Goose Jerky

My first attempt at making jerky. A proud moment. 

My journey into the world of meat and wild game has been a slow climb. For nearly 10 years since I first met this cute boy who made this veggie girl some Hamburger Helper with moose meat on our third date, I still prefer a big salad to a big steak, but have come to embrace the likes of deer, moose, elk, grouse, partridge, pheasant, duck, wild turkey, walleye, trout, and salmon in my kitchen.

It gets a little crowded sometimes, all those antlers and fins and feathers in my cooking space.

But goose. Goose still eluded me.

I didn't know what to do with goose. The massive goose breasts did not take well to chicken breast recipes, and after spending an afternoon preparing a roast goose in Dickensian style, quoting Tiny Tim all day long in my cartoonishly fake British accent, it was fine to eat, but I can only define the flavor as a "beefy bird" and certainly a bit of an acquired taste.

So we end up grinding most of our goose meat and making sausages. But the other night, as I was cranking our old-school hand grinder, I asked my husband to set aside some goose breast. I was going to make jerky.

The 48-hour marinade

This is my first leap into charcuterie (other than my usual job as grinder), and I felt much more confident in it thanks to Hank Shaw's Duck Duck Goose cookbook. The man knows his game birds. I followed his recipe to the letter, except I omitted the porcini powder, as I didn't have dried mushrooms on hand to grind up. My husband helped me out by setting up our smoker as the dehydrator, letting the meat dry out at a low temp without smoke.

The results? Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I love anything Worcestershire, so having this meat soak in the stuff for two days was ideal for me. It has a subtle sweetness, thanks to the brown sugar in the mix, and the cayenne pepper in the marinade gives it a nice hit of spice, too. I may experiment by reducing the sugar next time and trying a hit of smoke in the smoker. I bet that porcini powder that I skipped would add a savory depth as well.

The ultimate test, though, came during deer camp last weekend, when I set out a cutting board with this jerky in addition to pickles, a cracker spread made with smoked fish, and other nibbles. The five hunters, a little weary after a day in the field but in high spirits, Clamato beer in hand, immediately reached for the jerky.

"Did you make this?" my father-in-law asked my husband. He shook his head and pointed at me. My father-in-law, with a little surprise in his eyes, looked at me. "Well, this is delicious," he said in his gruff voice as he took another bite.

+1.

Hank Shaw's Goose Jerky
Check out Hank's post with the original recipe here.  For your convenience, I'm copying it below. And if you have duck and goose in the freezer, I can't recommend his cookbook "Duck, Duck, Goose" highly enough. You can get it here.

3 pounds skinless, de-fatted duck or goose breast
2 cups water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon porcini powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Slice the duck breasts into roughly 1/4 inch strips. Mix remaining ingredients well in a large bowl. Put the meat into the marinade and massage it all around to coat evenly. Pour everything into a seal-able plastic bag or container and set in the fridge. Let this marinate for at least 24 and up to 48 hours — the longer it is in the mix, the saltier the meat will get, but the longer it will last at room temperature. During the marinating process, massage the meat around in the bag to keep all the pieces in contact with the marinade.

Remove the duck from the bag and pat dry with paper towels. Either follow your dehydrator’s instructions for making jerky (I dehydrate mine at 140 degrees), or lay the strips on a wire rack set over a cookie sheet to catch the drippings. Set the rack in an oven set on Warm until the meat is dried out, but still pliable, about 6-8 hours. Store either in the fridge indefinitely, or at room temperature for up to 1 month.