Where I live, it’s hot—too hot to heat up the whole house by baking or frying anything indoors. It’s the perfect time for outdoor cooking, and just in time for Memorial Day, we have a handful of great-looking recipes that you can prep indoors and cook outside while you enjoy a picnic with friends and family.
Teriyaki Turkey Skewers
With turkey seasons wrapping up around the country, a lot of you will have turkey in the fridge or freezer ready to cook. This skewer recipe from the creatively-named Okayest Hunter (scroll down) couldn’t be simpler, and it’s a nice break from fried turkey nuggets or roasted turkey breast. It uses a store-bought marinade and some additional seasonings and garnishes for flair. Just dice up your turkey breast in uniform chunks, marinate for hours—I’d go overnight—then thread the chunks onto skewers and grill until done. Maybe throw some vegetables or corn on the cob on the grill at the same time, and consider lunch served. Photo courtesy Okayesthunter.com.
Smoked Wild Boar Ribs
Got some wild hog meat in the freezer? Andrew Zimmern, who has a whole TV show to showcase kicked-up wild game recipes, offers a killer smoked rib recipe with a bonus potato salad. I won’t lie to you—I’d probably buy store-bought potato salad to save the effort, but the smoked ribs I can handle. He includes instructions for a homemade rub, a basting sauce and a barbeque sauce, so be sure your spice cabinet is well-stocked. He smokes the ribs on a grill over hardwood coals, but you could smoke them any way you’re used to doing ribs—the rub and sauce are the real key here. The smoking process takes hours, so be sure to plan ahead so you don’t keep everyone waiting to eat—but smoked ribs are always worth it! Photo courtesy andrewzimmern.com
Venison Chislic
My husband and I fell in love with chislic on a trip to the South Dakota Badlands last year. Chislic is traditionally mutton, lamb or beef cubed and seasoned, often fried but sometimes grilled. It sounds basic, and it is, but I’m telling you, it’s delicious. This venison version from MeatEater definitely looks worth a try. The secret to chislic is to keep it simple—no fancy marinades, just well-seasoned fresh meat cooked to the right temperature and not overdone. This recipe gives you both fried and grilled versions, so take your pick, but for Memorial Day cookouts, the grilled version is the ticket. It should be served hot off the grill, so no making this ahead of time. It’s a great appetizer while you wait for the ribs to smoke, or make plenty of it and serve as a main course. Photo courtesy MeatEater
Grilled Duck with Popper Sauce
Poppers are a well-loved grilled appetizer you’ve probably made before, but this grilled duck recipe from Ducks Unlimited gives you the same flavors in a less-messy-to-assemble package, thanks to a bacon-jalapeno cream sauce. It uses skin-on duck breasts, which you’ll brine the night before. The next day, you score the skin, marinate the breasts while the grill heats up, then cook to temp (do not overcook wild duck past medium rare!), throwing together a simple but tasty-looking sauce while the duck grills. The recipe suggests serving with additional jalapenos and/or cowboy candy (candied jalapenos, usually home-canned), which sounds like an excellent idea to me. In fact, I think this sauce would be good on just about any wild game, really, including venison, doves and pheasants. Photo courtesy Ducks Unlimited
Tandoori Dove with Cilantro-Yogurt Sauce
Got any doves left over from last fall? Harvesting Nature has a perfect recipe to try if you struggle to think of anything to do with them besides wrap them in bacon or serve them as poppers (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It uses traditional Indian tandoori flavors that result in a spicy dish, but the creamy sauce helps cut the heat and balance the whole thing out. Be sure to set aside time to make the marinade the night before so the flavors have time to blend, and you can adjust the spice level to your liking by varying how much red pepper flake you add, if any. You can also make the cream sauce the night before to save time, because once the doves hit the grill, they’ll be done in just minutes. Photo courtesy of Harvesting Nature
