Cookbook savors wild, local foods

“Cooking Wild in Missouri,” subtitled “Savoring the Show-Me State’s game, fish, nuts, fruits and mushrooms” (Missouri Department of Conservation, 2011, $15), was released this month.

The department’s last cookbook on the subject, the popular and still in print “Cy Littlebee’s Guide to Cooking Fish & Game,” was written in 1959 by the late Werner O. Nagel. “Cooking Wild in Missouri” is a welcome follow-up for the next generations of hunters, farmers, anglers, foragers and, well, anyone who loves to cook good food.

Bernadette diligently tested and retested her recipes, and she photographed all the food, so each recipe is illustrated in glossy color.

“It was a labor of love — and hate. I’m glad it’s over,” she said, laughing as we talked Thursday. Her hard work paid off. It is beautiful to look at, well-written and accessible.

She shares advice on how to stock the kitchen, develop an herb garden and how to use leftovers. Cooking tips, homespun memories and favorite food quotes are interspersed throughout.

But at the heart of the book are more than 100 recipes from appetizers to desserts. The recipes are divided into six categories: venison, rabbit and squirrel; game birds; fish; hickory nuts, black walnuts and pecans; fruits; and mushrooms. Many are her own inventions and adaptations; others are from Missouri colleagues, chefs, friends and neighbors. In the interest of full disclosure, my husband and I contributed our farmers market (lamb) pastitsio, which she adapted for venison. Bernadette offers nine ways to cook venison, among them venison bieroks, venison moussaka, shepherd’s pie and Thai venison salad. She included so many “because hunting is very popular in Missouri,” she said. Already, her recipe for spice-roasted venison loin with Missouri plum sauce is getting a thumbs-up from hunters and venison lovers.

In fact, “Cooking Wild” pays tribute to the full array of Missouri’s hunters, growers, foragers, anglers and conservationists. Among those Bernadette interviewed for the book are hickory nut grower, Joe Holterman of Osage County; duck hunter John Schneller; southern Boone County hunter Mary Lyon; and Maxine Stone, author of “Missouri’s Wild Mushrooms.”

As for the recipes themselves, she also has admirably applied her multicultural cooking talents to fresh Missouri ingredients. Catfish goes into fish tacos, a Chinese-spiced dish (Catfish goes to China) and an Afro-Caribbean treatment with okra, tomatoes and coconut.

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The revised statutes of the state of Missouri, 1919, to which are prefixed the Declaration of Independence, Washington's farewell address, Constitution of the United States, annotated and indexed, act of Congress for the formation of a state government by the people of the territory of Missouri, ordinance of the convention assenting thereto, with the Constitution of the state of Missouri, annotated and indexed, and to which are appended laws of Missouri of limited application, and laws of the United States relating to authentication of laws and records, fugitives from justice and naturlization of aliens, together with forms applicable to the laws of Missouri : revised and promulgated by the Fiftieth General Assembly

Dictionary of Missouri biography

Annual Report ...

Vernon's annotated pocket code of Missouri

The annotated statutes of the state of Missouri, 1906, embracing the general laws in force December 31, 1906 : incorporating under the headings of the revised statutes of 1899 the subsequent enactments, with full notes of the pertinent decisions of the Supreme Court and courts of appeals