A few months before a tick bite made me allergic to meat we had made a bulk purchase of beef. Along with a couple of friends, we split a cow 3 ways and filled our freezer. Fast forward a few months, and I could no longer eat the beef. I couldn’t even cook it for my family without provoking an allergic reaction. So the beef sat in our freezer taking up space that I needed for stocking up on non-mammal foods.
If you’re not familiar with the Alpha-gal Syndrome meat allergy, you can find more information here.
Snow Goose Hunt
In late February of this year, my husband had planned a Snow Goose hunt with his brothers and nephews. Nebraska is in the migration path of literally millions of birds in the winter including Snow Geese, Canadian geese, Sand Hill Cranes, and more. In some parts of the state there is no limit as to how many Snow Geese you can take.
How About a Trade?
As the date approached for the Wisconsin and Michigan Tyler Clan to come to Nebraska for the hunt I started talking to my Sister-in-law about the trip. She wasn’t coming, they have younger children still in school and farm animals to care for. Among those animals is a growing flock of ducks. She mentioned having quite a few of them and needing to cull the flock. I had not been able to find duck in the grocery store since Christmas and I was getting pretty tired of the turkey-chicken-turkey-chicken meal rotation. So, I offered her a trade! How about I send home all of this beef in exchange for some of those ducks? She agreed!
The day of the hunt arrived along with the hunters! They brought me 10 ducks and headed out to hunt for snow geese.
Plucking Ducks is Hard Work
They left for the hunt early Tuesday morning and I went to work on the ducks right away. I had asked for them to remove the heads and feet, but please don’t skin them. I wanted the fat to render for cooking! Trust me, I knew how much work it was going to be! But I felt like it would be worth it. I laid the ducks out on a table in the garage and got to work. I worked all day and into the next day plucking ducks. And then dipping them in wax to help remove the down.
By the end of the day on Wednesday I had 10 beautiful, skinned ducks! Once again I laid them out on the table to admire my work!
When the guys came back from the first day of the hunt Tuesday evening, they had 63 snow geese to clean! They removed the breasts and went back out to the field the next morning.
Duck, Duck, Goose!
On Wednesday I finished plucking and waxing the ducks. Then I cleaned and removed the shot from the goose breasts from the hunt the day before. As I was cleaning the goose breasts I noticed a little tenderloin on some of them. So, I separated those out and cooked them for the guys when they came home that night–with another 87 geese. Here’s my recipe for Goose Breast tenderloins.
On day three, I cut the ducks up into breasts and leg & thigh pieces for the freezer. Then, I trimmed the fat and removed the remaining skin from the carcasses.
On day four, I rendered the fat and boiled the carcasses for stock.
I ended up with a lot of goose breasts, 20 duck breasts; 20 leg and thigh pieces; a quart plus about ¾ cup of duck fat; and 16 pints of stock.
It was a monumental amount of work and it took about a week for the arthritis in my hands to settle down from all that work. But it was totally worth it! And, I didn’t spend any money except for the original cost of the beef, which I couldn’t use anyway. My freezer is now filled with alpha-gal safe, red meat poultry! It’s a well-earned victory in the never-ending Alpha-gal Syndrome quest for safe, satisfying, and affordable meals.
Do you have a great food find or wild game story? Please let me know in the comments here, or on my Susan by a Thread facebook page!
Be sure to check back in on my blog recipes regularly or follow my Susan By A Thread Facebook page for the recipes I use to cook both the ducks and the wild geese. I’ll post them as I go. Here’s the recipe for our first Snow Goose steaks meal!
The tenderloin is found under the breast of the goose. If you trim the breast away from the bone carefully, you will find the small tenderloin muscle on the back side of the breast. It will pull away easily and you can set it aside to cook fresh! Here’s my Snow Goose Tenderloins recipe. Ingredient amounts will depend on how many tenderloins you have. I had maybe half a pound.
Ingredients:
½ pound snow goose tenderloins, cleaned & checked for shot
1 teaspoon All-Purpose or Steak seasoning
1 T Olive oil (More or less, enough to coat each tenderloin)
1-2 T Duck fat
Instructions
Place the tenderloins in a bowl and toss them with olive oil and your favorite all-purpose seasoning. I used Misty’s All-Purpose seasoning, but you can just use garlic powder, salt, and pepper if that’s what you have on hand. Let the meat marinate in the oil and seasoning for about 10 minutes while you prepare the pan.
In a skillet, heat a tablespoon or two of fat. I used duck fat, but vegetable oil will also work.
When the pan is hot, place the tenderloins in the hot oil in a single layer, with space between the pieces. Don’t over-crowd the pan. You want them to brown quickly without overcooking. Turn the pieces once or twice until they are browned and place on a paper towel to drain. Serve immediately before they cool!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page.
Also try my Snow Goose Breast recipe. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more recipes!
Snow Geese are a common sight in Nebraska late winter/early spring. Millions of them migrate through the state on their way to someplace else. In some areas of the state, hunting without a bag limit is allowed to control their increasing numbers. Maybe that’s why Snow Geese are not a popular wild game food here in Nebraska, but they are delicious! Snow Goose meat is a dark red meat similar to duck. I cook it almost like a steak, with steak seasonings and medium-rare. Here’s my recipe:
Snow Goose Breast
Ingredients:
4-6 Snow Goose Breasts (skinned, cleaned and checked for shot)
2 t. Steak or All-purpose seasoning. (or blend your own onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper)
2 T Olive Oil
2 T Duck Fat or cooking oil
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400◦ Fahrenheit.
Trim any remaining fat and silver skin or connective tissue from the breasts. Tenderize the breasts by pounding them with a meat mallet or a rolling pin to break down the tissue. Then place in a large bowl or Ziploc bag. Add olive oil and seasoning and toss to coat each piece evenly. Allow to marinate in the seasoning for 15-20 minutes.
Heat the duck fat in a cast iron or oven-safe skillet until hot. Place the breasts in the hot pan and sear both sides until browned. Place the pan in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Carefully remove pan from the oven. Place the goose breasts on a cutting board and allow to rest covered with foil for 5-10 minutes. Breasts will be about medium rare. Increase or reduce oven time according to your preference for more or less rare meat. (Always use caution with undercooking wild game.)
Slice and serve!
If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments, or on my Susan by a Thread Facebook page. you may also like my Snow Goose Tenderloins Recipe.
Be sure to follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel for more recipes!
