Specks are known to many hunters as the ribeye of the sky. With seasons closed and hopefully the freezer full, I am always cooking game this time of year. The first time I ever had a speck on my plate I was excited and a bit skeptical. How could it taste that much better than other game? They eat, roost and migrate almost the same routine as other waterfowl I am accustomed to. So how could it be that different? Well it’s different! The meat has the same texture and color as any other geese but truly taste amazing. Now the key to preparing specks or any waterfowl is to not over cook them. Medium rare is perfect, medium at best. Anything past medium will become chewy and tough.
This is one of the biggest hurdles to introducing people to trying wild game. I always hear. ” I tried it before a long time ago and it was horrible”. My guess is that it was served well done. With specks I have found less is more. Let the meat do the talking. I like to spend my time trimming the meat not masking the flavor. Take your time and trim breast clean. I like to butterfly cut each piece so they are about 1/2″ thick steaks. Make sure you trim out the main artery that passes through each breast along with any tendons. One bird will give you 4 goose steaks. Once prepped, you can go as simple as just salt and pepper and straight on the grill. If you have some good steak seasoning or even Montreal steak seasoning and a bacon wrap can never hurt. Just treat it like a steak and you can’t go wrong.
Recently I had some friends come hunting from Florida and was able to cook some specks to try for the first time. These guys know beef and they were amazed at how good it was. We even left a store bought ribeye in the fridge for another day. No matter how you like your waterfowl remember cooking to medium rare and you will have your friends wanting seconds.