YUK!!! Absolutely horrible stuff. They are more than an acquired taste.

 

I've had good and really bad (overcooked) SG... I think it's a matter of knowing how to cook them but I don't really know. I'd like to somewhat enjoy my potential harvest but I also want to get my pup started on wild birds, not farm-raised ones. Overcooked = liver taste. Maybe thinly sliced, pounded with a hammer and placed on a wooden board with fruit in the oven and then eat the board?ray:

 

Terry over at the Women's Hunting Journal has a good recipe.

Crock Pot Sage Grouse
As promised here is my recipe for Sage Grouse. Even though some folks claim Sage Grouse are not very good eating, I had favorable reviews from my friends with this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Sage Grouse boned out and cut into bite size pieces
1 Lg. can cream of celery soup
2 tbls. worcheshire
1 tbls. honey
2 tbls. stoneground mustard
2 celery stalks cut up
3 carrots cut up
3 yukon gold potatoes
1 med. onion cubed, sauted and added to crock
3-4 garlic cloves chopped finely
1-2 c. brocolli tops cut up

Directions:

Firstly clean and cut up your Sage Grouse and saute them in a cast iron skillet with a couple teaspoons of good olive oil. Brown lightly on all sides then put into crock pot. Next saute onion until translucent and add to crock. Add garlic as is without sauteing. Cut potatoes, and add the remaining ingredients except for broccoli. Add enough water to cover all ingredients.
Typically I set the crock pot on High to get everything up to heat (30 - 45 min.) then turn to Low and simmer for a few hours (2 - 3) until meat and potatoes are cooked. Remember to add your broccoli about 30 minutes prior to serving.
This recipe is simple and tough to go wrong with. Just don't add any sage seasoning, you will not be happy with the results. The Grouse are naturally sage seasoned in the field. I made this last Fall and took it Deer hunting with us and it was delicious. Servings approximately 4-6 hungry hunters. It is good to have some home made bread to go with and to mop up the bowl. You can add whatever other vegetables you like and just experiment. If you find something even tastier let me know how you modified the recipe.

 

looks good, Except for browning in olive oil. Corn oil or another vegtable oil would be a healthier and better tasting choice or butter.

 

Healthier than olive oil?

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, which lowers cholesterol. Virgin olive oil also contains polyphenol, which is an antioxidant that protects the body from free radical damage. Olive oil has the largest amount of heart healthy monounsaturated fat compared to all other naturally produced oils.

And it tastes better.

 

All that is true. Until you use it at to high a temprature, for browning the meat in a cast iron pan. Add a little olive oil to crock pot after the meat has been browned in a cooking oil suitable for high temp browning. Olive oil is good until you overheat it, which is exactly what will happen using it to brown meat.

 

On a plank, it's the only way. Clean a bird and rub the inside and outside wth eal melted butter with salt, pepper and garlic mixed in. Cut several white potates into chunks and stuff in the bird. Cut up one med onion and four carrots and stuff inside the bird cover with tin foil and place on grill for one hour then open and coat outside with more melted butter and spice mix. Re-cover and cook for 20 more minutes. Take bird off he grill and remove the foil. Put the carrots, potatoes and onions in a seperate bowl and pour out the jucies from the inside of the bird over the vegtables. Slice the brest beat into thin slices placing on another plate. Take the rest of the carcuss, meat and vegtables and throw thm in the trash. Eat the plank!

If there's anything else I can help with, please feel free to ask!

 

I shot a few of them in MT with my old dog, she hated to fetch them. Smart dog, she was trying to tell me something.

My current dog, won't even point them. Smart dog too.

 

I really have not had any bad experiences eating them. Gut them immediately and get them on ice. Fillet the breast and soak overnight in either milk or orange juice. You could actually soak longer if you want. The citric acid in OJ really gets any gaminess out and actually gives the meat a light orange flavor which is pretty good. Lactic acid in milk does the same thing.

 

Thanks Willum and nehalemguy. Will try those.

 

The intent is to not cook the Good out of the oil. Talking about 10w40 and its flash point is going to ruin dinner

 

Reaching the flash point might help a sage grouse.

 

Hehe

E

 

Wow. While they're not chukar, nothing wrong with sage hens. A little soy and chile sauce to marinate, and a quick stir fry to rare or medium rare. Overcook 'em, and just like dove it's going to taste like liver.

edit: No matter what you think of sage hen, it a leaps and bounds better than any duck you'll ever eat!

 

Sage grouse better than duck? I'm sorry but I beg to differ on all accounts. You must not be cooking your waterfowl right. :doh:

 

An easy camp recipe. Add chunks of boned sage grouse meat to a large can of Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup. It tastes delicious after a long day of hunting. I always carry of few cans of soup in the camper for grouse to swim in.

 

I can see that and I agree about cooking them rare. If you ever do decide to shoot waterfowl again, here's a recipe that will rock your world (or it does mine anyway):

Ducks in Plum Sauce:

MARINADE:
1/2 cup dry red wine (or red wine vinegar)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

SAUCE:
1/4 cup plum jam or black raspberry jelly
1/4 cup water
1.5 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. ground carroway seeds
1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:
- In shallow, non-metallic dish, combine wine, soy sauce, oil and pepper. Marinate duck breast fillets for 2 1/2 hours, turning often.
- Remove meat from marinade and place on foil on broiler pan. (NOTE: I strongly prefer barbeque or Jennaire type indoor grill.) Preheat broiler, place fillets 5" from heat. 6 minutes/side with Pintail or Mallard. I think dipping the breasts in the marinade wihen I turn them helps keep them moist.
- Combine sauce ingredients and start in a frying pan on low heat about the time you start cooking the fillets.
- To serve, slice each fillet very thinly (1/8-3/16") across the grain, like you would London Broil. Ladle sauce over slices of duck breasts. Serves 4.

NOTE: Do not overcook. Waterfowl look rarer than beef when medium rare and take on the texture of overdone liver if not bright pink in the middle or rarer.

 

That actually looks pretty good, bet that would work with a sage hen too.

 

I used to not care for them until I tried this. Bone out the bird and cut the breast into steaks, 3 or 4 per side. Make a marinade with 2 cups of milk, 2 beaten eggs, a teaspoon of soy sauce, and season with garlic salt, onion salt,paprika and pepper. Marinate overnight in a ziplock. Bread in Italian bread crumbs and fry in olive oil. You won't believe it's sagehen.

 

I'll have to try that this year. Thanks.

 

Good idea. Actually I didn't even think about it and may try that as well as some of the other recipes guys posted on this thread. Happy hunting.

 

Not sage grouse specifically, but grouse in general: Breast halves (with bone is fine), scored cross grain on meat side and cooked meat down in hot bacon drippings. Brown a bit and then add pineapple chunks with some light juice from can and flip. Give it a few more minutes to finish. The pineapple juice adds some great flavor, but will also help break the meat down a bit, and the scoring lets it cook faster internally without overcooking. The bird below was my son's first blue.

 

Sounds and looks good, but having had ruffed/blues and sage grouse, you can't even compare flavors. I'm sure that's a great blue grouse recipe though.

 

Slice the meat as thin as you can (like lunch meat thin). I actually use my meat slicer for this. Season each side to your liking. I prefer just salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes. Melt butter in a pan and fry the slices on as high a heat without burning the butter. It will be real quick. I like to just slap the meat on some bread for a sandwich.

 

I like that idea too.

 

All this is making me hungry.

 

This is one of the most entertaining threads I've read in a while. LMAO on a few of these. Dogzilla you are awesome. I have shot several sage grouse. Some of the recipes above look good. Just don't overcook. Gotta disagree with James. Duck is better than sage grouse. :meme:

 

Enjoy them while you can. Their days as table fare are numbered.

 

Yeah I'm concerned as well.

 

Do you still have to draw a tag for them here in OR. ?

 

Yes. See page 14

 

Gut them as soon as you can and get them on ice. When treated properly, they're fantastic eating.:food: