12 to 15 Servings

Oven: Preheat to 400°

3 to 4 Qt. Flat baking dish or 12 Individual Portion crockery Ramekins

Prep time:  2 ½  to 3 hrs 

1 4 to 5 lb Duck, cleaned and ready to roast

2 lbs Rabbit, skinned and ready to cook (You can also use squirrel or groundhog)

1 ½ lbs lean Venison stew meat  (any cut) well trimmed, cut into 2 “ chunks

½ cup vegetable or olive oil

2 cups Port Wine (You can substitute a hearty Burgundy + ¼ cup good brandy)

1 ½ Quarts Basic Brown Sauce (Recipe follows)

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 lg clove fresh Garlic, crushed and minced

1 tbsp Dried Marjoram ( or ¼ cup fresh crushed Marjoram leaves)

½ tsp. Freshly ground Black Pepper

Salt to taste or omit

1 cup black or red Current Jelly

1 ½ lbs fresh Button Mushrooms, quartered with stems on

½ cup unsalted Butter (omit salt above if you use salted butter)

1 lb Slab Bacon, cut into ¼ ” cubes (Thick sliced bacon can be used)

1 lb Green Onion bulbs with 1” of green stem attached

      (or 1 15oz can Pearl Onions – not the pickled cocktail onions!)

Pastry for a 2 crust pie, rolled to ¼  “ thickness (Recipe follows)

1 lg Egg

1/3 cup whole milk or ½ & ½  

Make Brown Sauce first and have it cooking while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  The dish can be made to the point where you put the crust on it and held in a refrigerator overnight.  The dish will be best if you put the crust over the pie just before you bake it.  This dish freezes well, so since it is a real pain to make and serves a large crowd, you can divide it before you put the crust on and freeze part of it for later.   For a slightly different crust, make baking powder biscuit dough and roll it out to ¼” thickness for the top of the pie.  If you are making the individual ramekins, you can cheat and use the Pillsbury Grands biscuits and put ½ of one on each ramekin. 

Basic Brown Sauce: (You can double this recipe and keep half for another dish.  It will keep in a freezer several months)

1/3 cup unsalted Butter

1 cup All-Purpose Flour

½ cup fresh tomato puree (not paste) – peel and seed tomatoes before pureeing

2 quarts hot Beef Stock or canned Beef Bullion

1 tbsp bottled brown gravy sauce (BV brand or Kitchen Bouquet)

If you use the Beef Bullion add:

1 lg Onion, coarsely chopped

2 med Celery Stalks, chopped

3 unpeeled med Carrots, chopped

2 cloves crushed Garlic

1 –2 Bay Leaves

½ tsp dried Thyme (or 1/4 cup fresh crushed Thyme leaves)

• Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over low heat.  Gradually add flour and stir constantly until the mixture is chestnut brown.  If necessary, turn off heat at intervals to prevent flour from burning or becoming too brown.
• When desired color has been reached, add tomato puree and stir well, eliminating any lumps by mashing them with the back of a spoon.
• Still over low heat, gradually add hot stock or bullion as you constantly whisk mixture to maintain smoothness.
• If using Beef Bullion, add chopped vegetables to pot.
• Increase to med high heat.  Bring mixture just to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture has been reduced to about 11/2 quarts (2 qts with the vegetables in it).
• Add brown gravy sauce.  Correct seasoning to taste.
• Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve to remove vegetables and spices.  Cool to room temperature before storing.

Flaky Pastry Crust:  (I have modernized this recipe to use a food processor, but you can make it without one)

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

½ tsp Salt (necessary!)

1 cup Solid Vegetable Shortening (can be any type – Crisco, corn oil, etc.)

ICE Water (must be very cold) About ¼ to 1/3 cup

      Dough:

• Put flour and salt in work bowl of a food processor. 
• Add Shortening in big chunks. 
• Process with quick pulses until mixture is of a grainy texture. (Or you may do this with a fork) Shortening should be well distributed, but not necessarily dissolved, into flour. 
• Turn out into a large mixing bowl.  Sprinkle just enough Ice Water over flour mixture a little at a time, so that, using a fork and stirring lightly, mixture just holds together into a ball when pushed with the fork.  Don’t use your fingers because it warms up the shortening and will make a mealy textured rather than flaky crust. Too much water is better than not enough – it needs to stick together and you will add a little more flour in the rolling process.
• Set aside to rest in a cool place or refrigerate until ready to roll for the crust(s).

To Roll:

• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board, and gently and quickly, mash it into a 1” thick oval with your hands. Do not knead. Lightly dust dough with more flour. Pick dough up, retaining the oval shape, re-flour surface, replace dough bottom-side-up on board.  Lightly Dust again with four. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll into a flat piece about ¼ “ thick that will cover your baking dish with enough overlapping the rim of the dish to roll and flute edge of crust so it will maintain its shape during baking.
• If you are making individual ramekins, cut rolled pastry into sizes to fit them.  Try to handle the dough as little as possible as you re-roll it for the smaller rounds. Roll and flute edges as for the big pie.
• If you want to get fancy, use the pastry scraps to make small leaves to garnish the top of the casserole/ramekin dishes.

Game Pie: 

• Lightly salt cavity of duck and place it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, breast side up.  Roast for 30 min at 400°F, reduce heat to 325°F, and bake until Duck tests done (juices run clear when knee joint is pierced with a fork – drumstick should wiggle easily as if joint were broken) about 20-30 more minutes.
• While Duck is roasting, place Rabbit in a stew pot and just cover with water.  Bring just to a boil and quickly reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook about 60 minutes or just until meat easily slides off of bones.
• Meanwhile, over med high heat, heat vegetable oil in a large (min. 3 Qt.) heavy skillet.  Sauté Venison chunks quickly, turning frequently, until seared on all sides.  Take care not to let pan drippings burn. Remove venison from pan and set aside.
• Add Port Wine to the skillet, increase heat, and boil for 1 or 2 minutes, while scraping up all particles and browned bits from the pan.
• Whisk Brown Sauce in Port wine mixture until smooth.  Return Venison to mixture, cover lightly and simmer over low heat 45 to 60 min until Venison is very tender, but not falling apart.

(While the meats are cooking, make the pastry crust)

• When Duck and Rabbit meats are done, de-bone meat, discarding skin and any gristle. Cut into bite sized chunks, about 2” pieces.  Set aside and keep warm.
• When Venison is done, remove meat from sauce, set aside and keep warm (You can put it in the same container with the duck and rabbit). Increase to med heat, just below a boil, and add Worcestershire Sauce, garlic, pepper, marjoram, salt to taste (if desired) and current jelly, stirring gently until jelly is dissolved.  Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes.
• Add Venison, Duck and Rabbit meats to skillet. Simmer about 10 minutes.
• Reheat oven to 350°
• Sauté Mushroom quarters and onion bulbs in butter until lightly browned. (If you use the canned Pearl Onions, you do not need to sauté them, but drain their juice.)
• Fry Bacon pieces until very crisp, but not burned.  Remove to paper towels to drain well.
• Grease large Baking Dish or Individual Portion Ramekins.  Spoon meat mixture into Dish(es), filling them ¾ full.  Distribute mushrooms, onions and bacon pieces evenly over top of meat mixture – do not stir in.

(This is the point to divide the meat and freeze part of it for future use.)

• Follow directions above for rolling out the Pastry Crust(s)
• Cover with pastry crust, roll and flute edges to prevent shrinkage, prick top with fork or knife tip for steam vents.  Add cut out pastry leaves by wetting them on the bottom side with milk or water and sticking them firmly to the pastry in a decorative arrangement.
• Beat Egg and Milk (or ½ & ½) until foamy and fully combined. Lightly brush top of pastry crust with egg mixture.
• Place baking dish(es) on a flat baking tray that has been lined with foil.  Casseroles will bubble over! Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is golden brown and mixture begins bubbling over the sides of the dish.