Dr. Garbee’s Wild Game Dinners
When Dr. Eugene Garbee became president of Upper Iowa College in 1952, he started a tradition of hosting an annual Wild Game Dinner. He had acquired a taste for wild game, and knowledge of how to cook it, growing up in the Missouri Ozarks. Some of the dishes that were served at his dinner:
He collected together his favorite recipes into a cookbook: For the Chow Hound With a Taste for Something Different... Dr. Garbee's Wild Game Dinners. You can probably find a used copy somewhere.
Some of his recipes:
More info: wikipedia, iagenweb.org
- Rattlesnake Paste on crackers
- Moose Nose Hash
- Roast Elephant Trunk
- Raccoon Sausage
- Fayette Sparrow Birds in Nest
- Rotisseried Volga River Beaver
- Minnesota Black Bear Roast
- Hasenpfeffer of Fayette Rabbit
- Walker's Ridge Squirrel Stewed in Onions
- Charbroiled Muskrat Saddles
- Roast Growler's Gulch Possum
Davenport Quad-City Times - Apr 16, 1967
He collected together his favorite recipes into a cookbook: For the Chow Hound With a Taste for Something Different... Dr. Garbee's Wild Game Dinners. You can probably find a used copy somewhere.
Some of his recipes:
Fayette Sparrow Birds in Nest
Take a raw potato, cut it in half, hollow out enough room for a cleaned sparrow, insert the bird, put the two halves back together again, tie the potato with string and wrap with foil and bake.
Take a raw potato, cut it in half, hollow out enough room for a cleaned sparrow, insert the bird, put the two halves back together again, tie the potato with string and wrap with foil and bake.
Mother's Squirrel and Dumplings
Mother's favorite recipe. She wanted the head left on. Mother always claimed the head — picking off the tender juicy muscles and finally breaking open the thin skull bones for the brains — was the most tasty bite of all, for her.
2 squirrels, with heads on.
¼-pound fatback (salt pork).
1½ cups of seasoned flour, half teaspoon of salt, half teaspoon of pepper.
½ cup of diced onions, or large onion slices.
1 large turnip or 1 or 2 large carrots, chopped.
Bouillon.
Dumplings.
Cut the squirrels into pieces, including the heads. Dredge in the seasoned flour in a paper bag. Fry out the fatback in an iron skillet or dutch oven. Brown the squirrel, add two cups of bouillon and cook for an hour or until tender. Then add vegetables and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add more bouillon if needed. Use your own favorite dumpling recipe.
Mother's favorite recipe. She wanted the head left on. Mother always claimed the head — picking off the tender juicy muscles and finally breaking open the thin skull bones for the brains — was the most tasty bite of all, for her.
2 squirrels, with heads on.
¼-pound fatback (salt pork).
1½ cups of seasoned flour, half teaspoon of salt, half teaspoon of pepper.
½ cup of diced onions, or large onion slices.
1 large turnip or 1 or 2 large carrots, chopped.
Bouillon.
Dumplings.
Cut the squirrels into pieces, including the heads. Dredge in the seasoned flour in a paper bag. Fry out the fatback in an iron skillet or dutch oven. Brown the squirrel, add two cups of bouillon and cook for an hour or until tender. Then add vegetables and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add more bouillon if needed. Use your own favorite dumpling recipe.
Rattlesnake Paste
Cut rattlesnake in chunks two or three inches long. Cook in a small pressure cooker until tender. Add a bay leaf. Cook 10 to 12 minutes. Grind two or three times.
To one cup of ground meat mix in the following: three tablespoons bacon grease, melted butter or oil to which has been added a pinch of marjoram, rosemary and savory, salt and pepper.
Heat for a minute or two before stirring in the meat to make a rather thick paste. More fat may be added if desired. Cook in a double boiler for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve on crackers or thin sliced rye bread.
Cut rattlesnake in chunks two or three inches long. Cook in a small pressure cooker until tender. Add a bay leaf. Cook 10 to 12 minutes. Grind two or three times.
To one cup of ground meat mix in the following: three tablespoons bacon grease, melted butter or oil to which has been added a pinch of marjoram, rosemary and savory, salt and pepper.
Heat for a minute or two before stirring in the meat to make a rather thick paste. More fat may be added if desired. Cook in a double boiler for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve on crackers or thin sliced rye bread.
More info: wikipedia, iagenweb.org
Comments
I'm one of those people who will try almost anything once (Black bear? Probably funky, but why not? Rattlesnake? Bring it on!), but I do draw the line at endangered species. No elephant for me, thank you.
Posted by Richard Bos on 01/11/25 at 01:11 PM
The elephant trunk reminds me of the joke about elephant ear on a bun. You can google it.
Posted by ges on 01/12/25 at 10:09 AM
The cookbook can certainly be improved with more recipes, maybe with the help of Native American grandmas. For example, Inuit bear stew, Southern fried rattlesnake, moose carpaccio, baked muskrats, rabbits in mustard sauce, raccoon stew, and the famous Jehanne Benoit's recipe of squirrels with white wine.
Posted by Yudith on 01/13/25 at 06:41 AM
Gordon R. Nelson loved to cook (and eat). During his years as a State Trooper in Alaska, he collected recipes from all over the state. Game (including fish, crab, etc.) features heavily, but he includes substitutions you can get at the supermarket. (Apparently, you can use hamburger for any recipe calling for ground moose.)
His cookbooks are fantastic! Half the space is stories about how/where he found the recipes and tales of growing up in Alaska.
In "Smokehouse Bear" he admits to having only one smoked bear recipe (the brine for soaking bear hams prior to smoking them). I can attest his 'White Cube Meat Loaf' is great even when made with beef (ever eat meatloaf with mashed or baked potatoes on the side? The white cubes in this are diced potatoes, so you don't need them separate).
A point of worldbuilding which I absolutely love is in "Lowbush Moose" -- he explains that highbush moose are the big hairy things with antlers that adults hunt while the kids can hunt lowbush moose (hare/rabbit). The fact that parent and child can each go moose hunting tells a lot about the society.
His cookbooks are fantastic! Half the space is stories about how/where he found the recipes and tales of growing up in Alaska.
In "Smokehouse Bear" he admits to having only one smoked bear recipe (the brine for soaking bear hams prior to smoking them). I can attest his 'White Cube Meat Loaf' is great even when made with beef (ever eat meatloaf with mashed or baked potatoes on the side? The white cubes in this are diced potatoes, so you don't need them separate).
A point of worldbuilding which I absolutely love is in "Lowbush Moose" -- he explains that highbush moose are the big hairy things with antlers that adults hunt while the kids can hunt lowbush moose (hare/rabbit). The fact that parent and child can each go moose hunting tells a lot about the society.
Posted by Phideaux on 01/13/25 at 11:16 AM
Category: Food | Cookbooks