First off we do not pluck the geese we skin and breast the meat out as a boneless cut. Geese come in a wide variety of sizes so you’ll have to adjust cooking times to the size of the geese you have.
Take the boneless skinless goose breasts and put them in a roasting pan with about ¼ inch of apple cider vinegar in the bottom of the pan. Then cover the tops of the skinless goose with strips of bacon. Put the goose in a pre heated oven (375) and let cook till done but not overly down. For me this is usually about 45 minutes (internal temp of 165’f)
BBQ Sauce
Jar of Apple Jelly
Bottle of Hickory BBQ Sauce
½ cup of Apple cider vinegar
Mix all together in saucepan heat slowly stirring often till all the jelly is melted and everything blends together.
Take cooked goose out of oven drain off greases remove bacon and discard. You’ll still have small amount of grease in the pan but that’s fine you just want to dump the majority out. Allow the goose to rest for about 15 minutes and to begin to cool so it is easier to slice. Then slice it up like a roast and then return the slices to the roasting pan. Pour the BBQ sauce over the meat cover the pan with tin foil and return to the oven. Turn the oven down to 300 and leave it in for an hour. I’ve served this and people swear its beef roast or deer roast. No one guesses its Canadian goose.

I so enjoy hunting geese, we have a surplus of them, and we need to kill a lot to keep the population in check and I needed for others to help eat them. I got to admit just plain old goose meat was not my favorite thing so I had to find a way to cook them. Another way that I bet would be good is to use goose instead of Tundra Swan in my Tundra Swan Pot Pie.
If you get a chance maybe you’ll try to add a Christmas Goose to the holiday table.

Well I hope everyone caught my first radio show this past Friday. If not check out the Pod Cast that is now available. My first show we covered the opening of Dove Season as well as the residential goose season. I promised to post up my Apple BBQ Goose Recipe so here goes.

First off we do not pluck the geese we skin and breast the meat out as a boneless cut. Geese come in a wide variety of sizes so you’ll have to adjust cooking times to the size of the geese you have.

Take the boneless skinless goose breasts and put them in a roasting pan with about ¼ inch of apple cider vinegar in the bottom of the pan. Then cover the tops of the skinless goose with strips of bacon. Put the goose in a pre heated oven (375) and let cook till done but not overly down. For me this is usually about 45 minutes.

BBQ Sauce
Jar of Apple Jelly
Bottle of Hickory BBQ Sauce
½ cup of Apple cider vinegar

Mix all together in sauce pan heat slowly stirring often till all the jelly is melted and everything blends together.

Take cooked goose out of oven drain off greases remove bacon and discard. You’ll still have small amount of grease in the pan but that’s fine you just want to dump the majority out. Allow the goose to rest for about 15 minutes and to begin to cool so it is easier to slice. Then slice it up like a roast and then return the slices to the roasting pan. Pour the BBQ sauce over the meat cover the pan with tin foil and return to the oven. Turn the oven down to 300 and leave it in for an hour. I’ve served this and people swear its beef roast or deer roast. No one guess its Canadian goose.

I hope everyone had a safe Labor Day Weekend and be sure to tune in Friday at 1pm for Moose Droppings the Radio Show.

I discovered this product about a month or so ago when I decided to try to grill some fish I caught. I saw Timber Creek Smoking Tray in the grocery store near the charcoal and the grilling supplies and I was a bit skeptical but figured what the heck lets give it a shot. Wow did this product ever deliver and I was surprised at how well it worked. That day I smoked some amber jacks but since then I have experimented on a few other things with excellent results.

My latest try was some rainbow trout and they turned out fabulous you don’t put anything else in the tray I dry seasoned the fish a bit and got the grill fired up. Then popped it on and just watched them to make sure they didn’t overcook. The smoke adds a good flavor with out overpowering or drying the meat out.

If you like stronger smoke flavors cover the tray with tin foil which is what I did. I think that also helps keep the moisture in so it doesn’t dry out. Some fresh grilled vegetables and some fresh field peas with some ham and what a meal you have.

The thing I really want to try this on is geese. I’ve had smoked goose before and that was pretty good I’m curious to see how well this product works with that. I have stocked pile a few of these for just that purpose because about the time fall rolls around a lot of stores stop carrying these types of products.

If you like smoked food and don’t have a smoker or you don’t want to drag it out give this product a try.