Camp cookery (Kephart)

Mud-hens and Bitterns. — Remove the breast of a coot or rail, cut slits in it, and in these stick thin slices of fat salt pork; broil over the embers. The broiled breast of a young bittern is good. Grouse, Broiled. — Pluck and singe. Split down the back through the bone, and remove the trail. Wipe out with damp towel. Remove head and feet. Rub inside with pepper and salt. Flatten the breast, brush over with melted butter, or skewer bacon on upper side, and grill over a hot bed of coals. Grouse, Roasted. — Dress and draw, but do not split. Place a piece of bacon or pork inside, and skewer a piece to the breast. Roast before the fire as described for turkey, or in a reflector. Small Birds (quail, woodcock, snipe, plover, etc.). — These are good roasted before a big bed of coals, searing them first as in broiling meat. Impale each bird on a green stick, with a slice of bacon on the point of the stick over the bird. Thrust butt of stick into the ground, and incline stick toward the fire. Turn frequently. When a number of birds are to be roasted, a better way is to set up two forked stakes and a cross-pole before the fire. Hang birds from the pole, heads downward, by wet strings. Baste as recommended for turkey, and turn frequently. Serve very hot, without any sauce, unless it be plain melted butter and a slice of lemon. Such birds can also be served in a ragout. (See page 60.) Woodcock are not drawn. The trail shrivels up and is easily removed at table. SAUCES FOR GAME. (See also page 63.) Giblet Sauce. — See under Wild Turkey, Roasted. Celery Sauce. — Having none of the vegetable itself, use a teaspoonful of celery seed freshly powdered, or five drops of the essence of celery on a piece of sugar. Flavor some melted butter with this, add a little milk, and simmer ten minutes. Cranberry Sauce. — Put a pound of ripe cranberries in a kettle with just enough water to prevent burning. Stew to a pulp, stirring all the time. Then add syrup previously prepared by boiling a pound of sugar in 2/3 pint of water. Canned cranberries will answer. Curry Sauce. — This is used with stewed small game or meat (especially left-overs) that is served in combination with rice. (See page 69.) Put a large spoonful of butter in a pan over the fire; add one onion cut into slices; cook until the onion is lightly browned. Then stir in one teaspoonful of curry powder and add gradually a generous cup of brown gravy or soup stock, or the broth in which meat has been stewed, or evaporated milk slightly thinned. Boil fifteen minutes, and strain. Curry may be varied indefinitely by further flavoring with lemon juice, red pepper, nutmeg, mace, or Worcestershire sauce. CHAPTER VII. FISH of the same species vary a great deal in quality according to the water in which they are caught. A black bass taken from one of the overflow lakes of the Mississippi bears no comparison with its brother from a swift, clear, spring-fed Ozark river. When it is necessary to eat fish caught in muddy streams, rub a little salt down the backbone, lay them in strong brine for a couple of hours before cooking, and serve with one of the sauces described farther on in this chapter. Carp should have the gills removed, as they are always muddy from burrowing.