Northern Wilds

If you surf the nearly endless channels of satellite television, you can tune into some unusual programs. Recently, we watched Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. Mr. Zimmern travels to far corners of the planet to sample local delicacies. From what we saw on the show, it is fair to say not everyone on this green Earth shares the same palate.

We watched intrepid Andrew eat any number of insects, fermented and putrid meat (I guess there is a difference), guinea pig on a stick, and other strange treats. More than once, say after he did something like eat a still-beating frog heart, Vikki got up from her chair and left the room‹and not because she¹s squeamish.

"I can¹t cook for this guy," she'd say.

Our television time was actually research, because we were asked to prepare ruffed grouse on Bizarre Foods. Now you may ask, what¹s so bizarre about ruffed grouse? Perhaps it¹s not so much the bird as its preparation. You have to hunt, kill, and dress a ruffed grouse before you can cook it. This is something outside the experience of most Americans.

Although Vikki was more than a little nervous about her national television debut, as a cook she was more than up to the task. As anyone who has eaten at our house can attest, she makes memorable meals on a daily basis from an array of wild game. In the fall, fresh grouse is a staple in our diet.

We had a couple of weeks to get ready for the show. My job was relatively easy. Grouse season opened Saturday and the shoot was scheduled for Tuesday. It was up to me to procure enough grouse for the show and a ³test run² of recipes a couple of days previous. Vikki, on the other hand, was under the gun. She paged through cookbooks and watched the Food Network for ideas of what to cook and how to prepare it. She had little guidance, other than the producer wanted the setting to be a cabin in the northwoods and that Andrew is fond of hearts and livers. I quickly learned my comments and suggestions regarding the menu were neither asked for nor appreciated. So when the season opened, I went hunting. Yellow Lab Tanner and myself walked some long miles over the weekend, but our mission was successful. When Vikki invited my coworkers Amber and Laurie over for a test run of the menu, we had an adequate supply grouse.

It was a great meal, but it brought about some last minute changes to the menu. All agreed the grouse gyros were good, but the cucumber sauce overwhelmed the flavor of the bird. It was replaced on the menu with baked grouse fingers. The road-kill moose burritos (with lake-picked wild rice replacing the beans) were especially tasty with a salsa fresh from our North Shore garden, but the store-bought flour tortillas were bland. Laurie volunteered to come over Monday night and make fresh corn tortillas.

Finally, the big day came. We arranged with our friends at Cascade Vacation Rentals for the use of the Finn House, a century-old log cabin perched over Lake Superior. Vikki arrived with an entire truckload of coolers, utensils, and cooking supplies. Amber and her 12-year-old daughter Leah came along as our support team. Joan, the local newspaper reporter, joined us, too. I brought Tanner and a couple of freshly killed birds.

Andrew arrived on time with a crew of four that included two cameramen. The gang had already ventured out on a foggy Lake Superior that morning to film a commercial netter. They were pleased with the Finn House. Immediately, we went to work. Andrew and I started outside with Tanner and the freshly killed grouse. Inside, the other cameraman was filming Vikki as she prepared the meal. I was on camera dressing the birds, including plucking out the heart and liver.

Finally, it was time to eat. Andrew and I sat at a cozy kitchen table, surrounded by the crew. With flourish, Vikki served the meal one course at a time, starting with a wild rice and grouse soup. I won¹t spoil the show by telling you any more. Suffice to say that Vikki lived up to her own reputation as a northwoods cook and added a special touch that made the meal bizarre. I will say that Andrew nearly cleaned his plate with every serving, including the delicious blueberry dessert. I don¹t think Vikki could have received a better compliment.

But she did. Andrew gave her a kiss on each cheek and said how much he enjoyed the food. Then he joined us for a couple of photos. Since we were the final shoot of a two-day tour of North Shore cuisine, the crew went down to the lake to film the closing and we rolled up our sleeves to start cleaning up. Vikki didn¹t say it, but I am sure she was satisfied that her grouse menu met the muster for Andrew Zimmern.

We were told the segment is planned to air on Bizarre Foods next spring. You can see the show on the Travel Channel at 9 p.m. on Sunday evenings. Zimmern, by the way, lives in the Twin Cities, where he has operated restaurants and been a food writer with Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine and other publications. And the next time he¹s on the North Shore, I won¹t be surprised if he looks us up to sample more of Vikki¹s wild game cooking.