How to Cook Game (or not)
How game was cooked in the ‘good old days’…
Having caught the retro bug (I already had the flu bug and fancied a change) and immersed myself in Len Deighton’s offerings from the 1960’s I thought I would take a look at pre Second World War cookery and in particular, game cookery.
I turned my attention to one of Britain’s great food writers, Elizabeth Craig for guidance. Ms Craig was from a generation before that of the great Elizabeth David and, along with Mrs B. helped set the tone for cookery writing of that period.
My book of choice was ‘Cooking with Elizabeth Craig’. First published in 1932, the publisher (that giant among publishing houses, Collins!) described it as ‘a cookery book for the housewife of modest income’. I love that, this was the forerunner to books such as ’101 Mince Recipes for the Student’ and ‘The Bachelor’s guide to Spag Bol’.
I am not sure how many housewives of a modest income back then, or now would need a recipe for ‘Shrimp and Green Pea Wiggle’ ‘Lamb Terrapin’ (honestly) or ‘Jingaring meat’ but she obviously felt there was a market for them.
From a chef’s point of view it is interesting to cast an eye over old recipes, a quick look at the ingredients and/or cooking times usually indicates if it is better to fade gracefully between the pages or brought back for the suffering enjoyment of our customers.
I am afraid to say Ms Craig’s guide to game cookery isn’t one which I would follow unless I wanted to lose my job and any hope of another in the catering industry. The section begins promisingly, there are recipes for Plovers, Ptarmigan, Hazel Hen and something called a Snipe(!) Further investigation causes a raised eyebrow in the style of Roger Moore, here’s how to cook pheasant (apparently)
‘Choose a hen pheasant and pluck carefully so as not to break the skin. Prepare and truss pheasant. Place in a saucepan of boiling water to cover. Salt to taste. Cover and cook for 60 minutes. When ready, drain and place on a dish. Pour over white celery or mushroom sauce’
Oh dear, pheasant boiled for sixty minutes in salt water. How nice. It sounds more like a washing machine instruction for a pair of stuntman’s underpants. If you can afford a pheasant then you can afford a bit of veg to flavour the water with, which in turn makes the white stock for the white sauce. She then goes on to suggest that Teal (wild duck) should be roasted with butter for 15 minutes and then dredged in flour!?! A bit late I would have thought.
So the next time you hear about how good food used to be then smile to yourself. Remember, this was the Delia Smith/Martha Stewart of the ’30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Nostalgic? not anymore!
Miles,
I think I will pass on that one. I don’t think I could have dreamed it up if I tried.
I remember people cooking veg. for ever and I hated it in my childhood. Since cooking myself, I love it.
Not too retro for you then Chef, hey
Elsie
January 2, 2008 @ 4:14 pm
Elsie,
There’s retro and there’s retro, it’s a matter of picking out the wheat from the chaff!
Miles
January 2, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Miles,
I take it you’ll know it’s me when someone orders one of Chefs Best Wiggles
Cid
January 2, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
“Pheasant Boiled for Sixty Minutes in Salt Water”
All I can say is, as I have had said to myself on several occasions
“What a Waste of a Good Bird”.
January 2, 2008 @ 9:01 pm
Cid,
It couldn’t possibly be anyone else!
Miles
January 2, 2008 @ 9:15 pm
SC,
Ain’t that the truth!!
Nice to see you back on the site, Happy New Year!
Miles
January 2, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
Ha! I just got that book and was suitably appalled.
But there are any number of pre-World War II game cookbooks that have surprisingly modern recipes; I found one from 1904 that dressed a roasted teal (roasted for a proper 10-15 minutes in a high oven) with, of all things, a guava chutney! Go figure.
I’d argue that something slipped between the early 1900s and the 1940s. And let’s not bring up the ’50s to the 70s…
January 3, 2008 @ 12:48 am
Hank,
Guava chutney! Sounds like a modern day fusion recipe with snapper and foie gras! I think you’re right about the dates, best left consigned to the history books!
Miles
January 3, 2008 @ 8:30 am
“Is that Pheasant still on the Boil ?.
January 3, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
SC,
Probably!!!!
Miles
January 3, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
“Put it on simmer for a while, Please !
January 3, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
SC,
Like my temper some evenings!!
Miles
January 3, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
Miles,
“Like my temper some evenings”.
Should that be,
“Light Blue Touch Paper and Then Stand Well Back”. ?
January 4, 2008 @ 11:27 am
Since we are walking down Memory Lane, enlighten me on the fish paste used to make sandwiches in the 30s. Sounds like the precurser to cat food. If we are going traditional and cheap…er…modest, give me an old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead, please. Now if you really wanted to get creative, try your hand at SPAM, that wonderful “meat” product of the 40s and 50s. I understand that it is very popular with Filipinos, and relatives here in the Colonies send it back home by the case.
January 11, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Annie,
As for SPAM, well little beats (?) a deep fried SPAM fritter with chips and HP brown sauce….You could feed it to all of those size zero’s in California!!
Can’t give you a recipe for the fish paste you mention because I don’t want to know one!
Enjoy the weekend, bet your weather is better than mine
Miles
January 11, 2008 @ 11:08 pm