Cooking The Wily Sharptail
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Cooking the Wily Sharptail
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
I have to admit I’m not a big sage or sharptail grouse fan, but my husband and I do love the openness of prairie hunting, so have taken our fair share over the years. And every one of our Labradors can count a sage or sharptail grouse as their first ever wild bird. It’s much easier to keep an eye on the pup in open country, and easier to chase them down on the flats. Plus, it gives them—and us--several more weeks of hunting. Everyone’s happy. That changes when we get to the kitchen. While husband John and our furry friends are perfectly happy to eat sage birds as is, I insist on flavor modification.
I’m not alone. So when Ducks Unlimited asked me to write an upland bird cookbook, I included all the after-the-shot tricks I’ve learned on how to make these sage birds enjoyable to eat. Before-the-shot tricks? I have only one. Many years ago, we found a large covey of early season sharpies gorging themselves on buffalo berries. Their beaks and breast feathers were stained red, and they were loath to leave the dinner table, so ‘sneaking’ up on them was relatively easy. Even I took a limit that day, but the best part was the eating. Their meat was sweet and mild unlike any other sage birds we’ve taken. For those stronger tasting birds, this recipe really works to soothe the savage beast.
Finally, there are two things to remember about port. Number one, adding alcohol directly from the bottle into a hot pan, risks having the stuff ignite and ride back up into the bottle. Pour it into a measuring cup first. Second, even Cooks Illustrated says you don’t need an expensive port for cooking, so you can try this moist, rich, tangy dish with little risk. My guess is, you’ll start stocking port, and also start looking for those sharptail coveys just a bit harder.
Portly Sharptail Breasts
serves 4-6
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup minced shallots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2/3 cup port wine
3 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
2 cups hot water
boned breasts of 6-8 sharptails or prairie chickens
Cooking
1. Preheat the oven to 325F. In a 9 to 10-inch covered sauté pan (or Dutch oven) heat the oil and sugar over medium-high heat. When the oil just starts to smoke, back the heat down to medium and add the shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper. Sauté until the shallots start to turn golden brown, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.
2. Add the port wine, and stir it into the shallots. Continue sauteing over medium heat, stirring often, until the port wine has been reduced to about 1/3 in volume. (It will look thick, and feel slightly sticky on the spoon.) Combine the bouillon granules and water, then add to the pan, stirring it into the thickened port wine.
3. As the pan comes back to a simmer, dry the sharptail breasts with paper towels, then bury them into the simmering pan juices. Cover the pan, and place it in the center of the oven. Continue cooking for another 45 minutes. Serve with egg noodles.
Check out Eileen’s Upland Game Bird Cookery. Hardcover, 180 pages, about 100 recipes and 41 pages of field-to-kitchen care photos from quail and dove to pheasants, forest and prairie grouse—to turkeys. $20 at wwwriflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Eileen Clark
Image 1 Caption: Eileen with a Sharptail Grouse
Photo Credits: Eileen Clark
Image 2 Caption: Sagebird Stroganoff
Photo Credits: Eileen Clark
