The Somerset reporter., 1907-11-07
Cooking Venison.

one impossible to beat, Dy the sloe OF
which all others are stale and fiat,
says Bangor dispatch to the Boston
Herald.
In spite of artistic innovations
learned from the French cook of
Canada, and in spite of choice relish
es and sauces imported from Ger
many and the British East Indies and
Ceylon, the old method that was used
by Hannibal Hamlin and other famous
Maine hunters and diners is still the
favorite.
According to Game Warden Neal,
who for y years has inspected all the
deer and moose that have passed
through Bangor. and who has captur-
ed and confiscated and done his share
toward eating tons of deer that were
shipped without complying with the
law. the recipe for cooking venison
that is fit to eat which is almost
identical with the old Maine method
is as follows:
Get a buck deer that is fat and not
over FIVE years of age said MIR, Neal
lone that weighs 100 pounds is better
than no deer, though the best should
weigh near 200 pounds. Before the
body is cold, if possible, slash off some
thick and huge slices of steak. Have
them nearly two inches thick, and big
enough to cover the bottom of an old
style spider, if possible.
Now get thick and heavy cast
iron spider red hot above the Goals.
Be sure and do this, because the hot
ter the spider is, the better. And
when the spider is glowing and spark
ling with heat, slap in slice OF STEAK.
Do not use any butter or any form OF
fat, but let the raw meat fall direct
upon the hot iron, and then let It
sizzle and smell and smoke for about
a minute.
"Now flop it over on the other side,
and repeat until the camp Is 80 full OF
choking smoke and the smell OF burn
ing meat that you must carry the
heated spider out doors to get your
breath.
Zip the burnt and smoking steak
on to a big plate, slash it deeply all
over the surface with sharp knife
and throw on the butter until the
meat is afioat. Then salt and pepper
to tast, after which nobody needs any
direction as to what to do next.
"Venison cooked in this way and
eaten with strong coffee and hot
cream tartar biscuit forms the best
meat that it is possible TO serve TO
kings and queens or jacks. And l
know exactly what | am talking
about.o
The market men and hotel cooks of
eastern Maine make a sharp dlstinc-
ton between the flesh of the deer
that is raised in Maine and that which
is captured by the hunters in the
Southern states, calling the home pro-
duct by the name of venison and all
other kinds, deer meat, or, III cases,
where the animals are very small and
without fat, they modify the term and
call it deer veal" which is equiva-
lent to a superlative in expressing
scorn.
Furthermore, the Maine sybarites
make certain obvious subdivisions as
to time of shooting, sex, and other
distinctions, concerning which those
who are not initiated into the art of
cooking and serving and eating choice
foods have no appreciation. And
though there is almost unanimous
opinion that the flesh of big buck
shot in November is the best, the
adopts still differ as to the manner of
cooking.
The newest Bangor plan of cooking
yenjson is to cut moderately thick
slices from the round OF buck and
grill the flesh over white hot fire of
anthracite. letting the greedy flames
lick and battle the curling meat and
crisp its edges, until it is hot clear
through and cooked on the outside,
though still somewhat rare and bloody
In the interior.
The person who is said TO have in
troduced this m amer of cooking from
Canada. is Edward Stetson, for the
past 20 years president OF the First
National bank in Bangor, and man
who spends much time every year IN
his fine camp back from North Twin
dam on the west branch of Penobscot
river.
So particular is Mr.. Stetson con-
corning how the venison OF his shoot
ing must be prepared for his guests IN
camp, that before the beginning of
open season every year he sends up
several tons of best Reading anthra-
cite by rail from whence his servants
carry it in baskets far back into the
wilderness, where it is kept in speci-
al bin and used solely for broiling
venison.
Every year Mr.. Stetson has parties
of bankers and cumberland owners
from outside of Maine at his big camp
for the purpose of educating them as
to how, and just how. venison should
be cooked.
The men of unclassified employ
ment, who pass from May to October
in raising hay, oats and potatoes to
sell to the nearby lumber camp, and
who swing axes above spruce trees in
the deep woods from October to May
claim the best venison to eat Is from
the carcass of buck shot in Novem :
Der and frozen and hung up in the
roof of barn or hut until midwinter.
Perhaps two per cent or all the deer
killed in Maine are utilized by these
er-lumbermen for supplying their
families with fresh meat. The BODY
of deer intended for winter use is
bled and dressed and hung up with its
head down and its skin still in place
on the body.
In the cool air of "a Maine autumn,
if mess of steak is cut OFF the serum
in the animals blood exudes and COW
ers the raw flesh with an antiseptic
coating that prevents decay. After
heavy freezing weather comes on the
bodies are immune until late the fol-
lowing spring.
81 have been somewhat costlve, but Doan S
ReRulets gave lust the results desired. They