How Efficent Are You With A Grouse?

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Just curious because all I ever see is people breasting them.

I use everything from the neck, breast, legs, wing drum, heart, liver, and the bones.

Chinese fried grouse breast with grouse hearts, necks,, and liver.

All these birds were shot with a 12 gauge side x side. I must be doing something wrong because none of them are blown to bits.

 

[350 Mag]

i usually use .22 and aim for head only....but I confess I dont usually clean them as nice as you. How do you do that ...?....just pull skin off.

 

[kc34]

That looks tasty!

 

[frabill]

Tagged for interest

 

[jory]

I normally only breast them, but I may try your method next time I get a couple- save for the neck/heart/liver. I don't do internal organs of any kind; definitely not ones that act as filters for waste.

Looks tasty though!

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

i usually use .22 and aim for head only....but I confess I dont usually clean them as nice as you. How do you do that ...?....just pull skin off.

Yea you pluck just enough breast feathers to expose the skin. Then cut a slit in the skin and peel the skin off like an orange. You can peel the skin all the way down to the feet and to the first wing joint very easily. Then I cut the bottom of the breast bone to scoop out the guts with my hand. Last thing I do is chop the head, wing, and feet off. Takes about 5 - 8 minutes per bird. Blue grouse take a tad longer because they're harder to peel the skin. I take the whole bird with me home but if you do this out in the field you need to leave one of the wings on.

 

[350 Mag]

Yea you pluck just enough breast feathers to expose the skin. Then cut a slit in the skin and peel the skin off like an orange. You can peel the skin all the way down to the feet and to the first wing joint very easily. Then I cut the bottom of the breast bone to scoop out the guts with my hand. Last thing I do is chop the head, wing, and feet off. Takes about 5 - 8 minutes per bird. Blue grouse take a tad longer because they're harder to peel the skin. I take the whole bird with me home but if you do this out in the field you need to leave one of the wings on.

I will try this next time out...thanks for sharing.

 

[snowquad]

step on the wings.pull on the legs. i dont bother with the wings or guts.

 

[sookie_69]

Shot the last one with a 38. Surprisingly not much damage. Wife usually pounds them out and counts them with flour and panko. Turn out awesome.

 

[Doc Rainbow]

Not very. I still miss a few of the sharptails because I keep the 22 in the back of the truck. I just eat the breasts.

 

[Galipo]

What gun is that?

Nice birds.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

I normally only breast them, but I may try your method next time I get a couple- save for the neck/heart/liver. I don't do internal organs of any kind; definitely not ones that act as filters for waste.

Looks tasty though!

You can do this then instead.

Bacon, ginger, garlic, onion, & carrot chopped fine. Pan fry.

Cut the breast meat off and place the bacon filling on the breasts like so.

Then wrap with bacon. Bacon + Bacon = Win. You can do the same thing with the legs just no need to put and of the bacon filling in the middle.

Before you bake it, pan sear it. Be very careful because you can easily screw this up. If you're not up to the challenge then just go straight to the oven. This will make the bacon crispy and the bacon will also shrink as it pan sears squeezing the two pieces of breast or legs together making so nothing will fall out. Doesn't need to bake for long. Grouse is super easy to over cook.

You can boil the rest of the bones in a pot of water and vegetable peels to make a stock. You can still save the neck, heart, and liver for this because there lots a great flavor in it to add to the stock. When its done you will strain it all out anyways. You can also use this stock to make a gravy. Grouse gravy is great for poutine by the way. This is a great method for those who don't like to actually eat some parts of the bird and it will remove all the nutrition from the birds meat and into the stock. Pretty much using the majority of the bird here. I do this same thing with Deer bones.

The soup stuff.

So you will end up with either one of these two results. This one is grouse soup. I use the pockets of meat that are under the birds wing as well as the meat from the wing drum. If I got left over legs left they go in as well. I have liver, hearts, and necks in this soup as well but obviously you don't need to add it. This is my wife's plate as she loves the legs so I save them for her.

This is the other option you will end up with. Mashed Yukon Golds with grouse gravy. In this picture the grouse is stuffed with fruit instead of the bacon filling so you can try either way. Both are very good.

 

[Bluedevil25]

We clean them the same way but cook them differently. I either use a 12ga or .410 depending on where I am. You learn to shoot a bit higher with a shotgun and keep the body damage to a minimum.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

What gun is that?

Nice birds.

Brno ZP-149 side lock with straight stock. Has game scene stamping on side plates. Its the side by side I use the most out of my three I have.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

We clean them the same way but cook them differently. I either use a 12ga or .410 depending on where I am. You learn to shoot a bit higher with a shotgun and keep the body damage to a minimum.

Yep. You make a mistake once or twice and then never again.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Shot the last one with a 38. Surprisingly not much damage. Wife usually pounds them out and counts them with flour and panko. Turn out awesome.

grouse schnitzel is very good. Especially if you brine the meat in a salt/sugar water mixture for 24hrs before cooking.

 

[scott_r]

Your dish looks very tasty but Ive found grouse to be one the most unpleasant bird to eat...the ones around here are very strong sage taste. I do quite enjoy pretty much every other upland and waterfowl species.

 

[ton45-II]

Very awesome prep work on the birds. I have to do that next time I get some.

 

[tracker]

Rest of bird including liver, heart and gizzard into soup.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Your dish looks very tasty but Ive found grouse to be one the most unpleasant bird to eat...the ones around here are very strong sage taste. I do quite enjoy pretty much every other upland and waterfowl species.

If you ever get a change to get one again, try brining it in a salt and sugar water mixture for 24hrs. Don't skimp on the salt and sugar. The water needs to taste strong of salt and sugar. You will need to boil the water or otherwise the salt and sugar will rest on the bottom instead of mixing with the water. Once its cooled down, put the grouse in it. It will kill that strong sage taste you speak off.