Chocolate Quail

Sun rise

           Candie and I post hunt

release

Quail, a passion to many southern outdoors man and I am one of them. It's late in the season,end of January early February. Three am the alarm rings only to find your already up getting the truck loaded for the two hour drive to the promise land. I load my favorite side by side 12 gauge safely in the back seat protected like a newborn coming home from the hospital, then the high boots and briar pants, now you load the dog. My aggravating hard headed Boykin named Everglade's Sugarcane Candie.Eleven months old and a veteran with five or six good hunts under her coller. A house dogs she is not, a pet, I want her to be but hunt dog to the core. Chase em flush em, you knock em down and little brown will bring em back.this is where she shines.

 It is a release day at the hunt camp where the camp owners pepper the fields with bobwhite. Now most hunter in the area try and try hard but their success is limited to a handful of birds and a lot of lost birds due to thick grass and palmetto. I meet up with my hunting buddies reload his truck and trailer and his dog Rebel, a pointer from a long list of great pointers, oh this is going to be a day. We arrive at camp as the sun is rising to a pale blue and pink sky. Dew on the grass little breeze 67 deg who could ask for better anything, paradise found. First hunt Rebel hits the ground and is off, nose down tail up and moving, five mins in hard on point, little bushes tall grass. Open box and send in the Candie and up come three bird, four shots later two birds down. Candie picked up the close one brought straight to hand, no for the blind mark. I get her a heal pointing I send her off two hits on the whistle and she is on the second bird. Awesome awesome. We hunt the next four hrs to shoot three limits.

Lunch

Good girl

Hold, hold hold good girl

Love my little brown

 After lunch on the edge of a beautiful oak hammock we let the dogs play some and swim in canal for reward. Now of to front gate to check out with pride in our hunt. Ok, now what you are waiting for,My chocolate Quail recipe

Chocolate Tomato Quail

4 Dressed split quail ( 1 cut up roasting chicken)
1 small sweet onion
1 tbl spoon fresh chop basil
2 pints crushed tomatoes
1 pint tomato sauce
1 1/2 tbl spoon coco
2/3 cup sugar
3 cloves chopped garlic
creole  seasoning ( everglades, zaterans ect)
good cooking oil for saute
1/2 stick unsalted butter
sea salt and pepper to taste


in medium dutch oven high heat, brown seasoned split quail to near fully cooked and set aside an a warming plate,reduce heat to med and  in same pan add butter to deglaze flavors, add onions garlic and basil, saute till translucent, now add coco and sugar,stir in to coat well add tomatoes and sauce. stir and bring to temp.
set Quail on top cover and simmer  med/low heat to finish quail.

Serve over rice and garnish with green onion tops and enjoy  serves 4