We used this recipe when we had a lot of venison. It works well with deer, elk, or beef.

For the brine:
2 quarts cool water
1 cup Tenderquick or Morton’s curing salt
3 tablespoons sugar
6 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 clove of minced garlic
2 teaspoons mixed pickling spices

Pour brine over a 5- or 6-pound chunk of meat which has been placed in a stone crock or plastic container. Let stand at room temperature for 36 hours. Placing the meat in a heavy ziplock bag would probably work as well.

To cook, rinse the brine off and simmer gently until tender.

Add vegetables— carrots, onion, cabbage, rutabaga, and potatoes, and cook until they are done.

Grandpa Olson’s favorite meal was a boiled dinner like this although he usually used beef shortribs instead of corned beef.

He would cook a huge kettle full and never get tired of it, commenting that it got better each time he heated it up. Grandma didn’t always agree.

I included this recipe just in case you ever have a hundred pounds of meat you don’t know what to do with. This is an old family recipe which was given to me by Jim’s uncle, Hank Gaub, from Fallon, Montana.

At one time he gained some notoriety by riding his horse into the local saloon and was photographed by a reporter from the Billings Gazette where the picture was published. The sausage brings back fond memories for Jim. Hank was Martha (Jim’s mother’s) older brother.

Combine:
60 pounds of pork
40 pounds of beef
¾ cup pepper
1 cup sugar
1 cup mustard seed

Pour 1 cup of water over ¼ pound of salt peter to melt it, then add it to the above mixture together with 1 pound of salt to every 30 pounds of meat.

Knead the mixture for 40 minutes.

Stuff into casings and smoke. (The recipe does not say how long.)

My Uncle Ralph , who also lived in Fallon, made sausage, too, which Aunt Almina (Grandpa Lee’s sister) would can in pint jars.

When we would visit them, she would open one jar for all of us to share.

It was so good, I could have eaten the entire jar by myself.

Uncle Ralph had a unique smokehouse—he used an old stripped-out car body.

Jim and Ted have both become quite adept at making homemade sausages. Ted, having a commercial grinder and stuffer, is more inclined to work with large batches. Jim thinks that working with smaller batches is more his style so the recipe given here is for 10 pounds of meat.

VENISON SALAMI:
Use a combination of venison and pork to equal 10 pounds. We usually use half pork and half venison. Grind the meat coarsely.

Season with the following mixed with a pint of ice water:
7 tablespoons Tenderquick
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon nutmeg
2 cloves of garlic, crushed, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Add the seasonings to the meat along with 2 cups of dry milk and 1 cup of white corn syrup. The milk and syrup add flavor and also keep the sausage moist and plump.

Mix well and store in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Mix again and stuff in casings. Hang sausage on smoker rack. Let stand at room temperature until casings feel dry. Place in preheated Little Chief Smoker and smoke with hickory or apple chips for 4 to 6 hours depending on weather.

The sausage should start to brown. Take it out of the smoker and place on aluminum foil lined pans.

Bake at 300 until the internal temperature reaches 160.

Turn and rearrange the sausage several times during baking so they cook evenly. Remove from the oven and immediately spray with cold water to reduce the temperature and keep the casings from shrinking. We double wrap our sausage in plastic wrap and freezer paper and store in the freezer. It never lasts as long as we would like.

Jim also makes a good Polish sausage that he seasons with a mix purchased from High Country Jerky in Lincoln, Montana. We experiment a lot and no two batches are likely to turn our exactly the same. We have added applesauce to some and wine to others with good results.
The grandkids like this sausage, and look forward to getting it at Christmas or whenever Grandpa Jim comes to visit.

This recipe comes from my side of the family. I remember my Uncle Archie making it when I was probably 3 or 4 years old. Uncle Archie and Aunt Lena would sometimes spend the winter with us on Sullivan Creek (my dad’s homestead) and they would always bring a freshly butchered pig with them.

We still continue the custom of having potato sausage for breakfast on Christmas morning, made either by Jim or Ted. Some of the newer members of the family (Jim G. and Karen Z.), having no appreciation for the blandness of this sausage, have been known to adulterate it with a little bit of garlic.

Grind and mix together:
8 pounds pork
2 pounds beef
4 large onions
10 pounds of peeled potatoes—I think red are best because they don’t get mushy.

Season with:
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 scant teaspoon allspice
5 tablespoons salt

Mix well and stuff into casings in family-size lengths.

Freeze.

To cook:
Place sausage in a pan with a little water in the bottom, and bake at 350 until nicely brown. Turn it over a couple of times. A little oil or butter in the pan will aid in browning. Probably should be cooked, if defrosted, about an hour, longer if frozen. This sausage can also be pan fried but it’s a lot more trouble.

My Scandinavian cookbooks tell me that this sausage does not have to be stuffed into casings—it can be baked in a casserole just like hash.

These recipes call for one pound of thinly sliced beef or venison. I have found that the marinade is plenty for double that amount if you mix it well with the meat.

Mix the meat and marinade together in a glass or plastic container:
For tender jerky, cut lean meat across the grain into strips no more than ¼ inch thick.

The meat is easier to slice if it is partially frozen.

The marinade recipes can easily be doubled or tripled for larger amounts of meat.

Cover tightly, and place in the refrigerator for 6 to 12 hours.

Stir it several times so it marinates evenly.

Place the meat in a single layer on dehydrator shelves.

Use a temperature between 140 and 160 for the first 4 hours, then reduce temperature to 130º for another 3 hours or until dry.

Blot jerky with paper towels during drying to soak up any fat that might accumulate. If you like a smoky flavor, you can add a few drops of liquid smoke, or dry the jerky in a Little Chief Smoker according to the instructions they furnish.

One pound of meat will make about a quarter pound of jerky. If enough moisture is removed from the meat, it will keep at room temperature; if you have any doubts, refrigerate or freeze.

The jerky is dry when a cooled piece will crack without breaking in two when you bend it.

For traditional jerky, use this marinade:
¾ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon cracked pepper 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 garlic clove, crushed

For teriyaki jerky, use this marinade:
½ teaspoon salt One crushed garlic clove
1/8 teaspoon pepper ¼ cup soy sauce
½ teaspoon ½ teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar


For Hawaiian jerky, use this marinade:
1 teaspoon salt 1 garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon ground ginger ½ cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar ¼ cup soy sauce
½ teaspoon pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Most of the salmon or large trout we catch are smoked and canned.

To make a good dip, combine one cup of smoked fish with:
1 cup sour cream ¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup Miracle Whip 1 green onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons lemon juice ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
Serve with chips, crackers, or raw vegetables.

Catch some fish—trout or salmon.

From 8 to 10 fish will fit into a Little Chief Smoker.

The brine recipe came from Ted. I get the idea that he changes the seasoning at whim—but his fish are always good.

Brine: 2 cups Tenderquick
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

Combine with water and bring to a boil.
Add enough cold water to make one gallon of brine.

When cool, pour over fish in crock or plastic bucket. (Don’t use a metal pan!)

Leave in brine for 8 to 12 hours.

Remove from brine, place on smoker racks and let stand until fish feel tacky to the touch.

Smoke 6 to 8 hours depending on thickness of fish.

David’s brine recipe calls for 1¼ cup Morton’s Salt, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons pepper, and ½ teaspoon each onion salt and garlic salt.

Mix same as for Ted’s brine.

If fish are to be canned, smoke with one pan of chips, approximately 4 hours.

Remove skins, place in ½ pint jars.

It’s not necessary to remove bones as they turn soft during processing. (I add about a half a teaspoon of brown sugar to each jar, and if the fish seems dry, add a little olive oil.)

Seal according to canning directions (heat lids, wipe rims of jars, and place screw band on firmly).

Put some vinegar in the water in the pressure cooker to keep film from forming on jars.

Pressure cook for 90 minutes after control starts to jiggle.

Remove from the water and let cool in a draft-free place. If the lids seem loose, leave them alone, as tightening will break the seal.

This recipe was in Grandma’s cookbook. She gives Ted credit for the recipe.

Pack fish (trout or salmon) firmly in pint jars.

For each pint, add the following:
2 tablespoons catsup 1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon oil ½ teaspoon salt

Pressure cook at 15 pounds pressure for 90 minutes.

Fish has never been in short supply in our household, dating way back to the days when the boys would dig one worm, go to the creek, catch one fish, dig another worm, etc. To this day I look forward to opening day of fishing season and that first batch of brook trout that Jimmy brings home from his “secret hole.” After that first trout dinner, the fish on the menu is more likely to be perch or walleye.

I learned a long time ago that the best way to cook fresh trout was to leave the head intact, roll in flour, season with salt and lemon pepper, and fry in oil at a low temperature. The low temperature, and leaving the head on, prevents the fish from curling in the pan, and the bones can be removed much easier. Toward the end of cooking, turn the heat up to brown the fish. As usual, frying in bacon drippings in a cast iron fry pan (preferably over a camp fire) does improve the flavor. On a family campout at Sailor Lake, I remember being told that Alyssa, who was a little over a year old, didn’t like fish. Jim spent the next half hour boning out fish for her as she ate and asked for more.

.Jimmy should have a gold medal for all the perch he has cleaned and filleted. I think he has lost track of the number of fillet knives he has worn out. While perch are the most work to prepare, I think they are definitely the finest flavored of all fish. Walleye would come in a close second.
To cook the perch or walleye, I now shake them in a bag with dry tempura batter mix seasoned with lemon pepper, and fry them in oil until they are a nice golden brown. This gives them a nice crusty outside and a moist tender inside. We make our own tartar sauce for dipping from ½ cup Miracle Whip, 1 tablespoon catsup, and a tablespoon of pickle relish. Ted and Karen have canned perch and use it like tuna. Ted also makes pickled perch which is just as good as the pickled herring you can buy.

Jimmy flours, salt and peppers, and browns the cut-up grouse in his dutch oven, adds chopped celery, onions and carrots, and pours a can of mushroom soup over the top.

Bake at 350 until grouse is tender when pierced with a fork.

It’s probably better to separate large, old grouse from young, tender grouse and cook them separately, as the cooking time will differ.

I had never cooked, or even seen, a wild goose before Fred and his friend, Jack Newell, made a trip to Conrad to go goose hunting. I had promised that if they got anything, I would cook it. I spent the weekend looking for recipes for wild goose. They did come home with two nice birds.

According to the recipe I had found, I soaked pieces of orange, apple, and prunes in brandy and then stuffed the fruit inside the goose and basted it while it was cooking with the fruit juice and brandy left over from soaking the fruit. It was delicious! It was years later that I found out that what I had cooked were two tame geese they had picked up at the Hutterite colony on their way home. Talk about a wild goose chase!

David, who lives close to the Clark Fork River near Frenchtown, Montana, tells me that he often shoots wild geese. His method of cooking them is a little unique. He skins the geese, cuts them up in small pieces and puts them in his crock pot. He pours a bottle of ranch dressing over the meat and cooks it slowly for several hours. He says the gravy it makes is really good—and the goose is “not bad at all.”

A recent newspaper article stated that “wild duck is a challenge to cook.”

I agree. The Zimmerman hunters have brought home many a duck and I have tried, truly tried, to cook it so it’s edible.

I’ve tried frying, roasting, and smoking, all to no avail.

Ted has had some luck with marinating small pieces of the breast in teriyaki sauce, rolling it in flour, and deep frying. Makes a good appetizer, he says.

With 5 hunters in the family, we have usually had venison to cook. To fry venison steaks, I believe it takes a wood stove, a cast iron frying pan, and a lot of practice. Aunt Katy could fry the steak to perfection.

I remember sitting around the big table in her kitchen at “The Ranch” up McClellan Creek, eating venison steak with baking powder biscuits that were as light as a feather. She was a very special person. She was the only person I knew who could cook deer ribs that didn’t taste “wild.” I think it was because she cooked them in the oven of her wood stove

Not having a wood stove handy, I like the steaks cut thin, then rolled in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, or some Lowry’s, Timberline, or Alpine Touch Seasoning. Cook over medium heat, in a cast iron pan, just until brown. I used to save bacon grease specifically for this purpose but now use olive oil, even if it isn’t as flavorful.

Since venison, deer or elk, doesn’t have a lot of fat in it, it can be dry when roasted. To make it more moist, I would place the roast, which had been salted and peppered and coated with flour, and browned on all sides in a frying pan, on a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.

Slice an onion over it and drape with several slices of bacon. Add a half cup of water and seal the package tightly. Place the foil package in another baking pan and place in a 350 oven for 2½ to 3 hours depending on the size of the roast.

Be careful when you open the foil package because it will be hot and steam can burn. For a little variety, add a can of mushroom soup to the foil package instead of the water. If you add mushroom soup, you will have some good gravy. Just remember to seal the foil package tightly before placing in the oven.

Venison can also be cooked as swiss steak (brown the meat, season, and cover with a can of cream soup), or cut in chunks and covered with barbecue sauce. Either way, bake in the oven, covered with a lid or foil, at 350º for about an hour. Serve over rice. When you have a lot of venison to use, it’s easy to become creative in a hurry!

Antelope is my favorite wild meat and it can be cooked in any of the ways outlined above.
Since Jim and Ted have become so proficient at making sausage, much of our venison is now used for that purpose.

Mix together 2 pounds of lean ground beef, 1 cup water, 2½ tablespoons of Tenderquick, ¼ teaspoon garlic salt, ¼ teaspoon onion salt and 1 teaspoon mustard seed.

Form into two rolls and wrap separately in aluminum foil. Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Place rolls on a broiler pan with a rack and bake at 325 for 1 ½ hours.

Open one end of foil package and drain out the liquid. Cool and slice thin.

Jim has established quite a reputation for his smoked turkeys. Our friends look for them at potlucks and parties, and he often gets requests to do them for people who are celebrating a special occasion. We also give them away at Christmas in the goody boxes we fix for the kids.

The turkey should be no larger than 12 pounds.

Brine: 1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup Tenderquick or 1 cup if you prefer more salt
1 quart apple or cranberry juice
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon sweet basil

Bring to a boil, let cool, pour over the turkey and add enough cold water to cover the turkey which has been placed in a three-gallon crock, or in a plastic or stainless steel container.

Leave in the brine in the refrigerator for at least four days to thoroughly cure. Rinse the turkey off and hang on the smoker rack.

Use string to tie the legs together and keep the wings close to the body. Let hang until it feels tacky to the touch.

Preheat the Little Chief Smoker, place the turkey in smoker, and smoke for 4 to 6 hours (depending on size and outdoor temperature).

Use apple or hickory chips for smoking.

After smoking, place the turkey in a pan lined with foil.

Add 1 cup of water, cover with foil, and bake at 300 for about 15 minutes per pound or until the bird reaches an internal temperature of 160.

During the last half an hour, uncover and baste several times with honey. It’s ready to eat without further cooking.

Jim uses the same brine to do Cornish game hens and chickens. Reduce the time they are in the brine and also the time in the smoker and oven.

These make nice gifts for individuals who couldn’t use an entire turkey.

The game hens are exceptionally good.