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Wednesday, December 10, 2003
I've Been Thinking, Historical Account of the Montgomery Area
by Narcissa Martin Boulware
Shorty and Mrs. Beeton, Part II
Mrs. Beeton wrote several books, apparently in England, as measurements and money were in English style and currency. Her books were in the 1860's, and John Henry "Shorty" Peterson was born before 1900. Where and how did the ritual of cooking possum come down to Shorty? I can't imagine Shorty having any contact with Englishmen, and I can't believe that ritual given by Mrs. Beeton being done by my family. But I don't ever remember my family eating possum or rabbit.
Another excerpt from Mrs. Beeton; Roast Grouse (bird) "Let the bird hang in a cool, dry place three or four days. When ready for use, pluck (pick off the feathers) draw, (take out entrails) and truss them in the same manner as roast chicken". These birds, like plover and woodcock are dressed without being drawn (without entrails being removed). Black cock (chicken) Roasted: "Let the birds hang a few days for they will be tough and tasteless if not well kept. Pluck and draw and wipe inside and out with a damp cloth as washing spoils the flavor". I think the Cock refers to a rooster a grown tough chicken, as there was a recipe for handling a pheasant cock. I knew that chicken of any sort was considered a treat and very much enjoyed by my family, but I also knew that chicken that was caught, killed on the spot, cleaned of feathers, entrails, feet, head and cooked within the hour. Wild ducks and geese were brought in to my family as well as tame ducks and geese and they were done the same as our chickens.
I note, Mrs. Beeton said washing the bird made the meat tasteless, our birds were washed many times and to me Fried Chicken and roast goose are two of the most perfect foods.
I also found in the old ragged remains of the tenant house, a later day cookbook, the pictures of which seemed to be around 1900. "Marion Harland's Cookbook" was printed on the top of each page on the left hand side. She has this to say in the beginning paragraph of her instructions for preparing and cooking game: "Just here it may well be to remark that game need not of necessity, be high". Some persons professed to prefer it when it has been kept so long as to be a little offensive to the olfactory (nose) organs. Whether or not this be affection, is not for us to judge. Suffice it to say that the following recipes are for the preparation of well-seasoned game and not for viands that bear a distressing resemblance to Carrion."
Whether or not the rituals of cooking game changed and Shorty did not, whether or not Shorty preferred the high taste of his game, I lost all interest in what went on with the possums at Shorty's house. We children had eaten meals at Maybelle's house, but I don't believe we ever ate possum. I knew that they baked (finally) the possum, and sweet potatoes and gravy surrounded the feast. I also knew that they kept, fed and killed coons.
We children enjoyed the coons after they were tame and would come out. Coons love water and we would use many dippers of Shorty's hard earned water barrel just to see the coons take our food that we offered and dip each piece in the water before it ate it. We were not always careful about getting the water out of the barrel of well water that Honey used for cooking and cleaning. I'm sure they would have been happy not to have had our visits. I know I have eaten coon, but don't remember where or when. About the age of fifty I decided I wanted to try that dish and I asked my long-time "soul-food friend" to give me a portion to try, but I could not eat the dark, wild-game smelling portion. I didn't asked if she used Shorty's ritual to prepare the coon, I just said it was very good and thanked her.
John Henry "Shorty" Peterson and wife Honey and my "soul-food" friend were black. I often wonder if the process Shorty used was handed down generation after generations from their homeland in Africa. I wonder if this method is their way of getting the high smell. I remember coming to our house and asking my mother if she had any "tainted" meat in the smoke house. Tainted would mean aged meat to us. But then there are the two cookbooks written, published and sold in London, England and the other in America in 1861, that advised exactly the same process Shorty used. Shorty went one step more with his two-day burial in the ground, but he may have shortened the hanging period. Maybe this method was used by the cavemen and passed on to their European ancestors and so on down to us in America. If so, I'm glad it was abandoned before my time, but we do have some "aged" beef through a method not quite as drastic as Shorty's. Me? I don't want any aged meat. |
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