I
have a most interesting menu for you today. It is given in Central America: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama,
and Salvador (London, 1917) by the author, W.H. Koebel, in his discussion
of the Mosquito coast at the end of the eighteenth century.
Prior to 1786 there are
said to have been as many as twelve hundred British settlers in the Mosquito
Coast, while the number of the aborigines themselves was estimated at about ten
thousand.
Before leaving this
period I may refer to a very instructive document which is reproduced by
Captain Bedford Pim, R.N., in his Dottings
on the Roadside in Panama, Nicaragua, and Mosquito. This is the bill of
fare of an entertainment given by the officers of a detachment of the 3rd
Regiment (Buffs) at their station on the Mosquito Coast towards the end of the
eighteenth century :—
BILL
OF FARE
Calipash.
Manati,
Soused. Guana,
Fricasseed. Waree, Steaks.
Turtle
Soup.
Armadillo
Curry. Monkey, Barbacued. Parrot
Pie.
Antelope
Roasted.
Peccary,
Smoked. Indian Rabbit, Boiled. Hiccatee, Stewed.
Calipee.
It would have been of
no little interest to have learned the Buffs' ideas concerning the wines to
accompany this curious and rare repast in the eighteenth-century Mosquito
Coast. But of these there is no record, although it is unreasonable to suppose
that, at that period and place, they did not play their part in the function.
I
am delighted that I am able to supply you with a recipe for one of the dishes
on this menu, although I doubt and hope that you will not cook it, as parrots
are protected in many places in the world - and where they are not, their
flamboyant beauty usually buys them a dispensation from the sentence of death
for the pot. In earlier times in tropical Queensland however, necessity spoke
louder than nicety, and recipes for parrot pie are frequent in cookery books
and newspaper columns.
Parrot Pie (By Request.)
The idea of our
brilliant-plumaged noisy bush friends being shot to replenish the pot cannot
receive unqualified approval, but parrot pie is, nevertheless, not at all an
unsavoury dish when properly prepared, so, in reply to “Bush Cook”, a recipe is
given. After plucking, thoroughly cleaning, and washing the birds, divide the
breast and thighs from the body, and use only those portions for the pie; soak them
in milk for some hours if you can; meanwhile stew all the other parts for stock
with a small onion, some pepper, and salt. Strain the stock and simmer the breasts and
thighs until perfectly tender. This will take some time. Some of the pieces
will take less time than others; test them while cooking with a three-prong
fork. All the time the birds are stewing the pot lid must be kept well shut. Meanwhile
you can be making the short-crust pastry by well rubbing some clean dripping
into one pound of flour, into which you
have mixed one and a-half teaspoonfuls of baking powder end half a teaspoonful of
salt. Rub the dripping well in, until the whole of the flour is worked into
small, smooth crumbs. Mix with very little water, and roll out once only. Place
the well-stewed birds, and gravy enough to nearly cover them, in a deep
pie-dish; place round the edge a rim of pastry, cover the top with the rest, make
two holes to permit the escape of steam, and bake until the pastry is done
crisp, which will be in about twenty minutes. If you have a little bacon, you
may add it when making the pie, and hard-boiled eggs, cut in dice also. If
these instructions are carried out you will find parrot pie very good, but the
pieces must be thoroughly stewed before putting into the piedish. When the meat
parts readily from the bones it is stewed enough.
The Queenslander
(Brisbane, Qld. ) Saturday 9 July 1898.
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