About 30 minutes before cooking, take the quail from the refrigerator, and drain the birds gently. Save about ½ cup of the marinade. Stuff each quail with a fig half.
Fire up enough charcoal to form a single layer beneath the quail. When the coals are covered with gray ash, spread them in the grill, and allow them to cool for several minutes to medium-hot.
Grill the quail about 12 to 14 minutes total, turning them frequently and basting them with the reserved vinaigrette. Expect the cooked quail to be a little pinker than chicken. Avoid overcooking them.
Remove the figs, and transfer the quail and figs to a platter. Serve them hot. Encourage diners to use their fingers when eating the tiny birds.
* * *
John Nance Garner, the former vice president, helped Harry Truman carry Texas in the 1948 presidential election by hosting a well-publicized quail breakfast for the candidate in Garner's hometown of Uvalde.
* * *
* * *
Technique Tip
Quail is often cooked whole because deboning the tiny birds is a time-consuming nuisance. Commercially marketed quail may be partially deboned or even cut into drumsticks and boneless breasts, but that won't affect the preparation method.
* * *
Honey-Roast Quail with Cornbread Dressing
Big-Foot Wallace said that Indians could tell when and where white pioneers were approaching because bees would position their hives fifty miles in front of ang encroaching settlement.
8 quail, about 6 to 7 ounces each
MARINADE
½ cup oil, preferably canola or corn
¼ cup honey
Juice of 2 limes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1
to
2 fresh serranos or 1 jalapeño, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
DRESSING
1 recipe day-old Just Good Plain Cornbread ([>]) or other dry cornbread sufficient to yield 4 cups of crumbs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2
to
3 fresh serranos or 1 to 2 jalapeños, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
⅓ cup chopped pecans, optional
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon salt, or more, to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
1
to
1½ cups unsalted chicken stock
Serves 4
Combine the marinade ingredients in a lidded jar. At least 4 hours and up to 12 hours ahead of the cooking time, pour the marinade over the quail in a nonreactive dish. Cover the dish, and refrigerate it, turning the quail occasionally. Remove the quail from the refrigerator, and let them sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before you proceed.
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Grease the rack of a roasting pan and a large baking dish.
Crumble the cornbread into a medium bowl. Warm the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, serranos or jalapeños, and garlic, and sauté them briefly until they are softened. Mix in the pecans, if you like, and the thyme and salt, and heat the mixture another minute or two. Spoon the vegetable mixture over the bread, add the egg, and mix lightly. Stir in ⅓ cup of the stock.
Measure out 1½ cups of dressing to stuff the birds, and reserve it. Add more stock to the remaining dressing, until it is very moist but short of soupy. Spoon it into the baking dish. The dressing needs to bake 25 minutes. We suggest putting it, covered, in the oven 15 to 18 minutes ahead of the quail, and then uncovering it when adding the quail, so that both can be removed at the same time.
Fill the cavity of each quail loosely with a few tablespoons of the reserved dressing. Some folks like to truss their quail, but this isn't necessary. Transfer the quail to the rack of the roasting pan. Roast the quail 8 to 10 minutes, until they are well browned.
Remove the dressing from each bird's cavity, and serve each diner two quail, accompanied with the dressings that were cooked inside and outside the birds.
* * *
Duck farming in the United States goes back to 1873, when a clipper ship brought three dozen Pekin ducks from China, where the breed had been raised for centuries. This breed is still the most common in the country and is widely available in stores.
* * *
Roast Pheasant with Jambalaya Dressing
Once plentiful in America, including on the high plains of Texas, wild pheasants are too gamy in taste for most people todag. We prefer the more delicate farm-raised birds, which are similar to free-range chickens in flavor. An assertively flavored rice dressing makes a great accompaniment.
2 pheasants, about 2½ to 3 pounds each
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
JAMBALAYA DRESSING
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound andouille or other spicy smoked sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon filé powder
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
½ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2½ cups chicken stock
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1¼ cups uncooked rice
6 green onions, sliced
½ cup unsalted chicken stock
Serves 6
Start preparing the pheasants the night before you plan to roast them. In a food processor or with a mixer, combine the butter with the garlic and other seasonings until you have a smooth mixture. Loosen the pheasants' skin with your fingers, being careful not to tear it. Rub the pheasants inside and out with the seasoned butter, especially under the breast skin. Place the birds in a plastic garbage bag, and refrigerate them overnight.
Remove the pheasants from the refrigerator about 1 hour before you plan to begin cooking. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Grease a large baking dish and the rack of a roasting pan.
While the pheasants are coming to room temperature, prepare the dressing: Warm the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, and fry it until it is well browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the sausage to the baking dish. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and add the onion, bell pepper, celery, gar lic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, mustard, file, black pepper, white pepper, and cayenne. Cover the skillet, and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occa sionally. Pour in the stock and the tomatoes, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the rice, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the green onions. Spoon the rice into the baking dish, mixing it with the sausage.
Transfer the pheasants breast-side down to the roasting pan. Cover the jambalaya, and place it and the pheasants in the oven. After 15 minutes, turn the pheasants breast-side up with the help of sturdy long-handled spoons. Again, try to avoid tearing the skin. Baste the birds with some of the stock and accumulated pan juices, and continue basting frequently during the remaining baking time. Cover the breasts with foil toward the end of the cooking time if they appear to be browning too quickly, but keep basting. Allow a total baking time of about 40 to 45 minutes, until the juices run pink when the birds are pierced with a skewer and the dressing is heated through.
Take the pheasants from the oven when they are done, tent them with foil, and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes before carving them. Accompany them with the hot Jambalaya Dressing.
* * *
Pheasant never achieved the same status in the United States that it once enjo
yed in Europe, where it was prized as a banquet bird because of its plumage and the wild, gamy taste, usually intensified by hanging the dead pheasant by the neck until it began to decompose.
* * *
Braised Pheasant with Sauerkraut
Central European cooking traditions in Texas inspire this richly flavored dish. Braising keeps the pheasant moist.
1 3- to 3½-pound pheasant
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
1 small onion, studded with 4 whole cloves
3 slices slab bacon, chopped
½ pound uncooked smoky sausage, sliced
2 tablespoons oil, preferably canola or corn
¼ cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds sauerkraut, preferably not a canned variety
1 cup unsalted chicken stock
6
to
8 juniper berries, bruised
1 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
Serves 4 to 6
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Rub the pheasant lightly with salt and pepper inside and out. Stuff the pheasant with the clove-studded onion. Truss the bird.
In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, fry the bacon until it is browned and crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon, and reserve it. Add the sausage slices to the warm drippings, and brown them. Remove them with a slotted spoon, and set them aside.
Pour the oil into the meat drippings, and warm it over medium heat. Lightly brown the pheasant, and remove it from the drippings. Spoon in the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion has softened. Add the sauerkraut, and stir to coat it with the drippings.
Make a nest for the pheasant in the middle of the kraut. Set the pheasant in its nest, and pour the chicken stock over it. Scatter the juniper berries and pepper in the dish, and bring the stock to a boil.
Cover the dish, and place it in the oven. Bake the pheasant 1½ hours. After about 1 hour, scatter the reserved sausage over the pheasant.
When the pheasant is done, remove the dish from the oven, transfer the kraut and sausage to a platter, and sprinkle the bacon over the kraut. Place the pheasant on top, and serve.
Quack in a Sack
When Camille Bermann opened Maxim's in Houston in 1948, he found patrons had a fascination with his fish en papillote. before long, he decided that they were just intrigued to see something cooked in a paper sack. Maybe so, but Texas home cooks have been using the same technique for decades with this duck dish. The recipe is good with both wild and domestic fowl.
1 medium-size heavy brown paper sack
Oil to coat the sack
1 4½- to 5-pound duck
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
1 apple, quartered and cored
1 onion, quartered
Serves 2 to 3
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Grease the rack of a roasting pan. Coat the paper sack thickly with oil.
If the duck is a fattier domestic species, prick its skin all over with a fork, being careful not to pierce the flesh. Rub the bird inside and out with salt, pepper, and ginger. Insert the apple and onion into the cavity.
Transfer the duck to the roasting pan, breast-side up. Roast the bird 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, and pour off the accumulated fat. Pick up the duck by inserting a sturdy spoon into its cavity, and transfer the bird, breast-side up, to the oiled bag. Tie the sack tightly closed with kitchen twine.
Return the "quack" in its sack to the roasting pan. Return the pan to the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F, and roast the duck an additional 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, open the sack, and insert an instant-read thermometer in the duck. If the internal temperature is not 155° F to 160° F, continue cooking the duck in the bag until the temperature reaches 155° F. Remove the duck from the oven, and let it sit in the sack for 5 to 10 minutes before carving it.
Serve the duck with the apple and onion chunks, if you wish.
* * *
Wild ducks are leaner than their domestic cousins and more assertive in taste, with dark, rich meat. cooks often reduce the fat of farm-raised ducks by pricking the skin and steaming them for about 30 minutes, and they may lard and baste wild ones to keep them from drying out. The paper-sack treatment eliminates some of the fuss in both cases.
* * *
Sage-Grilled Duck Breasts
Flocks of wild ducks fly south each year from Canada to help harvest the rice crop in Texas and Arkansas. Hunting is highly regulated today, but some marksmen and -women still bag their limit of tasty mallard drakes, pintail drakes, and teal.
If you start with prime young duck breasts, from either wild or domestic birds, this recipe makes a delectable dish.
4 duck breast halves, about 4 to 5 ounces each
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves
1 garlic clove, chopped
Additional fresh sage leaves, for garnish
Serves 4
Fire up enough charcoal to form a single layer beneath the duck breasts.
Rub the duck breasts with salt and pepper under and over their skin.
In a food processor, combine the butter, sage, and garlic, processing until the mixture is smooth. Rub equal portions of the seasoned butter under and over the skin.
When the charcoal is covered with gray ash, place the breasts skin-side down over the hot coals. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin is well browned and crispy. Turn the breasts over, and move them a few inches from the hottest part of the fire, cooking another 2 to 4 minutes for medium rare meat. The butter dripping on the coals may cause some flare-ups, so watch the grill carefully and douse any conflagrations.
Let the breasts sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, and then slice each on the diagonal, serving some of the crispy skin with each breast. Transfer the slices to a platter or individual plates, and serve.
* * *
Technique Tip
Don't bother with wild ducks that feed on fish. There are ways to alleviate the fishy taste, but the results aren't worth the trouble.
* * *
Hasenpfeffer
German hasenpfeffer, a classic in Texas as well as the mother country, is a superb way to cook either wild or domestic rabbit.
MARINADE
¾ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup dry red wine
¾ cup unsalted stock, preferably chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 tablespoons pickling spice
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
6 juniper berries, bruised
1 rabbit, cut in 8 serving pieces
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup brandy
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon currant jam or jelly
½ cup sour cream
Serves 3 to 4
Combine the marinade ingredients, and pour the marinade over the rabbit pieces in a nonreactive bowl. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the rabbit pieces for 24 hours.
Remove the rabbit pieces from the marinade, and lightly pat them dry with paper towels. Reserve the marinade. Combine the flour, salt, and pepper in a paper bag. Put the rabbit pieces in the bag, and dredge them in the seasoned flour.
Heat the butter in a skillet, and brown the rabbit pieces. Pour the marinade over them, and simmer over medium-low heat for about 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and cooked through. With tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the rabbit pieces from the pan, and place them on a serving platter. Keep the meat warm while finishing the sauce.
Pour the pan drippings through a sieve, pressing on the solids to release as much flavor as possible. Discard the
solids. Reheat the drippings, reducing them over high heat, if necessary, to make about 1 cup of sauce. Add the brandy and jam to the sauce, stirring until the jam is melted. Remove the sauce from the heat, and stir in the sour cream.
Taste, add more salt and pepper if you like, and pour the sauce over the rabbit pieces. Serve the rabbit immediately.
* * *
Similar in taste to chicken, rabbit has virtually no fat and fewer calories per pound than almost any other meat.
* * *
Robust Rabbit Loins
Save this simple preparation for tender loins from farm-raised rabbits. A homemade chili sauce, such as our Rojo, is a lusty complement to the luscious meat.
8 rabbit loins, about 2 to 3 ounces each
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons oil, preferably peanut
2 small tart apples, such as granny Smiths, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped roasted salted peanuts
Texas Home Cooking Page 25
