Recipe: Beer Batter Fried Grouse

This blog post is part of a series highlighting recipes that interweave the culture and history of cooking in Vermont, and is related to the Vermont Foodways Digital Initiative.

Grouse huntingRuffled grouse season is on in Vermont! According to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, ruffled grouse – or partridge – is the most widely available upland game in Vermont, and can be found wherever brushy forest stands provide nesting cover, protection from predators, and berries and buds to eat.

 

To celebrate Vermont’s culture of hunting and trapping, the Vermont Game Warden’s Association published the Vermont Wildfoods Cookbook in 1990. The recipe below, Beer Batter Fried Grouse, can be found in this cookbook, which is available in UVM’s Department of Special Collections.

Beer Batter Fried Grouse

Recipe appeared in “Grouse Tales,” the official newspaper of “The Loyal Order of Dedicated Grouse Hunter.”

Batter
1 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 pinch nutmeg
2 egg yolks (save whites)
1 c. flat beer

Mix ingredients well, cover bowl and refrigerate at least 6 hours.

Filet grouse and cut meat into pieces. Heat 1 cup cooking oil in a skillet to about 350˚. Remove batter and egg whites from refrigerator. Whip whites into a meringue, add to batter and mix ½ minute. Dip pieces into batter, then fry on both sides until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. (This makes a lot of batter; for 3 to 4 people, I would cut the batter recipe in half.)

Posted in: Recipe.