Canoe and Camp Cookery: A Practical Cook Book for Canoeists, Corinthian ...

Cut up any kind of game, whether furred or feathered, into small pieces, wash it, and put it in *a pot with some pork cut into pieces three inches square, and rather more than enough water to cover it all. Let it boil for half an hour, skimming off the particles that rise to the top. Then add four or five sliced onions, some parsley or summer savory, salt and pepper, and boil slowly for an hour and a half. Half an hour before it is done put in a few pared potatoes, cut to a uniform size. [illustration: Brunswick Stew.*] For a stew for five or six persons the following are * This is a favorite Virginia dish, of which the compiler of this book has eaten, but which he has never cooked. The recipe here given is said by an old Virginian to be reliable. 62 Canoe and Camp Cookery. the ingredients : two-good- sized or three small squirrels, one quart of tomatoes, peeled and sliced, one pint of butter or lima beans, six potatoes, parboiled and sliced, six ears of green corn cut from the cob, one-half pound of butter, one-half a pound of fat salt pork, one teaspoonful of black pepper, one-half a teaspoonful of cayenne, one gallon of water, one tablespoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of white sugar, one onion minced small. Cut the squirrels into joints, and lay in cold water to draw out the blood ; put on the gallon of water, with the salt in it, and let it boil for five minutes ; put in the onion, beans, corn, pork which has been cut into fine strips, potatoes, pepper and the squirrels ; cover closely, and stew two and a-half hours very slowly, stirring the mass frequently from the bottom to prevent its burning. Then add the tomatoes and sugar, and stew an hour longer. Ten minutes before it is to be taken from the fire, add the butter, cut into bits the size of a walnut, and rolled in flour ; give a final boil, taste to see that it is seasoned to your liking, and serve at once. Flour Gravy. After stews have been taken from the pot stir a tablespoonful of flour gradually into a small quantity of cold water, carefully breaking all the lumps. Then pour this gradually into the boiling liquor left in the pot from the stew, let it boil well two minutes, and serve. If flour is sprinkled dry into boiling water it ^ill form into lumps at pnce^ no njatt^r how much it is Meats and Game. 63 stirred. A tablespoonful of flour will sufficiently thicken nearly a quart of liquor. If what is called "brown gravy" is desired, heat the flour first in a frying pan, stirring it till it is brown. Roast Venison. The saddle is the best portion for roasting, and after this the shoulder. Hang it by a cord over a huge bed of coals, or use the crotched stakes, impaling the venison on the cross-piece. Insert thin slices of salt pork or bacon in gashes cut with a knife where the flesh is thick enough to admit of "gashing,'* or skewer them on with hard wood twigs where it is not. Turn frequently. The flesh on Ihe surface will become hard by the time the roast is done, but this can be avoided by covering it with buttered paper fastened on with wooden skewers. From two to three hours are required for roasting. Baked Deer's Head. Build a fire in a hole in the ground. When it has burned to a good bed of coals put in the deer's head, neck downward, with the skin on but the eyes and brains removed. Cover with green grass or leaves, coals and earth, and build a new fire on top of all. In about six hours exhume the head, remove the skin, and the baking is complete. This method of baking applies as well to the head of any animal. 64 Canoe and Camp Cookery. Forequarter of Venison. This portion is always tough, but may be utilized by stewing it, or making it into Venison Sausages. Chop up pieces of the forequarter, mix with half as much chopped salt pork, season with pepper and salt, make into balls, and fry. Stuffed Shoulder of Venison.