By Eric Fowler
There’s something special about cooking over an open flame. Which is why I don’t understand the ads that start in the spring telling me it’s grilling season. I’ll fire mine up and melt snow off the top if I have to in the winter. But being cheap/frugal, I guess it does make more sense to grill in the summer, when you don’t want to heat up the house with the stove.
There is also something special about grilled food wrapped in bacon. So if, like me, you were either lucky or smart enough to pull some ducks or geese into decoy range last fall and still have a bird or two in the freezer, here is a great way to get those to the table: make kabobs.
I’ve eaten these with the meat for the kabobs prepared in three different ways. Jeff Borchers, a biologist stationed at the Oak Valley Wildlife Management Area near Battle Creek, simply coats the meat with seasoned salt on the meat before wrapping it bacon. Former NEBRASKAland staffer Jon Farrar likes to marinate his cubed meat in beer, soy sauce and ginger. Jenny Nguyen has a much more involved marinate recipe you can read here.
Marinated or sprinkled with salt, these kabobs are a tasty dish. Of course, like Farrar once said, just about anything wrapped in bacon would taste good.
Goose Kabobs (or duck)
Ingredients
Skinless, boneless duck or goose
Bacon
Bell peppers
Onions
Tomatoes
Marinate
1 can beer (the cheap stuff is fine)
½ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon ginger
Directions
Cut duck or goose breasts and thighs into 1-inch cubes and marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Drain meat, wrap in bacon and thread onto bamboo or metal skewers with cubed vegetables between each chunk. Grill until medium or medium-rare (don’t overcook), turning often and dousing fire started by bacon grease as necessary. Alternatively, skip the marinate and sprinkle kabobs with seasoned salt before cooking.