Who likes to eat woodcock?

Can’t sleep so here goes.

I had never shot at a woodcock until last season. Now I consider them a target. I have eaten them a couple different ways and don’t mind(and in some cases actually enjoy) the flavor.

Seems to be a love it or hate it thing among upland hunters, seeing that their primary diet is earthworms.

Do you like them or hate them as table fare? Something in between? If you like them, what’s your preferred cooking method?

I first just pan-seared them in butter, salt and pepper, which I enjoyed. Next experiment was to take each half-breast filet and cut them in half the long way(4 pieces total), wrap each piece in roughly a half slice of bacon, stick a toothpick through, and broil on high in the oven on a baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. I like a little heat so I added a slice of my homegrown jalapeño(pickled, but may try fresh next time for the heck of it). It turned out great last fall and I made a bunch of it.

Woodcock supposedly should NOT be overcooked and should resemble a medium to medium-rare steak when done right, which is what I did last season. I’ll add a couple pics if I can find them.

Let’s hear it!

2020 pics

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For good measure. I just can’t leave her out as she’s the star of the show…

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No thank you!

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Can’t sleep so here goes.

Join the Club.

We should start a forum.

and it’s been a long, long, long, time since I ate one of those birds.

I don’t hunt them regularly but I have on rare occasion taken one while I was grouse hunting (which is usually about once a year). I didn’t care for it. Right up there with a goose. Really not fit to eat.

I have never had it so I am willing to try it.

That’s a big negatory from me. That why I don’t shoot them. I love seeing them though.

If you cut them into 1/32″ strips and put it between a ribeye and then rap them in bacon you can hardly tell your eating it!

I’ve never had a bad experience eating them. They’re not grouse, but in my opinion they’re better than most diving ducks and geese.

grubson wrote:

I’ve never had a bad experience eating them. They’re not grouse, but in my opinion they’re better than most diving ducks and geese.

grubson:

Perfect assessment!!! I eat them while my wife eats the grouse, cause she doesn’t like them and is even iffy on the grouse.

Mark

I don’t like them. And believe me, I tried to fix them multiple different ways.

As an aside, our big tom cat (rest his soul) used to go absolutely nuts when I was cleaning woodcock. He’d wake up from a sound sleep in his kitty cup as soon as I started prepping the field-dressed birds fr the freezer, he could smell them instantly and the smell drove him wild. He would beg. He would purr. He would wind himself around my feet. He would plead.

The Cat couldn’t care less if I was prepping any other meat. Beef, pork, chicken, etc. But bring in a woodcock and he went nuts. Anyone else had anything like this happen with a pet?

In case you’re wondering, I did NOT feed raw woodcock to the Cat. He liked them dredged in a pistachio/corn flour coating and then pan-seared in garlic and white wine to medium-rare.

My thought has always been that if you need special recipes and techniques coupled with lots of flavorful additions like bacon or jalapenos to just make something good to eat, that simply means the original meat is not that good to begin with. I shoot a few for the old Brittany, but to be honest, she won’t even eat them, but my lab will(now there’s a big surprise)

I used to let them all fly. I would get sideways looks from the dog’s and over time I noticed one of my dog’s just stopped pointing them and ignored them all together. I decided that probably wasn’t a good thing and I hate to see them stop pointing pheasants because I suck at shooting and only hit one here and there:). I now shoot any woodcock that the dog’s point and do their job correctly. The meat gets thrown in with other birds plus some pork and made into sticks. The sticks are great and one would never know there was woodcock and ducks in there!

Although……Woodcocks are the only bird 2 of my 3 Setters would refuse to retrieve.

Pretty much what I expected to see! Lol.

Yeah it’s definitely a “rich” meat as feathers pointed out. I wonder if it is also loaded with more nutrition like, say, liver? They actually look like little venison steaks when filleted off the breastbone!

I cooked up the one from last weekend and OMG was it delicious… Me and my dog were in heaven for about 5 minutes while chowing them down. Did it the jalapeño/bacon way again but like I said, I don’t mind it just plain pan seared in butter salt and pepper either. I can’t believe so many people don’t like it… To each their own, though! More for me

Pics

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Quick correction: was actually about 5-6 minutes on high broil top rack

Like a lot of dark meat birds they can get a bitter/livery taste if cooked too long. They’re definitely earthy & robust. I’ve pan seered them in butter with onions and mushrooms and I’ve also baked them. The best I’ve ever eaten was to cook like steak on the grill. Any steak rub for seasoning and grilled to medium/medium rare. I found that simple method to be tremendously good.

Those bacon wrapped ones look dynamite as well.