"Now We're Talkin'"

Hi everyone;

As promised we really did go to South Dakota to do some Pheasant hunting and thanks to the graces of God and good weather we had a successful hunt. While there won't be any recipes on this installment, we will talk about Ike and what he loves to do. Ike did good job on Public ground the first day. For those of you that don't know South Dakota has about 4 MILLION acres in varoius public access areas for hunting. Hunting in general and non-resident hunters generate an estimate 12% of the gross income for the state-so it is big business. Public gound is more difficult and usually need BIG groups of people to hunt them as many times you are walking in 300+acre plots. There were just us 3, Bryan, Ken and myself and Ike. While we saw a couple roosters (you can only shoot roosters) right out of the box, they were too wiley and flushed too far out for a shot - I considered that a good omen... But after that we saw only Hens.. Ike did really well finding them - one field he found 4 but again we couldn't shoot them.. (Man did I get a dirty look from him after the 3rd one -like, "Hey I did my job -now do yours!"

But we did have a pretty good day at the Private Ground on Friday. On the left you see part of are group as well as Ike with our harvest of our "limit". Pictured front and center is Ike, although I think he was still looking for one more bird- but flanking Ike and I are our two guides Larry and Lowell, (and Mocha) great guys and wonderful dog (Larry's 2 labs are in the background in his truck)

Here is a pic of Ike with his first retrieve in South Dakota - He extracted the tail feathers in the process but he brought it back to me - so that is a good thing.

He was a tired puppy every night but he was rearing to go the next morning. What he lacks in size he makes up for in determination!!

Next Blog - Pheasant Chilli.... Mmmm..

Until then, "Ike, Find that bird!"

Fire sticks - Pheasant style

Since my post yesterday had nothing to do with Ike, and he reminded me that the title of this is cooking with Ike not Steve I thought I should give him some time to shine. Ike is now 14 months old and a great addition to the family. Here are a couple of pictures of him with his first retrieves while in training. He was a natural. Because I had additional pheasants this year due to his training I had to find more than the traditional pot pie so I will intersperce some recipes focusing on pheasant in honor of Ike (and the fact I have so darn many of them in the freezer and had to get creative.)

Ike's training so far has consisted of pointing and retrieving raised birds as for those of you that are not familiar with Illinois hunting, the natural habitat and wild birds have disappeared due to urban Growth and increased intensity farming. Organizations like Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are grassroots organizations working on restoring the habitat and in turn the birds as well. In future posts I will share with you the exploits both culinary as well as hunting of some local sportsman's clubs.

The following recipe is for pheasant breasts but I suppose you could use chicken or turkey cutlets too... but Ike didn't point them, after all this is cooking with Ike. Enjoy!

Remove the breast of the pheasant and skin it as well
Check for shot
Soak them in saltwater for at least an hour
Cut the breast of the pheasant into strips
Marinate overnight in the following mixture:
Olive Oil
Apple Juice
Durkee Hot Sauce (or your favorite make them as hot as you like - after all it is called fire
sticks)
Couple drops of Liquid Smoke
Fresh Garlic sliced thin (this is where I think more is better)
Honey
(I add a couple slices of fresh Ginger here too-wasn't in the original recipe an old hunter gave
me but I figure it is my pheasant I can do what I want)
Prepare a dry breading of Bread crumbs (either Panko or original) cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt
Remove from marinate and dredge in the breadcrumbs and fry in 350* peanut oil until golden brown and delicious.

I tried baking them once, but honestly I didn't like them so I don't recommend that.

Great with a bbq dipping sauce, sweet and sour, or even various mustards, great finger food at a party.