About Honker Heaven – Waterfowl Recipes

No Wife in the Kitchen

Ingredients:
- birds
- red wine or sherry
- buttermilk or milk
- cream
- onion
- chicken broth
- mushrooms
- butter & oil (lard) OR bacon grease
- celery - pasta, rice or toast
- flour
- your choice of seasonings

FIRST AND FOREMOST-NO WIFE IN THE KITCHEN
If the birds are frozen, place them on a rack in a metal tin in the refrigerator overnight to thaw out. Then soak the birds whole or cut up overnight in salt water, drain and rinse the next morning, soak in buttermilk or regular milk all day, then start cooking). Cut the legs and breast out, cut the breast into small bite size pieces. If you plan on cooking six birds cut up at least one sweet onion if available (like a Walla-walla) and approximately a pound of mushrooms. Celery may also be to this mix if desired. In a zip lock bag put a couple cups of flour and start adding your seasoning (seasoning salt, pepper, garlic salt or powder, a little mustard, thyme or anything else that adds flavor you like). Wet your finger and taste the flour and add more seasoning until you can taste it.

In one sauce pan put butter and oil or lard (more butter than oil) and add your onions on a low heat. When the onions are about half done sprinkle brown sugar over them and continue to stir while adding red wine and the mushrooms (smell the wine cooking). Rather than adding red wine to the onions/mushrooms you can use Sherry. If you need to, add more butter/oil and or chicken broth just to keep them moist. Another option to using the oil/butter/lard is to cook bacon strips, remove from your skillet (add later to the gravy) and use the bacon grease for your onions and mushrooms.

While the above is cooking, in a bigger sauce pan add butter/oil and heat up (a little more than medium flame) and throw a half dozen pieces of the meat in the zip lock bag. Remove one at a time and place them in the bottom of the warmed up pan to brown (do not over crowd your skillet). While this browns, stir your onions and mushrooms. Once the onions and mushrooms have been cooked turn off the burner and let them sit. Once the meat has been browned remove the cooked pieces and do the same thing to the remainder of the meat (you may have to add more butter/oil).

Once the meat is done, remove the pan and scrap the bottom dripping, put back on the fire, add more butter/oil, take a small handful of the seasoned flour and sprinkle around the bottom of the warm pan. When making the gravy do not have your skillet to hot or you will burn the flour and butter. Use a whisk and constantly stir the flour (key part of this whole operation) and do not worry if looks a little dry-start adding a little chicken broth and keep stirring-will be kind of creamy-keep adding more flour (sprinkle in) with more chicken broth - have a quart of cream standing by - you want the gravy to thicken up but stay creamy - once you have a couple of thick inches of gray without lumps (which you prevent by constantly stirring) add the rest of the box of chicken broth and cream (more red wine will not hurt) - stir and it will continue to thicken - taste it and add more pepper/salt if needed. Once the liquid is right add all the meat/onions/mushrooms. Stir up and place in a heavy roasting pan. place in preheated oven at 240 degrees for 4 hours. Check the meat with a fork and it should easily separate- if not you may have to cook for a little longer. I let it cool, put it in the refrigerator overnight, heat up when you plan on the meal and cooked up whatever pasta you like. The finished product tastes great over rice or just toast or rolls etc. For that special candle light dinner, a bottle of good red wine and the woman of your life dressed in a very comfortable attire-LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!