Moose Stew

I grew up in the far north where traditionally my people lived on wild game and fowl, as well as made bannock (for bread). We didn't grow up on milk, green vegetables and fruits like many people take for granted today. One of my favourite wild meats is moose meat.  I've also eaten deer meat, beaver, bear, wild rabbits and a wild bird whose name escapes me at present. Mostly though I loved to eat moose meat. Moose steak in particular with boiled potatoes and bannock. My mother could cook moose steaks that were so tasty. She used just shortening and a little salt. I featured bannock in a blog here.

Nowadays so many of the people that hunted and that I knew are no longer alive. Sadly with their passing, the knowledge and skills or interest in hunting has also dramatically decreased in my community.  That basically means I get very little wild meat to eat and when I do it is a real treat.

Moose is a very lean animal and when you cook it you must be careful not to dry it out. The moose is a very large animal. I've posted a picture below (I didn't take this photo and I'm not sure who did) and you can learn more about this beautiful and wild animal here.


You can imagine how blessed I was to be the recent recipient of some wild game just before Christmas. I won a picture in a raffle organized by one of my friends, Rose. I gave Rose some funds to support her fund raising raffle and asked her buy me some tickets for the food basket that contained some wild meat. Instead I won a huge picture! Was I disappointed or what.

Apparently the picture was much coveted by another woman at the church raffle and she was very disappointed that a stranger won the prize she coveted, lol. It turns out she was the woman who donated the wild meat for the food hamper. Unbeknownst to me, Rose approached this woman and told her I might be interested in a swap. Indeed I was if it meant I got to have some wild meat!

Long story short, I got the meat and the other woman got the picture she wanted. I guess she wanted it for a Christmas gift for one of her grandchildren. In the bag of meat there was minced moose (like hamburger or minced beef), a package of moose stew meat and some bear chops. I took the bear chops to mom at Christmas and next time I visit I hope to cook them up.

Yesterday, I got to use the moose stew meat in a simple recipe but it was so delicious.

My Recipe

- about six cups of water to boil
- pieces of moose stew meat (about 1.5 pounds)
- 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoons of vegeta (vegetable seasoning) to taste
- salt to taste
- flour as needed (approx. 1/2 cup) to coat the meat before frying and to thicken the stew
- coconut or other shortening/oil to brown the meat before stewing
- freshly cracked peppercorn for garnish

First chop up the stew meat into small cubes about 1/2 -3/4 inch square; coat with flour and brown in a hot frying pan until nicely browned. Most of you have already made stew but just in case you haven't, make sure you turn the meat so that it doesn't burn and so that the loose flour in the pan doesn't burn.

In a stew pot, boil some water and add the salt. Once boiled put in the chopped veggies (carrot, onion, pototoes and the browned meat). Let the mixture boil and then reduce heat slightly until the vegetables are cooked.

In a small bowl mix, remaining flour with a few tablespoons of water until it is a mixture of medium consistency. You don't want it too thick or too thin. Add the vegeta or vegetable seasoning to it and slowly stir the mixture into the stew mixture. Stir the post constantly so that no lumps of flour form in the broth.

Cook (the now completed stew) for another few minutes. Serve in a bowl and add freshly ground pepper for garnish.

Enjoy!

Note: I just learned that vegeta has an ingredient called monosodium glutamate (MSG). Not a good thing for many of us with MSG sensitivities. I'm going to have to find a substitute. I actually have other seasonings like Mrs. Dash.

I know that there are many reports that say MSG is safe, however for those of us with sensitivities, even small amounts can be unsafe or lead to symptoms which we do not need. For example, I find when I eat Chinese food with MSG, I break out in hives under my eyes. Fortunately the MSG in the vegeta seems to be a small amount. The only real side effect I've experienced is some swelling, which is bad enough really, isn't it? So please, if you try this dish with another kind of meat, you might want to consider your seasoning.

Reminder: Don't forget to enter my giveaway here

My First Giveaway

I've been blogging for less than a year now and in the process I've learned a lot. I have a lot more to learn from the knowledge and talents of other bloggers so I'm hoping to blog and read blogs for a long time to come.

One of the things I've learned about, and participate in with glee, are the giveaways that various bloggers sponsor. I think giveaways are fun and I always try to participate to show bloggers that I am paying attention to what they write. I think it also shows gratitude for what they do to develop reader participation.

The winter Olympics will be here in a few short weeks so I thought it would be fun to giveaway one of the Olympic mascots. There are actually three of them and I like Sumi best so Sumi is part of the giveaway.

My regular readers know I live in Canada and that I am a proud Canadian so I thought it would also be great to provide a few souvenirs of my country. These few gifts will go in a reusable tote bag with the word "Canada" embossed on the front. This is in homage to the many people out there who I know are into the simple life and want to keep our planet free from as many plastic bags as possible.

Here are a few photos to show you what will be in the Canada bag.

[Pens, stickers, souvenirs, luggage tags and Olympic mascot]

In order to participate, please leave a comment and let me know what you would like to learn about Canada or Vancouver. I then hope to feature a blog post on the winning subject in a future post.

The winner will selected at random and be announced on Friday January 28, 2010, (changed to Thursday, January 227, 2010 to allow time for wrapping and posting) and contacted for address information so I can mail your parcel before I leave town on the same weekend. In the meantime, happy blogging. If you have children or grandchildren, be sure to enter as they tend to love these sorts of things though I've tried to include things that adults might also use (luggage tags and pens). If you are from another country, it would be lovely for you to have some souvenirs from Canada. If you are not from another country, please enter anyway. Everyone is welcome! Good luck