Upland Chef

Cooking is a learnable skill, and with practice, the basics can be mastered in a matter of weeks. Granted, learning the ways flavors work together takes longer, and while there is science involved, it isn’t rocket science. Can instinctive, improvisational cooking be taught? I think it can to most people, but for me, it took total immersion, many years and the right mentor. Some of the best recipes in history have been created by combining various informed ingredient combinations and a solid shot of dumb luck. If you hone your basic skills at the beginning, more nuanced techniques will come more easily later.

I had an intern in my restaurant kitchen once who came from a fancy culinary school. He was young, enthusiastic but not particularly gifted. His father called me after his first week concerned because his son had told him the kitchen was too busy for him and he wished to leave. Dad was inquiring as to how his son was getting on. My answer was a little flippant but honest. “So far, he has learned which end of the knife to hold and where we keep the butter.” Dad laughed and asked if I thought the boy would make it. I said I really didn’t know, but by the end of his six-month internship, the young cook was rocking a station on his own in a busy restaurant, and frankly no one was more surprised (and happy) than I except maybe Dad. Experience counts.

Three skills merely scratch the surface of what to learn but will help with cooking game birds.

Bird Skills

Learn how to handle freshly killed birds safely to ensure a good result at the table. After you have successfully knocked down a bird, cool it quickly. If the innards are compromised, remove them and then place the bird in an iced cooler. This ensures that the meat will not sour, especially in the warmth of an early season.

Back at camp, prepare the birds for butchering. Whether you are plucking feathers, breasting out the birds or doing a hybrid version of the two methods, be careful to look for and remove dirt, debris and shotgun pellets from the meat. A quick rinse with cold water and drying with paper towels finish the job, and the bird is ready for the kitchen. If you prepped a bunch of birds and plan to freeze breasts and legs, first lay them out separately on a sheet pan and put them in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Then wrap them individually in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag to avoid them sticking together. If you have a vacuum sealer, that’s even better.

Learn to use a knife. Pro cooks start the day by sharpening their knives. Whatever the job, doing so makes it much, much easier. Then learn which knife to use for which purpose. Generally, small knives for small, delicate work; big knives for the big stuff.

When I was a young prep cook, my first job was cutting vegetables in various shapes and sizes for the more experienced chefs to use in their dishes. Diced carrots in sizes ranging from large to minuscule especially flummoxed me. In a French kitchen, a diced vegetable is a perfect square usually cut into four distinct sizes ranging from large to tiny. My first week was awful, and I struggled to consistently achieve the standard. After my initial week of dicing with minimal success, the chef handed me a 25-pound bag of carrots plus four carrot pieces diced perfectly in the sizes he wanted me to learn to cut. “This is your homework. Bring them back when you’re done with the whole bag.” I got pretty good and fast with weeks of practice, but I did say when we opened our own place years later that I never wanted to serve any dish that featured a tiny brunoise (the smallest of the diced vegetables) of carrots on any dish!

For game birds, my best suggestion is to practice on chickens or the smaller Cornish game hens and learn to butcher the birds in the various ways needed to prepare the recipes you intend to make. One technique that is essential is learning to cut game birds into four or six pieces and another is learning how to spatchcock a bird.

Learn two or three methods of cooking birds that you utilize most and then practice with those chickens and Cornish hens you cut up earlier. But first, what pan or pot are you going to use? Cast iron, stainless steel and aluminum are all great all-purpose pan materials. Whether your recipe calls for stovetop searing or a quick braise in the oven, these materials will do the job. For bigger batches like soups, stews or deep frying, choose a good heavy Dutch oven-type pot. My go-to is a 7-quart iron beast that retains heat evenly and renders everything from big hunks of pork to delicate pheasants wonderfully tender.

If I’m cooking for just a few hunting buddies back at the cabin, 80 percent of the time I use the following default method. Cook it all on the stovetop, searing first, adding some nicely sliced vegetables (perfectly diced carrots, I might add!), some wine, whatever seasonings I choose, bird stock and finishing it off with a spot of cream, a knob of butter or both. If I’m cooking on the tailgate of my truck, I set a heavy iron griddle on the burners of a little gas stove. Doing so increases the cooking surface, keeps even heat and I don’t need to bring any sauté pans with me.

Of course, your approach to game birds is practically endless, but I find getting really good at one or two methods that you use most often is the way to start. Remember game birds are lean, and that means they will dry out quickly. Stop the cooking before you think they are ready! Residual heat in the pan will often carry over and finish the job. You can always cook them more; you can’t cook them less.

Learn to make good game bird stock. Making stock is an important element of French-style cooking. It isn’t very sexy, but it’s easy, and you will be amazed at how good your sauces, braises and broths will be. The bones are often staring you in the face after each hunt. Freeze the bones and when you have some time, make a batch. I’m a big fan of filling silicone ice trays with stock. Then I keep the trays in ziplock bags, and when I need a little stock to make a quick sauce, I pop out a few cubes and simply put the rest back in the freezer for another day. Whoever first did the ice tray trick should get an award! Beautiful, full-bodied stock ups the depth of flavor factor in your recipes.

Learn the basics of food safety: There are plenty of materials out there that explain the science behind food safety procedures, and the more you know, the less of a chance you’ll face an issue. Your local health department has all the information you need. To get you started, here are the two most important things to do out of the gate. First, avoid cross-contamination, especially with wild birds that can spread salmonella and other diseases. Always use one dedicated cutting board and knife for birds and another for vegetables and herbs. This way any issues are eliminated. Wash down the knife and cutting board with hot, soapy water right after you are finished cutting. Second, learn basic kitchen “time and temperature” procedures. Knowing how to safely cool down a hot soup or stew to store and serve later and then how to safely reheat those types of dishes is important. Do these two common kitchen procedures correctly and you will never have an issue; do them wrong and you could well make your hunting partners pretty sick.

Cooking in general and cooking game birds in particular is a skill that is learned through repetition and sometimes painful trial and error. Cook as much as you can at home be it poultry, fish, meat or vegetables. The more you practice in the off-season, the better your game bird dishes will be in the fall at bird camp. The offerings you bring to your table will be much appreciated and remember: your food is but one element of that grand, time-honored experience where groups of friends gather and celebrate. As the late, great Boston chef and bird hunter Jasper White was fond of saying, “Cooking for friends is the ultimate act of love.”

Finally, after writing this column since 2014, I have decided this will be my last. I have truly enjoyed my time at The Upland Almanac, and I hope I have inspired some of you to cook game birds with skill, confidence and creativity. I have enjoyed seeing The Upland Almanac grow during my time into the first-class magazine it is today. My sincere thanks to the late John Gosselin for the initial opportunity to join the team and to Ernie Foster, IV, who has done the hard work to retain the magazine’s tradition of excellence while moving the magazine into the future, making it look and feel modern. And a special thanks to the long-time editor of The Upland Almanac, Tom Carney. His extraordinary skills have made my columns better with each issue. Tom always encouraged me, gave me free rein to explore and taught me a ton throughout the years. He, with his wife Maureen, makes this magazine the best it can be.

Happy cooking! Gordon Hamersley