Open Season

The quarry's throat opens, and out spill scarlet berries, unripe and swallowed whole, garnished with tender green herb tips; harvest bouquet from a grouse's gullet.

Peter had shot a brace of two birds early one morning before we left for surveys. Strangled game in hand, he asked me if I wanted to clean them. I had never cleaned a bird before. This was his advice: "Take a few big pinches of feathers off the chest to expose the skin. With the skin exposed, tear it apart at the mid breast. Pull it off of the bird like a jacket. Hold both legs in one hand and break through the muscle with your thumb at the base of the breast, and then again at the top. Then just pull the two skinned breasts away from the body."

Without too much difficulty we got the breast and leg meat bagged in a ziploc. The evening found us at Lee's Gourmet Garden, fine Sezchuan cuisine, Oakridge. The Chef there is Jeff. He will cook anything you bring him: grouse, sturgeon, venison, mushrooms, etc. I never knew a restaurant to do this before, but it is not surprising for the former personal chef of the legendary Jackie Chan. Ours was served with pepper and black bean sauce, and it was delicious. If you are in Oakridge, see Jeff.