CHAPTER IV.
Meats and Game.—Hash.—Pork and Beans.—Game Stew.—Brunswick Stew.—Roast Venison.—Baked Deer's Head.—Venison Sausages.—Stuffed Roasts of Game.—Woodchucks, Porcupines, 'Possums and Pigs.
Some good recipes for cooking meats and game, which are not given in Part I., are the following:
Frizzled Beef.
Cut dried beef into very thin shavings, and put into a frying pan nearly half full of cold water. Set over the fire and let it come to a boil, then stir in a large lump of butter and enough flour to make a good gravy.
Hash.
Four pounds of cold boiled meat (not pork) or corned beef, free from bone or gristle, one large parboiled onion, and two pounds of boiled or baked potatoes are chopped and mixed together, seasoned with pepper and salt, and stirred up with about a pint of hot water. Put enough lard or butter into a frying pan to well cover the bottom when melted, and when it is "screeching hot," put in the hash. Stir it for a few minutes, then let it fry till it is brown on the bottom. Corned beef hash requires little salt for seasoning.
Boiled Pork.
Soak over night in cold water and put into a pot of cold water over the fire when the boiling begins. Boil same as other meat (see page 27) and save the cake of fat that rises when it is cold for frying purposes. Turnips, cabbage, potatoes and greens are good boiled with the pork. See table for boiling vegetables in the next chapter.
Pork Hash.
Cut salt pork or bacon into small dice, and while it is frying over a slow fire cut raw potatoes and onions into thin slices, put them with the pork, cover the frying pan and cook for ten minutes, occasionally stirring.
Pork and Beans.
The right proportions are two quarts of beans to three pounds of pork. Pick over the beans at night, wash them, and put them to soak in cold water until the next morning. Then if only boiled pork and beans are desired, drain the beans, and put them with the pork in the pot, just cover with cold water, set over the fire (with the cover on the pot), and boil till the beans are tender, skimming the scum off as it rises. If baked beans are wanted parboil the pork and cut it into thin slices, then drain the beans and boil as above. Put half the beans into the bake-kettle, then the pork, then the remainder of the beans, and pour over them half a pint of boiling water. Bake among the coals till the top is crusted brown. If buried in the ground with a good supply of coals it is best to put them in at night when going to bed, and they will be done in the morning. If the bake-kettle is enveloped in hot coals on the surface of the ground they will bake on the outside quicker, but inside, where the pork is, they will not be baked at all. This latter method, therefore, should only be used when in a hurry, and in this case the pork should be scattered around in different portions of the pot, and the beans left may be re-baked for another meal.
Game Stew.
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.
Brunswick Stew.[B]
For a stew for five or six persons the following are 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 Will form into lumps at once, no matter how much it is 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 the 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.
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.
If you are very "swell" campers-out, and have some port or Madeira wine with you, you may stew the shoulder of venison in the following manner: Extract the bones through the under side and make a stuffing as follows: Chop up suet very fine, and mix it with bread crumbs, in the proportion of half a pint of suet to a quart of breadcrumbs. Moisten this with wine, season with pepper and allspice and fill the holes from which the bones were taken. Bind firmly in shape with strips of clean cloth, put in a large saucepan with part of a gravy made by boiling the trimmings of the venison; add to this a glass of port or Madeira wine and a little black pepper. Cover tightly and stew very slowly three or four hours, according to the size. It should be very tender when done. Remove the strips of cotton cloth with care, dish, and, when you have strained the gravy, pour it over the meat.
Stuffed Game Roasted.
Large birds (ducks or turkeys, etc.), rabbits, hares, woodchucks, porcupines, opossums, and the like, may be stuffed with a dressing made of salt pork and bread or crackers. Chop the pork very fine, soak the bread or crackers in hot water and mash them smooth, and mix them with the chopped pork. Season with pepper, a little salt, sage and chopped onion. Sew up the game after stuffing with wire in two or three places, and roast over hot coals. If wrapped in wet brown paper it may be immersed in hot ashes and baked, if small, or may be baked the same as fish.
Woodchucks and Porcupines.
When properly cooked, are little inferior to any game. They must be thoroughly parboiled before cooking, and then may be roasted or stewed. A young wood-chuck or porcupine may be baked in the ground with the hide on, after having been drawn, and is very palatable.
Opossums and Young Pigs
Are roasted alike. After cleaning the opossum or pig stuff him with bread crumbs, chopped onion and sage or summer savory for seasoning, boiled Irish and sweet potatoes (the latter especially with the 'possum) and whole boiled onions being pushed in among the dressing. Wire up the opening in two or three places, fold the legs down on the body and wire them fast. Then cut a strong, straight, hard-wood limb, and run it through the animal from stern to snout. This is to be suspended from two crotched stakes over the fire, and, if smooth, the 'possum or pig cannot be turned on it, as the limb will turn inside the animal. Therefore, in lopping off the twigs from the limb after it is cut, leave half an inch or so of each twig to act as a barb, insert the limb in the animal butt first, then give it a "yank" backward so that the barbs may hold when it is desired to turn the animal to roast all sides alike. Cut gashes in the thickest parts of the meat so that it may roast evenly throughout. A 'possum or pig prepared as above may be coated with clay and baked in the ground with plenty of coals in from two to three hours. When roasted over the fire the drippings should be caught and used to baste it.