akaShag

Yeah, so did I when I lived down that way. About a hundred days a year on the water for steelhead and salmon. But that is all in my rear view mirror now, and now I BUY my steelhead already filleted and frozen. Sad, ain't it............

My game recovery rig is called an ARGO. And I ride in it with the game............... .....................and the tracks are back on for the winter, and there is NO SNOW here in K-town! Doug

Last night it was Hot Smoked Candied Steelhead (aka Indian Candy), spot-tail prawns with pasta primavera, and bacon-wrapped halibut. Steelhead from Chile, prawns from the Juan de Fuca Strait, halibut from Haida Gwaii. No photos......................it was quite toothsome. Doug

Thanks for the read. The word that comes to mind is: spiritual Merry Christmas bud. Doug

I had assumed when I read the article that the hunter had taken the meat off the bones and left the skeleton there. Given the apparently remote location, this would have been a likely scenario, ie pack out the meat. But the story does not actually say that, now I have re-read it. If the person who shot the bear ONLY took the radio collar, and left the carcass to rot, that person is not a hunter, that person is a poacher. In Ontario, it is an offence to allow game meat (including black bear) to spoil. Doug

It was apparently a legal bear for the hunter to shoot. So what's the fuss? Law-abiding hunter shoots legal bear, which happens to have a Disney type history. The bear is LEGAL game, taken by a law-abiding hunter, period, full stop. I hope the hunter is enjoying his or her bear, it's delicious.................. Doug

Would your Dad like to adopt another son? ?

back to Sinker, a non-resident has to utilize an OUTFITTER, not a guide. I had a buddy that hunted down there a number of times with a GUIDE (who was not an outfitter), but it was all illegal. He did not get caught, and neither did his guides, but the risk just wasn't worth it for me. Now I just need to find somebody on the Rock to adopt me! (I can already sing all the words to The Star of Logy Bay!) I have been looking into Nfld moose hunts now for about ten years, have not yet shelled out the bucks for it but some day I just might do that. Pretty well all of the outfitters I have contacted charge five grand per hunter for a week of moose hunting, some a lot more, some a little less. Doug

The five grand is PER HUNTER. I did have a quote from one outfitter who would guide two hunters, on ONE tag, for seven grand. Both can carry firearms, but once the moose is shot, the hunt is over. If you are headed to the Rock for sure, I have a couple recommendations (if I can find them) from friends who have gone there. It would be a starting point for you. If this is of interest, please shoot me a pm. And I am also in Kingston. Doug

back to Spiel.................WOW. Just freakin' WOW!!!!! back to Brian, I use my Big Chief smoker 12 months a year, I just use a cardboard box over it when it is windy and/or cold. If it is REALLY cold, it just takes longer in the smoker and/or I finish the stuff in the oven. But almost always, I just use the smoker. I did a big batch of Steelhead Indian Candy over the weekend in a Bradley digital smoker, never tried one of those before and there was a learning curve for sure. But I LIKE it. No need to hover like a mother hen waiting to put on a new pan of smoker chips. And the temperature control seemed to work very well indeed. The racks cleaned up a LOT easier that my several Luhr Jensen smoker racks over the years also. And I understand that there is a work-around for making your own wood chip pucks for them. More research is needed here but I am thinking a Bradley Digital Smoker just might be in my future plans................... I am doing 6 kilos of side bacon tomorrow..............? .........................but in my Big Chief! I did get to Costco while they had the pork bellies on sale for $8.99 a kilo, just north of four bucks a pound, and I bought two big packages of the leanest stuff, total of 18 pieces. They have been brining for a week now. Doug

Newfoundland is going to cost you five grand each plus transportation. You will not find much below that price, and a non-resident MUST use the services of an outfitter. Your chances of tagging a moose are probably better in NF than anyplace else on the planet, but you are going to pay for that. A guided BC moose hunt would probably cost LESS than a guided NF hunt, but I have no personal experience to back that up. MOST Ontario WMUs have reduced adult tag numbers, and MOST have reduced moose numbers, and I would be very cautious about booking a Northern Ontario hunt unless it was a fly-in. Even then, there are no guarantees. I was on a fly-in lake for a fishing trip this fall out of Nakina, the week before moose season, and in a week none of us saw a moose, nor heard a moose, nor saw any sign, around the very large lake we were fishing. And Nakina is a long ways from southern Ontario. In 2019 a group of us are going to hunt moose in Quebec, with an outfitter, but not a guided hunt. Moose numbers are apparently pretty good in Quebec, and 2019 the hunt is for any moose - bull, cow, calf. We are headed out to hunt with an outfitter recommended by a buddy who has hunted there three times. GOOGLE is your friend, and will be much more useful than posts to a fishing website. Just sayin' Doug

Pancetta is cured but not smoked pork belly: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/10680-pancetta-versus-prosciutto Now I am going to have to try this............. Doug

Pork belly is the cut of meat used to make side bacon, which is the sliced stuff normally just known as bacon. Pork loin is used to make back bacon. One type of back bacon is pea meal bacon. I don't know what pancetta is, I never had it as far as I know.

Thanks! Next stop, COSTCO Kingston............. ..............and if I never posted my side bacon recipe before I will once I make a batch again!

Where in the store was it? Frozen meats, or ??? I'd like to look at the store here in Kingston. I have wanted to make another batch of side bacon but pork belly has been seven bucks a pound around here, IF you can get it. I am not making bacon starting with pork belly that probably needs to be trimmed, to start with, so my starting meat is eight or nine bucks a pound. I can buy REALLY good double smoked bacon for about that money, mind you I have to drive five hours to get to that butcher shop.............so for the past year or two I have just been buying COSTCO bacon, which is decent but not special.

lime butter asparagus, please tell me more? and for that matter, your fish cake recipe? They "look" better than the ones I have made.......... Doug

YES! And a dash of garlic powder on the mushrooms, and a sprinkle of lemon juice, with the soya sauce, and you have Mushrooms Marcellaise.

what smitty said. But anyways, back to the problem of how to cook the cuts you have, my answer is pan-fry them to no more than medium rare. Enjoy!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner here................

Now THERE'S a mouthfull!!!!!

It looks like the picture showed up OK. If you have a t-bone steak, the larger side is loin and the smaller side is tenderloin, with the cut going at 90 degrees to the spine on an animal that has been cut in half lengthwise like a "side" of beef. Some folks will butcher a deer in the same fashion, but personally I don't like bone-in venison, so I bone out my deer. The only exception is I take the neck and use it to make venison barley soup. Here's my recipe for that: DOCTOR DOUG’S VENISON BARLEY SOUP Take a real good meaty neck, cut it in half if you need to fit it into your stock pot. Add water or broth for at least three times the volume of the neck, basically I fill the pot about two-thirds full of neck and water/broth. Add a couple tablespoons of summer savoury, then simmer on a nice low simmer (pot still bubbling gently) for at least four hours, five is better, maybe six if you have time. Take the neck out of the pot and add diced carrots, diced celery, diced onions (I like Vidalias the best) and a goodly amount of barley. Obviously the amounts of all those ingredients is going to be dictated by the size of your pot. My stock pot holds about four US gallons so I add LOTS of all that stuff. You are looking for a pretty thick soup. At this point I add in a good helping of Hy's Seasoned Salt, some fresh ground black pepper, sometimes a wee bit of garlic, and maybe a touch more summer savoury. Simmer that for an hour or so, and when the meat is cool enough take it off the bones, cut it into pieces and add it back to the soup. After the meat is back into the pot I let that simmer away for a good half-hour or so. In other words it is going to take the better part of a day to make a pot of venison barley soup, but it sure is tasty and it also freezes very well.

Filet mignon is tenderloin, which is inside the body cavity on either side of the spine on about the back third of the deer. Backstraps, or loins, are on the opposite side of the animal, under the skin, from about the top of the shoulder to the hips. Backstraps are loins, and loins are backstraps, two names for the same thing. I have tried to add a diagram here, not sure if it will show up. Bacon fat overpowers the flavour of the meat, in my opinion. I actually use Becel Light margarine, as I prefer the taste, but most folks would use butter.

as much as I hate to disagree with my (never met yet) Newfoundland buddy, I would NEVER EVER do anything with those cuts of venison but pan-fry it. Backstraps (what the Yanks call it) ARE loin steaks. On an adult deer, the loin is about 3 inches across, somewhat wider near the butt, and somewhat shorter near the shoulder. These are the best cuts of venison, and should be seasoned with pretty simple seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic) and pan-fried in butter or margarine. ABSOLUTELY NOT BACON FAT!!!!!!!! under any circumstances, and please trust me on this. You should cook them to no more than medium rare, rare is better. If you cook them medium or more they will be tough since there is zero fat in them. If they are not already sliced up, I suggest a half inch to tops three quarters of an inch for the loin steaks. If the hunter differentiates between loin and backstraps, it is possible that the "LOIN" is tenderloin. On a large adult deer, the tenderloin will be about 1.5 to 2 inches across and have a serious north-south grain. If you have some venison tenderloin, that hunter likes you a lot. With t-loin, slice it about a half-inch thick and pan-fry it in butter. remove the t-loins for the pan and fry some eggs in the pan drippings, then serve the eggs on top of the venison medallions. My favourite meal. If there is BONE in the steaks, please send me a pm and I will have more ideas for you. I have cooked many thousands of meals of venison, and butchered at least a couple hundred deer, trust me. Doug

I was with a buddy at the Owen Sound Fishing Symposium back in the 80s or so. We were staying in my camper and eating our meals there rather than buying take-out. He had brought a brick of garlic cheese, which was DELICIOUS!!! But that afternoon, after eating a bunch of it, I noticed that people's eyes were getting tears in them when I was speaking to them. LASER BREATH.................. And if you were going hunting, it would be basically impossible to get that garlic out of your skin - and the deer would notice. Says the guy who is talking with some experience in this regard.................... I will be interested to hear how it turns out! Doug

back to Headhunter........... ..............I take it you are NOT a bow-hunter, nor partaking of the controlled hunt for deer this week!!!!!? Doug