Grouse, Solitude and Solace

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A man standing on top of a grass covered field
Photo by Hank Shaw

The road is wearing on me. I haven’t seen my home since August. In that time I’ve put nearly 8,000 miles on my truck and have done 11 major events from Oklahoma City to Richmond to Boston to Pittsburgh and Toronto, Canada. I’ve had a great time and have met scores of interesting people along the way. And make no mistake: I would not trade this life for anything. But I am tired. Exhausted, at a cellular level. My life has become a series of long, lonely drives, introductions to generous strangers who have let me into their homes and kitchens, book signings, wild food dinners, and yes, adventures in the forests and waters of this country.

For the most part these adventures have been rejuvenating. But things changed a week ago. It started after I drove the 800 miles from Cleveland to Stillwater, Minnesota, to my friend Chris’s house. I didn’t get there until 9-ish, and we had to get up at 4 a.m. to pick up Holly from the airport — first time I’d seen her since I left the house Aug. 27. A hug, a kiss and back in the car we went, up north, to the grouse woods.

I love grouse hunting. I love the excitement of that split-second flush, that basso thrum a grouse’s wings make as it rockets away through thickets of alders and ash and aspens. I love the terrain, the crazy-quilt of downed trees, sapling fields dense as fog, all punctuated by ancient oaks or white pines. It is a terrain that speaks to me, and I fully expected to feel the thrill course through me as we walked the trails. Last time I hunted these woods it was sleeting and snowing. This time we hunted in shirtsleeves.

Chris and Holly were champing at the bit to hunt, but, strangely, I found myself ambivalent. I tried to shake it, to live within the moment as I’d done for so many months, but I failed. I could not stop thinking about the remaining legs on my book tour: Toronto, Chicago, Red Lodge and Billings, Montana, then Boulder and Eugene, Oregon. Are all the logistics set? Will we get any media attention? Are the chefs set with their menus? Do I need to bring my own books? And, most importantly, will anyone show up?

“Relax,” Chris said. “There’s nothing you can do about it up here.” He was right, of course. But my mind was still in knots, and you cannot shoot a grouse or a woodcock in such a state of mind. So I took the shells out of my shotgun and let them go.

A tree in the middle of a forest
Photo by Hank Shaw

I am happy they did, as both Chris and Holly had a great time. I think Holly’s hooked on grouse hunting, which is good news because I love it, too — under normal circumstances. They brought back four ruffed grouse and five woodcock.

While they hunted, I took a walk in the woods. I needed to just… be. So I sat on a stump in a thick section of trees and let the forest wrap itself around me. There was indeed nothing I could do about the last legs on my book tour at that moment, but I mentally tallied the things I could do once we returned to civilization. It’s Chicago (10/20) and Boulder (11/1) I am most worried about — both restaurants are working hard to get good attendance for the wild food dinners, but I need help in both areas to make sure we have a good showing. So if you can make it, or know someone who can, I’d be grateful.

The more I thought, the more the forest told me things would be fine. I’ve been on the longest road trip of my life and the experience has been positive overall. And, finally, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Only a few more stressful weeks and I will be home. I hope my cats will remember me.

The forest also gave me something else. It gave me the inspiration for a dish to celebrate Holly’s first grouse, and to honor the efforts of Chef Scott Pampuch and his crew at the Corner Table in Minneapolis, who put together a book dinner last week that will remain as one of the highlights of the entire tour. The forest told me how to make this dish. Sitting on my stump, I saw the first cold-weather mushrooms popping.

Mushroom and Tree
Photo by Hank Shaw

These are polypores, but I also found a few young oyster mushrooms, too. Back in Minneapolis, Chef Pampuch had done a pheasant dish with hen of the woods mushrooms, and I wanted to push things further by pairing them with the grouse — which are, quite literally, hens of the woods. Sumac was growing along the trailsides, so I’d include that as a sort of natural lemon flavor for the mushrooms.

All around the boggy places in the woods were the remains of this year’s highbush cranberry crop. I love the tart, slightly skunky flavor of highbush cranberries, so they’d go into the dish, too. Finally, on the long drive back to Stillwater, I came upon the idea to encrust the grouse in finely ground wild rice. Everything on the plate would be from within a few miles of each other.

Back in the kitchen, I found myself returning to some semblance of normalcy. More and more these days, cooking is what gives me solace. Combining new flavors in new ways excites me. The process can still occupy my mind in a way that hunting did not last week. As I quietly chopped veggies, ground rice, tasted the cranberry sauce and made sure the grouse was cooked perfectly, I found that rejuvenation I’d been looking for, and, for a moment, I forgot about the stresses of the road. Finally.

grouse recipe with wild rice and mushrooms
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

[recipe_name]Ruffed grouse northwoods[/recipe_name]

[summary]This is a deceptively simple dish that hinges on high-quality ingredients. I use highbush cranberry syrup from Minnestalgia, farmed wild rice for the crust, regular oyster mushrooms (which are easy to find in the supermarket) and the harder-to-find hen of the woods, aka maitake mushrooms. The sumac in the dish is from a Middle Eastern store; you can substitute a little lemon. As for other substitutions, while you could recreate it with chicken or pheasant instead of grouse, with other mushrooms and another berry syrup, but it would not be the same.

The timing of this dish is critical, so have everything set up beforehand, just like you would with a stir-fry. As for a side dish, simple mashed potatoes would be good, as would, well, a wild rice dish — I served this with a pilaf of wild rice and barley and root veggies. [/summary]

[yield]Serves 4-6. [/yield]

Prep Time: [preptime time=20M] 20 minutes[/preptime]

Cook Time: [cooktime time=15M] 15 minutes[/cooktime]

  • Breasts from 4 grouse, skinned and tenders removed
  • Salt
  • 1 cup wild rice, ground fine in a coffee grinder or blender
  • 1/4 cup butter, divided
  • 1 pound oyster mushrooms
  • 1/2 to 1 pound hen of the woods mushrooms or other fresh mushroom
  • 1 teaspoon sumac, or a little lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup highbush cranberry syrup
  • 1 small dried hot chile
  • 1/2 to 1/3 cup cider vinegar

[instructions]

  1. Salt the grouse breasts well and set aside at room temperature while you cook the mushrooms.
  2. Set a large saute pan over high heat for 1 minute, then add all the mushrooms. Shake the pan as you do this so they don’t all stick to the bottom. If some do, that’s OK. Keep searing and shaking the pan until the mushrooms give up their water. Let most of the water boil away before adding half the butter. Toss to combine and add some salt. Let the mushrooms sear without moving the pan for 1-2 minutes: You want them to get some browning. Stir the mushrooms and repeat until you get them as browned as you want — I like them to be about halfway browned, which takes about 5-8 minutes.
  3. Move the mushrooms into a bowl and toss with the sumac. Cover the bowl while you continue with the dish.
  4. Wipe out the saute pan. Dust the grouse in the ground wild rice and shake off any excess. Put the saute pan over medium-high heat and melt the rest of the butter. Let this heat for a minute or so, then add the grouse. Do not crowd the pan, and do this in batches if need be. Once you hear the grouse sizzle strongly, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook for 3-5 minutes (depending on how thick they are) without moving them. Flip gently and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
  5. While the grouse is cooking pour the syrup, vinegar, a pinch of salt and the chile into a small pot and boil it until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
  6. When the grouse is done, let it rest on a paper towel for a couple minutes while you arrange the mushrooms on everyone’s plate. Slice the grouse thickly and put that on the mushrooms, then drizzle some sauce around it. Serve at once.

[/instructions]

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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13 Comments

  1. Hey Eric,
    Thanks for the hors d’ oeurvre idea!
    Ive got some smoked wild turkey in the freezer and have added it to the deer camp menu. Boys will love it!
    How do you make hazelnut compound butter…grate them for more intensity? Hank?
    Sorry, just learning here.

  2. Missed you in Toronto as I was up North grouse hunting. Love it. Favourite time of the year. Smoked them in the BGE, served cold on toasted baguette with hazelnut compound butter at the moose camp this week. I’ve always said I keep my sanity in a jar in the woods behind the camp. Inevitably, you have to go find it sometime.

  3. Hank, the woods, the country, it’ll always restore you if you let it. I bought your book as soon as it came out, and sadly, missed you in NY. But one thing to keep in mind, the book is a milestone of many, many more to come for you, your career, your family.

    Yes, you have “miles to go before you sleep” but what we can’t always see are the peaceful way-stations that lie ahead. Even in your solace, you give us a dish to taste in our mindseye. Thanks for that and best of luck to you on the remainder of your tour.

  4. Great post, I have been pretty stressed recently, but probably not as much as you. Took a long walk and came back with a bunch of wild greens, my first salsify root, and a lot less worries. Hope the rest of your tour goes well, it is a great thing you are doing.

  5. Man, I love to read your writing almost as much as I’d love to taste your cooking.

    So, I am beyond bummed that I can’t help part of your dilemma. For months since you announced the book tour, I have been checking back to see when there would be a Chicago date.

    I sent my wife the link – “doesn’t this sound awesome…we’ll get a sitter, have a (rare) night out?”

    “It does sound awesome,” my wife agreed. “But we have an event at our son’s preschool right from 6:30 – 7:30.”

    Sorry, man. I would say I wish you were coming through again, but that would be beyond selfish. Perhaps you’ll open your Michelin Five Star restaurant in Northern Ca. by the time of our planned visit in April. Or I’ll just have to buy the book and enjoy the blog. Thanks for the outstanding, unique take on hunting and cooking.

  6. Hank,
    Totally stumbled across this website looking for a grouse recipe. Stopped dead in my tracks and bookmarked it! I came home with 10 grouse last weekend from near International Falls, and am itching to get them in the pan! Thanks for a wonderful recipe, will be trying it soon!

  7. Hank, I am so happy that you were able to connect with Scott. And I’m grateful that you came north across the border to spend time in Toronto. As a fellow road warrior, I feel that I know what you mean when you articulate the challenges and “wows” along the way. You do good work, my friend. Drive safely.

  8. Hank,
    Glad you let the woods cleanse your soul. I fondly look forward to the days when I go out Elk hunting. Just sitting there absorbing the nothingness. Unfortunately not this year. Duty calls. Good luck on the rest of your voyage. Not very often one gets to live out there dreams. Looks like you have succeeded. Safe travels, happy hunting and tasty foods…Alan

  9. Oh, that was a lovely article Hank! Glad you made time to “be” in the woods.
    I know of what you speak of finding my love of the northwoods romping thru the balsams and scrub oaks of northern MN where I grew up. Orr area.
    I must tell you, again, that the venison chili recipe you have shared in this site is my families fav! I made it for a 3rd time this past weekend. “The best chili Ive ever had” they said.
    It is like you made a site for me and my forest fed family. Cant thank you enough for taking our wild game to another level!
    You rock… and so do Holly’s pics.

  10. We live in northwestern Minnesota around woods like you write about. The woods by our home have grouse, and highbush cranberry, etc. You have me intrigued now and will have to try it! Glad you came to Minnesota, otherwise known as God’s Country…*smile*

    – Trish, aka “Prairie Woman”
    https://billswoman.blogspot.com (Prairie Woman blog)

  11. I feel for you Hank. Sometimes you’re not feeling it. But half of hunting is quality time alone in the woods and it sounds like you got that. If you other stops are anything like Cleveland, they’re gonna be great. Hannah and I had a great time!

  12. I really love this. The sparseness of the woods, the honesty in your writing, the inspiration that comes from thinking you’ve got nothing left.

    And I know what you mean about cooking giving solace- after being stuck in LA traffic for ages, I’ll get home, shower, and just bake- having my hands working, while making something for others, while doing something creative AND nourishing (though I’m not sure quite how nourishing baked goods are), it calms and grounds me.

    It’s almost over. And you’ve got tons of support from afar.