In today's urbanized world, most people have already begun to forget what game is. Successful hunting (as well as fishing) has long ceased to be a guarantee of survival. For most of the youth who grew up on the Internet education, game is nonsense and false stories told by a person who is often treated rather hostilely. You should probably remember what this term means.
Meanings of the word "game"
At the time of its direct use, the word had different meanings in different contexts.
- The main meaning is small non-domesticated animals and birds that can serve as a subject of hunting. Somewhat later, large animals began to be classified as game.
- Besides, game is the meat of hunted animals. Most often - already cooked and mostly considered a delicacy.
- And, finally, game is a deaf, uninhabited and undeveloped place. In this sense, the word was used much less often, and in dictionaries it is marked ascolloquial.
One can note the main thing that unites all three meanings - this is exactly wildness, untamedness. The same quails grown in poultry farms are no longer game. And nature reserves, regularly inspected by rangers, also fall out of this category.
What is the game
According to the rules of modern hunting, prey is divided into two types:
- Small game is a bird (both forest and meadow or waterfowl) and small animals (for most hunters - a hare, for taiga people - also fur animals).
- Big game is wild boar, elk, roe deer, etc. It is not available to everyone due to the rapid reduction of hunting grounds.
If we consider game from a culinary point of view, then an ordinary city dweller has a chance to eat only a hare, wild duck, hazel grouse and partridge, and then only in a good restaurant.
Features of cooking game
The difference in the way of life of domesticated animals and wild species has led to dramatic differences in their meat. In pets, it is fatter, and the muscles are much less developed. Game meat, on the contrary, is quite tough, because, escaping from a predator, you don’t particularly work up fat, but muscles pump up quickly. Therefore, any game is usually marinated before cooking.
The most common marinades are based on wine or lemon juice. Another culinary action designed to tenderize game meat is stuffing it. An alternative is to wrap the slices in strips of lard or bacon. Whole carcasses(usually a variety of wild birds are prepared in this way) are most often stuffed with porridge, mushrooms, fruits, sauerkraut, berries. This technique is also aimed at getting rid of excess rigidity.
