Curran's Goose Balls

Since pretty much everything in life seems to be better with bacon and bourbon, here's my recipe for goose balls...

You can just about smell the deliciousness!!

Just a warning. You'll want to give yourself a few days in preparation for this recipe. It's worth the work & the wait!!

Here's what you'll need:
2 - 4 Goose breasts (depending on how many people you're planning on feeding)
Wooden skewers
2 - 3 jars of Cherry Peppers (You'll find these in the pickle section of your grocery store)
1 -2 packs of Cream Cheese
2 packs of thick sliced bacon
Orange juice
Bourbon (optional, but recommended. My preference is Maker's Mark. Woodford Reserve is also nice)
Brown sugar
Tony's Creole seasoning
Mrs. Dash Southwestern seasoning
Montreal Steak seasoning

Day 1 - I cut the goose breasts into 1" sized cubes, and soak it over night in a brine solution (salt water) to help bring out any blood clots in the meat. This also helps you locate any steel shot that might still be lodged in the breast meat.

Day 2 - Drain the brine solution, and mix up the marinade listed below. Marinate the meat over night.


This marinade makes enough for about 2 lbs of meat.

1/2 cup orange juice
1 shot bourbon (and 1 extra for the cook should you feel the need)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Tony's Creole seasoning
1 tbsp Mrs. Dash Southwestern seasoning
1 tbsp Montreal Steak seasoning

Day 3 - Soak wooden skewers for about half an hour prior to goose ball assembly.... that way they don't burn up too bad on the grill. Or use metal skewers... what ever floats your boat.

Drain the Cherry Peppers, cut off the cap & stem, then carefully scrape out the seeds.

Stuff the peppers with a scoop of cream cheese.

Place a marinaded hunk of goose meat on top of the cheese filled pepper.

Wrap the whole pepper/meat concoction with a slice of bacon. (you can usually slice the bacon in half and that will be enough to wrap around the pepper & meat) You now have an assembled goose ball in your hand.

Slide the goose ball onto the skewer securing the bacon, meat, and pepper ball.

Grill until the bacon is cooked. Eat. Enjoy. Repeat as needed.

Grilled Goose Balls with a side of sweet potato fries & sweet corn.

Easy Steak Marinade

I was looking for a new steak marinade to try and came across this one. The only thing I changed from the original recipe was substituting onion flakes for onion powder, and adding some cayenne pepper for a lil kick. It was really some good stuff! And best of all it's easy. I used this on some venison steaks, letting it soak in for most of the afternoon before cooking to a nice red, juicy, medium rare.

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce
3 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Onion Flakes
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Black & Blue Venison Chops

Made this tonight & wasn't really sure how it was gonna turn out, but man, let me tell you what.... it was some good eats!!!

Marinate 4 butterfly cut backstraps for 3 hours with the following mixture:
1/4 Cup White Wine
1/4 Cup Balsamic dressing

Once the meat is done marinading & the grill is hot...

Mix up equal parts of real bacon bits & crumbled blue cheese

Lay the backstrap out flat and spoon the bacon & blue mixture onto one half of the butterfly chop. Fold the other half over, and pin it closed with tooth picks (it's a good ideal to soak the tooth picks in water for a couple minutes to keep them from burning on the grill).

Grill to your liking, but with venison & most wild games I try not to cook it past medium.

Throw in a few side dishes, a beverage of your choice, and get ready to enjoy...

Some rainy day reminiscence of my first...

Sure, I could be working on plenty of stuff around the house, but this weekend's rainy weather seems to have put a temporary restraining order on any sort of motivation that has to do with "to do" lists. Looking though some old photo files on the computer I came across a picture of my first deer. So, that got me thinking about that hunt, which in turn lead to writing this...

I don't remember much about the weather conditions, the moon phase, or any of that stuff that I keep track of now. Mostly what I remember is hearing a distant shot ring off from behind my tree stand, followed quickly by yet another. By the time the second shot echoed off the hills, I think I was on my feet, facing the tree I was up in, and watching the movement of a deer making it's way toward me. Before I knew it, the deer was trotting up the side of the hill, stopped at about 30 yards, turning to look back in the direction from which he'd just run from. The way the deer stood I didn't have a shot to my left because I would have to lean so far over in the stand that I probably would've fallen to the ground. So, I instantly decided that I needed to lean to the right of the tree, while swinging my left arm around to opposite side. Basically, I'm hugging the tree, gun on the right side, tucked into the pocket of my shoulder, while the left arm grasped around the tree for stability and securely held onto the slide of my 12 gauge Remington 870.

Everything is really just a complete blur, with all of the adrenaline coursing its way though my veins I'm not sure how I didn't wet my pants from the excitement. Somehow I managed to remember that I needed to click off the safety, as my front & rear sights on the slug barrel aligned themselves on the deer's shoulder. I'd like to say that I calmly took a deep breath, exhaled half of it, then slowly applied constant pressure to the trigger to ensure an accurate shot. I very well might have, but in all likelihood it probably didn't happen quite that text book. 

Next thing I hear is the Bang! of the pump gun firing off a round.  The deer buckles and simultaneously jumps upward as the first slug finds it's spot, then as if on autopilot the 870 slide ejects the spent hull, and chambers another. Since the deer doesn't fall immediately in his tracks, I swing around to the forward facing side of the stand as the buck has now continued his course up the hill. Did I miss? Couldn't have, but I'm not gonna risk it. I lower the sights again, and throw another lead sled at him. A short stumble later the deer comes to an abrupt stop wobbles, flops, and meets the ground. The whole time I'm watching this unfold, talking out loud, as if to command the deer... Come on, drop, drop, drop, drop, YES!

First deer, first buck. Ohio Shotgun season 1999.