So, to make this as short and sweet as possible, the site has moved to a new address.

In Good Taste!

The address is: http://ingoodtaste.wordpress.com

If you are a regular visitor or would like to be one, please update your link appropriately.

Thank you

Paddio

Two events have occurred: I’ve taken a new job (minor), and my mother has become very, very ill (major). I won’t be around for a bit until the dust settles here. I’ll post when I can, but at the moment, I have to spend my time and thought elsewhere.

Brutus, I’ll be back when I can.

J.

It is a bit of a reach but, what the heck. You’ve been warned.

I have a book that describes the process in detail written by Arlington C. “Buckskin Slim” Schaefer. What is surprising about this book published in 1973 is that it lead to a renewed interest in this process that continues to this day in tanning hides and that it was published in the county where I live. Douglas County, Oregon

The title of the book is “The Indian Art of Tanning Buckskins” and has quite a following even today amongst those wishing to make their own leather. Another name for the process is brain tanning.

You see the substance used to cure a hide in the Indian style is the brain of the animal. For a deer the brain is combined with about a quart of warm water and simmered for about an hour or so. There is a lot of preparation that is done to the skin before and after the skin is place in the brain-dope, as he calls it. It involves scraping, soaking and wringing the hide. It can then be cured two ways.

The first option is to lay out with the (former) hair side up and the brain-dope is rubbed in by hand. The edges are folded in and the hide is rolled up for about fifteen minutes.

The second option is to take the wrung-out hide right into the bucket or pot that has the dope in it. Kneed the hide to work the emulsion into all the nooks and crannies . It is left in the emulsion overnight and then laid out to dry all day in the sun or indoors depending on weather. After the hide is somewhat dried out, it is then put on a rack to complete the drying process. I haven’t done this but it’s certainly a lot of work. This will take us to the last step, smoking.

The hide is sewn together staring at the neck and leaving a hole at the tail end (about 16-20 inches) to go over the coals. A hole (pit) is dug about 18-24 inches deep and about 16 to 18 inches around. A small air hole is cut into the pit from about 18 to 24 inches from the pit at about a 45 degree angle and reaching to the bottom of the pit. The hide can be hung from a tripod made of long sticks. The edges of the hide are staked down or held down with rocks. In the pit a bed of coals are made. On the bed of coals damp rotten wood is placed to create the smoke. The air hole is used to regulate the coals as a flare up can ruin the project. The flow of air is slowed with moss or rags when needed. The hide is smoked for and hour or so and then turned inside out and repeated. Between the brain-dope and the smoke the hide is cured and ready for use.

The book goes into much more detail but this gives you an idea. It is a fascinating process making an incredibly useful leather.

Is the leather edible? Surprisingly, yes it is. It’s pretty tough though. Commercial leather has all kinds of poisons in it, so it’s not a good idea to let your toddler chew on it. Brain tanned leather is not poisonous, however, there are organisms carried in brain matter that can be dangerous. Problems are unlikely, but I thought I would throw that caution in there.

So here I am in the dungeon awaiting rescue after the pink explosion is finally contained. We have 4 kids and since the three youngest are girls, my son and I are often outnumbered in more ways than I can describe. My son, displaying wisdom beyond his years, has departed for a friends house.

The “girl party” will consist of games and chatter and cooking. The girls will be baking cookies with my wife. Most will be eaten at the party and the rest will go home with the girls. Leaving the smell behind to taunt the men and boys who will be allowed to get a whiff of the lingering aroma of goodies long since gone. Oh well, I doubt I would have been able to endure the “girl stuff” to get the treats anyway.

So like an inmate in an ancient prison, I await the mercy of the King (or at least the diffusion of the girls).

Prior to leaving, I got the croissants, the pound cake, the fruit topping for the pound cake, some chicken and some other odds and ends out of the freezer to thaw while I was gone.

I get home at 7:20, and open the croissants. Now, somehow, it had escaped my notice that these were unbaked frozen dough. That’s fine — it’s pretty cool, actually –except now I finally read the directions. And I discover that they’re supposed to rise for 9 hours. And I have no idea at what point they progressed from “thawing” to “rising” — or if they’ve even made that transition yet, and, now that I think of it, I can’t even remember what frickin time I took them out of the freezer!

Drop 14 and punt to plan B — garlic bread with dinner. And on the theory that when I get up early tomorrow morning it will have been 9-hours-ish, I’ll bake them first thing.

Well, things didn’t work out exactly that way. First of all, Toni was here until one a.m. Then we stayed up ourselves till nearly three. Then I couldn’t sleep for some reason — rare for me but there you go — so by the time I finally got up today, it was about eleven. I go out to the kitchen and the croissants are HUGE. Just MOUNTAINOUS. They form one solid piece of articulated dough from one end of a 13×9 cookie sheet to the other, and are hanging a little bit off one edge.

I thought, you know what? What the hell. Cook’em anyway. I patted them down a little bit — just enough to release the more gargantuan of the bubbles, and popped the whole tray into the oven and cooked as directed. And we got lucky — we wound up with the croissant equivalent of monkey bread — golden brown, had to be pulled apart in chunks to be eaten, and absolutely delicious. And I got my Christmas lesson in the wisdom of reading directions.

Some of these are for the kids, others are about faith. Some people focus on the needs of others in the community and others focus on the needs of their own extended family. It’s a time of the year when people seem more likely to be selfless.

Yes, there is always a lot of rampant consumerism. Toys for the young, and the not so young, are so abundant. Electronic gadgets seem to grow on trees (or at least under them).

You may not know what will be under the tree each year but you can count on a good gathering and a good Christmas dinner.

I hope yours is wonderful.

Let me know what you had (your favorite item on the table).

The fact that these events are foreign to most people in our society is strong testimony to the effectiveness of our military at keeping our defense off our shores and our enemies away from our people. There are a lot of people who also help keep the peace right here in the streets. Police, firefighters, and EMS personnel. There are support personnel who are critical to getting the right people to the right places in times of crisis. 911 Dispatchers who wait for that paniced call,

All of these people are providing a service to our nation that most of us have the luxury of taking for granted because they do such a good job that we are unaware of what efforts it takes to get it done.

On Veterans Day I thought I would just say ‘Thank You” to all that have served our nation so well over the years.

Brutus

I love Thanksgiving.  The family together, pretending they want to be that way every day, but can not due to some scheduling conflict that is just too stubborn to shake.  That’s a good share of what Thanksgiving is about.  Yes, there are parades.  There is football.  There is FOOD.!  Oh, yeah.

We normally have a small family gathering on Thursday, ie Turkey Day.  We have about 15 to 20 at our home and everyone brings something.  We normally prepare the main course and several side dishes.  Other side dishes come in with the crowd and a few important desserts.

When I say I love Thanksgiving, I mean it.  It’s a great holiday.  That doesn’t mean I love turkey, however.  It’s fine, but if it weren’t the traditional food of Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be eating it on any Thursday.

So, here we are eating Turkey, and all the trimmings.  About half of which I would never miss if their sources became extinct tomorrow.  That’s fine, one thing about holidays, there is always plenty of something good to eat.

This kind of brings me to one of my points.  What is it about Thanksgiving that makes changes or new things unsavory.  Try having some other meat in place of turkey, you’ll have a riot, even if everyone in the family is allergic to turkey.  Oh, some new foods might make it on the menu.  Trial salads and such.  But not as replacements for any of the traditional fair.  Those things are locked in.

Well maybe that’s for the best.  I’d be real sad to see pumpkin pie get the boot.  Or to see mashed potatoes and gravy sent packing.  Maybe that’s the point of the Thanksgiving tradition.  Keeping it the same preserves the whole package.  The food, the gathering, and being thankful for all the abundance we have in our lives and in our country.

Thank God for Our Family and Friends.  Thank God for All He has Given us.

Have a great Thanksgiving.  Whether you eat the traditional fair or you break out of the box, I hope the purpose of Thanksgiving is still at the heart of your day and gatherings.

Brutus

I started changing how I cooked these because of this problem.  If you have a similar problem with the game bird your harvesting you might give it a try.  The first thing I did was bone out all the meat.  Here in lies most of the problem with both the smell and the taste.  Game birds are no different than any other meat, a lot of flavor comes from the bone, in this case the putrid and fowl odor and taste.  We have to wait until we get home because of regulations here about keeping identifiable parts attached to the bird, but before they go to the freezer, they get de-boned.  What a difference this alone makes in the atmosphere at dinner time.

The second thing I did, was I canned the bird meat.  At first since step one and two were on the same batch of birds I thought it was the canning that did the trick.  No, but the results of canning did make using the birds in a dish of our choice later easier than just freezing them.  One advantage is that game birds are not like chicken from the store, they have led a hard life and have the toughness to prove it.  By canning the birds they were tender and ready for gulosh or dumplings right out of the jar.  Secondly since these can be a bit smaller than a chicken and quail are even smaller, you can wait for a full batch without fear of freezer burn. 

Now I don’t hear the whining and complaining about birds for dinner.   I even cooked a batch for dinner with our daughter and her friends (yeah teenage) without a single turned up nose.  They had seconds too.  Okay, I guess that would be a downside, sometimes a little strategic stink can be useful.  Hope this is useful to you.

Happy hunting,

Brutus