So I was looking through my Good Maine Food cookbook, a Christmas present from my mother-in-law years ago, for a pie recipe she wants me to make for Thanksgiving. I have discovered over the years that the title of this book, the quality of the recipes in it, and the sanity of some Maine "cooks" are debatable. There are several pages I tore out completely after browsing through it for the first time simply because I didn't ever want to come across the recipes again. EVER EVER EVER.
While searching for the pie recipe, I came across the following recipe for burgoo, which makes me vomit slightly. I apparently missed it in my page-ripping tirade. My disgust is so great that I am sharing it with all of you. Should you decide to give this one a whirl, I'd love to hear your candid review. Mind you, this recipe is copied word for word from my cookbook. No creative license on my part. I particularly love the precise measurement of the "handful" of flour, and the use of the word "carcasses" - not something overly delightful to find in a gourmet dinner recipe. Hmmm... maybe I'll make some burgoo for Thanksgiving instead. A word of caution: Vegetarians, finicky eaters, and men who cry easily should not read any further. Bon Appetit!
Burgoo
6 gray squirrels
1 chicken
4 quarts water
1 slice salt pork
1 sliced onion
1 can tomatoes
1 can cream-style corn
1 can cooked yellow-eye beans
1 tablespoon salt
1 quart whole milk
1 handful flour
Skin gray squirrels and from hindquarters remove small sack which has a bitter taste. Boil squirrels and chicken in water 1 hour and remove all bones. Add pork, onion, tomatoes, corn, beans and seasoning and boil another hour. Just before serving, add flour dissolved in milk.
This is an old hunter's dish, and is as variable as the winds. Maine hunters use rabbit, porcupine, muskrat, woodchuck, big snapping turtles, venison, & bear meat as a base for burgoo. Some guides use skunk meat, which is said by those who have eaten it to be tender and delicious. In the spring, guides who have meat but no chicken for a burgoo will drift away from camp and later return with the carcasses of birds that look suspiciously like robins, blackbirds, yellowhammers, thrush or spruce partridges.
If this recipe freaks you out, just imagine what I actually tore out of this book...
