You Won't Believe It's Cougar!

Believe it or not, this is the name of an actual recipe. Made with actual cougar. So many of you, no doubt, have been puzzled by the question, "What can I do with all this cougar meat?" Never fear, the North American Hunting Club has the answer for you. The Wild Game Cookbook offers recipes to make a wide array of wild game more palatable. A very wide array:  alligator, antelope, bear, beaver, buffalo, cougar, coyote, duck, elk, goose, grouse, javelina, lion, porcupine, moose, pheasant, ptarmigan, quail, rabbit, squirrel, turkey and venison.  If you regularly join in the joy of deer hunting and you are lucky enough to bag a deer (okay, okay, hunters out there - skilled enough....is that better?), this is the cookbook that you want to have waiting for you back at deer camp. More than 50 venison recipes will add variety to the usual spaghetti sauce/chili version of venison cooking. Actually, if you are a frequent (and, we assume, successful) hunter, and you can't find your own vintage copy of The Wild Game Cookbook (1988), you should check out the NAHC website: http://www.huntingclub.com/. They list 85 pages of recipes and cooking advice, which should be enough to get you started, whatever your source of meat.

Since we're offering cougar meat today, I Googled the term looking for an image.  While I found no pictures of actual meat from an actual cougar, I did find the Urban Dictionary definition (Any young man being preyed upon by an older, more experienced woman) and many, many pictures of Madonna's boy toy, Jesus Luz, in his tighty whities. Don't say I didn't warn you!.  

YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT'S COUGAR!

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 - 4 lbs. cougar meat

1 1/2 TBS. minced garlic

2 TBS. Worcestershire sauce

1 lb. sliced bacon

6 oz. of beer (More if you want to drink some - that might improve the dish)

1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (Why? You're cooking this on a campfire!)

1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients except meat and bacon in a bowl. Trim all fat and gristle from meat and then cut into small pieces. Soak meat in mixture for 1/2 hour. (Do not, I repeat, do not, eat the meat at this time.  There have been recent reports of trichinosis among hunters who have eaten the meat raw. My thinking? They asked for it! Raw? Really?) Wrap half the meat in bacon strips, secure them with a toothpick and fry until done.  Fry the remaining meat without bacon for a different taste. You can flour or bread the meat prior to cooking, if desired.

Wild Game Cookbook, North American Hunters club, 1988. Recipe contributed by Jeff Gleave of IG Guides and Outfitters, Monroe UT