This is my all-time favorite ruffed grouse recipe: a one pot dish cooked with wild rice, onions, herbs and mushrooms. Think of it as a loose casserole of wild rice cooked in grouse stock. Once you try it, you may never make your grouse another way, especially if you prefer your meat fully cooked.
While I was hunting matsutake last week I forgot I was going to be hunting at the same time as grouse season opener. As I walked on the trails I'd charted, it seemed like every 30 minutes or so I accidentally flushed a few birds.
After two birds made me jump and squeal like a pig (I was on the lookout for bears) I remembered I had a few sealed sharp-tailed grouse breasts vacuum sealed at home.
Vacuum sealing is an amazing for preserving your harvests, meat and otherwise. I was happy to see when I thawed and opened them up that they were perfectly fine, nearly a year later. They were only skinless breasts, but that's perfect for this recipe.
The dish is a sort of hunters casserole and crock-pot-friendly home cooking. A genius dish of comfort food, I'd wager there's a few hunters that ask for grouse wild rice as a yearly post-hunt tradition. You can use it for lots of different wild game too.
How to Make Grouse Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole
Take skinned grouse breasts or any another game bird like pheasant. Cover them with water, a bay leaf, a few veggie scraps if you have. Simmer slowly to make a broth until the meat's fork tender, then cool it, shred the meat, and cook parched wild rice in the grouse stock and make a sort of sauce-less wild rice bake. Wild rice cooked in grouse stock wouldn't be bad by itself, but a couple wild mushrooms makes it sing.
For the mushrooms I used some clustering blue chanterelles (Polyozellus multiplex). I also picked a bunch of conifer-associate black trumpet mushrooms and chanterelles at the same time. You can use your favorite mushrooms.
The Polyozellus were delicious here but other mushrooms will work fine. They kind of taste like a black trumpet and a hen of the woods had a baby, and that baby tasted like woodsmoke.
A few green onions or herbs on the top to finish is all the color it needs. But, some pieces of roasted pumpkin or winter squash tossed in would be good too.
More Wild Game Recipes
Grouse Wild Rice with Mushrooms
Equipment
- 1 11 x 9 inch casserole pan or similar
Ingredients
- 1 lb skinless grouse or pheasant breasts this was 4 breasts for me
- 1 cup parched wild rice
- 6-8 oz or more wild mushrooms depending on availability
- 6 cups mushroom stock or water
- ⅓ cup finely diced celery 1 stalk
- ⅓ cup finely diced shallot or onion ½ a small onion
- 2 Tablespoons crushed wild leek or ramp leaves optional
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter duck fat, or vegetable oil
- 2 dried bay leaves optional
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring the grouse breasts to a simmer with the stock and wild onion leaves if using. Season lightly, and cook for 1.5 hours or until the meat can be pulled with a fork. Cool the breasts in the liquid and reserve.
- Pour the wild rice into the cooking liquid, you should have about 4.5 cups left. Add the vegetables. Bring the stock, wild rice, celery and onions or shallots to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the wild rice is tender but not over cooked.
- Drain the liquid from the wild rice and reserve, then cover the rice and allow to steam with the residual heat. Pull the grouse meat into bite-sized pieces, then combine with the cooked rice and vegetables.
- Heat the butter or oil, gently brown and season the mushrooms over medium high heat in a frying pan. Toss the mushrooms with the rice and grouse. Double check the seasoning and adjust to taste with salt, and additional butter if the mixture tastes dry.
- Preheat oven to 300F. Pack the mixture loosely into a baking dish or cast iron skillet. Cover and reheat, in a 300 oven for 30 minutes or until hot throughout, then serve, garnished with the parsley and green onions.
Notes
Other mushrooms to use
I used the blue chanterelles because it's what I had. You can use just about any wild mushroom here, including dried ones, that you can add to the stock while the grouse simmers. Here's a few ideas. Golden Chanterelles Chicken of the WoodsNutrition
Jen De
Very tasty, appreciate the recipe, made it with quail and blue chanterelles
Alan Bergo
Thanks Jen.
Laura B from Kentucky
Wow. This was pretty damn good! I a wild mushroom pack from Fresh Market and a mix of mushroom broth and mushroom and chicken bone broth 👌 We had about 8 breasts and it was delish!! Well done, sir!
Alan Bergo
Thanks Laura B. I really like this one.
Lance Miller
Fun idea. Used Sooty or a blue grouse from southeast alaska and added devils club buds for the green.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Lance.
Kristen G
Incredible! Made with sharp tail grouse. Not quite the array of “wild” mushrooms, but made due with what winter in Wyoming had to offer. Next time I will add morels! Certainly looking forward to creating this dish again...and again!
Alan Bergo
Glad you liked it Kristen. Of course you can use any mushrooms you like! A