FOG Hunters cook up recipes for their wild game

Published 6:00 am Monday, September 23, 2019

Hunters in Wallowa County aren’t out there just for the trophy racks. They want meat.

And that means they have come up with some of the best ways to prepare it for the table.

Ryan Pace, of Enterprise, said it almost has become routine, but a tasty routine.

“For most people, it’s just a substitute for beef,” he said. “For us, growing up, we didn’t buy beef. It was elk hamburger or steaks with brown gravy or some such.”

He said elk works well in recipes for beef, although elk is much leaner.

“We just add the fat in with butter when the dish requires more than is naturally occurring,” Pace said. “Slow-cooker roasts, stroganoff, meatballs, meatloaf — it’s all just as yummy with some good-quality elk.”

He was willing to share his favorite marinade for elk backstrap.

Elk marinade

• 1/4 cup soy sauce.

• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce.

• 2 tbsp. brown sugar.

• 1 garlic clove, minced.

• 1 tsp. minced ginger.

• 1 tsp. sriracha sauce.

Whisk ingredients to combine. Marinade the steaks in a Ziplock bag for at least 3 hours, flipping periodically to make sure all sides are covered.

Sear steaks over high heat about 2 minutes on each side. Let rest under foil and then slice thin.

“It’s great as a stand-alone for meat and potatoes, a lean alternative to throw in a stir fry or to throw on a salad the next day,” Pace said.

Elk Queso — served with chips is another of his favorites.

• 1 pound ground elk, browned in pan with half of a medium-sized onion, finely diced.

• Season meat with 1-2 tbsp. taco seasoning.

• Stir in one can Rotel with chilies (do not drain.)

• Bring meat and tomato mixture up to temperature over medium heat.

• Reduce heat to low and slowly add in cubed Velveeta cheese (32 ounces) until melted.

• Transfer to crockpot and keep on low (stirring often). If the mixture gets too thick – you can thin it with milk, by I prefer adding a second can of Rotel tomatoes.

Andy Marcum, who leads Divide Camp that takes post-9/11 veterans out on hunts, said his year-round diet is wild game.

“I don’t even remember last time I bought red meat,” he said. “All my family eats is elk, deer and game birds.”

Although some hunters process at least part of their own harvests, Marcum recommends Valley Meat Services in Wallowa, which makes pepperoni, summer sausage, jerky and other items. He’s been taking his animals there the past three years.

For some cuts, he prefers keeping it simple, such as with the backstrap and tenderloin, allowing the natural flavor of the meat to come through. He’ll use a little McCormack seasoning, but that’s about it.

“I don’t really like using a lot of seasoning,” he said. “I really don’t like messing with it a whole lot.”

A.J. Zanitsch, of Medford, volunteers with Divide Camp with Marcum. He has a relative who is a professional wild game chef.

“He’s the one who taught me how to cook all my wild game,” Zanitsch said.

Zanitsch smokes all his own summer sausage or seasons it with cheese and jalepeños. He makes his own jerky, too.

But when it comes right down to it, a recipe that works on red meat, works well on elk, Pace said.

“Honestly, around here we all just take any recipe that you would normally make with beef and just throw in a similar cut of elk,” he said.

Marge and Gene Bieraugel, of Flora, are avid duck hunters and cooks of their harvest. He’s the local chapter president of Ducks Unlimited.

“We used to live in Louisiana, so we have gumbo and creole recipes” for duck,” Marge Bieraugel said.

She needed okra but Safeway didn’t have it but offered to order it for her duck recipes.

Parboiled duck gumbo, Louisiana style

In a crock pot, simmer three or four ducks, (split in half and cleaned) in enough water to cover, plus 2 tbsp. bouillon and a handful of celery and onion.

Simmer overnight until meat is tender; check with a fork.

Cool, debone, and dice meat into small bites.

Then prepare roux. In a sturdy 8-cup Pyrex glass measuring cup, mix:

• 2/3 cup flour.

• 2/3 cup oil.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes, then stir.

Microwave 1 minute and stir again.

Continue until the roux turns from tan to dark brown like chocolate.

To the roux, add the Trinity (Cajun definition)

• 1½ cup chopped onions.

• 1 cup diced celery.

• 1 cup green peppers.

Stir. Microwave 3 minutes and add:

• 4 cloves minced garlic.

• ¼ to ½ cup green onion tops or chives.

Stir and microwave 2 minutes.

Microwave a 1-pound or larger sack of okra using a rice steamer for 6 minutes. Sometimes the okra comes in a sack that can be microwaved.

In a 3-quart microwave-safe bowl or on the stove in a kettle,

• 1 pound of canned chopped tomatoes.

• 1 small can of tomato puree.

• 4 cups of chicken broth.

Should equal about 2 quarts. Cook on the stove or microwave until it boils.

Combine roux mixture with the tomato and stock mixture.

Add seasonings and stir:

• 1½ tsp. Zatarains pure ground Gumbo File.

• 1 tbsp. of Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning.

• ¾ tsp. thyme.

• ½ tsp. saffron.

• 2 tsps. Salt.

• 2 bay leaves.

Microwave about 10 minutes. Then add and stir in 1 or 1½ pounds of Andouille sausage, sliced into rounds about the size of a quarter. Optional: Brown the quarters. Add diced, precooked duck meat.

Stir everything together, set the microwave for 50% and cook for 20 minutes, stir often, or simmer on the stove-top for about 30 minutes, stirring often.

Meanwhile, steam 2 cups of white rice. Spoon the steamed rice into soup bowls and ladle the gumbo over the rice.

Offer hot sauce and a shaker of Chachere’s Seasoning.

The gumbo freezes well, so after all that work, save some for later.

The Bieraugels also like to cook moose meat. There are only about 50 of the animals in Oregon, located in the Blue Mountains north of Elgin that migrated from Idaho and Washington, so the state doesn’t have a moose season, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife website.

The Bieraugels got theirs on a hunt in Canada.

“We’ve got 120 packages of ground mooseburger, so we do a lot of grilling,” Marge Bieraugel said. “With 400 pounds of moose in the freezer, we’re trying different things.”

She said they try to add some variety.

Grilled Moose Burgers

• 1 pound ground moose meat.

• 1 tsp. of Weber’s Montana Steak Seasoning.

• 1 tsp. soy sauce.

Mix in seasonings by hand and shape into patties.

Wrap in Saran and refrigerate for one hour or more and then grill.

“It’s just the seasoning that helps it a lot,” she said. “It’s really very good meat. It’s akin to elk.”