Frontier Recipes
Mesquite Bean Cakes
Gather the mesquite beans when they are very ripe. Spread them out in the sun until they are dry. Find a stone about 12 inches long and very narrow. Grind the beans with the stone on another stone until it is like bread flour. Sift the flour to get out all the hulls and trash. When you have as much as you will need, pour just a little water in it and stir; then set it out in the sun to dry a little. Then mix in enough water to make a stiff dough. Cut the dough into little cakes and set out in the sun until very dry. Then they are ready to be eaten with coffee or milk or stored away for future use.
Panhaws or Pannhas (scrapple)
1 hog's head
4-5 qts cold water
4 t salt
4 t pepper
1 t powdered sage
@ 3 c Yellow corn meal
Separate one hog's head into halves. Remove eyes and brains. Scrape head and clean thoroughly. Place in a large kettle and cover with 4-5 qts cold water. Simmer gently for 2-3 hrs or until meat falls from bones. Skim grease carefully from the surface; remove meat, chop fine and return to liquor. Season with salt, pepper and sage to taste. Sift in corn meal, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened to the consistency of soft mush. Cook slowly for 1 hr over low heat. When sufficiently cooked pour into greased oblong tins and store in a cool place until ready to use. Cut in thin slices and fry until crisp and brown.
Buckwheat scrapple- Use Panhaws recipe and include liver, heat and sweetbreads as well as the head. For every 3 lbs of cooked meat use 4 c yellow corn meal and 2 c buckwheat flour instead of just corn meal.
Oatmeal Scrapple- Use Panhaws recipe and omit yellow corn meal - using 2-2/3 c oatmeal instead.
Makes 6 lbs
Smierkase (Cottage Cheese)
1 qt sour milk
1 qt warm water
sweet or sour cream
salt and pepper
chopped chives
Pour sour milk heated to luckwarm into a cheesecloth bag. Pour warm water over this, and after this has drained through, repeat twice. Tie bag and let drip until the "whey is all." Serve with either sweet or sour cream and season to taste. If desired add 1/2 t each grated onion, green onion tops, a suggestion of garlic or caraway seeds. Makes 4 servings
Transparent Pies
1 recipe Plain Pastry
4 T butter
1 c sugar
2 lg eggs, beaten
nutmeg
Line 6 individual tart plates with pastry. Cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add eggs and nutmeg and blend. Pour into pastry lined pie plates and bake in a 350 degree oven 20 min or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Makes 6 servings
Vinegar Pie (Pioneer Recipe)
1 c brown sugar
2 C water
1 c vinegar
2 T butter
1/2 c flour
water
1 recipe plain pastry
Combine sugar, water and vinegar and bring to a boil. Add butter and stir until it melts. Mix flour with a little cold water until smooth. Add to boiling liquid slowly and stir until thickened. Line a pie plate with pastry, pour in filling and cover with strips of pastry in lattice fashion. Bake in hot oven 450 degrees for 10 min; reduce heat to moderate 350 degree and bake about 25 min.
Makes 1 9" pie
Broiled Birds
Clean the birds and split down the back. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour to keep in juices. Broil in a wire broiler, placing inside of the bird near the fire first. Brown on both sides, allowing 8-12 min for quail, 25-40 min for partridges and pheasants. A strip of bacon, smoked ham butt, or salt pork may be placed over the top of each bird. When done, brush with melted butter. During broiling, if the breasts are quite thick, cover broiler with a pan and lengthen the cooking time, using lower temperature. Serve on toast with currant jelly.
Planked Birds- Prepare as for Broiled Birds; place on greased hot plank and brush with melted butter. Arrange a border around edge of plank of fluffy mashed potatoes, brushed with beaten egg. Bake in a hot oven 450 degrees 10 min, or until potatoes are browned. Garnish with parsley and buttered green peas.
Broiled Squab
6 squabs
salt and pepper
butter
toast
Wash birds quickly under running water, split the birds down back, flatten breast, season and broil. When browned, brush with melted butter and serve on toast.
Makes 6 servings
Canvasback Duck, Delmonico Style:
This bird is in season from the last of November until March. As it feeds mainly on wild celery, it requires no spices in cooking. Dress in the usual way and wipe with a wet towel. Truss the neck under the wing, place in a dripping pan and roast in moderate oven 350 degrees, allowing 20-25 min per pound. Baste frequently. Season with salt and pepper and serve with gravy remaining in pan. Allow 1 pound per person.
Duck A La Creole
2 T fat
1 T flour
2 T chopped ham
salt, pepper and paprika
2 T minced onion
2 T chopped sweet pepper
1/2 c chopped celery
1 T chopped parsley
1-1/2 c consomme
1 whole clove
1/4 t mace
2 c diced cooked duck
Melt fat, add flour and stir in ham. Season with paprika, salt , pepper, onion, sweet pepper, celery and parsley. Stir for 2 min, add the consomme, clove and mace. Simmer 1 hr. Strain the broth and stir in diced, cooked duck. Heat thoroughly and serve with fried hominy or mush.
Makes 2 servings
Fricassee of Guinea Fowl
1 guinea fowl
4 slices bacon
2 T flour
salt and pepper
Clean fowl and cut into serving pieces. Fry bacon to extract fat and saute pieces of fowl in fat until brown. Add the flour, stir until thoroughly mixed; add 2 c hot water, salt and pepper and stir until gravy boils. Cover and simmer until tender, about 1-1/2 hr.
Makes : Serve with gravy for 2-3
Game Pie
6 birds
4 c water
salt and pepper
1/4 c minced parsley
1/2 c chopped onion
2 whole cloves
1/4 lb diced salt pork
2 T flour, browned
2 T fat
1 recipe plain pastry
2 C diced cooked potatoes
Clean the birds thoroughly and split into halves. Cover with water and heat to boiling. Skim top and add salt, pepper, parsley, onion, cloves, and salt pork. Simmer until tender, keeping birds covered with water. When done, thicken the liquid with browned flour and let the gravy come to boiling. Add fat, remove from fire and cool. Line the sides of a greased baking dish with pastry. Fill dish with alternate layers of bird and potatoes. Pour in gravy and cover with top crust, slashed in center. Bake in a hot oven 450 degrees for 10 min, then in a moderate oven 350 degree for 30 min.
Makes 6 servings
Larded Grouse
Grouse are rather dry birds and need to be larded to be palatable. Clean and wash quickly under running water. Cover bird entirely with thin slices of bacon, tying them in place with crossing of soft string. Place in a roasting pan and pour over enough boiling water to use for basting the birds. Roast in a moderate oven 350 degree about 45 min. Baste frequently. When done, remove bacon strips, brush birds with oil and melted fat, dredge with flour and place in oven again until brown. The liquid in the pan may be thickened, seasoned, and used as gravy. Arrange the birds on a platter and garnish with rings of sauteed green pepper and strips of bacon.
Allow 1 grouse per person.
Mallard Wild Duck
These ducks , in season during the Fall and Winter are very dry when roasted, since they feed on grain. Braising is the best method of preparing them. Dress birds and stuff with a bread dressing. Truss and place in a covered roaster. Add water to the dept of 1", a slice of onion and a small amount of thyme. Cover the roaster and cook in a slow oven 325 degree about 1 hr. Remove cover so the bird will brown and cook another so min. Use only enough water to prevent burning. Add water to pan and make a gravy to pour over ducks.
Makes : Allow 1 pound per person.
Panned Birds
Clean and draw birds and split down back. Dip quickly into hot water and season with salt, pepper and dredge with flour. Water causes the seasoning to adhere more thickly to the meat. Place the birds in a small baking dish inside up; place a teaspoon of fat in each bird, add 1 cup of water and roast in a moderate oven 350 degree allowing 15-20 min for quail and proportionately longer for larger birds. Baste every 5 min after the first 15. Thicken gravy, add more salt and pepper, if necessary and pour over the birds.
Allow one half - 1 bird per person.
With Mushrooms: Add 1 cup chopped cooked mushrooms to gravy.
Peafowl
These fowls are cooked in the same way as wild turkeys. They should be larded with shreds of bacon, trussed and roasted about 30 min per pound at 325 degree -350 degree. They are apt to be tough.
Pheasant, Partirdges, Quail and Grouse: General Instructions
Game should not hang too long after being killed. In cold weather, birds may hang 10 days without becoming tainted, but during the warm season, they should be refrigerated at once. Hang in cool, dry room where air circulates freely. If birds are to be kept for several days, draw, but do not pick. Game is considered "high" when tail feathers are easily plucked. Game that is just slightly under the "high" stage has the best flavor. The inside of the bird is more susceptible to mold growth than the outside, because there is little fat covering. Placing a piece of charcoal in the body and sifting powdered charcoal into the feathers will delay tainting. Partridge taints first in crop, other birds around vent. At the first signs of tainting, dry-ick and cook bird. A distinction must be made between white meat and dark meat in cooking game. Quail and partridges are white meat and like chicken must be thoroughly cooked, but not dry. Ducks, pigeons or squabs , grouse (praire chicken), snipe and woodcock a dark meat and are cooked are and served very hot. All these birds are cooked by the same methods, varying only as to the degree of rareness desired. Pick out shot from birds with a sharp pointed knife. Wash quickly under running water. Small birds may be skinned when they are clean. The woodcock may or may not be drawn, as desired, the entrails being considered edible by some.
Pigeon and Mushroom Stew
3 pigeons
1 T fat
2 c stock or gravy
salt, pepper, cayenne
2 T mushroom catchup
1/2 c mushrooms
2 T cream
Clean and cut pigeons into serving portions. Saute in fat, but do not brown. Add stock or gravy, salt, pepper, cayenne, and mushroom catchup. Simmer 1 hr or until tender, add mushrooms, simmer 10 min more and stir in cream. Serve on a hot platter with mushrooms arranged around pigeons.
Makes 3 servings
Pigeons & Squabs General Info
Domestic pigeons are the most desirable. Wild pigeons are likely to be tough. Squabs are the nestlings of pigeons, usually marketed at about 4 weeks of age. They are tender and delicately flavored. Both are prepared by the same methods as chicken with pigeons taking a long, slow cooking time.
Potted Pigeons
6 pigeons
stuffing
3 slices bacon
1 diced carrot
1 diced onion
1 t minced parsley
4 c hot water or stock
1/4 c melted fat
1/4 c flour
buttered toast
Clean and dress pigeons; stuff, truss and place upright in pan upon slices of bacon. Add carrot, onion, and parsley and cover with boiling water or stock. Cover pot closely and simmer from 2-3 hrs or until tender adding boiling water or stock when necessary. Combine fat and flour and add to 2 c of stock remaining in pan.
Makes Serve on toast with gravy for 6.
Roast Guinea Fowls
1 guinea fowl
salt
2 strips fat bacon
stuffing, if desired
Clean and draw fowl. Rub inside with salt. Fowl may be roasted with or without stuffing. Cover breast with fat bacon which may be removed 5 min before serving. Roast, uncovered, in a slow oven (300-325 degrees) until tender, allowing 18-20 min per pound. Baste frequently. Season with additional salt when half done. Serve with currant jelly and giblet sauce.
Makes 2-3 servings
Roast Quail
6 quail
6 lg Oysters
strips of bacon
salt and pepper
flour
butter or other fat
Dress, clean and stuff each bird with one large oyster. Truss, season and dredge with flour. Lard breast and legs with strips of bacon. Bake as directed for larded grouse, allowing 15-20 min for cooking. Serve with hot spiced crabapples.
Makes 6 servings
Roast Wild Ducks
Clean, wiping inside and outside with a damp towel. Tuck back the sings and truss. Dust with salt, pepper and flour. If not fat, cover breast with 2 this slices of salt pork. Place duck in a pan and add 1 cup of water and 2 T of fat. Roast uncovered and breast down in a moderate oven 350 degrees, allowing 20-25 min per pound, according to rareness desired. Baste frequently. Turn breast up when half done. Serve with slices of lemon or orange and a brown gravy or an Olive Sauce. Wild ducks are served rare and are seldom stuffed when roasted.
Makes : Allow 1 lb per person
Roasted Birds
Clean, stuff and truss the birds. Brush with unsalted melted fat. If the birds are dry, lard by laying strips of salt pork across breasts. Roast uncovered in a moderate oven 350 degree until meat is tender and bird is well browned. Baste every half hour with fat and water. Season bird with salt when about half done. Place on a warmed platter and cover with gravy made from pan drippings. Garnish platter with parsley and serve with bread sauce.
Allow one-half to 1 birds per person.
Wild Ducks general instructions
Nearly all Spring wild ducks are likely to have a fishy flavor, and when dressed by an inexperienced cook are often unfit to eat. This flavor may be much reduced by placing in each duck a small peeled carrot, plunging the fowls into boiling water and simmering them for ten minutes before roasting. the carrot will absorb some of the unpleasant taste. An onion will have somewhat the same effect, but unless the stuffing with onions is used, the carrot is to be preferred. When there is an objection to parboiling (as when the ducks are young) rub them lightly with an onion cut in two and put three or four uncooked cranberries in each before cooking. To pluck wild duck, remove large feathers dry. Melt 3/8 lb of paraffin in 7 qts of boiling water. Dip the duck into the mixture several times and let the paraffin harden. Strip off the paraffin and the feathers at the same time. Singe and remove any remaining pin feathers.
Broiled Venison Steak
2 lb venison steak
salad oil and lemon juice
cooking oil
salt and paprika
If venison is strong, marinate in salad oil and lemon juice for 2 hrs before cooking. Brush generously with oil. Place on preheated broiler rack and broil 7-10 min on each side at 550 degree. Season with salt and paprika and serve on a very hot platter. Garnish with mushrooms, parsley and watercress. Serve with slices of lemon or spread with a mixture of butter and current jelly allowing half as much jelly as butter.
Makes 4 servings.
Brunswick Stew
2 squirrels
1 T salt
1 minced onion
2 c lima beans (fresh)
6 ears corn
1/2 lb salt pork
6 potatoes
1 t pepper
2 t sugar
4 c sliced tomatoes
1/2 lb butter
Cut squirrel into serving pieces. Add salt to 4 qts of water and when boiling, add onion, Lima beans, corn cut from the cob, pork, potato, pepper and the squirrels. Cover and simmer 2 hrs, add sugar and tomato and simmer 1 hr more. Ten minutes before removing from heat, add butter cut into pieces the size of a walnut and rolled in flour. Bring to a boil. The characteristic Brunswick Stew is made with squirrels. Chickens and rabbits are frequently used today in place of squirrels.
Makes: Serve in soup plates for 6
Fried Venison Steak
2 lb venison steak
salt and pepper
flour
cracker crumbs
1/2 c fat
1 T currant jelly
Rub the steak with a mixture of salt and pepper, dip in flour or cracker crumbs and saute in hot fat until browned on both sides. Place on a hot dish and cover to keep warm. Dredge 2 t of flour into fat in bottom of pan and stir until brown. Dissolve 1 T of currant jelly in 1 c boiling water; add to gravy and stir a few minutes. Strain, pour over the meat and serve.
Makes 4 servings
Roast Opossum
The oppossum is a very fat annmal with a peculiarly flavored meat. To dress, immerse in very hot water (not boiling) for 1 min. Remove and use a dull knife to scrape off hair so that skin is not cut. Slit from bottom of throat to hind legs and remove entrails. Remove head and tail if desired. Wash thoroughly inside and out with hot water. Cover with cold water to which has been added 1 c of salt and let stand overnight. Drain off the salted water and rinse with clean, boiling water.
Stuffing:
1 lg onion minced
1 T fat
Opossum liver chopped
1 c bread crumbs
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
Dash Worcestershire sauce
1 hard cooked egg, chopped
salt
Brown the onion in fat. Add liver and cook until liver is tender. Add bread crumbs, pepper, Worcestershire sauce , Egg, salt and waterr to moisten. Stuff opossum and place in roaster; add 2 T water and roast in a moderate oven. Baste every 15 min with drippings. Skim fat from pan gravy; serve gravy separately with baked yams or sweet potatoes.
Makes 10 servings.
Roast Squirrels
3 sm squirrels
3/4 c salad oil
1/4 c lemon juice or vinegar
2 c bread crumbs
1/2 c milk or cream
1/2 c diced and sauteed mushrooms
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/2 t onion juice
4 T olive oil or bacon fat
1 T Worcestershire sauce
paprika
Dress and clean squirrels. Wash in several waters and dry. Cover with salad oil mixed with lemon juice and let stand for 1 hr. Combine bread crumbs with just enough milk or cream to moisten, mushrooms, salt, pepper and onion juice. Stuff the squirrel with this mixture, skewer and truss. Brush with olive oil or bacon fat and roast uncovered in a slow oven 325 degree 1-1/2 -1-3/4 hrs or until tender. Baste every 15 min with fat from bottom of pan. When tender, make a gravy with remaining broth, adding Worcestershire sauce and paprika to taste. Serve gravy in a separate dish.
Makes 6 servings.
Hare, Rabbet, Squirrel General Instructions
Avoid wild rabbits. Buy ONLY domestic rabbits, cleaned and dressed. Domestic rabbit meat is white and delicately flavored throughout. Most domestic rabbits are marketed at 8-10 weeks of age and are then called fryers. Since these rabbits are grown quickly, the bones are very brittle and in preparing for cooking, care should be taken to break them in such a way that they do not sliver. Because of their tenderness, young rabbits can be cooked by the quick methods of frying or broiling. Older rabbits need longer slower cooking. Choose rabbits with soft ears and paws- stiffness is a sign of age. Neither hares nor rabbits should be drawn before hanging, as they may become musty. In Winter, select a dry place for hanging and they may remain for some time.
Dressing and Trussing.
To skin and dress a rabbit, hare or squirrel, cut off the fore feet at the first joint, cut the skin around the first joint of the hind leg, loosen it and then with a sharp knife slit the skin on the under side of the leg at he tail. Loosen the skin and turn it back until it is removed from the hind legs. Tie the hind legs together and hang the rabbit to a hook by this fastening. Draw the skin over the head, slipping out the forelegs when they are reached. Cut off the head and thus remove the entire skin. Wipe with a damp cloth. Slit down the front and remove the entrails, saving heart and liver and wipe carefully inside. Wash inside and out with adidulated water, using 1 T vinegar to each cup of water. Rinse and wipe thoroughly. If blood has settle in any part, cut with the point of a knife when it is black and soak in warm water. Skewer firmly between the shoulders, draw the legs close to the body and fasten with skewers.
Broiled Hare or Rabbit
1 hare or rabbit
salt and pepper
butter
Skin and clean the rabbit or hare, wipe dry, split down the back and pound flat. Wrap in heavy oiled paper. Broil at 350 degree until browned and tender, turning frequently. Remove the paper and serve on a hot platter, seasoned with salt, pepper and butter, turning over and over so it will take up the fat. Hare or rabbit may be broiled without the oiled paper, but it will not be so juicy.
Makes 4 servings
Fried Hare or Rabbit
1 hare or rabbit
1 eggs, beaten
bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 c milk or cream
2 T flour
Clean and dress as directed. Simmer 15 min and drain. When cold, cut into serving pieces, dip into beaten egg, then into bread crumbs, and season with salt and pepper. Sate in hot fat until brown on all sides. Remove to warm platter. Brown flour in fat and add milk or cream. Bring to boiling and pour over rabbit. Garnish with sliced lemon and parsley.
Fried Prairie Chicken
1 young prairie chicken
salt and pepper
flour
4 T fat
Clean prairie chicken, dress and cut into serving portions. Plunge into cold water; drain thoroughly but do not wipe dry. Season well with salt and pepper and dredge thickly with flour. Cook chicken slowly in hot fat. When chicken is brown and tender, about 45 minutes, remove to a hot platter. Make cream gray and serve with the chicken
Makes 4 servings
Fried Rabbit
2 young rabbits (2-1/2 - 3-1/2 lbs)
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
3 c milk
1-1/4 c flour
1 t salt
1/2 c butter or other fat
current jelly
1 T minced parsley
Wash dressed rabbit thoroughly with running water. Cut in serving pieces. Combine eggs and 1 c milk, add 1 c flour gradually then salt and beat until smooth. Dip rabbit into batter and fry in hot butter until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat and continue cooking until tender, 30-40 minutes, turning frequently. To make gravy, add remaining flour to fat in pan, add remaining milk gradually, stirring constantly, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Pour over rabbits and garnish with jelly and parsley.
Wild Rabbit - May be seasoned and rolled in flour then fried in fat until brown, covered and cooked over low heat until tender, about 40 minutes. A Tablespoon of water may be added occasionally to prevent surface from becoming too crisp.
Makes 6-8 servings
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