RED HOT DEVIL BIRD

Digging through my freezer this past weekend I found a few game birds from last season that I needed to cook up. I'd been procrastinating this meal because these particular birds were the dregs of the birds we killed towards the end of this past season. These birds were all shot to pieces or one in particular was the victim of a tug-a-war between 2 dogs. But there was still a lot of usable meat on them. With all the time and effort it takes to get a few of these birds I hate to waste any game birds I harvest and I really enjoy ending the process with a nice meal. I love eating wild game, not only is it delicious, there is sense of pride and satisfaction eating a meal that took so much work to produce. I absolutely love this part of the hunting experience.

 In this circumstance of heavily damaged meat I usually do KeBobs on the barbecue grill. I just slice out the good portions from the carcass into small chunks and slide them onto skewers salt and pepper and add onion and peppers. Its easy, cooks fast and makes a nice meal out of damaged birds that looks as good as it tastes. 

Last night I tried a different approach that I wanted to share. I'm going to call it "RED HOT DEVIL BIRD Buffalo style"  (for now until I come up with a better name). This recipe is super easy and was originally our hot wings recipe but it works well with any kind of game bird.

Ingredients:

2-3 shot up Chukars (Devil Bird) 

2 cups flour in a large zip lock bag

1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Wings Sauce (its all about the sauce)

1/2  cup butter.

Salt and pepper

Slice up the birds to remove all the good meat off the bird however you can. I had a couple of nice Breasts I cut in two and I also had a bunch of smaller pieces about 2" in diameter I left the legs and thighs whole. Lightly salt and pepper. (This recipe is a great way to cook those tough chukar legs. I cooked the legs and thighs together whole with this recipe and they were tender and delicious.)

Take a baking sheet and cover it in aluminum foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

Place your chukar pieces in the large zip lot bag with the flour. Roll the flour and meat together until all is coated generously in flour.  Remove the pieces and spread them out on the baking tray. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Melt the 1/2 cup butter and combine it with the 1/2 cut of Franks Red Hot Wing Sauce by whisking the mixture together. Remove the tray of chukar from the refrigerator and dip the pieces into the sauce until all are liberally coated and place the pieces back onto the baking tray.

Pre heat oven to 375º and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes turning over the pieces halfway through the process. Like with all game meat there is a fine line that you will have to find with thoroughly cooking the meat while not overcooking it. Be diligent and use a cooking thermometer so you can get it just right. The smaller thinner pieces will cook much faster and will need to be removed before the larger pieces are completely cooked. 

Serve with more Franks sauce, Bleu Cheese dressing and celery and keep your favorite beverage close by because this is spicy. My kids won't go near it but I had a runny nose good time. 

Try it sometime or just use the same recipe for chicken wings or to make your own buffalo tenders. If you use this recipe for chicken increase the cooking time to 40-45 minutes to compensate for the larger pieces and the extra fat most store bought chicken will have. Use common sense and enjoy.