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Cooking in Paper
This delectable city chef's trick is just as well adapted to the small barbecue pit, bean hole and even to the Dutch oven, either for the lone camper cooking under an umbrella or the multitude, as is the Indian's messier, although more romantic, method of coating birds, fish, game and tame meats in clay, roasting them and then cracking off the earthen shell to get at the steaming contents.
Use any kind of stout paper, cut it in a circle or oval, depending on the shape of fish, game or meat. Oil or grease the paper on both sides-bacon fat is excellent for this, as it is for all other outdoor purposes. Lay the seasoned meat on one half of the paper with a few onion slices and fold the other half over it. Roll the two edges of paper together and flatten to a deep fold, so none of the gravy can escape. Big paper clips can be used to further secure it. Or paper bags will do nicely. The point is to seal in all the flavor and juice. If the paper begins to tender or scorch while cooking in a Dutch oven brush it with more fat and enfold in another greased sheet. The papiettes, or "little papers" as Parisian chefs call them, when opened out flat make natural plates from which to eat the contents, but be sure to have a slice of bread or toast ready to catch any gravy that might escape and thus avoid any disappointing slips.
Hunters often do rabbit in this manner and some carry folded patapar and paper clips in their pockets, accidentally on purpose. The single hunter cooks only the saddle of the animal, of course, for this, the best portion, is just about right for one person. Saddle of rabbit is greatly improved if wrapped in bacon before being enfolded in patapar or any other kind of paper.
A method rather than a fixed recipe: food sealed in greased paper and cooked in coals, a Dutch oven or a covered pit. Almost everything here still works, but the paper itself needs rethinking.
- Patapar paperPatapar was a trade name for vegetable parchment, sold in sheets for wrapping and steaming. Ordinary kitchen parchment is the direct descendant and is what to buy now.
- What not to use"Any kind of stout paper" assumes a plain, uncoated paper of the sort then sold for wrapping. Do not substitute newsprint, printed butcher paper, waxed paper or paper with a plastic coating; inks and coatings are not meant for heat or food contact. Untreated parchment or plain brown kraft only.
- Paper clipsUse plain steel clips or butcher's twine. Anything painted, plated or coated should stay out of the fire.
- The hinge: the sealThe double-rolled, flattened fold is the whole point of the technique. If steam escapes the parcel the meat roasts dry instead of steaming in its own juice, so crimp the edges tightly and keep the fold on top, away from direct heat.
- Heat levelThis wants a steady moderate heat, not flame. Rake coals to one side and set the parcel on a bed of ash or a flat rock, or bury it in a covered Dutch oven under a modest layer of coals. The text gives no temperature and does not contemplate a kitchen oven; if you use one, a moderate setting is the nearest guess.
- Doubling the wrapperThe instruction to brush with fat and add a second greased sheet when the paper begins to scorch is sound and worth doing from the start in a Dutch oven, where the paper touches metal.
- Rabbit and other wild gameThe text gives no cooking time. Wild game should reach 160F throughout; check with a thermometer rather than by the clock, since parcel size and coal heat both vary.
- YieldOne saddle serves one, as the text says. The recipe gives no other yields.