Ptarmigan Spruce Grouse Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to cook ptarmigan? ›

Grouse and ptarmigan can be prepared many ways. They can be grilled, fried, baked, or slow cooked in a crock pot. If you're interested in grilling, marinade the breasts and thighs in your favorite marinade for 24 hours. Slowly cook the breasts on a medium heat grill to avoid overcooking and drying out the meat.

Female White-tailed Ptarmigan are smaller than Spruce Grouse and tend to occur in open tundra rather than spruce forests. They are paler than Spruce Grouse, shorter-tailed, and lack white markings on the belly.

Anytime we cook spruce grouse we usually soak them in milk overnight to get as much of the gamey taste out of them. Them toss them in a bag of flour and whatever spices you enjoy. After that toss the peices into a frying pan with a little butter and onions till they are browned.

The breast is cut in pieces cooked in a frying pan using butter & olive oil with salt,pepper & garlic. Blue grouse is much bigger & in the fall tastes like chewing on conifer needles & the meat is more chewier. Spruce is OK until late fall when it tastes like spruce/pine needles.

The bird in the pictures is a white-tailed ptarmigan from Colorado. They are all birds of cold, forbidding places, and are all dark meat that is strongly flavored. Do not serve ptarmigan to people who only like skinless chicken breasts. They are an eater's bird, full of flavor and slightly funky, as all grouse are.

A distinctive feature of ptarmigan is their feathered feet, which help them negotiate the frozen ground. Ptarmigan turn white in winter and brown in summer. Unlike other grouse, some male rock ptarmigan help raise the young, defending them against predators.

While most grouse species are considered to be excellent table fare, many people don't like the taste of spruce grouse because of the bird's extensive diet of evergreen needles.

Ptarmigan and grouse meat are excellent sources of protein. Protein keeps us healthy by building and repairing our muscles, skin and blood as well as helping us fight sickness. Ptarmigan meat is an excellent source of iron. One serving provides 50% of the iron we need in a day.

Range and Habitat

Willow ptarmigan also live in Canada, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Russia. In Southeast Alaska, several trails lead to ptarmigan country from roads close to Juneau.

The distinct game flavor of either birds or animals will be milder after soaking the meat overnight in the refrigerator in either a salt or vinegar solution. 2. Vinegar solution - 1 cup per quart of cold water. Use enough solution to cover the game completely.

How do you prepare grouse to eat? ›

Season the birds well inside and out with salt and pepper and place a sprig of thyme and a knob of butter in the cavity of each bird. I like to start cooking the grouse in a frying pan on top of the stove: heat the pan, add a tablespoon of oil and a good slice of butter.

Ruffed grouse offer white meat, and even the legs and thighs are light in color. A plucked bird is loaded with flavor. Early trappers and settlers considered the bush partridge a medicine bird due to their varied diet.

Grouse younger than a year old (8 to 10 ounces), are rare and are considered to have the best flavor.

Animals that eat Spruce Grouse are owls, goshawks, martens, fishers, and foxes.

Ptarmigan and grouse meat are excellent sources of protein. Protein keeps us healthy by building and repairing our muscles, skin and blood as well as helping us fight sickness. Ptarmigan meat is an excellent source of iron. One serving provides 50% of the iron we need in a day.

Dry cookery methods, such as frying, are appropriate for young birds. Moist cookery methods, such as stewing or braising, are appropriate for older birds. To decrease the distinctive taste of some wild game, trim off as much of the fat as possible. Older or skinned birds may become dry during baking.

Ptarmigan eggs were traditionally eaten in the Yukon; however in later years, eggs were considered by some as “l*ttle babies” and were left where they are found [57, 68]. Ptarmigan eggs were sometimes sought by the Hare in spring. They were usually boiled [64].

The rock ptarmigan is a chicken-like bird about 11-16 inches in length. It has a square tail and a small black bill. It has feathered legs and toes that help it walk in the snow and help keep it warm.