woodcock

[TheDr.]

what is a good way to cook up them timber doodles?
anyone have any good recipes?


thanks,
TheDr.

[Worm Dunker]

The best woodcock I've had were breasted out rolled in a piece of bacon held with tooth pick and quick fried medium rare (don't over cook dries them out). The legs and thighs are small but all white meat and real tasty.

[Zeboy]

I used to let the woodcock fly until I ran across this recipe for woodcock pate' which I have altered slightly. Originally stolen from the LL Bean cookbook.

Breasts of 4 woodcock
3-4 shallots
3-4 sprigs parsley
4 TB butter
1 TB flour
1 egg yolk beaten
2 TB Maderia / Shooting Sherry
salt and pepper

Finely chop woodcock breasts, shallots, & parsley. Saute' in the butter. Then mix in the flour, egg yolk, and Maderia / Sherry. Salt and Pepper to taste. Transfer to a food processor. Run in food processor until it is the consistency of pate'. Chill overnight. Serve with crackers as an appetizer.

[Salmonsmoker]

Zeboy,

Sounds like an excellent recipe - many meats can be made into Pate' and they usually dissappear rapidly when served - venison liver and smoked salmon are two of my favorites.

Salmonsmoker

[Zeboy]

Salmonsmoker:
Yes, I have used that same recipe with ducks and geese. It's good, but I still think with woodcock it is the best. Regarding salmon; I fish lake Michigan quite often and have Big-O-fish in Caledonia smoke some up. After much trial and improvements I have come up with this salmon dip recipe. . .

1 1/2 cups of smoked salmon (I run it through food proc. first)
3/4 cup mayo
3/4 cup sour cream
1 medium onion chopped
1/3 cup parm. cheese
heavy dash of paprika

stir together - serve on crackers

play with the mayo / sour cream blend according to your taste. I have also experimented with adding a little horseradish for zip.