Capercaillie

Capercaillie Description

Capercaillie is a large bird of the Pheasant family. Average weight: 2-3 kg, although there are also larger individuals. Delicious juicy wood grouse meat has a dark color and light bitterness with a coniferous aftertaste.

The taste of capercaillie meat depends on what the bird ate and in what season.

In autumn, wood grouses eat lingonberries, respectively, in the autumn, the meat will have a lingonberry flavor. In winter, the capercaillie eats pine needles and therefore the meat will have a coniferous taste.

If you marinate the wood grouse meat and add a little vinegar before cooking, and pour red dry wine during cooking, then the bitter specific taste will disappear.

Interesting fact! To give the meat more saturation, you need to keep the uncut carcass of the capercaillie hanging by the head for two to three days.

Did you know? Hunting for wood grouse is a challenging task as the bird has keen eyesight and hearing. The best time for hunting is in the spring, when males hunt females.

Composition

Wood grouse meat contains such valuable vitamins and minerals:

• molybdenum;
• tin;
• nickel;
• magnesium;
• sodium;
• calcium;
• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• sulfur;
• iron;
• fluorine;
• iodine;
• zinc;
• chromium;
• cobalt;
• copper;
• chlorine;
• B vitamins;
• vitamins E; A; H; PP.

Calorie content of Capercaillie meat

Calorie content of wood grouse meat – 254kcal

Energy value of the product (Ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates):

• Proteins: 18g. (∼ 72 kcal)
• Fat: 20g. (∼ 180 kcal)
• Carbohydrates: 0.5g. (∼ 2 kcal)

Beneficial features

The use of wood grouse meat is useful because of such properties:

• Stimulates the activity of the spinal cord and brain;
• Helps to improve the condition of the skin and hair;
• Regulates the level of hemoglobin and blood glucose;
• Accelerates protein synthesis and oxygen transport to cells;
• Improves the general condition of the body and normalizes vital processes in it;
• It has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the digestive and nervous systems.

Capercaillie Contraindications

There were no contraindications for eating wood grouse meat found. The only factor will be the individual intolerance to the product.

How to use Capercaillie in cooking

Boiled wood grouse meat is used for making salads, cold snacks, sandwiches. Poultry meat baked in the oven or grilled on charcoal in combination with red dry or semi-dry wine has an unforgettable taste. It takes about two hours to fry the meat, until the tip of the knife smoothly pierces the meat.

To give the meat a delicate taste, it is recommended to stuff it with lard and serve with sour cream sauce and pickles.

The combination with apples, wild berries, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, potatoes will emphasize the taste of wood grouse meat and add juiciness.

Curious! The old dish – wood grouse “royally” differed in the way of preparation: the bird was stuffed with veal liver and stewed in lingonberry sauce. And traditional dishes in the old days were considered to be cutlets, meat rolls, steaks, cabbage rolls and kulebyaki made from capercaillie meat.

Capercaillie’s nest salad

Ingredients

• 500 g fillet
• 5 eggs
• 500 g potatoes
• 100 g onions
• 250 g cucumbers
• greenery
• salt
• mayonnaise
• vegetable oil
• 3-4 quail eggs for decoration

Preparation

1. Boil the Capercaillie fillet until tender (cook for about 20 minutes after boiling).
2. Cool down.
3. Cut in small pieces.
4. Finely chop the onion.
5. Pour boiling water over it.
6. Leave on for 10 minutes (this is done so that the onion does not taste bitter).
7. Then drain the water.
8. Rinse the onion in cold water.
9. Peel the potatoes.
10. Grate for Korean carrots or cut into thin strips.
11. Fry potatoes in a lot of vegetable oil.
12. To prevent the potatoes from sticking together, I recommend frying them in small portions.
13. Cut the cucumbers into strips.
14. Separate the whites from the yolks.
15. Grate the whites on a fine grater.
16. Finely chop the greens.
17. Mix the potatoes (leave some potatoes for decoration), cucumbers, fillets, proteins, onions.
18. Salt to taste.
19. Season with mayonnaise.
20. Put in a salad bowl.
21. Sprinkle with finely chopped herbs.
22. Make a deepening.
23. Put potatoes in a circle.
24. Put boiled and peeled quail eggs into the well.
25. If there are no quail eggs, you can make eggs from yolks to decorate this salad.
26. To do this, grind them with mayonnaise, add finely chopped greens, mold small balls from this mass and put them on a salad.

How the Capercaillie is cooked in the forest – watch in the video below: