gypsy

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin campaigned mightly to have the Wild Turkey as the National Bird instead of the Bald Eagle? In the 1770s, the wild turkey was twice the size of the wild bird of today with a striking plumage of purple and bronze.

Brillat-Savarin, the French gourmand, recounted the tale of his wild turkey shoot which took place in 1795, the year before American Cookery was published. "During my stay in Hartford, Connecticut, I had the good luck to kill a wild turkey. This exploit deserves to go down for posterity, and I shall tell it all the more eagerly since I am the hero."

His tale included details of the farm host's four buxom daughters who sang for him "the national air, Yankee Duddle", and can be read in detail in his "The Physiology of Good Taste." As he returned after his shoot, he wrote, "I ws thinking how best I should get my turkey cooked, and I was afraid that in Hartford I might not find all the ingredients I would desire -- nd I was determined to raise a trophy to the spoils of my skill. I make a great sacrifice in leaving out the details of the great preparation I made for my American dinner guests. Suffice to say that the partridge wings were served en papillote, and the grey squirrels were stewed in Madeira.

As for the turkey, which was the only roast, it was charming to look upon, delightful to smell, and delicious to taste. And until the last morsel was eaten you could hear all around the table the words, "Very good! Exceedingly good! Oh, my dear sir, what a glorious bit!"

Recipe from "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons, 1796
(the first cookbook written and printed in America, in Hartford, CT)

1. One pound soft wheat bread, 3 ounces beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cramberry sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery.
2. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes.
3. Boil and mash 3 pints potatoes, wet them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above.

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"Please, sir - may I have some more?"