Spadea’s gun-to-table Thanksgiving: Shotgun hunts, spit-roasted goat and old-school Jersey fun
Well, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but still during the holiday weekend, so I'm counting it.
Our good friends John and Tracey have a beautiful farm in Central Jersey and, like us, love to cook and eat.
From field to kitchen: prepping pheasant for soup
Early Saturday, Charlie the Butcher, Michael, John & and Tracey's daughter, Grace (Roll Tide), took a trek on an ATV and a few 20-gauge shotguns to hunt pheasant.
Perfect way to start the weekend after Thanksgiving.
The goal was to get a few birds and prep 'em for soup. Shoot, skin, remove the guts and filet the meat.
The boys did the cleaning while the kitchen team prepped the soup. My job was simple: peel and chop the apples for the crisp and prep the Brussels sprouts for dinner.
SEE ALSO: The best and worst things on the Spadeas' Thanksgiving table
Farm-fresh feast and old-school spit roasting
I was also on bar duty, negroni's all around for a day of hunting, cooking and food grazing. We also had a goat cleaned and purchased from a local butcher that made it onto the outside, and old school, spit.
Crispy and different, it was a great accompaniment to the meal later that day.
For us, friends, family and food made this Thanksgiving one of the best we've had. And there's nothing fresher than a bird that, a few hours before becoming soup, was flying through the brush.
Do you still hunt? Did you hunt your Thanksgiving dinner?
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Gallery Credit: Jen Ursillo
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.
