A Christmas Double
Shooting a double is an uncommon, highly rewarding occurrence for many of us. While I was fortunate to take a double from a good-sized covey of Huns, the pride and gratitude came while I was preparing that harvest for my family on Christmas Day.
When I moved our family from Wisconsin to Montana in 2019, I left behind family members who were sad and disappointed with the miles I had put between us. After three years, my Dad made his first trip to Montana to spend a week with us over Christmas. It was pure joy and pride to provide a game bird feast for Christmas Dinner, which my husband, William, and I harvested and prepared. William took on roasting mallard duck and lightly grilled sharptailed grouse. I had envisioned a plan for some tur-duck-en creation when some IG scrolling brought me to Butcher Scott Rea’s feed as he prepared a game bird stuffed roast.
You should know I hardly enjoy time in the kitchen, and I am an avid Pinterest-fail honoree. Step one on Rea’s recipe was two plucked pheasant crowns; no surprise I had one plucked and numerous skinned. I used a kitchen butane torch to clean up some feathers. Debone the crown, trim off the wings, pull the tenderloins from behind the breasts and place them in the middle. Then grab two handfuls of pork sausage, add bread crumbs, and chopped sage. Yeah, I wasn’t provided with exact amounts of any of the ingredients either, so do as my Grandma use to say, ‘just go by taste .’ Except you shouldn’t probably taste raw pork sausage, so just put some meat in the bowl and add some of the other stuff. Fold it around with your hands to mix, which feels gross and makes squishy sounds, so plan on spending the next 5 min degreasing with Dawn dish soap.
Rea now directs us to form ping pong-sized balls with the sausage stuffing, then to flatten it over the tenderloin. What was the point of creating balls? Also, you’ll need another Dawn lather. Next, you will lay two partridge breasts on top of the stuffing opposite the pheasant tenders. I used my Hun double, which is no match for those type-A athletes who climb rock walls to high elevations with shotguns; your hard-earned chukar may also lay here. Flip the entire concoction over and shape it into a ball (it seems there’s a theme here). Wrap some bacon around them, make it count, get the thick stuff directly from a meat locker, and stretch it around your nicely shaped balls of meat. Now comes the fun baking bands! I’m 96.7% sure I chose this recipe for the simple fact that I just wanted to band up some meat. It was awesome. The remainder of the recipe is pretty straightforward and boring, except when it calls to scrape the roasting pan and drizzle juice on the finished sliced bounty… pan scraping seems a bit unnecessary.
Somehow I pulled it off, my ‘phez-pork-un’ was delicious!
Keep that torch handy; it’s time for dessert! I needed a proper, fancy dessert to follow up the first-class game bird feast. With a name like ‘Baked Bourbon Soaked Nectarines with Bruleed Sugar,’ I hit the jackpot! Then there’s the fact that the main ingredient, ‘ripe nectarines,’ aren’t available in Missoula’s two Walmarts, Costco, Albertsons, WinCo, or Rosauers Supermarkets in December. You don’t have a backup plan; Christmas is in less than 24 hours. You got this. Head to the canned goods and grab yourself two cans of peaches.
Everyone is still finishing their fancy bird feast while you’re dumping those peaches in the pan, drenching them in some Pendleton (double what’s in the recipe), and throwing them in the oven. When they notice a dessert is an option, you are at the dinner table, professionally sprinkling your sugar and cardamom mixture over the hot, drunken canned goods. Then, wait for it, pull out that culinary torch like it’s your job, and Brulee the heck out of them until they’re brown and glamorous and nearly resemble ripe nectarines. If you’re still struggling, throw a scoop of ice cream on top, they’ll never know and will be utterly impressed by your planning and presentation of the most amazing Christmas dinner they’ve ever had.
