Read The Food of a Younger Land Online

Authors: Mark Kurlansky

The Food of a Younger Land (37 page)

Following is a narrative account of a geoduck hunt in Snohomish County in 1935.
Two families of us went clam digging on the beach about a mile south of Mukilteo. The tide was extremely low and while walking along the beach we spotted a geoduck’s head just about level with the sand or a little above. One of the men took two or three quick shovels of sand, then they grabbed it by the neck and started to shovel sand as quickly as they could, as the geoduck draws his neck in when disturbed. This one was about 2½ or 3 feet deep and owing to the fact that the sand kept caving in and that care had to be taken to avoid injuring the geoduck’s neck, it took us about an hour to dig him out. The tide started to come in and we thought we would have to give up as the hole kept filling up. By the time the geoduck was loosened enough so that we could pull him out of the sand and water, I was mired down to the knees and had to be pulled out as there was quite a suction in the sand and the tide was coming in pretty fast.
—Written for
America Eats
by Mrs. Emma Olsen, December 11, 1941
 
 
The Puget Sound Indians used a fish hook on a pole to snag the geoduck’s head and as the geoduck pulled his neck in he drew the pole after him and the Indians followed the pole down with their digging instruments until they found the geoduck.
—Information supplied by Mrs. Emma Olsen, December 11, 1941
 
 
Another system used by the Puget Sound settlers was to push a section of stove pipe down over the bivalve’s neck and digging around the base of the pipe.
—Information obtained from Carl Bartlett, December 4, 1941, by James L. Earl
 
 
The geoduck is seldom prepared at clam bakes or for outdoor suppers but is usually made into chowder. An authority on local sea food gives these directions for preparing the geoduck: “scald, remove entrails, cut up the neck, chop up body and use for chowder.” He also states, “They are planted by the State as they are very rare.”
—Information received from Mr. Trafton, Sea Food Market, Pier 5, Everett, Washington, December 4, 1941, by Minerva Stongel
 
 
FORTY-FOUR SACKS OF CLAMS FOR EAGLE’S PICNIC
 
Forty-four sacks of clams will be consumed at Eagle’s picnic to be held at Mukilteo. At least that many clams will be prepared for the picnickers, baked and steamed.
—
Everett News,
Saturday, August 25, 1923, p. 8.
A Washington Community Smelt Fry
CARROLL KENNEDY
A
n annual event which is finding favor with thousands of tourists as well as residents of nearby counties is the huge smelt fry held on the banks of the Cowlitz River at Longview, Washington, in March of each year.
Authoritative sources state that there are several types of the smelt family, but the one type under discussion here is native to the waters of the Pacific Northwest. It is allied to the salmon family and its usual habitat is the salt water channels near the spot where the Columbia River empties into the sea. Between August of each year and May of the succeeding year, the smelt leave their briny home in schools, going upstream into fresh waters to spawn and then return to their native waters.
It is during this hegira that the fish are entrapped in the Columbia River and its tributaries, one of the largest of which is the Cowlitz River. The peak of the “run” at this point occurs in late February or early March, when millions of the little silvery fellows can be seen and caught on their way upstream.
State statutes prohibit the taking of more than 20 pounds of the fish per person a day, but with the entire family engaged in the pursuit during the run, sufficient quantities are taken by the household to provide several meals of this nutritious sea food. Ranging in size from 4 to 8 inches in length, the smelt is probably the least troublesome of all fish to prepare for the table. In most instances neither the head nor tail is removed; one quick slit with a sharp knife lengthwise removes the viscera and backbone and after a thorough cleansing in cold water this morsel of fish is ready for the cracker-meal in which it is rolled before being placed in the frying pan.
At the most recent annual affair glorifying the lowly smelt in Longview, over 3,000 persons gathered on the banks of the Cowlitz River to enjoy a breakfast of the freshly ensnared smelt. Fishing gear of every description had been employed to catch the fish; bird’s cages, laundry baskets, perforated boxes, colanders, and fishing nets were all brought into use to land the ton or more fish to be cooked.
To whet the appetite as well as to furnish the publicity which goes with such an event, a 10 foot skillet was placed over a blazing Presto Log fire. Greasing the huge pan was accomplished by tying bacon rind to the feet of two girls who skated and danced around in the sizzling utensil. Hundreds of pounds of the fish were then dumped into the pan and seasoned with salt and pepper from huge containers. Flour, or some facsimile, was sprinkled over the mass of fish, while the chef vigorously turned the contents of the pan with the aid of a large garden rake.
After the contents of the pan had attained a well-browned color, the entire production was dumped into the Cowlitz River, thereby allaying the fears of the thousands who had accepted the invitation to have a smelt breakfast that maybe after all they were expected to eat what was being prepared. Instead, a coterie of beautiful girls appeared in the crowd bearing large trays of crispy, corn-meal rolled smelt, freshly fried, which had been prepared earlier at a nearby hotel for the occasion. After satisfying the inner man, the thousands of guests departed, each content that a good performance had been given and that a most worthy member of the fish family had been eulogized.
Montana Fried Beaver Tail
EDWARD B. REYNOLDS
A
mong the rare foods of the west, rare because of trapping restrictions, but still a delicacy in the Rocky Mountain area, is fried beaver’s tail. In the early days, before conservation, it was much more common.
The tail of the beaver is held over a fire by means of a stick, pincers, or even the hand. When the fat softens the skin is peeled off like a banana skin. Any other method is exceedingly difficult because the skin is tough as shoe leather and hard to separate from the flesh by means of a knife.
When the fat is trimmed away, the tail may be rolled in flour and fried. When boiled, it is best pickled in vinegar in a manner similar to preparing pigs’ feet.
Oregon Wild Duck
JOSEPH McLAUGHLIN
M
any of Oregon’s hunters have a special way of cooking duck and other wild game birds. The birds are bled and cleaned, but not plucked. The bird, feathers and all, is then rolled in a clean clay so that it is completely covered to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Next a bed of hot coals is prepared and the birds are placed upon it and covered with a thick coat of green leaves or ferns. Since it is virtually impossible to burn the bird by this method, it may be left in its open-air oven until the men are ready to eat it. As a rule this isn’t very long after preparations have begun. When the cooked bird is removed from the fire, the clay, which now holds fast all the feathers, is broken off and the bird is ready to eat—so are the men. The clay coating seals in all the juices of the meat. A better flavored or more tender bird is impossible by any other method.
Utah Salmi of Wild Duck
WILLIAM H. MEAL
F
our ducks—clean thoroughly, not neglecting to remove the oil glands. Soak three hours in salt water; this partially removes the fishy flavor.
Roast 30 minutes in hot oven or until quite brown. Do not use the liquid left from roasting.
Cut ducks up, four pieces to the duck; cut first in two length-wise, then cut in two crosswise, making four pieces.
Place in good sized stew kettle.
 
Add:
1 pint consommé or bouillon
2 large ripe tomatoes or the equivalent of canned tomatoes
1 large carrot, diced ½ inch
1 medium sized parsnip, diced
5 outside celery stalks, cut into ½ inch lengths
1 large onion, cut into quite small pieces
2 medium sized pimentos
4 or 5 chile tepenis
1 clove garlic
1 level teaspoon black pepper
7 or 8 whole cloves
Spoonful ground thyme
1 level spoon curry powder
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Cook gently not less than three hours.
Thicken slightly with scorched flour.
 
Before serving add:
Large can of shredded mushrooms with the juice
Several dozen small stuffed olives
1 wine glass sherry
When serving use the entire sauce at the same time.
Washington Wildcat Parties
CARROLL KENNEDY
A
ccording to a news item appearing in a Longview, Washington, newspaper several years ago, the city firefighters of a sister city, Kelso, had been guests the previous night at a banquet whereupon the “pièce de résistance” of the meal served was—perish the thought—wildcat meat!
That the main dish of this dinner tasted a “little like veal,” but stronger in odor, was all that the participants could remember or cared to release for publication. But this incident was the impetus for the recollections of other days long passed, when “cougar meat” was consumed by some of the residents of the same community.
The consumption of cougar meat at these repasts was impelled more from a standpoint of “reprisals” than from a cultivated appetite for the animal. As the story is related, “A woman by the name of Minnie (Christian name unimportant) was attacked and partially devoured by one of these deadly prowlers of the woods. The surviving relatives of the family, even to the third and fourth generation, have vowed to relentlessly track down all the future offspring and descendants of the offending cougar and to give vent to their wrath by eating the prey when trapped.”
As cougars are not too plentiful now-a-days even in the wooded country of Cowlitz County, it is quite doubtful that the family is able to provide such an animal often enough for them to become tired of the fare. But when they do enjoy such a repast, ’tis said the family always refer to the meal as “eating Aunt Minnie.”
It is unlikely that cougar meat will become a standardized article on the menus of the rest of the populace in the state, particularly in those families which do not have or ever have had an aunt with such an unfortunate surname.
Foraging in Montana
EDWARD B. REYNOLDS
M
ushrooms, water cress, pig weeds and lambs quarters as well as dandelion leaves supplement the vegetable and salad dishes of Westerners who continue to take advantage of native foods, although to lesser extent today than did the pioneers.
Chokecherries and dandelion blossoms are made into wine, while wild berries form the base of sauces, pies, jellies and jams.
Montana Dulce
EDWARD B. REYNOLDS
D
ulce, dried seaweed, is good for what ails you. That’s the opinion of both the Irish and the New Englanders who have been transplanted to the mining districts of the west. And they conquer their ailments by eating the leathery, reddish-brown weed like candy, relishing its salty taste and confident that it will prevent such things as goiter.
The Irish receive their dulce from the coastal counties of Ireland in letters or parcels; it also is shipped in from Maine and sold in the stores. In both Maine and Ireland, where it is fresh, it is sometimes cooked like spinach. But in the Rocky Mountains it serves as a “nibbler” to be put in the pocket and munched whenever the desire arises.
Washington Aplets and Cotlets
One of my clearest memories of trips to the dark and rough waterfront town of Seattle when I was a child was those sugar-dusted squares that are known in America as “Turkish delight” and in the Arab-speaking world as
lokum
, but were and still are known to everyone in Washington State as aplets and cotlets, the local candy. They are still produced by Liberty Orchards with Washington State apples. Washington is the leading apple-producing state in America.

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