Gamegirl

What do you think of when you hear the word Game (related to food of course)?
My immediate thought is Venison or Rabbit or maybe Grouse and Pheasant but the list of game is quite long.  It includes: Elk, Moose, Caribou, Reindeer, Bear, Armadillo, Squirrel, Muscrat, Porcupine (?) and even Racoon.  Basically Chef Tony said any road kill qualifies as Game.  A charming visual isn't it?

We took the more pedestrian route in class this week and made dishes of Pheasant, Wild Boar and Buffalo.  Given that Buffalo and even Ostrich are a staple locally around here at Whole Foods, and that I can even buy Venison any day of the week at John Dewar's in Newton, they would have needed to pull out some of the more exotic on the list for the jaded foodies among us to be impressed. 
Chef discussed the fact that farm and ranch raised Game taste vastly different from wild caught.  However, the law regulates what can be sold to the public for consumption.  Sure your Uncle Joe can bag a deer and dole out bits to friends and family, but he can't sell it anywhere for consumption.  This also means that most of the Game we will likely eat will never mimic the original in taste.  It also explains why the majority of game dishes are covered in heavy sauces and strong flavours, it was really to mask the stong or gamey taste of the meat.  With the blander version we are getting now, the surrounding tastes really need to be lightened or you are merely eating the protein as a vehicle for the sauce.  Having said that, I know a few people who consider all protein as a vehicle for sauce.

When Chef went through the recipes I decided to tackle the Pheasant dish since no hands sprung up at the mention of the dish.  We were down to 6 people in class this week with 10 recipes to prepare.  Thankfully after the quiz, Chef Tony kept the lecture very brief and we headed in to claim our real estate at the tables and start cooking.

Here's a look at the tables when we're all in mid work.

The dish was fairly involved but I still found myself with some downtime that I tried to fill by helping out on some of the other dishes that Lynn and Brian were doing that were supposed to be plated with my Pheasant.
For the Pheasant salmi you chop some onion and apple, salt and pepper the cavity and sprinkle it with Calvados and then stuff it with the onion and apple dice and some fresh thyme and truss it.
Then I barded the breast with fat back slices that I soaked in Calvados.  In a roasting pan I caramalized a mirepoix of onion carrot and celery and then added some peppercorns and apple cider and popped it in the oven.  The goal here was to follow the recipe without overcooking the bird. Pheasant we had been warned can go from nicely cooked to like shoe leather in a nano second.  So I just basted and roasted until the thigh registered 140.  Then I pulled it, removed the legs, removed the breast meat from the bone, removed the stuffing and chopped up the carcass.  I removed the skin from the parts and chopped that up.  Back into the roasting pan went the giblets (minus the liver), chopped up bones and skin, more onion and apple and the reserved stuffing from the cavity.  This was all caramalized and then the pan was deglazed with calvados, veal stock and more apple cider.  This cooked for a few minutes and then everything was strained out in a china cap.  The remaining sauce was reduced a bit.  I added some creme fraiche and it was reduced further by half.  A splash of calvados and a seasoning adjustment and it was ready.
Chef had already told me what pan he thought it should be plated on and left to my own devices I think I know I would have chosen differently as it really doesn't photograph all that well.  It was plated with sauteed wild mushrooms and RIDICULOUS poached cucumber boats stuffed with sauteed apples and thyme.

Here it is plated (plattered).

Meh.  I would have done things quite a bit differently.

During our sit down we talked with Tony about the lack of excitement in the menu.  He is actually working at this moment on revising the curiculum for the Basics class for next semester.  As usual I am a day late and a dollar short.  These recipes have been unchanged for at least a decade, it should be interesting to hear the 'new kids' talk about Basics in the fall.

Here is everyone sitting down and enjoying the fruits of our spoils whilst pondering the great mountain of cleaning that awaits us after.

Our general consensus was that the Wild Boar tasted like Pork, the Buffalo tasted like Beef and the Pheasant, like a tough chicken, so why put them on your restaurant menu for a lot of money. I will try making the Buffalo stak at home for husband this weekend.  Mostly though because the Buffalo will be such a good vehicle for the spicy sauce....Mmmmmm.

Comments

[eliz]

Buffalo chili! Make that sometime.

And avoid squirrel. Stuff is greasy. Ick.

[jo]

Funny you say that. My Gran ate squirrel a lot growing up in Vermont. She actually liked it, but I have never had it.

[Karan]

Please invite me to your house for dinner...but do know that I don't want no stinkin' roadkill.

[flerdle]

Try some kangaroo, if you can ever find it. Yum.