Re: Sandhills Cranes

joesikora · Mar 17, 2017

Re: Sandhills Cranes

I was just wandering if these birds were good eating?
And what kind of bird meat would you compare it too

Thanks Joe

"Sometimes you do things wrong for so long you
think their right" - 2001
"I can't argue with honesty" - 2005
-Joe E Sikora

Ltsheets · Mar 17, 2017

Ribeyes of the sky.

DoeNob · Mar 17, 2017

They are delicious - my favorite of all the waterfowl and true for most I know that hunt them.

I take the whole breast, butterfly it, then lightly rub with olive oil, then cover in montreal steak seasoning. Cook it on the grill never past medium rare.

stevie · Mar 17, 2017

They're fantastic. Nothing like duck or goose which are awful.

My favorite way to cook them is the breast them out and put the meat in a crock pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup.

Ltsheets · Mar 17, 2017

Haven't tried goose though I have some in the freezer but duck, cooked right can be delicious. I made some a couple yrs ago that my family destroyed! it was delicious.

>They're fantastic. Nothing like duck
>or goose which are awful.
>
>
>My favorite way to cook them
>is the breast them out
>and put the meat in
>a crock pot with a
>can of cream of mushroom
>soup.

deadon · Mar 17, 2017

Great eating. I use the breasts to make fajitas in a super hot skillet or disco. Not sure what the limit is this year, but when it was 3 per day for 2 days, I'd get a ton of breast meat from 6 birds.

JRABQ · Mar 17, 2017

The lesser variety (TX and eastern NM, generally 5-7 pound birds) has a great reputation; e.g. "ribeye-in-the-sky".

I have eaten a handful of the "greater" sandhills from central NM (~12 pound birds) and I did not find them to be substantially different from a large Canada goose. They were good, but I would not say great. The smaller variety is likely better but I have not tried them.

I cook and eat a lot of waterfowl, mostly ducks, plus a few geese. A good duck (nothing fishy), properly cooked is damn good eating. I suspect most folks who say they hate waterfowl have either had some off-tasting birds, or poorly cooked specimens, or both.

stevie · Mar 17, 2017

I have a few ducks in the freezer right now. How did you cook yours?

joesikora · Mar 17, 2017

Hi Stevie, here's how we cook our duck breast. Cut a slice into the long side of the breast to make a pouch, season with Tabasco, stuff with minced pickled Jalape?o, hot pepper cheese or a good white melting cheese then wrap in a thick cut bacon and cook till the bacon is to your liking. Remember cooking the breast to long it turns to leather, that's why I use thick cut bacon
Let me know if you try this recipe

Joe

"Sometimes you do things wrong for so long you
think their right" - 2001
"I can't argue with honesty" - 2005
-Joe E Sikora

stevie · Mar 17, 2017

Thanks Joe. I think I'll try that. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Do you grill, fry or bake them?

joesikora · Mar 17, 2017

I just pan fry. I always start with high heat to sear all sides then cook the rest of the way on medium.
Don't forget to let them rest for a couple of minutes, I hope you like the recipe!

Joe

"Sometimes you do things wrong for so long you
think their right" - 2001
"I can't argue with honesty" - 2005
-Joe E Sikora

Ltsheets · Mar 17, 2017

Marinate in equal parts Italian dressing and worchester sauce for a few hrs. Wrap in bacon then saut? in olive oil in a pan. Make sure to not cook them past medium rare. That is vital.

>I have a few ducks in
>the freezer right now.
>How did you cook yours?
>

Ltsheets · Mar 17, 2017

I would even argue to pull it off at Med rare if you can handle it. Over cook slightly past that and you're still ok. Go past med and it starts to not be good IMO.

STOMPER · Mar 17, 2017

they taste a lot like whooping crane!

TerynItUp · Mar 18, 2017

Can always count on Stinky for a good chuckle.

No experience with Sandhills but wanted to give some input on duck/geese. Everyone is absolutely correct when they say don't overcook. If you don't like a lower temp meat, waterfowl just won't ever be "great" for you.

If you want something a little less daring than a medium rare duck breast and have the time and are willing to make a pot of gumbo, do it! Amazing. Trick is picking the ducks and boiling with bones in before trimming the meat off for the gumbo. Then keep that broth you just made from boiling the birds to mix with your roux. The whole process takes about 6-8 hours but so worth it. Duck commander has a good recipe you can follow that is very simple. I think it's called Miss Kay's Duck Gumbo. Biggest downside to this recipe is the need to pick, gut, and clean the ducks instead of just breasting them. I would rather gut an elk than a duck.

Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.

joesikora · Mar 18, 2017

LAST EDITED ON Mar-18-17 AT 10:06AM (MST)[p]Hi T, as I was reading your post I thought of Miss Kay's recipe for squirrel and dumplings. Have you ever tried that recipe using duck? Next season I'm going to give that a whirl, I made the squirrel version it was delicious.

And the only thing worst than picking a duck is picking a Canada goose! Man that sucks!

Happy cooking

Joe

"Sometimes you do things wrong for so long you
think their right" - 2001
"I can't argue with honesty" - 2005
-Joe E Sikora