Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-01
A HORSESHOE CRAB.
New York Chef Claims 1t Is De-.
lectabIe Oelicacy.

himself are a frequent delight to his
friends. They feed the horseshoe crab
to their chickens over on Long Island,
and that is about the only use | ever
heard of their being put to, but they are
excellent eating, l have found out. That
is, if you know how to select them for
cooking, and then know how to coon
them. Reject the very large ones. They
| will be rank in taste. The medium sized
ones are the best, small ones seeming to
be soft and habby and lacking in flavor
of any kind.
The white fat around the interior Of
! the shell makes an excellent sauce and
! worked up with eggs and condiments is
| a delightful salad dressing for Holsters
and crabs. The meat of the horseshoe
| crab picked out, prepared as deviled
| crab, mixed with the shell fat, put back
| in the shell neatly, busted over with
cracker the cracker lightly buttercd ana
| the whole baked in quick oven is
! something to make Il man who comes 10
| scott remain to want whole lot Of it,
| The trouble with getting horshoe crab
meat ready for the eating is that the
|
! you can get meat enough out of one blue
| crab to fill two or three good sized clam
| shells in the Geyilling, it will take half
| dozen or more horseshoe crabs to fur
| nish meat enough for one of its shells.
| But horscshoes are plentiful ana Long
| Island farmers will get YOU Il wasonload
| of 'cm any day. | never so down that
way shooting Or fishing that don't
| fetch back with me Il barrel Of these UNI
| regarded sources of excellent food.
IF razor clans were scarce, and pco-
| pie had any adequate idea what q good
| food resource they are, they would be
| worth half Il dollar apiece. while even
| Little Eccks might 90 begging at .
| cents n hundred Particularly for soup
| The razor clam has in it the making of
| the most delicious biSque that cpictlrc
| ever caught the appetizinS flavor of as
| it came on the table. And let me tell
YOU something about the StarfSh that
| gluttonous but epicuIean dcniZen of the
| deep that dimes chiefly on oysters, and
| on the best ones it can find, and stands
dcspiscd even for compost Would you
| like "a dish of thick soup than which no
! $4,000 a year chef ever turned out
| better? Very well.
First get your starfish. Soak them all
night in fresh water. Cut their fingers
| apart and bruise them to a paste in
| mortar. Boil the paste, strain. then pro-
| coed as any intelligent cook would who
| was intent in making bisque that he felt
was going to be a browning glory to his
| art and YOUR StarSh bisque will be just
| that. -
| "I don't suppose You ever heard of
shark being on the BIZ outside of China
| town, and even then the only part of the
| shark you hear about is its fins But
| want to assure YOU that steaks. cut from
| a blue shark that hasn't years enough
| on him yet to give him more than
| yard or so OF length, don't trail along
| very far behind halibut or cod steaks in
| touching the palate pleasing. I can boil
| sharks and serve it cold SO that it will
| take a person of delicate tongue for taste
| to discover that it isn't cold veal of good
| quality. I have had it taken for cold
| salmon. too. and praised highly in 4
| salad Yet few of those that have eaten
| of my shark and pronounced it good
| liked it SO well after being told what it
| was.
| There are 4 good many ways to cook
| Il shark and he is excellent in all of
| them. The dogfish being a cousin Of the
| shark not far removed has also fine edl-
| BILE qualities and if folks only knew il
they wouldn't regard it as great favor
| To him to spread him over their land to
| make cabba@cS grow.
"Eycrybody knows pigs feet as Il
popular article Of food Of course and
Sleeps trotters ana calves feet we all
know have the approval Of many people
| Of applrciativc palate, but even III u"
| l3ckwcods where they ought 10
know if anywhere that every part
| Of Il bear is good, found that they
| didn't lave as much as suspicion that
in throwing away the bears fdet they
wrr. dispensing with an exceedingly
good part of the animal. I wasn't suro
Of it myself until tried the experiment
up in Sullivan county woods one fall. 1t
was my first bear and when ! examined
those four immense feet of his | felt that
| lying in among their bones and Joints
there must be certain morscls that
couldn't help but he good.
The wife of the hunter at whose house
| house I was staying was very much dis
gusted with me when I said was going
to have the bears feet cooked, but after
She saw the bits Of beautiful red meat
I cut ana picked from under the tough
skin on the bottom of the animals paws
and feet and from among the many
| bones that arc the framework of those
wonderful members she allowed that 1t
appeared sort o appctizin
An why not? said She. after think
ing the matter over. There certain
ought to be choice catin' i'll a bear
paws. fer they keep the critter alive all
winter jest by his suckn' of 'em.
Whether they do or not, and it is the
comon backwoods belief that they do,
when I had those bear feet of mine
broiled and served piping hot with Il
sauce Of sweetened vinegar and spices
l was willing to bet a little something
that any bear that might have happened
along there and got a sniff of 'em and
discovered what goodness lurked in
bears feet wouldn't do a thing but get
to work at his own the minute winter
came along and holed him up no mat
ter whether bears had ever sucked their