The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-09-28
(Copyright.)
My Dear Kate:

Somebody has said that 1t is just as
well to have friends as it is to be rich,
and 1 find it so in my profession of teach
ing the young women how to cook l
had several applications for recipes for
cooking game and also several sug
gestions and pointers, when along comes
a letter from my friend Role and fur
nishes just what you and others asked
for. 1 send it along in full, and shall
with you wait impatently for the second
chapter which he promises.
Yours culinarily,
Comfort Jones,
Doctor of Cookery.
My Dear Doctor:
This is the season of game in New
England and the east. OF course you
can get game in the big cities all win
ter, but just now is when husband and
father takes down his gun and goes out
to destroy the wearers of fur and feath-
ers. You, in the house, should be able
to second the efforts of the masculine
members of the family by serving up
the game in an appetizing manner.
NoVices in game cooking often make
a sad mess of their first attempt largely
because they try to do too much. Let
us beSin at the beginning and work up
to the more elaborate dishes. First take
the birds you are likely to have to deal
with. The most common northern game
birds are the duck, partridge, or rufiled
grouse, quail and woodcock. When
they, either of them, reach the kitchen
the first question to be solved is whether
they are young or old birds, for if old
they must be parboiled. This is par
ticulary true of partridge and ducks.
We Will assume that you have a brace
of old cartridges and will try and aid
you in preparing them for the table in
one of the simplest and best ways
| known. Your dish is known as Par
fridge, Hunters Style" and this is the
recipe:
Place the birds in kettle of lukewarm
water in which you also put an onion
| and two or three potatoes, pared and
| cut in quarters. Place the kettle over
slow fire, so it will boil slowly, and al
| the end of half an hour remove the po-
| tatoes. Continue to slowly boil the par
| fridge until tender and then remove and
| place in hot spider with a little butter
| and brown quickly. For a sauce shake
| some flour into the butter remaining ir
| the spider after the game is removed
| and gradually, as it browns add enough
| of the liquor in which the birds were
boiled to give it the required thickness
| Pour sauce over the meat, garnish with
| chopped parsley and serve very hot
| Woodcock and quail may be cooked il
| the same way with the best of results
| Professional cooks sometimes use olive
| oil instead of butter in the spider, bu
| you will use butter with better success
| at first.
Now one word of explanation. Yor
will probably ask: Why do you pu
potatoes and onions in the pot wher
parboiing? AS this is often done will
all kinds of game one explanation will
cover the entire subject. Some birds
notably wild ducks, geese, coot anc
looms, have a strong taste, wild gam,
taste that is sometimes Objectionable
The same is true Of venison, bear, 'coor
squirrels and other wild meat. If 70,
parboil with potatoes and onions tn,
strong flavor goes largely into the vege
tables, which you remove and throw
away, and only the delicate and pleas
ing "gamey" taste Is left.
If you have young game that you do no
wish to parboil and it has been kept un
| III ~ 10 too Sdmey, BOOu way TO make
1t sweet is to thoroughly rinse it in water
| in which you have dissolved saleratu:
in the ratio of a teaspoonful of salera
tus to quart of water. While on Hunt
ers' style of cooking 1 may as well give
| you a recipe for the "onion" stuffine
used in preparing game for roasting
Parboil medium sized onions for 10 min
utes; take out in a colander and drair
| thoroughly. Then season we'll with salt
and pepper and liberal pieces of butter
| and stuff the game as with bread stuffing
You may add sage to the onions or not
as your taste dictates.
If roasting game that has been par
boiled be careful and have a quick OF
hot oven, as long cooking will make the
roast dry and tasteless. Always lard
partridges when intended for roasting,
as otherwise they will be too dry even
when cooked quickly.
But l am spinning this out to too great
a length, and must leave the treatment
Of venison, rabbits and other four-foot-
ed game for another letetr. We will then
try and make game stew, the finest OF
all game dishes. Finest because you can
include variety of game, and like all
dishes of that kind it is better when
warmed over" as the saying goes.
Respectfully yours
| Louie Role