Game is ... Meaning of the word. Features of processing game meat

In today's urbanized world, most people have already begun to forget what a game is. Successful hunting (as well as fishing) has long ceased to be a guarantee of survival. For most young people who grew up on Internet education, game is nonsense and lying tales, told by a man, to whom often the attitude is rather hostile. It should probably remember what the term means.

The meanings of the word "game"

At the time of its direct application, the word had different semantic loads in different contexts.

1. The main value - small non-domesticated animals and birds that can serve as a hunt. Somewhat later, game animals began to be classified as big animals.
2. In addition, game is the meat of mined animals. Most often - already cooked and in the majority considered to be a delicacy.
3. And, finally, game is a deaf, uninhabited and undeveloped place. In this sense, the word was used much less often, and in dictionaries it is marked as spoken.

It is possible to note the main thing that unites all three values - this is savagery, untamed. The same quail, grown in poultry farms, are no longer game. And reserves, regularly inspected by huntsmen, also drop out of this category.

What kind of game

According to the rules of modern hunting, production is divided into two types:

1. Small game - a bird (both forest, and meadow or waterfowl) and a small animal (for most hunters - hare, for taiga - also fur animals).
2. Large game - it's wild boars, moose, roe deer, etc. It is not available to everyone, due to the rapid reduction of hunting grounds.

If we consider game in terms of cooking, then ordinary urban residents have a chance to bite except that a hare, a wild duck, grouse and partridges, and then only in a good restaurant.

Features of cooking game

The difference in the way of life of domesticated animals and wild species has led to cardinal differences in their meat. In domestic animals it is more fatty, and musculature is much worse developed. Meat game, on the contrary, is quite tough, because, escaping from a predator, fat does not work much, but the muscles are pumped up quickly. Therefore, any game is usually marinated before cooking.

The most common marinades based on wine or lemon juice. Another culinary action, designed to soften the game meat, is its lashing. An alternative is to wrap the slices in strips of bacon or fat. Whole carcasses (usually a variety of wild birds are prepared in this way) are often stuffed with porridge, mushrooms, fruits, sauerkraut, berries. This technique is also aimed at getting rid of excess rigidity.