By Ty Flores, Contributor at Wild Nexus

I’ve come a long way in my hunting journey. A decade ago, I was a poor college kid chasing down wild pigs in the swamps of Florida. All I had was my knife and a dog who would have run through the Gates of Hell with me if I’d decided I wanted a taste of fire and brimstone in my meat. Since then, I’ve hunted and fished in God knows how many states, and my house is beginning to look like an Airbnb furnished by Johnny Morris.

My cooking has gotten better, too. If I told you how I cooked most of that wild pig, you’d get off this site and never read anything I wrote about cooking ever again. And I wouldn’t blame you. But my secret is simple: find a cute girl who went to culinary school, date and hopefully be engaged to her soon, bring her lots of wild game to experiment with, help her out enough to where you technically contribute but not so much to put you in a scenario where you could actually screw it up, share it with your hunting buddies, brag excessively and take partial credit, and then write about it. I’m not saying I’m Anthony Bourdain, but I did read Kitchen Confidential last fall. My culinary journey may not be as credentialed, but to my knowledge, Bourdain never shot an eight-man limit of Canadian geese or wrote a single word while resting his feet on a bear skin rug. That counts for something. 

When I finally did get into waterfowl hunting last year, I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Especially geese. I was also surprised at how unenthusiastic everyone was to eat goose meat; most either made jerky or fed it to their dogs or pigs. Everyone laughed after I said I could make it taste good. So I did what any self-respecting man would do who had just spent the better half of a morning exaggerating his culinary prowess while questioning everyone else’s: I got the hell out of the way and let my better half do the heavy lifting.  

While the word ‘our’ might be a generous here (taste testing and chopping meat is underappreciated), here is our recipe for raspberry chipotle quesadillas:

1. Marinade 

Ingredients: 2 cups apple cider vinegar, 1 cup white sugar, and 3-4 oranges 

-Marinate the goose breast in apple cider vinegar, sugar, juice, and rinds of 3-4 oranges for at least 1 hour. Like everything you marinate, the longer the better. The amount doesn’t really matter, just eyeball it depending on the amount of breasts, and try to keep a 2:1 ratio for apple cider vinegar to sugar.

2. Poaching the goose

-Rinse and dry, and then salt and pepper inside and out. Prick the skin all over (especially on the breast/thighs) with a fork to help the fat render.

-Place aromatics like onions, garlic, bay leaves, orange slices, and apple juice/wine in a large roasting pan.

-Place the breasts on a rack in the pan with enough liquid to come halfway up the sides (or just below the rack). Cover and cook (simmering, not boiling) for 2-3 hours (25 mins/lb).

(You can also cook on a stove top, or all in a pot)

3. The Sauce 

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 large jalapeno peppers, seeded (if you want less spicy) and diced, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 4 teaspoons adobo sauce and chopped chipotle peppers, 2 (6-ounce) containers of fresh raspberries, ½ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ cup brown sugar, and ½ cup white sugar.

-Heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir in jalapenos; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in garlic, adobo sauce, and chopped chipotle peppers, bringing it to a simmer. Stir the raspberries into the sauce; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, salt, brown sugar, and white sugar. Mix. Simmer until thickened and reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Then add chopped goose breasts.

4. Warm the tortillas with shredded cheese (her preference for cheese is the Supremo Shredded Chihuahua Brand).

5. Add the chopped goose covered in the sauce and fold in half. Toast each side until the cheese is melted.

This recipe has gotten the approval of everyone who has tried it; a buddy of mine even used it on some diver ducks and said it was delicious. That includes the guys who decide to sit in a blind with me for hours on end listening to me pontificate about how I’d fix whatever’s going on in the world at the moment. If it can get a nod of approval from that crowd, I’m confident that it’ll do just fine at your table.