Moose, Marrow & Caksis

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. (450 g.) of lightly smoked moose sirloin or tenderloin

• ½ lb. (225 g.) of moose colon (Asian stores sell beef and pork versions of this. Why waste right?)

• 1 tsp. (5 g.) seasoning salt

• 4 small-medium red potatoes

• 1 medium onion

• 2 T. (15 ml.) bacon grease

• 2 T. (15 ml.) butter

• 2 T. (15 ml.) sour cream

• Small slab of baked bannock cut into slices (refried bannock is a good way to use up the day-old stuff)

• A handful of colourful plant topping foraged from the wild to sprinkle over the spuds. In this recipe I use dandelion flower and rosehip rind but you can be Cree-ative and use anything in season that might enhance flavour and appearance.
Preparation:

• Pre heat the oven to 380 °F (190 °C).

Cooking:

• Start by roasting the marrowbones in the pre heated oven and set timer for 30 minutes.

• The meat only needs to be smoked for approx 3 hours. Season with seasoning salt. If you don’t have a smoker you can douse the meat in natural liquid smoke or rub in a smoke flavoured spice and allow to sit for an hour or two to absorb flavour. Slice the smoked sirloin thinly across the grain into medallions.

• Slice the colon into thin rings and cook the crap out of it…just kidding. You will have already thoroughly cleaned and irrigated the colon.

• Heat up the bacon grease in skillet over medium-high heat and add the moose tenderloin and caksîs slices. Stir occasionally for even browning.

• By now your 30 min timer should be ringing or beeping annoyingly, so add the spuds to oven, along with the marrowbones. Set a timer for 45 mins so the spuds and marrow will be ready at the same time.

• When the caksîs on your stove-top is lightly browned add the sirloin medallions and continue stirring for even browning.

• When the sirloin starts to brown add a roughly cut up medium or large onion and stir occasionally over medium heat. Add more oil if things get sticky. When the mixture is brown and caramelized, turn the heat to low and place a lid on the skillet.

• In the meantime, in another heated skillet, add bacon grease and butter before adding the bannock slices. Fry evenly on both sides to a nice golden brown colour.

• By now the marrowbones and spuds in your oven should be ready which means you are ready to plate and serve.

Assembly:

• Arrange the meal on your plate however you wish to but slicing the spuds in half with cut side up allows you to add butter, sour cream or yoghurt along with sprinklings from your wild foraging. Steamed wild celery shoots (aka cow parsnip) when in season, is often served as a side dish. There you have it, a very traditional meal done with a modern twist. If you can’t develop a taste for the exotic you can always try haggis, tripe or just serve the caksîs to your enemas…I mean enemies.