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Photo by Lloyd Spitalnik
Ever since I started hunting I’ve wanted to chase the elusive, mystical woodcock, a bird so steeped in mythology it was once thought to spend its summers on the surface of the moon.
Timberdoodles, mud snipe, bog sucker, wood elf — all names for scolopax minor, the lewdly named woodcock. OK, get your jokes out of the way. Lord knows I’ve told more than my share about this bird. But when you’re done, you really ought to do everything in your power to actually eat one of these birds.
Almost all who have eaten them say that woodcock is the king of game birds, greater even than canvasback duck. The flavor of woodcock is said to be strong, gamey-in-a-good-way, and like nothing else. They say the earth moves when you bite into one that has been perfectly cooked: pink, and just a little bloody.
I love game birds more than most people, so for years I’ve eagerly sought out woodcock wherever I’d hunted. Woodcock do not live west of the Great Plains, so I am out of luck here in California. But when I hunted ducks in Canada I asked if there were any in the nearby woods. Sorry, they told me. The timberdoodles had already flown south, toward their wintering grounds in Louisiana. Ditto for my grouse hunt in Minnesota. The bog suckers had already left by the time I’d arrived. Damn.
My quest remains unfulfilled. I have still never shot a woodcock. But thanks to the power of the Internet — and FedEx — I managed to find myself in possession of three woodcock this week. How did this happen?
Well, Brian Degan, a long-time reader of this space and proprietor of the blog Long May Your Big Jib Draw, has had a great woodcock hunting season. When I heard about this, I proposed a trade: Oregon white truffles for timberdoodles. Luxury for luxury. It was a deal.
Photo by Lloyd Spitalnik
When the parcel arrived, I tore it open to see if the birds had come through OK. Phew! They did. Thawed, but still cold. First thing I noticed was how small they are: Woodcock are about as big as a Eurasian collared dove, about 5 ounces. For non-hunters, this is about the size of a quail.
I knew there was only one real way to cook these birds, and that was to roast them simply. Looking over literally scores of old recipes, most from before Word War I, the dominant method of cooking is in a “quick” oven for 10-20 minutes. Bacon or salt pork is put on the breast briefly, then taken off. The birds are served on toast and often with Cumberland sauce.
If this recipe was good enough for J.P. Morgan and his fellow Gilded Age barons, it was good enough for me. I had my plan. Still, it was with trepidation that I turned my oven on. I admit it: I had stage fright.
Any of you who cook regularly know this feeling. When faced with a rare or expensive ingredient, you freeze. You keep thinking, for God’s sake, don’t mess this up! All your normal cooking instincts fail and you become that timid, novice cook you once were. This happens to me with some frequency, and know how to get past it by taking a deep breath, running through the recipe several times in my head, then moving deliberately and smoothly. Focus matters.
First I cut rounds of spelt bread (I wanted something earthy and rustic to go with the game) and fried them in a little lard. Why lard? Why not? The birds then went in the oven. Fifteen minutes later they emerged. I salted them with Italian fiore de sale from Cervia and tented them with foil while I made the sauce. Down went the sauce, then the toast, then the birds. It was all so simple. Would it be good?
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
First thing I noticed was that the woodcock is an odd bird. You can tell by the pictures of the live bird above that it’s funny-looking. Eyes on top of its head, little butterball body, long beak and stubby legs. The Indians say that God made woodcock out of leftovers. Looking at the roasted bird, there was one more thing: Its breast meat was dark and its leg meat was light — the exact opposite of every other bird I know. Weird.
I tore into a leg. Surprisingly tender, light, and — what? Fatty. Upland game birds, at least wild ones, are never fatty. This was a revelation. I was sad to see the little legs go. On to the breast meat. Again, really tender. The color is that same lovely pink you see on a dove tenderloin, or a slightly underdone chicken thigh. Ever-so-slightly gamey, dense and juicy.
While the bird was good by itself, it was pure magic when eaten with a little piece of crispy toast and a smear of the Cumberland sauce. So this is how Rockefeller and Morgan felt as they ate their dinner! I felt an uncontrollable urge for either a very old Port or a Madeira from before the War. Which war I am not entirely certain.
It was a simple, heavenly meal. But here’s the thing: I kept finding myself mentally comparing woodcock with ruffed grouse, which to me is the game bird that tastes the closest to a timberdoodle — and, I hate to say it, I prefer the ruffed grouse. All of that rhapsody attributed to the woodcock is, in my mind, better suited to the ruffed grouse. Grouse is gamier, funkier, more powerful than the delicate woodcock. And while I will never turn away a meal of woodcock, I am a man of strong tastes.
Even so, I am not disappointed. I’ve now eaten almost every game bird in North America (several grouse species still elude me) and I can say that I can think of no better banquet than one that begins with a course of delicate, tender woodcock, moves on to roast ruffed grouse, pauses for an interlude of grilled doves or snipe, and reaches its zenith with a main course of seared canvasback duck, glistening with fat and glittering with sea salt.
That would be living.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser
ROAST WOODCOCK
Count on 2 woodcock per person if you can spare it. One will whet an appetite, but leave you wanting for more. Be sure to preheat your oven fully before putting the birds in, otherwise you will crisp neither the bacon nor the woodcock’s skin properly. Serve this with grilled polenta, over mashed potatoes, or toast.
Serves 2
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
- 2-4 whole woodcock, plucked and gutted
- 2 tablespoons lard or butter
- 2 slices of bacon, cut in half
- 1 celery stick
- Fleur de sel or other finishing salt
- 1 recipe, Cumberland sauce
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Most ovens will require a solid 30 minutes to get to this temperature. As the oven is heating, take the birds out of the fridge.
If you want to truss the birds, tie some kitchen twine around their legs. It is traditional to leave the head on the woodcock and jam the beak through the legs to truss it. I think this is weird.
In an oven-proof frying pan, heat the lard over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the bacon pieces and fry until halfway done. Remove the bacon and set aside.
Add the woodcock and fry for 1 minute on each side — don’t fry the breast. Remove the birds and take the pan off the heat. Pour off all but a thin sheen of oil.
When the oven is good and hot, arrange the woodcock in the frying pan breast side up and use pieces of the celery stick to keep them from falling over. Lay a piece of bacon over the breast of each bird and cook in the oven for 6 minutes.
Remove the bacon, and continue cooking the birds for another 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Tent with foil as you make the Cumberland sauce.
Nice post – is it the same species as British woodcock?
The reason you leave the head on traditionally is beacuse you supposed to eat the brains. The British traditional method is to roast it whole with the viscera still inside, then scoop the innards out and smear them on toast. The bird’s then jointed and piled on top. The head is split in two so you can pick each half up by the beak, like a spoon, and slurp the brains out…
How interesting! I’d like to hunt and eat one one day.
As for game birds, do you have mountain quail under your belt yet?
[...] one. To say I’m jealous would be underscoring my true feelings. At the very least you can read about his thoughts on the ever so elusive [...]
A pair of woodcocks can usually be found hanging out in the woods along our 1/4-mile-long driveway in summer. Others come through from Canada in autumn. I love the curious way they fly, beak down, whistling.
Because they wait until you’re really close before leaving the ground and also fly relatively slowly, an avid bird-hunter friend tells me that the most common mistake is to shoot at them too soon. You’re apt to miss, since your shot pattern hasn’t spread yet. And if you hit, there won’t be much left of the bird.
Good to eat like a robber baron once in a while! Hope to get my skills up to whee, if I got a chance at them, I’d have a chance @ them. As for the grouse/woodcock comparison, there are times that I, too, prefer the more hearty, though less ‘refined’ option. Maple syrup/oolong come to mind.
Congrats on the season closer, too!
Hank, you must have been reading my mind this weekend with all the cookbooks I’ve been focused on by authors from France and the UK that highlight the timberdoodle and bécasse! They do go crazy about these little but tasty upland offerings, most especially some interesting recipes by Dickson Wright in her “Game Cookbook”, though your Cumberland sauce seems much more in tune with the woodcock…don’t know if I’d be that into a French snipe recipe I’ve read, with its entrail contents soaking into toast…then again we never bat an eye on whole sardines and anchovies.
…A friend invited me to hunt whitetails on his farms in northwestern MInnesota, and your recipe make me want to get there a bit earlier for the woodcock and ruffed grouse…would love to see how Ziggy does on them!
Alas, for me woodcock is a dream yet unfulfilled.
I’ve been anticipating this post. It doesn’t disappoint.
I hunted woodcock (w/ Brian D) in 2009, when coastal North Carolina had an influx of migrants thanks to severe weather to the north (repeated again this year). They are, as you say, amazing, mysterious, delightful creatures and we cherished the handful that made it into our gamebags like little gold nuggets. They make you want to carry an old side-by-side in 28-gauge, or something like that. They make you want to own a well-bred dog. They make you want to read a real book. Wood elf – that’s a good name for them.
I’m extremely fortunate to have had the past two epic woodcock seasons I’ve had. Glad you enjoyed them Hank. I’ve got three more in the freezer…what to do with them???
Even with the bounty of Oregon white truffles you sent, my wife still gave me the evil-eye as I packed away the 3 birds I sent you. She loves those legs!
Brian
Hey hank-
Great article, as usual. You mentioned wanting to not only hunt but eat every game bird in North America… I strongly advise against Spruce Grouse. At least once it’s gotten cold. My dad once got a Spruce Grouse while hunting Ruffed. This was fairly late in the season, and the thing had been eating… wait for it… spruce needles. The crop had a good cup or more, if I remember right. And the bird tasted like spruce needles.
Put it this way – when you get one, I’ll be very very curious to see how you’ll prepare it.
Jesse
Oh my gosh dude. I love your blog… apparently in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Your foraging entries are looked forward to year round but several weeks of straight fowl entries are getting to this 20+ year vegetarian. Have mercy on my poor soul, you must have frozen elderberry around somewhere?
J. No, the American woodcock is smaller. And yes, I know about the whole entrails thing. Not interested, sorry!
Josh: Nope. Never eaten a mountain quail yet. Hoping to fix that later this year…
Cork: Whitetail season and the best bird hunting are not at the same time. You want to go in early October for grouse, and deer season is not until November, if I remember right.
Jesse: Oh, don’t worry, I will be eating spruce grouse, and I know they taste piney. My strategy will be to go with it, and not fight it. I may still hate it, but I have to try.
Mari: Yeah, I know, I’ve been meat-centric lately. Working on some vegetarian stuff for you soon, though. Hang in there!
That is so thrilling. It is on my list and I fear I will never try them.. good to have the experience vicariously through you. I wonder if they are like other birds in that the meat goes liverish if cooked too long?? Like with those fabled ortolons, I think I could never do the guts and brains part either!!! They are lovely little birds, aren’t they?
Thanks for sharing your triumph!
And I love the idea of the spruce grouse tasting like spruce… I used pine as part of my stove-top smoke mix for quails… really delicious (with jasmine flowers and tea- a chinese recipe)
Thank you Hank!
Timberdoodle? That’s quite the name! And those are some outstanding feathers. So ornate!
‘roofed goose’??’timgerdood’e??are they known by other names in Britain?
and I thought I was an adventurous eater. must hunt in Selfridges.
Best post title ever.
Central Texas has Woodcock or Snipe, after limiting out on doves there are always these long beaked birds too. I throw them into my “Paloma Cioppino” every year and no one notices, but me. They are small, but tasty. No, I don’t bother with the brains either. As for Collared Eurasian Doves, I don’t know what you have where you hunt, but the ones here in Central Texas are bigger than White WIng Doves. woodcock are about the size of a young Mourning Dove.
Love your site!
I came across it looking for rabbit recipes. My husband and I have started a tiny farm and are raising various animals for meat (rabbit, quail, duck etc). Hopefully he’ll be doing some hunting in the fall as well. I’m be coming back for more recipes!
There are Snipe in California, havent hunted any but my friend got two a while ago, he forgot to tell me if they were any good. Have you had any yet?
Here in Vermont, Woodcock/Timberdoodle/bogsocker/worm-bird is a common occurrence come October. Unfortunately the season is a rather short one, but I’ve found they are infinitely easier to hunt than the ruffed grouse. This being my first hunting season (I’m not a very good shot), flushes to birds-in-bag ratio for grouse was 54/1, but woodcock was 23/8. As a result, I had some nice opportunities to experiment with a few amateur recipes. My favorite by far was a bourbon or brandy flambee with the woodcock cooked rare in sections in a stovetop pan with butter. Melts in the mouth! Great appetizer or maybe even a bizarre desert if paired right. The meat is just so sweet and juicy.
You may already know this, but the reason behind the white meat legs is because woodcock are flight/migratory birds that need the extra capillaries in their breasts for flight. Hence why the rarely in-flight grouse or chicken has white meat breast and dark meat legs.
Love the website! Looking forward to the book!
I’m so delighted you offered such lovely pictures of this little bird – you’ve inspired me to try plucking some and serving them trussed. Like Andrew, I find myself with a lot more woodcock in the bag than grouse – they hold so much better for a pointing dog than those flighty grouse. Plus I live in Michigan, the American capital of woodcock hunting. I’ve been eating them breasted and cooked very quickly in bourbon and butter, two to three minutes a side so they come out medium rare. I found this recipe rifling through hunting books, when I noticed that the late Ralf Coykendall, who wrote about hunting duck as well as woodcock, cooked all his birds in panfulls of butter and bourbon, with a little worchestershire and red currant jelly. Really simple but the best way I have found to prepare these little guys. I plan to combine this recipe with your method for toast. Looking forward to the book.
Your fine article has me avowed to bag a couple of these in my Missouri woodland this fall and seek to enjoy what you describe. Cheers.
I personally think woodcock is more gamey than grouse, which is much like chicken. Woodcock is more like duck and should be cooked rare to medium rare.
This is a great recipe, and just in time. It’s the end of the bird season down here in Argentina, and I’ve been basically ignoring the snipe we have for months as I crossed creeks and bogs in hot pursuit of quail. Yesterday, it occurred to me – “I’ve flushed dozens of snipe today and only five quail, hmmm…” and I began to stick to the marshes. It is amazing how much fat is on these birds. And your recipe was absolutely right – simplicity and truth to flavor at its finest. Thanks!
I shot two woodcock with the last two shots of my shooting season in North Yorkshire, England, on 28 January (using a 20-bore side-by-side, Bumbling Bushman, and a labrador retriever). They are now hanging in a cool shed, to be eaten on 1st February with fine claret. There is a good demonstration video of how to prepare and cook them on the ‘Shooting Times’ website. A friend enjoyed woodcock roast and filleted at The Star Inn in Harome a few weeks ago: much better, I suspect, than the traditional rare and bloody roast bird, served on fried bread with its head on and its beak threaded through its thighs.
When plucking woodcock the British & Irish first take the ‘pin feather’ off each wing to put in a hatband as a discreet but prestigious shooting symbol. Do you do that in North America? The pin-feather can be found by stretching the wing out, looking on the leading edge on the downwards side of the ‘elbow’ and finding a small prominent diamond-shaped feather. It can usually be plucked by hand, if not use small pliers.The pin-feather was used by artists in the Middle Ages for painting minatures and is still referred to in the phrase ‘to get a feather in your cap’ i.e. do something praiseworthy
Sorry, I should have said that the pin-feather can be found on the ‘outside’ slope of the wing after the elbow i.e. the slope further from the body of the bird, not the ‘downwards’ side