Minnesota Wild Game
|
Here are some recipes for fish, venison, grouse, wild turkey, duck and other "usual" Minnesota wild recipes.We have also included some less common Minnesota wild game recipes.
These are all "tested and tried" and delicious!
They include Buffalo Meat Loaf, Deep Fried Snapping Turtle, Roasted Bear and our most memorable "eating adventure," Sugar Camp Muskrat.
Try one or try all of our Minnesota wild game recipes!
Lake Trout & Wild Leek Bake
Ingredients:
One freshly caught and cleaned
lake trout or four "brookies"
2 large potatoes
Wild leeks
Salt & pepper
Butter
Directions:
Dig up leeks; clean them as you would green onions
Dice leeks and potatoes
Place fish on foil; add leeks and potatoes
Add salt and pepper to taste
Put a few pats of butter on ingredients and seal in foil.
Bake at side of camp fire--near hot coals but not so near that the fish burns.
Will be done and ready to eat in about one hour.
Our favorite spot to enjoy Minnesota wild game and fish recipes is on a campout.
Great Lakes Smoked Salmon
Ingredients:
Salmon
Garlic
Oregano
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup salt
Dill weed
Directions:
Put all ingredients in a large container; add enough water to completely cover fish and soak for at least 12 hours.
Soak about 3 pounds of hickory chunks in a bucket of water overnight.
Spray rack of smoker with cooking spray, if needed. Use enough coal to get hickory started (approx. 5 or 6 coals). Keep at least 3 chunks going at all times.
Cook/smoke 2 to 6 hours depending on size of fish/fillets. Place larger fish/fillets closer to heat source than the smaller ones.
Turn belly of fish toward heat if not filleted. Meat will be firm to touch--not mushy.
Some pieces of apple wood or grape vines can be added to hickory.
Smoker temperature should be about 200 degrees F.
Note: The salt concentration will vary greatly depending on: 1: how many pounds of fish are being marinated; 2: the size of the bowl and the amount of water added to bowl. Every batch comes back tasting different. The more you prepare this, the better result you'll have.
This is great with mild cheese (cream cheese does very nicely) and vegetable crackers.
Baked Walleye
Ingredients:
8 walleye fillets
4 oz butter
1/2 chopped onion
Fresh Morel mushrooms or a can of chopped mushrooms (8 oz. can)
1/2 lb. butter
Bread crumbs (enough to cover)
1 cup uncooked wild rice
6 oz. sliced almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook the wild rice and drain. In 4 oz. of butter, saute onions until almost transparent. Add the cooked wild rice and mushrooms.
Season the walleye fillets with salt and pepper to your liking and roll them in bread crumbs. Place the walleye fillets in the oven and bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. Use the rest of the butter to saute the sliced almonds in a separate pan.
Serve the walleye fillets on top of the wild rice or with the rice on the side. Spoon the butter and almonds over the fillets. Garnish.
Roast Partridge (grouse)
Ingredients:
4 partridges, cleaned and ready for roasting
Slices of salt pork or bacon
2 tsp salt
2 cups wild rice or cornbread stuffing
4 to 6 thin slices salt pork
Directions:
Preheat oven at 400 degrees F for about 10 min before roasting. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt on inside of each bird, then fill with stuffing. Fold wings and legs close to body.
Wrap 1 or 2 slices pork or bacon over breast and legs to form a compact parcel and tie with string. Put birds into an uncovered baking dish.
Bake, basting every 10 to 15 min with fat that collects in bottom of baking dish. Bake until tender, about 1 hr for young birds. Serves 4 to 6
A favorite Minnesota wild game recipe at our home.
Wild Turkey Bake
Ingredients:
1 (15-pound or so) wild turkey
Bacon fat
Salt and pepper
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1-1/2 cups white wine
1 muslin cloth (about 16 inches square)
Direction:
Wash and dry turkey. Brush with bacon fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix onion, celery and one cup of white wine. Stuff bird with this mixture.
Place turkey in shallow pan. Dip muslin cloth in bacon fat and cover turkey with it. Roast in 300 degree oven 3 hours, basting often with drippings in pan and the remaining wine. If turkey varies in size from recipe, allow at least 20 to 25 minutes per pound roasting time.
Before serving, discard onion and celery stuffing.
Serves 8 to 10.
Wild turkeys have, once again, become a plentiful Minnesota wild game bird.
Pheasant In A Blanket With Vegetable Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 dressed pheasant, approx. 2 lbs, cleaned and ready for roasting
Vegetable Stuffing:
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tbsp butter or margarine
3/4 cup coarsely grated carrot
3/4 cup finely diced celery
2 tbsp chopped parsley
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Lightly saute onion in heated butter. Add the remaining vegetables and seasonings and toss to mix well.
Salt cavity and fill with vegetable stuffing. Truss.
Dough Blanket:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp shortening
1/2 cup water
Sift together flour and salt; cut in fat with pastry blender or two knives until particles are the size of rice grains. Add water gradually, stirring to make a dough soft enough to roll.
Roll out on a lightly floured board from 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick into a rectangular sheet about 15 by 10 inches. Wrap dough around pheasant, completely covering it. Moisten edges and pinch together to seal.
Place pheasant, breast side up, on a trivet in a shallow roasting pan and roast uncovered in a moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.
Prepare gravy from drippings. Break crusty golden brown blanket into pieces and serve with the pheasant and gravy. 4 servings.
Pheasant is a mild tasting Minnesota wild game bird. Even if you think you don't like wild game, you will like this.
Honey Glazed Wild Duck
Ingredients:
3 dressed ducks-halved
1 cup honey
3/4 cup orange juice
3 teaspoons dry mustard
Directions:
Combine the honey, orange juice, and mustard together in a bowl, and dip each duck half into the mixture.
Place the duck halves on a broiling rack about eight to ten inches below the heat in the oven; let them broil for about one hour, or until they are tender.
Turn and baste the duck halves frequently with the remaining honey mixture while they are broiling. Lower the rack to prevent burning, if necessary.
Wild duck is a stronger-flavored Minnesota wild game bird. There are dozens of way to prepare it and you will find a recipe you like.
Venison Pie
Ingredients:
3 venison steaks or 1 small venison roast cut up
Wild garlic and wild onions (if you can get them);if not 2 cloves of garlic and 2 large onions
Wild morel mushrooms if possible, or purchase mushrooms (according to taste)
Approx. 1 cup flour for coating and thickening
Wild root potatoes, (or regular potatoes) 3 or 4 large
Handful of wild hazel nuts, wild chestnuts or wild hickory nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Sunflower oil or vegetabe oil
Your favorite recipe for pie crust or 2 purchased crusts
Directions:
Cut up venison into a bowl and sprinkle on enough flour to coat. In oiled (cast iron if you have one) fry pan put in meat, onions, garlic, potatoes, mushrooms. Add the nuts last.
Brown well; add a little water as needed to keep moist. Simmer on low heat while you prepare crust. Put bottom crust in large pie pan. Fill with meat and vegetable mixture. Place top crust on pie.
Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.
BBQ Venison
Ingredients:1 venison roast about 1-2 lbs
2-3 cups of brown sugar
1-1 1/2 cups of heinz ketchup
Directions: Bake the venison roast for about 3 hours or until it is tender; shred the roast. Put roast in crock pot, add remainig ingredients, cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours.
Wonderful served with Indian Fry Bread!
In a family of Minnesota wild game hunters, the annual trek to the deer camp is more important than almost any other event of the year.
Buffalo Meat Loaf
Ingredients:
1 pound ground buffalo meat
1 egg
1/5 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
Garlic & onion powder-to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a meatloaf pan with non-stick spray.
Mix all ingredients together. Put into pan & cook for 30 mins or bit longer (to your liking)
Buffalo is really no longer Minnesota wild game since it is farm raised. It was, however, a traditional meat source for our earliest residents.
For Adventurous Eaters!
Many of us, even committed carnivores, have a limited concept of what are "permitted" sources of protein. As a young person, living on Native American reservations, I was introduced to some delicious foods that will likely never make it into mainstream diets in the U.S.
The Minnesota wild game recipes that follow are for meat dishes that I have enjoyed...some more than others. Here is a link to an
extensive list of wonderful, and surprising, recipes.
Sugar Camp Muskrat
There are several recipes for fried and roasted muskrat. My "taste of muskrat" was while camping in the woods in early spring during maple sugaring. Not likely to ever be my favoite Minnesota wild game recipe.1 muskrat
Water
1 tsp. salt
Soak skinned and cleaned muskrat overnight in salted water (1 tbsp. salt to 1 qt. water). Drain and put on a spit over open campfire.(near, but not touching flame) Roast for about 1 hour, turning frequently.
Deep Fried Snapping Turtle
Ingredients:2 lbs. turtle meat, cut into 2-4 inch pieces
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. milk
2 eggs, separated
2 tsp. olive or vegetable oil
1/8 tsp. salt
Vegetable oil
Combine turtle, vinegar, and 1 tsp. salt. Cover with water; simmer 1 hour or until tender. Drain and set aside.
Combine flour, milk, egg yolks, olive oil, and 1/8 tsp. salt; mix well. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into batter. Dip turtle pieces into batter; fry until golden brown in deep oil heated to 375 degrees F. Drain well on paper towels.
Yield: 4-6 servings. (yes, it tastes like chicken!)
Because of the mild flavor, turtle recipes easy-to-like Minnesota wild game recipes.
Roasted Bear
Ingredients:4 lb. bear roast
1 1/4 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 1/2 tbsp. instant minced onion
1 cup beef bouillon
Directions:
Rub all sides of bear roast with the first four ingredients. Place seasoned meat in crock pot, sprinkle with onion and pour bouillon over all. Cook on high setting for 1 1/2 to 2 hours per pound until 180 degrees F. (check internal temp. of thickest part of roast with meat thermometer). Vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and celery may be added and cooked the same amount of time as the meat.
For gravy: remove meat from pot; stir flour in small amount of water and add to meat juices. Serves 6.
There are bear hunters in our family and bear meat is often on the menu at their homes. It is another Minnesota wild game recipe that has a distinctive "wild taste" and not one many will prefer.
Do You Have Recipe You Would Like to Share?
We are sharing the recipes that are part of our heritage and history. Every family has recipes that are familiar to them but may be new to others. Minnesota cooking has become more wonderfully diverse as has our population. We would love to reflect that tasty complexity on our Minnesota recipes pages. Share yours!
Related Pages:
Indian Fry Bread Recipes
Minnesota State Recipes
Minnesota Lutefisk Recipes
Lefse Recipes
Minnesota Wild Rice Recipes
Maple Syrup Recipes
Spam Recipes
Visit Minnesota Home Page
