Is there anyone good with game? Wild flavours?

[Zet]

Anyone good with game? Wild flavours? I'm planing towards my final exam dinner, I've got a clear view of my entry and dessert, but I have no idea to serve as main course. My appetizer will be a puff pastry canapé with shallot granité (Sluchy, but icy) with smoked grouse sliced thinly with pea shoots, served with a chill cloudberry tea with hint of rooibos. And as dessert I will serve a rosemary icecream ball rolled in a wallnut brittle served with a pear melbasauce flavoured with sparkling wine , and with some promegranate. My concept is wild (gamey), strong flavours balanced out with a fine dine touch. Like that canapé will be smokey, salty, crispy and strong with a slight sweet sour hit from the granité, therefor I choose a fresh sweet, mild but spicy cold tea to rince out the flavours with. Same with the desert, the ice cream will be very creamy and with a herb'ish sweet salt flavour, together with a crunchy sweet and bitter crunch and a very fresh light sauce to finish it of. Both of them will be very light on the tummy but have strong flavours, do you have any idea what to serve as an maincourse compared to that? I've though of many things. Game is pretty accessable here in Lappland and I've though about reindeer, or boar, but I'm not sure. One though I've had was to perhaps make a sauce of the hull and the scrappings from the grouse, with some black currant and juniperberries, but with what? Not with wild duck i'm sure, 2 birds within 3 course dinner, they wouldn't like that. I don't think I can involve fish since it would be such of a combo breaker, normally when serving fish as a maincourse, you often serve some kind of shellfish / seacreature like scallops or squid. Does anyone have any idea what would fit in? What kind of game and with what? Boar, deer, reindeer or anything else? I appreciate any kind of feedback

[partis]

My appetizer will be a puff pastry canapé with shallot granité (Sluchy, but icy) with smoked grouse sliced thinly with pea shoots, served with a chill cloudberry tea with hint of rooibos. And as dessert I will serve a rosemary icecream ball rolled in a wallnut brittle served with a pear melbasauce flavoured with sparkling wine , and with some promegranate.

im having chicken nuggets, will you marry me?

[swalter]

Since you're already mixing savory and sweet flavors, you could do a braised lamb shoulder with raspberry reduction. Lamb has that strong, gamey flavor, and the raspberry will compliment it well. Alternatively, you could use venison instead of lamb.

[trialbyerror]

Every single one tells me DUCK is excellent...:eek: and very gamey...:flirty-thank-you-sm

[Bowyn Aerrow]

We would either roast the squirrel or make a stew out of the groundhog back in the day.... Stewing small game like squirrel, groundhog, rabbit tends to cut the gamey flavor and a small animal can feed more people...

Venison did a lot more with, steaks, 'hams', 'bacon strips' stuff like that, ground deer patties - or deer-burger - yum. Large game you get more meat to do with so depends on the cut of meat, small game you basically treat it like chicken (roast, fry, bake, stew).

Deer you can pretty much do everything you do with beef with, depending on the cut.

Boar is pig - so pretty much what you do with a pig one can do with boar meat.

Further more, those who typically eat game meats in this part of the world are typically poor folk who hunt to make up for the lack of beef, pork and chicken that they either can't raise or buy at the grocers.

Thus being poor you don't get fancy shit to cook with like currents and juniper berries - you get stuck with raisins and maybe honey.

Raasin sauce: http://southernfood.about.com/od/saucere...30204t.htm

The recipe I use I substitute half the brown sugar with honey or molasses (another poor mans flavorful cooking ingredient).

While it may mainly be used for pork ham, I have had it on deer, goat and other unusual critters.

Then there is peach glaze: http://www.recipe.com/southern-style-pea...-ham-bake/ is one variation. Its got that sweet and sour thing going on, and it is good on anything...

[Zet]

Lamb is a great idea, anyone here that has a nice recipes on lamb racks with some sauce?

Duck is great and I like duck a lot my self, but since I have grouse, it would kind of be bird on bird if you understand my point, the judges are gonna give me bad points on that heh.

Venison, game is concidered very exclusive here in Sweden and we value it highly.
But depending on where you are and live, the pantry is pretty wide. The Sami people of Lappland (Lapp is another name for Sami in Swedish) is a nomadic people, which we often tend to call "Arctic Indians (Native americans)" because they live in Teepee's, feast of the Reindeer herding and collecting what nature has to offer, a true indegious people. And since I'm here in the most northern Sweden I wanted to get inspired by it, but with a fine dine touch. The nature here is vast and has loads of natural food resources, like for instance Cloudberries, concidered a very expencive delicacy, and which grows in the vast swamps and bogs of the north. People from south east Asia even travel here to Lappland to harvest on the Cloudberries to sell it for a huge profit, thanks to the "all mans right", everyone can roam free in the woods and feed of it, and we have a lot of berries, mushrooms and other delicacies hidden in it.



I could skip all the criters, though rabbits and what not, are indeed delicious, I need something more like a steak, or a piece of meat, rabbits (if not as a stew), pidgeons, grouse or anything similar are more concidered appetizers.

In due respect Aerrow, molasses is concidered a very rare and exclusive product here, I tried to search where to buy it my self, but the only alternative I got was to order it from abroad or to buy a 40 liter bottle made for agricultural purposes :o I guess that's another cultural clash between Sweden and the states ^^

Then there is peach glaze: http://www.recipe.com/southern-style-pea...-ham-bake/ is one variation. Its got that sweet and sour thing going on, and it is good on anything...

Would that work with boar?

But thanks again for all the responces, the more ideas I get the more I have to concider

[MisterTinkles]

With the herbs and spices you already have going..........I'm thinking either wild boar, duck, or goose.

Your menu seems to be "light and frilly".........so another suggestion might be Quail, if you have those there. Not so gamey, but I think a spicy sauce would go with them.

I would suggest a meat that would work well with pepper. I see the main course as something peppery in this, as to offset the other items you listed. Boar, duck, goose, and quail work with pepper sauces or peppery veggies.


Whatever you do, take a pic and post it for us to see!!

[Charon]

Lignon Berries and one of the wood oils are so typical of that part of the world why not use them? Served over a planked fish you avoid the problems of gamey or toughness that you're likely to get with larker, hoofed animals. Venison would be my choice, served almost blood rare in mignonettes accompanied by whipped rutabaga and whatever green vegetable is local would be nice. Have you pheasant? I've an easy, fool proof recipe for that but I'd stick with the planked fish and Lignon Berries. Hope that helps

[swalter]

Here's my recipe for the braised lamb shoulder. I use Pinot Noir to deglaze the pan and make the sauce. You can use that as a base, and add raspberry to it for the sweetness. If you want to do chops instead on the shoulder, PM me and I'll send you my recipe for the rack. Personally, I think the shoulder is better than chops, but that's up to you.

Servings: 4
3lb Lamb Shoulder, boned, tied, and seasoned
2tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups Pinot Noir
8 cloves Garlic, minced
4-5 sprigs Fresh Rosemary
2 Carrots, chopped
5-6 Shallots, diced
2tsp Salt
2tsp Pepper
2 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
1tsp Corn Starch, *optional*

Directions

1. In an ovenproof pan at least 4 inches deep and large enough to hold the lamb, heat the olive oil over medium heat.

2. Brown the lamb roast on all sides. Remove lamb from pan and set aside.

3. Add the wine to the pan and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

4. Stir in the garlic, rosemary, onions, carrots, salt and pepper.

5. Return the roast to the pan and add the stock.

6. Braise, uncovered, in the oven for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the center of the roast is at 145°F.

7. To finish, remove the lamb from the braising liquid.
Strain the liquid, discarding the vegetables. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan over medium-high heat, reduce liquid until it has a sauce like consistency. Optionally, you can add a tsp of corn starch to the sauce to help it thicken.

To serve, slice the lamb 1/4" thick. Place several slices on each plate and spoon the sauce over the lamb.