Conservation Corner: December 10, 2001

New Cookbook In Perfect Time For Christmas
by James L. Cummins

For many families, particularly in the South, and especially in Mississippi, hunting isn't just a way of life; it's a way of living. We take game to feed our families and to manage wildlife populations. And when preparing the game we have gathered, we want to be sure it tastes its best.

A new book, "Duck Gumbo to Barbecued Coon," by Keith and Theresa Sutton, was written with that in mind. This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever seen.

This 160-page cookbook contains a wonderful blend of old and new - "old" in the sense that many of its recipes are derived from Southern favorites; but "new," as well, because the Suttons also include never-before-seen specialties developed while cooking game for their own family table.

Each recipe has simple, step-by-step directions that will make you look like a gourmet chef (with the exception of Nick Apostle), no matter what your experience. And you won't need exotic, hard-to-find ingredients to prepare these dishes - from deer, turkey, rabbit, dove, quail, duck, goose and squirrel to beaver, raccoon, woodcock, wild hog, rail, moorhen, gallinule, snipe, muskrat, crow and possum. If it has fur or feathers, and you can hunt it in the South, you'll find a way to cook it in "Duck Gumbo to Barbecued Coon."

The names of the recipes (235 in all) will make your mouth water: Venison Steak with Blackberry Brandy Sauce, Apricot-Pineapple Doves, Maple Pecan Mallard, Specklebelly Goose with Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing, Buttermilk Baked Bobwhites, Oven Fried Rabbit with Cream Gravy, Squirrel Jambalaya and many more.

A delightful addition, and my favorite is the quotes by noted cooks and cookbook writers. For example, it includes quotes like this one from Charles Noland: "If I ever starve to death, I hope it will be on broiled partridges."

Keith's recipes have been featured in more than a dozen game and fish cookbooks. He also writes on game and fish cookery in each issue of Arkansas Wildlife, the conservation magazine of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission where he has served as editor since 1993.

His wonderful wife, Theresa, is an accomplished cook, writer and photographer. Her works have appeared in Progressive Farmer, The Rural Sportsman, Arkansas Wildlife, Crappie World, Southern Outdoors, BackHome, Mid-South Hunting & Fishing News, plus several books.

"Duck Gumbo to Barbecued Coon" (ISBN 0-9713922-0-X) can be purchased for $15.95 plus $2 shipping for each book. (Arkansas residents please add sales tax.) Send a check or money order to C & C Outdoor Productions, 15601 Mountain Dr., Alexander, AR 72002, or visit their website at www.ccoutdoors.com. Its a perfect Christmas gift.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi.