The Anatomy of a Hunt
By GP | August 31, 2010
Since only about 10% of the U.S. population participates in hunting anymore; this will most likely have appeal to about the same portion of you who frequent this blog site. For the rest of you….send us a blog about how you incorporate outdoor cooking in your lives. And thanks to those of you who have been brave enough to share your ideas.
My parents took me hunting right after I could walk well enough to manage the bottom of a ditch to flush pheasants. I have a photo of me at about the seasoned age of 3 with my mother, and a brace of grouse. Then in my later years she wondered why I hunted so much! (go figure)
A camper and good meals were always a part of our outdoor lifestyle. Some of the best tasting lunches I can recall were cheese and tomato sandwiches, cold pork and beans, Oreo’s and cold milk from the old silver ribbed Thermos to wash them down. The cool October noon times, smell of sage brush as we sat eating on the tailgate of the old white 71 Chevy was about as good as it got for this teenager. And often lunch was accompanied by the carcass of a deer and the anticipation of fresh liver and onions for an upcoming meal. Evening meals were mostly from a Dutch oven, breakfasts were off the camper stove, pancakes being the staple.
Before I get too far into this many part series I’d like to go on record with this comment: This is a Pro Hunting piece. Pro in the sense that I’m all for hunting as a conservation tool that allows us to continue to enjoy wildlife beyond bullet or arrow head. For a better understanding of that comment Google: E Donnell Thomas Jr., and get his book “How Sportsmen Saved the World”. It is the most complete explanation to hunting I’ve ever read. I feel it should be required reading for every curriculum of higher education that is perusing a career around wildlife. I’m not so sure it shouldn’t be required reading as part of hunter education classes. I may at times refer to some aspects of “modern” hunting that I’m not fond of, and wish the issue would disappear from the sport. Hunters, like other groups, are not necessarily a band of brothers. We have our “ilk” that tarnishes the activity like many other groups do. So follow me around this fall as we wander around on this great mother earth. I hope to cover the ups and downs, good foods and train wrecks.
The true Blog world is timely. I’ll work to be such. However, I’m already behind because short of a flash light…I work hard to not take electronics to the woods with me and so the lap top stays home.
September 1st, for the bulk of most hunters is the mark of the beginning of fall. Grouse seasons open, Dove, and many archery seasons. Our bow hunt opened August 21 for deer and elk here in Utah. That time of year brings with it several challenges with the heat. It is imperative that you know how to handle meat in the heat. You have more time in 85 degree temperatures than one would think to salvage the meat but you have to move it along. I regret that I soured one elk neck and shoulder in 40 years of hunting. That should have never happened and I regret to this day that I didn’t do the right thing and tell the outfitter I worked for to shove it! Instead, at his insistence, I hung the huge bodied bull elk my client took “whole” on the teepee type game pole so the camp could oogle over it. (You think hanging it was a trick, you should have seen us get it into the Blazer). I couldn’t get one shoulder point and the neck off the ground and as a result the heat stayed in the meat and it bone soured by morning in that area of the carcass. When I got the animal parted out and into the ranch meat cutting service the butcher and I agreed that part would have to go. A week later after my second session of guiding, I stopped in to collect the remainder of the meat that my client had signed over to me. The butcher decided it was all soured and had tossed it to the coyotes (mad doesn’t even cover it)!!!! He was behind and it was an excuse to get one out of the way easy.
I’ll show you in an upcoming blog what we do to handle meat in the heat. For now let’s get started with the “load and go”. Deciding what to take, how much to take is always the worst part for me. What kind of camp will it be? How long will we/can we be there? What about the menu? The beginning of this process somewhat resembles the movie “The Clampets Go to Maui”!
Topics: Anatomy of a Hunt, GP, General Discussion | Post a Comment »
Home Makeover: Where are we now?
By Chalene | August 26, 2010
Well, in the process of carving out the soffet, we needed some sheet rocking done. As we’ve been trying to remodel our home, we have discovered we are not handy. There are some things we can do, and some that we know if we try, our marriage will suffer.
So, we have hired out some help to sheetrock. It is taking a long time. Sad but true that you get what you pay for, but at least we don’t have to do it!
So, as soon as they are done, I will start to paint. My FAVORITE!!!!! Seriously. I like it. I beg to do it at other people’s house. Wierd yes. Useful yes. Win-win in my book!
Topics: Home Makeover | Post a Comment »
Home Makeover: First Meal…
By Chalene | August 26, 2010
Ok, so after the demo, we invited Josh’s family over as a thank you. Entertaining in a mess? Why not?
Steve was able to tend to the smoker AND demo, so we were able to have smoked tri-tip among other things…
Menu:
Smoked Tri-Tip (pretty sure you could smoke your shoe and it would be good…well, especially if Steve does it!!
7-Layer Dip:
Garlic Toast (on my safe toaster)
This is just toast with a special garlic herb butter, I bought at the grocery store. Good!
AND finally, my own creation…Sausage and onions
A little clarification on why this is MY recipe. 2 key things happened as we have started this renovation:
#1 I watched a show called Hoarders and discovered I am a food hoarder! Seriously. I am not quite as bad as the lady that was on there, but let’s just say I have a very strong immune system.
#2 I had to move the fridge to the bedroom and in doing such, I had to clean both the fridge and the freezer out! I found some very old things…and yes, I did throw them out.
So, you may be wondering what this has to do with a recipe? Well, I took stock of what I had and decided that I should try and use it instead of just finding it a year or so down the road and giving it to the dump! So, I found some sausages and I had an onion, as well as some sourdough bread (see toast). What was born was the picutre you see above. Here is what I did:
- 1 T evoo
- 1 T. butter
- 2 thinly sliced yellow onions
- 1 pkg sausages (whatever is in your freezer…ha!)
- Balsamic vinegar
Saute in a pan over low -medium heat to sweat the onions. (If it is too hot, they will burn). When they are tranlucent , add the sausages. Cover. Let cook for about 10 minutes.
Take the lid off and let sausages crisp up and cook until pan is nearly dry. Then add a few tablespoons of balsamic and about 1/4 c. water. This will deglaze the pan and give great flavor to the dish.
Server warm in a bun slathered in garlic butter!
Let me know what you think!
Topics: Home Makeover | 2 Comments »
Home Makeover: Really gone!
By Chalene | August 24, 2010
Here it is…almost all cleaned up! Steve and his cousin Josh did a great job!
To celebrate we had his family over for dinner. Just a hint…we used the smoker, the stove and the toaster. More coming…
Topics: Home Makeover | Post a Comment »
Battling the Wind at Bear Lake
By admin | August 23, 2010
Cooking on Camp Chef Bear Lake Style:
Some friends and I had planned to cook out and enjoy an afternoon on the beach at Bear Lake. After checking the forecast we realized that strong afternoon winds were in store and might mess up our chances of cooking out and enjoying it. My friend had just gotten a new Camp Chef setup and was determined to try it out against the wind (Having more faith in his new equipment then myself). As we drove down the beach everyone that was cooking out or grilling was messing with their stove and not able to keep them lit in the wind. Even people with charcoal were having problems because of the strength of the wind.
We originally had the Expedition 2X with Professional Grill Box (BB60L) on the tailgate to block the wind but ended up moving it into the wind a bit more after having no problems. Keep in mind that we did have to keep the burner on Medium and partial wind blocking was used but the wind was blowing around 30 mph and gusting much stronger than that. Needless to say we enjoyed a warm meal of burgers and chicken with grilled onions and zucchini while everyone around use went without and were asking about the high quality piece of portable cooking equipment that we were using. Camp Chef never ceases to impress!
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