Now, however, the freezing system has allowed game, as
well as beef and mutton, to be sent from over the seas, and
thus we get the prairie hen from America, and are surprised
that we do not also get various other birds, even from greater
distances. We are told that we receive many tons of rabbits
from Australia and New Zealand, both tinned and frozen,
and we certainly get shiploads of ptarmigan, capercailzie,
blackcock, and white hares' from Norway and the north of
Scotland, which, coming as they do during the close season
for our native game, and when poultry also is scarce and
dear, are exceedingly acceptable to English housekeepers.
Why do we not also get the bush-turkey and other game-
birds from Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape ? It also
seems a pity the Australians do not send us kangaroo meat;
but then there is a prejudice to be overcome, for English
people don't like any outlandish meats, and even the
French, although they do enjoy frogs' legs and snails, and
were accustomed during the siege of Paris to all sorts of
strange viands, from rats to elephants, do not prefer these
delicacies in times of peace and plenty. We believe
GAME AND POULTRY 99
kangaroo tails may be purchased here, but the majority of
people will doubtless continue to give preference to the
bovine caudal appendage in making soup.*
Use is second nature, and it takes a long time to get used
to strange dishes. The late Frank Buckland tried the
flavour of everything he could 'try in the Zoo, from the snake
to the hippopotamus, but he didn't get many to enjoy his
savoury meats. However, game, whether bird or beast, is
much more readily accepted than other strange meats, and
we fancy if South Africa and Australia would send us game
during their early autumn (not at pairing time) in a frozen
state, it would be a most acceptable addition to the some-
what scanty menu of our backward spring, and, perhaps,
delay for a time the threatened total extermination of our
birds and hares, now apparently sold in season and out of
season indiscriminately.
There is nothing which tickles the palate of the epicure
more than a savoury dish of game of any kind, from the
lordly stag to the humble lark, the long strings of which
charming little songster hanging in the poulterers' shops
often cause a pang of regret to the lover of birds, although,
as a matter of fact it is no more cruel to kill and eat a lark
than a woodcock, only in the former case the slaughter
seems so wholesale, that the fear of total extermination arises;
but when we look back to the days of the Roman emperors,
and read that the table of Elagabalus was regularly supplied
with ragouts of the livers and brains of small birds, the heads
* The Australian aborigines insist that all animals must be cooked
in their skins, and their method of cooking the kangaroo is to cut it
open, take out the entrails and replace them by four hot stones ; the
animal is then roasted on hot ashes.
ioo OUR VIANDS
Our viands
1893Page 46
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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Now, however, the freezing system has allowed game, as
well as beef and mutton, to be sent from over the seas, and
thus we get the prairie hen from America, and are surprised
that we do not also get various other birds, even from greater
distances. We are told that we receive many tons of rabbits
from Australia and New Zealand, both tinned and frozen,
and we certainly get shiploads of ptarmigan, capercailzie,
blackcock, and white hares' from Norway and the north of
Scotland, which, coming as they do during the close season
for our native game, and when poultry also is scarce and
dear, are exceedingly acceptable to English housekeepers.
Why do we not also get the bush-turkey and other game-
birds from Australia, New Zealand, and the Cape ? It also
seems a pity the Australians do not send us kangaroo meat;
but then there is a prejudice to be overcome, for English
people don't like any outlandish meats, and even the
French, although they do enjoy frogs' legs and snails, and
were accustomed during the siege of Paris to all sorts of
strange viands, from rats to elephants, do not prefer these
delicacies in times of peace and plenty. We believe
GAME AND POULTRY 99
kangaroo tails may be purchased here, but the majority of
people will doubtless continue to give preference to the
bovine caudal appendage in making soup.*
Use is second nature, and it takes a long time to get used
to strange dishes. The late Frank Buckland tried the
flavour of everything he could 'try in the Zoo, from the snake
to the hippopotamus, but he didn't get many to enjoy his
savoury meats. However, game, whether bird or beast, is
much more readily accepted than other strange meats, and
we fancy if South Africa and Australia would send us game
during their early autumn (not at pairing time) in a frozen
state, it would be a most acceptable addition to the some-
what scanty menu of our backward spring, and, perhaps,
delay for a time the threatened total extermination of our
birds and hares, now apparently sold in season and out of
season indiscriminately.
There is nothing which tickles the palate of the epicure
more than a savoury dish of game of any kind, from the
lordly stag to the humble lark, the long strings of which
charming little songster hanging in the poulterers' shops
often cause a pang of regret to the lover of birds, although,
as a matter of fact it is no more cruel to kill and eat a lark
than a woodcock, only in the former case the slaughter
seems so wholesale, that the fear of total extermination arises;
but when we look back to the days of the Roman emperors,
and read that the table of Elagabalus was regularly supplied
with ragouts of the livers and brains of small birds, the heads
* The Australian aborigines insist that all animals must be cooked
in their skins, and their method of cooking the kangaroo is to cut it
open, take out the entrails and replace them by four hot stones ; the
animal is then roasted on hot ashes.
ioo OUR VIANDS