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Pörkölt
Pörkölt simply means "scorched" and it's one of the niftiest ways to dispose of three or four pounds of the kill, be it wild goose, duck, deer, turkey, rabbit or plover. Fry half a dozen onions golden brown in lard sizzling hot, stir in a tablespoonful of paprika and the meat seasoned with salt, cut into mouth-size cubes. The amount of lard depends on the leanness of the meat and it must stew slowly in very little liquid. When half finished pour in a can of tomatoes and a couple of green peppers, sliced. Stew till tender and eat with sour dough biscuits, spuds in their robes de chambre and dill pickles.
Game can be cooked in a spick and span tiled kitchen of course and even exceptionally by some women (who usually are good shots as well); but both home kitchen and the average housewife who inhabits it are better suited to domestic fowl and pet Belgian hares. It's a man's job if there ever was one, and a log cabin's the logical place for it, or better still, a grill out in the open, with plenty of hickory on hand. There you can make a whopping wooden platter mixed grill with a will; using your rabbit, quail, venison, squirrels, in fact anything you've got in the bag-except hell-diver and prairie dog. While the cutlets, breasts, filets, tidbits and giblets are grilling or roasting just toss up a panful of bacon and French fried. Saw a hearty round off a handy hardwood stump, heat it, pile up the murphies and bacon in the center, lay the "scorched" meat all around, remember fingers were made before forks, and have some gherkins concealed in the palm of your hand, a head of celery, salt and pepper hard by to pep up the feast. And drink with it whatever you don't get enough of at home.
A camp version of Hungarian pörkölt, written for whatever came out of the game bag. The method is sound; the quantities are left to judgment, and a few of the named birds can no longer legally go into the pot.
- Paprika off the heatThis is the hinge. Paprika burns and turns bitter within seconds in sizzling lard, and the dish is named for scorching the meat, not the spice. Pull the pan off the fire, stir the tablespoon of paprika into the softened onions, then return it to the heat and add the meat.
- Onions are the sauceHalf a dozen onions to three or four pounds of meat looks excessive but is correct for pörkölt: there is no flour or stock, and the onions collapse into the body of the gravy. Cook them slowly to deep gold rather than browning them fast.
- "Very little liquid"Add none at all at the start. The onions and meat give up enough moisture if the pot is covered and kept at a bare simmer; splash in a few tablespoons of water only if it threatens to catch. Three or four pounds of cubed game wants roughly 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- A can of tomatoesCan sizes varied; use one standard tin today. Add it at the halfway mark as directed, not earlier, since the acid slows the meat from tenderizing.
- Lard, and how muchJudge by the meat: venison, rabbit and wild waterfowl breast are very lean and want a generous 4 to 6 tablespoons, while a fat goose needs barely enough to start the onions. Any neutral fat or bacon drippings substitutes.
- Wild game temperatureWild birds should reach 165F throughout and rabbit at least 160F; stewing to tender will take them well past it. Venison in a long-simmered pörkölt is likewise cooked through, not pink.
- Protected speciesPlover are migratory shorebirds and cannot legally be taken or eaten in the United States; the same protection covers grebes, the "hell-diver" the author himself rules out. Build this from deer, rabbit, squirrel, quail, or legally taken duck and goose in season.
- The camp vocabulary"Spuds in their robes de chambre" and "murphies" are both potatoes cooked in their skins. "French fried" here means fried potatoes, cooked alongside the bacon in its fat.
- YieldThree to four pounds of boneless game feeds six to eight with potatoes and biscuits.