This wild duck recipe is taken from an old hillbilly cookbook I borrowed from a friend. I don’t know that my mom will like it very much, as she raises ducks for their eggs. If you’re a hunter though, try this wild duck recipe the next time you get back from a day of fowl hunting.

Wild Duck

5 Jonathan apples
Bacon strips
Ducks (2 mallards)
1 c. raisins
Salt and pepper
Spices

Season ducks with s & p inside and out. Don’t peel apples, instead quarter them and place some apples and some raisins in each duck. Place ducks in roasting pan and put the rest of the apples and raisins around them. Add the spices which you favor. Place bacon strips on each duck. Pour about 1 ½ c. water into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees until tender. Add more water if needed.

I’m not a big proponent of corn syrup for various reasons (which is in this recipe), but I just had to post this black walnut pie recipe! Black walnuts are found all across the U.S., but the largest one is located right here in my own backyard–on Sauvie Island, just minutes from Portland! Here it is:

Enough about walnuts, on to the recipe!

Black Walnut Pie

1 c. dark corn syrup
1 tsp. flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/8 tsp. salt
Chopped black walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. sugar
Egg white
Melted butter
Uncooked pie crust

Combine and mix well corn syrup, flour, three eggs beaten, salt, vanilla, sugar. Pour into uncooked pie shell. Brush pie crust with egg white. Put butter over pie and cover with chopped black walnuts. Bake about 40 minutes in a very low oven, about 250 degrees.

Mince Meat

Boil and chop fine: 3 lbs. beef tongue or venison tongue. Add 4 lbs. suet, also chopped fine.

Then add:
4 lbs. brown sugar
4 lbs. raisins
3 lbs. currants
4 lbs. apples, chopped fine
1 lb. finely sliced citron
1 Tbsp. each of mace, cloves, and cinnamon
2 nutmegs (coarsely ground)

Mix with enough brandy to wet well. Keep moist and it will “keep” all winter.

Here’s a secret: raccoon is good eats! A recipe for roast raccoon was included in the 1931 edition of The Joy of Cooking, and more recently, it received an article in the Kansas City Star. Raccoon tastes good, is lean, and highly nutritious. In Missouri, one whole raccoon sells for $4-$7 and feeds 4-5 hungry adults. Coons are safest to eat out West, as East Coast coons sometimes have diseases, so make sure your meat looks healthy before buying (and no trapper will sell you diseased meat in the first place). If you happen upon some fresh, wild coon meat, you may be surprised to find one paw remaining on the carcass. This is required by law to prove that the meat is, in fact, raccoon, and not some mystery meat.

If you trap them yourself, you only want to catch them during freezing temperatures, apparently they taste better then. Follow these steps for dressing the game: skin, draw, and clean the meat as soon as possible. Carefully remove the scent glands from under the forelegs, thighs, and back. They are brown, bean-shaped kernels, and you don’t want to break them.

This recipe comes from a farm journal and makes enough for 24 people, so pare it down if you aren’t serving that many.

Roast Raccoon

3 to 4 raccoons, 4-5 lbs. each
5 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 c. flour
1 c. oil for frying (use only as much as needed at one time)
8 medium onions, peeled
12 bay leaves

Cut meat into pieces, saving meaty backs and legs for baking. Cook bony pieces in water to make a broth for the gravy and dressing, adding a small amount of seasonings. Simmer until meat falls from the bone, strain, and set aside.

Season the rest of the meat with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour, brown in a skillet with the oil, and put in a roasting pan. Add onions and bay leaves, cover, and bake at 350° for about 2 hours or until tender.

Afterword, make the gravy by adding flour to the pan drippings (2-3 Tbsp. flour for 1 c. liquid). Serve with vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.