Just curious if anyone would like to share a sage hen recipe. I will be hunting them this fall and would like to be prepared ahead of time.

Thanks,

Mark

We eat Sage Grouse every year in what we call "Chicken Camp"

Chickens = Sage Grouse.

I could give you the long recipe prepared in a cast iron skillet and when it's done cooiking you throw it all out and eat the skillet;-)=.

The best way we have found is to make Fatias out of thinly cut strips of breast meat.

BTW you will need a camp full of hungry guys and lots of beer.

Also Sage Grouse taste a lot like liver.

One other thing: Don't shoot the B52 Bombers! Try to harvest only the smaller younger birds.

First, sage grouse (or any other dark-meated bird) mostly taste like liver if you overcook them. And the more you overcook them, the more they taste like liver.

The first step in cooking sage grouse is to field-dress them IMMEDIATELY. This means within 15 minutes after killing them. Then, ASAP after that, rinse out the cavity with clean water, preferably cold water, and cool the birds down. If the intestinal tract was punctured by shot, it also helps to toss a little salt in the cavity after rinsing it out. All of this minimizes the "sagey" taste that some people object too.

The younger birds are milder flavored, but even the big bombers are much milder flavored if you follow the above. It also helps to age the birds a few days before eating or freezing them, especially the older ones. This makes them tenderer, and can be done in a refrigerator or any other cool place.

The smaller birds can be cooked any way you cook other gamebirds, but (again) don't over cook them. The breast will be tender if you cook it medium-rare (or if you fajitas, as suggested above, cook the meat very briefly, no more than a minute or so. Since one of the things we miss in much wild game is the sweet taste of fat, a little extra fat or even some sweet ingredients help. One thing I like to do with sage grouse (or sharptails, or any other dark-meated bird) is s stir-fry with sweet red peppers, garbanzo beans and maybe even a little sprinkle of brown sugar at the end.

The legs can be tough, especially on the older birds. We often boil them until the meat can be easily pulled off the bones, then make enchiladas.

There are a more details in my wife's book UPLAND GAME BIRD COOKERY, which can be ordered through www.riflesandrecipes.com. This may sound like a blatant promotion, and is.

They can be either OK, or plain terrible. Like already said, get the insides out of them ASAP and try for younger birds. Jerky is about the only way I have found to eat the older birds. They are an absolute blast to hunt but are very dark meated like sharptail or huns.

I've had good luck with my SG meals and hunting them with a good dog is lots of fun. And here's a plug for Eileen's UGB cookbook. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy - it's AWESOME! And if you're a bird hunter, you need to find & buy a copy of John's book Western Skies - it's full of GREAT bird hunting stories!

Thanks everyone.

Mark

The best suggestion I can offer is that sage hens tend to have stronger flavor, and recipes should have strong flavors to complement them. We use a lot of curry recipes, but our favorite is a cream-cognac sauce for pasta that Vincent Price published (originally for duck). It is just plain awesome..... Many other waterfowl recipes are adaptable to Sage hens.

HOWEVER. Pan seared in bacon grease over a campfire beats all. JMO, Dutch.

Can you PM me the Vincent Price recipe?

I'm sorry but, John whom?

If you log onto www.riflesandrecipes.com all will be explained about John. In fact in the lower left of the home page is a photo of him carrying a couple of nice sage grouse.

Thank you Sir.

Mark

JB, as ever, understated & professional !

MarlinMark,

John is Mule Deer / JB, the guy you've been talking to !

Paul.

The best we've done so far is remove the skin and innards ASAP then soak for an hour in a cold saltwater bath. Lightly fry them in butter then pour in a can of mushroom soup (size of can depends on how many birds you're cooking) add a "little" (little being the key word) liquid then stir in a bag of dry onion soup mix. Let simmer for an hour or so then get after them. If the birds taste like crap at least you've got some good gravey for the spuds.

I have always boiled the breast and the grind it up and mix with miracle whip and put it on bread. Makes pretty good sandwiches. You can even throw some relish in with it.