Cooking Grouse

[tacklejunkie]

Well, the shot gun and I went for a walk last week before the deer opener and picked out a few birds. Anybody have a good recipe that will bring out the flavors without drying them out?

[mixxedbagg]

I keep it super simple. I don't like the crock pot stuff because even when they're under soup they still seem dry for some reason.

Usually I just cut breast fillets into strips and dip them in egg followed by a mixture of wheat flour, cornmeal, and whatever seasonings sound good. Fry. They're not chicken mcnuggets, so no dipping sauce! Good stuff.

Otherwise, I'll take an unfilleted breast and wrap it in foil with herbs, whatever veggies I have, and olive oil. Grill till it's about done, take the breast out and put it right on the rack for a couple of minutes to get the smoke and seared flavor, and serve the grouse and veggies with whatever rice I have.

Were your birds smallish? I was out the day before deer opener and shot the 3 smallest grouse I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly good enough to know a flushed bird is small before it's in hand....

[tacklejunkie]

One was smallish with little tail feathers. The others were decent sized. Is there a difference on how you prepare them?

[shortfatguy]

use shore lunch for breading boneless strips then fry as you would fish. Really good and simple. As far as seeing smaller birds, I heard somewhere that the grouse had 2 broods this year. Might also explain why there are so many.

[mixxedbagg]

Not really--I guess I'd be more apt to fry the little ones because it's so quick (and they're probably more tender) and it's hard to justify doing something more time consuming with a smaller bird.