Crow Bulgogi

by Ian Burrow

This recipe was originally published as a part of Public Pursuit, and can be found here.

This recipe was originally published as a part of Public Pursuit, and can be found here.

That’s right folks. Not only did I intentionally go crow hunting, but I managed to harvest and cook one. If that didn’t make you close out your web browser, then you’re in luck because guess what? It was delicious. Here’s a loose framework to attempt this atom bomb of flavor.

You could say I find, “inspiration,” from various cook books and blogs of renowned chefs. To be completely honest, I feel saying, “I find inspiration,” to be cliche and a bit too emotional for my liking, but I haven’t found a better way to explain the process. When it comes to cooking (an entirely DIY/self-taught skillset of mine) I find myself traveling through a three-step process:

  1. Poke around the kitchen and the freezer to see what’s on hand.

  2. Peruse a cook book or internet search the “type” of food I’m in the mood for (case and point, this particular day I was in the mood for something with an Asian flair).

  3. Tell my wife to hold my beer as I explore my latest culinary experiment.

Now that you realize there’s a madness to my method, here’s a bit of background on how I settled on preparing my crow meat. I came across a Bulgogi recipe in Hank Shaw’s book, Duck, Duck, Goose. The breast meat of a crow is extremely similar to that of a duck (dark meat, a bit oily) so I felt comfortable looking through waterfowl recipes to find an avenue to prepare my crow. “Bulgogi” is a Korean dish and, as far as I can tell, the single qualifying factor of a dish to acquire such a title, the meat must be cooked over a grill. The word literally translates to, “fire meat.” The loose terminology tied to this dish is something I found to be arguably common around the world. A word like, “barbecue” or, “BBQ” means something very specific to Kansans such as myself, but in many places in the world such vernacular is liberally applied to any form of meat, or even food as a whole, that encounters a grill or open flame at some point in the cooking process. Now that we’ve covered that, let’s dive in to the recipe itself.

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Ingredients

  • 2 x crow breasts

  • Public Pursuit Brine

  • Oil and Vinnegar

  • 1 x Carrot

  • 1 x Celery stalk

  • 1 x Tomato

  • Green onions

  • Brown sugar

  • Soy sauce

  • Rice (brown or white)

  • Coconut oil

  • Peanuts (no shell)

  • Chili powder

  • Salt

  • Pepper

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The Steps

  1. Brine crow breasts for 1-2 hours (or an afternoon, whichever is convenient).

  2. Chop carrots, celery, and tomato; mix oil, vinegar, and brown sugar with the chopped vegetables. Place in the fridge.

  3. Cook rice and then place into a skillet. Crush the peanuts and add them into the skillet; add chopped green onions (or shallots or any color of onion that makes you happy) , add chili powder, salt, pepper, coconut oil, and soy sauce. Mix and retain heat on low.

  4. Remove the meat from the brine and pat dry, now liberally apply oil with a brush to the meat. This will help prevent the meat from drying out on the grill.

  5. Fire up the grill and place the crow breasts on the oiled grate. Leave the grill lid open and cook for 2-3minutes on each side.

  6. Fill a bowl with your stir fry rice, top the rice with the crow, and then top the meat with your vegetables.

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Ian Burrow