We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
In press accounts of two studies on wine psychology, consumers have been portrayed as dupes and twits, subject to the manipulations of marketers, critics and charlatan producers who have cloaked wine in mystique and sham sophistication in hopes of better separating the public from its money.
Is that true? I have tasted some undrinkable wines in my time, very many entirely OK table wines, and some sublime ones. Tasting a wine is like meeting a new person: put your preconceptions away and see who they are. Turning wine into an effete exercise is pure silliness.
A few nifty finds: New York City in Pictures, with "every street and every building in NY"; NewYorkology is a site with depth and detail, with tips for visitors and residents, including the location of the Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Station, which is quite near my favorite spot in the world for oyster stew and a beer, the famous and venerable Oyster Bar & Restaurant, which, along with oysters from all ends of the earth, almost always offers the rarest and very best oyster on earth, Wellfleets , with their subtle nutty flavor derived from the Herring River which flows into the harbor of Bird Dog's favorite town on his native Cape Cod.
Then there's NY Architectural images - cool building photos listed by neighborhood. Oldbars lists - with photos - some of NYC's oldest, including McSorleys, where I have both booted and rallied in youth, back before 1970 when women weren't allowed in; and, since we're on bars, there's the unique The Campbell Apartment, if you can find it; Forgotten New York is a good ramble; and the new Tenement Museum has been getting a lot of attention, but I haven't been there.
I pulled three Brookies out of this beat in Connecticut on Saturday:
Here's my recipe:
4 to 6 trout (approximately 1/2 lb. each), 3 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt (or to your taste), 2 cloves minced garlic (or to your taste), 2 bottles of fine Sauvignon Blanc, 2 Tablespoons Italian parsley, 2 Tablespoons chopped green onion, 2 Tablespoons dry seasoned bread crumbs, 4 Tablespoons melted butter
Wash and dry trout. Rub the outside of trout with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt. Reserve half the wine (1 cup) into an appropriate stemmed glass.Retain the base wine for step 3.Sample the reserved wine.
Arrange the minced garlic in the bottom of a buttered baking dish that is large enough to hold the trout in a single layer.Check the reserved wine for flavor.
Place trout in the dish and pour the base wine over the top. Double-check the reserved wine.
Sprinkle with parsley, green onion, and bread crumbs. Spoon the melted butter evenly over the top. Test the reserved wine for spoilage.
Ceremonially empty the reserve wine container and bake trout at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Makes 4 to 6 servings. Open the second chilled bottle to serve with the fish.
Ketchup-lovers like me hate the idea of enriching the wannabe-patricians Theresa Heinz and John Kerry. Plus we like the idea of something with a bit more kick. I am making this one, from the Food Network:
3 tablespoons oil 1/4 cup diced red onion Can of Roma tomatoes, skinned, cut into 1/4-inch pieces 1 tablespoon chopped garlic 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill Salt and freshly ground black pepper Pinch allspice Pinch celery salt Pinch mustard seed
In medium saute pan over medium heat, add oil and onions. Cook until brown and caramelized. Add the tomatoes, and garlic and cook for a few minutes, just to soften the vegetables. Then add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.
You can either serve the ketchup chunky or puree it in a blender first and serve it smooth.
At least double the vinegar, in my opinion. If grilling burgers for guests, offer the bottle and the home-made. See which one they prefer.
Here's the menu for the sort of 1890's-style dinner our Ducks Unlimited commitee serves annually, and which will be coming up again soon. Our Chef for this special annual Game Dinner was making Rillete de Lapin since he was a kid in France. Yes, it is Black Tie. What's the deal? Our Ducks Unlimited Committee sells this dinner for twelve for significant bucks (usually $10-18,000) in our charity auction, provides the game, helps the Chef, and serves.
All the host has to do is to light the fire and buy the wine and ceegars.With all of the loins and breasts, this is one sexy menu:
MENU
Cocktails:
Game terrine, grainy home-made mustard, gherkin slices, and toast Rillette de lapin, capers, toast Pate of Wild Duck Liver with cognac, toast
Dinner:
Roast Country Pigeon with green and white asparagus, mache salad, truffle vinaigrette
Woodcock ravioli with celeriac flan and wild mushroom sauce, with Black Truffle garni
Pheasant breast, braised red cabbage, lardons, with cognac jus
Satueed breast of Redhead or Canvasback with wild rice and roast figs, jus de gibier
Right Wing Proflikes this place, and I know I would like it too because it seems like a Maggie's Farm sort of joint. Wonder if they deliver to New England states:
I happen to be one of those people who love that Irish boiled dinner, with lots of potatoes in there. You just cook the heck out of it, for hours, until it all falls apart. Lots of whole peppercorns in the pot.
The carrots are optional, in my view - and the cabbage is the best part.
A pot of mustard on the side, and a pot of beer on the other side. Great peasant eats.
A good way to begin - or end (or both) the day by honoring the Irish.
- 1 or 2 shots of Irish whisky - 1 or 2 tsp brown sugar (I like that crystallized brown sugar called "Sugar in the Raw") - strong, hot fresh coffee - lightly whipped or shaken cream - not whipped cream
Put brown sugar and Irish whisky into a coffee glass, or a wine glass with extra thick walls. Add hot, strong coffee up to 1 cm (1/3 inch) from the glass rim. (If you are cautious and don't want to risk cracking the glass, leave the spoon in the glass to absorb some of the heat.) Carefully add the lightly whipped cream over the back of a tablespoon.
Alternatively, you can make it the way some Irishmen I knew in NYC did it: Pour 1/3 of your cup of take-out coffee into the gutter, and splash some Seagram's 7 into it to fill the cup.
Butternut squash, halved lengthwise and a wide shallow groove cut out of the pithy part, with butter, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Brown sugar would substitute for maple syrup. Good simple Yankee food. I would happily eat all of them. If one is not being proper, a spoon works well.
An annual re-post, for our readers with game in their freezers:
A few more Maggie's Farm favorites, but first, remember: always salt and pepper your meat before cooking, never over-cook game, and keep a good supply of gibier sauce in your freezer.
For venison, elk and moose
The filets - tie them up tight, and cook as you do a beef filet mignon
The steaks - marinated overnight in olive oil, garlic, thyme, a little wine, and grilled rare
The stew meat (which is most of it) - Our favorite is to make a Bourguignon, but a Navarin is also excellent. I call these two recipes "savory meats."
Pheasant, duck and goose legs
Our habit, with duck, goose and pheasant, is to cook the breasts and to confit the legs and thighs. When you confit them, the tendons melt and they are a great accompaniment for a salad. A container of confit in the fridge will last for months. Just take 'em out and warm them in the oven and let the duck fat from the confit drip off, and either pick the meat off and toss it with the greens, or just put the warmed leg with thigh on top of the salad. Good idea to mix some warm gibier sauce in with the oil and vinegar dressing.
Pheasant
We like pheasant breast sauteed to pink in the middle, in butter and olive oil, on a bed of red cabbage (braised with bacon, a little vinegar, port), with wild mushrooms and braised and sauteed root vegetables - or mashed potato, on the side. You splash some reduced gibier sauce on top.
Woodcock
We treat the delectable but tiny woodcock with special care. We don't do it like the French (a sauce from all of its guts, and served with a toothpick to eat the brain with). Sautee the tiny breasts for a number of seconds on each side in hot butter and some truffle oil, and place on toast. Squish the livers into the butter and oil to make a sauce with a splash of brandy or something, and pour on top. Amazing first course.
Or, even better: woodcock ravioli. Chop very finely, then sautee shallot, carrot, and a little garlic. Very quickly sautee the woodcock breasts, then cut into small pieces. Mix above together with some truffle oil and spoon into your ravioli pasta or wontons. Serve splashed with gibier sauce with a couple of sauteed porcinis. A nice touch: shave some black truffle over the raviolis on the plate.
Ruffed Grouse
Grouse hunters are a special breed of human - bull-headed and foolish - and the Ruffed Grouse is a special kind of food. Every grouse hunter has his favorite way of preparing this subtle but delicious breast meat, like a dry chicken, but a chicken that has been raised on juniper berries and raspberries and mushrooms and aspen buds and fern fronds. One way we like is to brown the breasts quickly, then wrap in bacon and bake until the middle is pink. Serve on a bed of lentils with chopped shallots and carrots in them, with a splash of gibier sauce on top, root vegetables maybe on the side.
Canada Goose
Pests? Not on your life. They are great food. Marinate those dark meat, steak-like breasts overnight. Some love 'em on the grill, like steak. That's fine, but also good is to sautee them in oil and butter to your degree of done-ness, then serve thinly sliced with a gibier sauce.
Wild Duck
We have more favorite ways of cooking wild duck than I can list here. It's a subject for another day, but I will say three things: in Yankeeland, duck doesn't mean Mallard - it means all sorts of ducks, including the delicious and livery Bluebill. Second: we gave up on cooking the whole bird, stuffed or otherwise. It does not do justice to the bird. We just do happy things with the breasts, and confit the legs and thighs. Third, a piece of orange should never get near a wild duck. Domestic duck, ok, if that's what you like, but not the wild ones - it's criminal.
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Cocktails:
I happen to be one of those people who love that 
For venison, elk and moose
Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Duck