Wild Goose Pastrami

Score: 10/10 Better than our wildest dreams!

Cure:

1/4 C. Morton's Tender Quick

1/4 C. Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1/4 C Packed Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp. Granulated Garlic

2 Tsp. Ground Coriander

2 Tsp. Onion Powder

2 Tsp. Dried Thyme

Rub:

3 Tbsp. Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 Tsp. Ground Coriander

1 Tsp. Granulated Garlic

1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder

1/2 Tsp. Smoked Paprika

1/2 Tsp. Dried Thyme

Waterfowl:

2 Goose Breasts (about 1 pound each) OR

2 lbs. of duck breasts

For Serving:

Mustard

Pickles

Instructions:

Mix all cure ingredients in a bowl

Mix all rub ingredients in a bowl

Cover all areas of desired meat with cure and put into a resealable bag.

Add remainder of cure in bag as well and seal bag removing as much air as possible

Let meat sit for three days, flipping the bag once each day

Once 3 days are up, remove meat and wash off the remainder of the cure

Let meat soak in cold water for 30-45 minutes to remove all the cure

Remove meat from water and pat dry with a paper towel

Rub the spice rub on all sides of the meat and prepare a smoker with fruit wood to 225o F

Smoke until internal temperature reaches 150o F then rest for 10 minutes

Slice thin and serve with your favorite mustard and pickles

One of my favorite things to hunt growing up was waterfowl. It was such a community sport. We would have anywhere from 3-10 people hunting with us at all times and always had a blast. The only part that I did not care for was the waking up early and the lack of good waterfowl recipes. Don’t get me wrong, I've tasted some decent duck burgers, goose breasts, and duck jerky, but I never got hungry or craved any of them. Then we found this recipe...

Steven Rinella is a major man crush of Jay's. When Jay first got into podcasts, I would get so frustrated because all of our dinner conversation revolved around what he had learned that day from podcasts. By the second week of hearing this, I think I started rolling my eyes every time I heard a sentence start with "Steve Rinella said…". It just got to be too much!

Fast forward to a couple months later. It was duck and goose season at the time and we had just harvested a few birds floating down a local river on our kayaks. By this point Jay had learned how to talk about his podcasts without completely boring me to death. Then for Christmas we were gifted a smoker and as a wedding present, the cookbook titled "The Meateater Fish and Game Cookbook" by, (yep you guessed it) Steven Rinella. Immediately, Jay began combing the pages searching for his first adventure in the cooking world of Mr. Rinella. He came across the recipe titled "Wild Goose Pastrami"(pg. 128 of the cookbook) and found that it required a smoker as well! Jay had discovered his first Rinella food adventure. Soon, I had a grocery list of spices made for me and I stopped the next day bringing home pounds of spices.

Jay did it all. He made the cure and rub and he smoked it. All I did was get the ingredients and clean the goose breasts (that is what we had harvested). And to both of our surprise, it turned out amazing! We were shocked that we both found a recipe that we absolutely loved for waterfowl! We couldn’t stop eating it and soon we were taking the leftovers to our friends and family. We'd have them try it and give us the honest truth before we would disclose that it was goose. And nine times out of ten, people were shocked because they had never had goose that tasted that good!

So here is to Steve! Thank you for sharing your AMAZING waterfowl pastrami recipe! And yes, I have to admit, this man crush that Jay has is now one of my favorites!

Stay Tuned for more Recipe Reviews!

A hunter's wife,

Courtney

If you wish to purchase Steven Rinella's cookbook, just click the link below! You will not be disappointed!

Buy the cookbook here!

**Tips for this recipe:

Jay swears by serving the pastrami with a spicy mustard. He says it makes the flavors pop!

If you choose to use duck, it can have more of a gamey flavor, so clean it and then soak it in milk for a day or two before curing it!