OT - pepperoni

[GunnyMack]

So I've had a surplus of pheasant breasts in the freezer- a guy can only eat so much of it.
I bought half a hog over the winter and had a bag of 'trimmings' . Found a commercial pepperoni mix and this morning I broke out my LEM Big Bite grinder and went to town grinding and stuffing. The 2nd batch is in the smoker.

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Tomorrow or Sunday I'll put a pork shoulder on the smoke for pulled pork !

[GunnyMack]

Success!- it tastes pretty good !!!

[Bill in Oregon]

Well done, Will! Hope to try making sausage someday -- a true, hard Spanish-style chorizo would be at the top of my list.

[GunnyMack]

Thanks Bill.
I'm new to this, well it's been a long time since I've made sausage , well helped anyway. Years ago we would get at a minimum of 10 deer hanging, set a date for butchering/grinding and we would make sausage for a couple days! Breakfast, hot and sweet Italian. We would clean out the supermarkets on beef tallow, hog fat and casings.
It's a lot of work to say the least.

[OldWin]

There's nothing better than finding a new recipe for game that's really good. I rarely change up how I prepare a meal of it, so it's a big deal.
My world is pretty small.

Glad it worked out well Gunny!

[GunnyMack]

I hear ya Jay, Thanks bud!!

[OldWin]

Ive never eaten pheasant. We dont have them here unless it's a release for hunting.
Partridge is my feathered game. They are friggen delicious. Usually just slice down the breast and throw it in some cast iron with a couple pieces of bacon, a little olive oil, and maybe diced onion and some mushrooms. Best eatin in the state.
I'm a little worried about the numbers this year. So cold and wet, and that's hard on the young broods.

[GunnyMack]

Drooling for grouse or as you Mainer's call em pa'tridge. We no longer have them here. Not enough new forest , too much old growth to support them. That's the advantages of logging!
Last grouse I saw here was the late 80s on a deer drive. It flushed and I destroyed it with a load of 4 buck.
Up in Quebec we would throw sticks at them, occasionally we would get one for the frying pan.
Pheasant is nowhere near as good !

[marlinman93]

out here we have all of them, and our Chukar are technically Chukar Partridge, but we just call them chukar. I've not hunted pheasant much, but lots of chukar, quail, and riffed grouse. Tried blue grouse some, butt they eat a lot of pine here and taste like pine needles.

[Ysabel Kid]

Now I'm hungry!

[GunnyMack]

Chukar are fun to hunt. Hungarian partridge are a real hoot- they really talk to each other and covey up fast. Not to mention they normally don't fly far so getting back on them is easy.
Blue's are like sage brush mule deer - yuck.

[OldWin]

out here we have all of them, and our Chukar are technically Chukar Partridge, but we just call them chukar. I've not hunted pheasant much, but lots of chukar, quail, and riffed grouse. Tried blue grouse some, butt they eat a lot of pine here and taste like pine needles.

We call your blue grouse "spruce partridge" here. They are actually protected here. They are dumb as a stick here for some reason. Probably why we can't shoot em. They taste nasty anyway. They can be hard to distinguish from regular partridge if they aren't in good light. The meat has a reddish tinge and as I said, they are poor eating.......I've heard.

[Bill in Oregon]

Another vote for ruffed vs. blue grouse, but I much prefer chukar and quail. We are absolutely overrun with Gambel's quail down here this spring in our drought-stricken desertlands. Handsome rascals.

[marlinman93]

Another vote for ruffed vs. blue grouse, but I much prefer chukar and quail. We are absolutely overrun with Gambel's quail down here this spring in our drought-stricken desertlands. Handsome rascals.

I love quail, but darn it takes a lot of them to make a meal! We were deer hunting one fall and weather was extremely hot, so nobody was seeing any deer at all. We were driving fire roads looking for any sign of deer to begin another walk, and kept seeing mountain quail everywhere. My nephew had his Hi Standard .22 semiauto with him and began picking them off when he saw them. By the time we got back to came we had enough cleaned and cooked for all three of us for dinner! They were yummy!

[GunnyMack]

We had a fish stocking this morning, I brought a small bag of sample pepperoni for the guys to taste test. Everyone liked it. The kid that delivered the trout said ' that made the drive down here worthwhile!' So I gave him the rest of the bag to chew on for his hour and a half drive back!
Quail are up there on my list too, tons of fun to hunt but fantastic table fare too!

[OldWin]

I've never had quail or Ptarmigan either. I'd like to try Ptarmigan, and should try for some when I'm up to visit my boy sometime.
My hunting career is fairly low key now. I don't hunt moose, turkey, ducks, or anything. Only deer and partridge. Its just so enjoyable bird hunting. The weather is beautiful in October. Most times, we just ride the thousands of miles of logging roads and jeep trails with either the Jeep or trail bike and watch for them. When you shoot them, it doesn't take two minutes to have it all cleaned and in a cooler.
Soon as you shoot the bird, roll it on its back on the ground, open the wings and stand on them as close to the body as possible. Then hold the feet and pull. It will strip the body and guts completely off the breast and it will flip right out of the skin perfectly. Then just clip the feet off with some nippers. Done. No mess or feathers. I rinse the inside of the breast with some cold water, put it in a zip lock bag and in the cooler.

[GunnyMack]

That is a very fast, easy way Jay, I haven't tried it with a pheasant though.

[Bill in Oregon]

Not even summer yet and y'all have me dreaming of a cool October morning in the aspen woods with a 28 in my hands.

[GunnyMack]

I've got the dogs when you are ready Bill!

[jeepnik]

Well done, Will! Hope to try making sausage someday -- a true, hard Spanish-style chorizo would be at the top of my list.

Authentic Spanish chorizo is pretty hard to find. I'm fortunate that I have a true Spanish market only a few miles away. They have authentic Jamon Serrano too.

[GunnyMack]

So yesterday I smoked a pork shoulder for pulled pork. About half way through smoking I remembered I had a block of cream cheese in the freezer so I put some dry rub on that and smoked it for about an hour. oh my word is that good!

[Bill in Oregon]

Have heard about this Will. Need to try it on my Traeger pellet grill. Everyone raves about smoked cream cheese.

[GunnyMack]

It's awesome Bill. Just remember NO SALT in the tub you put on it. I used a little of what I had left from the shoulder and the cream cheese although it tastes great is a tad salty.
I had frozen this block prior, rubbed it and was smoking about 225°.

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, you put it on the smoker still frozen? On foil or something to catch any melt?

[GunnyMack]

Yes Bill still frozen. Prevents structural meltdown at 225°.
I made a foil boat to stop it from running all over if I screwed up and left it too long.
Also, I used left over rub from the pork shoulder. The rub had kosher salt in it and the cream cheese is a tad salty, delicious but very good!