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startersCooking for Today offers the chance to prepare, cook and taste unique combinations of ingredients to create surprisingly simple dishes.

Perhaps you have something specialto celebrate or just a cosy evening in.For those days when you want to try something light and healthy, or need inspiration for something equallysimple, but more substantial.

A collection of dishes, which are nothing short of perfection for your palatte.

cont

ents 6 Jellied Moose Nose

8 Stuffed Blossoms 10 Cow Udder Eclairs 12 Fried Bugs 14 Slug Fritters 16 Crudités with Vomit 18 Pickled Pig Ears 20 Turtle Soup 22 Fruit Bat Soup 24 Locust Bisque

2 hours prep.

serves 8

2 hours cooking

Page 6

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1 Jawbone of a Moose1 Onion; sliced1 Garlic clove1tb Mixed pickling spice1tsp Salt½tsp Pepper¼c Vinegar

Jellied Moose Nose

1 Cut the upper jaw bone of the moosejust below the eyes. 2 Boil for 45 minutes. 3 Remove and chill in cold water. 4 Pull out all the hairs (like plucking a duck). 5 Wash thoroughly until no hairs remain. 6 Place the nose in a kettle and coverwith fresh water. 7 Add onion, garlic, spices and vinegar. 8 Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the meatis tender. 9 When cool, discard the bones. You will have two kinds of meat, white meat from the bulb of the nose, and thin stripsof dark meat from along the bones. 10 Slice the meat thinly and alternate layers of white and dark meat in a loafpan. 11 Reheat the broth to boiling, then pour the broth over the meat in the loaf pan. 12 Let cool until jelly has set. Sliceand serve cold.

30 minutes prep.

serves 6 Page 8

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24 Pesticide-free nasturtiums¼c Cream cheese24 Capers¼c Pesto

Stuffed Blossoms

1 Place nasturtiums on a tray or large platter. 2 With butter knife, press about½ teaspoon cream cheese into centerof each nasturtium. 3 Pat capers dryon paper towels. Push a caper into thecenter of the cream cheese in each flower. 4 Dress with pesto. 5 Serve stuffed nasturtiums immediately or refrigerateuntil ready to serve.

2 hours prep.

serves 12

30 minutes cooking

Page 10

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12 fresh lean cow udders1pt whipping cream1c brown sugar1c artichoke hearts1 stick butter1 small filleted smelt1 Nair

Cow Udder Eclairs

1 Soak the cow udders in Nair to remove the hair. Repeat several times if necessary until all hair is removed. Rinse in warm water. 2 Place a stick of butter into awarm frying pan. Wait until all of the butter has melted, then add the cow udders.Fry them for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 3 Chop the artichoke hearts and smelt on a cutting board into fine pieces. 4 In a large bowl, add the whipping cream, brown sugar and the chopped artichokes and smelt. 5 With a mixer on low, whip until creamy with a consistency like vanilla pudding. 6 Remove the udders from the pan and make a long slice down the side of each udder. 7 Spread the pudding mixture into each slit. 8 Serve warm or coldand have an “Udderly Wonderful” snack.

2 hours prep.

serves 4

30 minutes cooking

Page 12

Ants— 1 Heat a pan and fry the ants dry. They produce a lot of oil from their bodies. 2 Remove them from the pan, and dry in the sun or a low oven. 3 Remove the wings by winnowing or picking them out and store until ready to eat.

Bee Larvae — 1 Remove the bee hive ornest from the tree and boil it. 2 Remove larvae from the comb and dry them. 3 Fry them with a little salt and eat.No oil is required for frying.

Bush Crickets— 1 Remove the wings and the horned part of the legs. 2 Boil themfor 5 minutes and then dry in the sunor at a low temperature in the oven. 3 Winnow away the wings if any remainby tossing them gently into the air, allowing the wings to blow away. 4 Fry in a pan with salt. These may need a touch of added fat to fry or roast.

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Fried Bugs

30 minutes prep.

serves 4

20 minutes cooking

Page 14

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10 fresh slugs½c cornmeal½c high protein flour3 eggs2 egg yolks¼c heavy cream4tbs butter4tsp sour cream

Slug Fritters

1 First chop the slugs into fine mince. 2 Beat the eggs and egg yolks with the heavy cream together. 3 Sift the dry ingredients and then cut 2 tbs of butterinto that mixture. 4 Add the egg and cream mixture to the dry ingredientsand whip with a whisk vigorously for oneto two minutes. 5 Melt one tbs of butterin a sauté pan and pure the batter into21/2 inch cakes in two batches. 6 Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream.

45 minutes prep.

serves 6 Page 16

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Cherry tomatoes Carrots Zucchini Celery stalks Radishes Mushrooms 2c Cottage cheese 1 Onion soup mix ¼c Milk Yellow food colouring

Crudités with Vomit

1 Rinse the vegetables in warm water, except the mushrooms. Wipe those gently with a damp paper towel. 2 Slice the carrots, zucchini and celery into thinsticks. 3 The cherry tomatoes can be served whole, but you may want toremove any green stems. 4 The radishes and mushrooms can be halved or served whole. 5 In a small bowl, mix the cottage cheese, onion soup mix and milk. 6 Stirin some food coloring until you get the desired yellowish color. 7 Do not overmix! Lumpy is more realistic! 8 Arrange your vegetables on a platter surrounding the Vomit Vinaigrette.

1 hour prep.

serves 8

4 hours cooking

Page 18

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4qt Water1tb Alum2c Distilled white vinegar2c Granulated sugar1ts Salt2lb Pigs’ ears

Pickled Pig Ears

1 Boil 2 quarts of the water with the alum for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. 2 Boil the vinegar with the sugar and salt for a few minutes, or until the sugar is completely dissolved. 3 Remove from the heat and cool. 4 Boil the remaining 2 quarts water and drop in the pigs’ ears. 5 Boil for 20 minutes. 6 Remove the pigs’ ears and cut them into lengthwise slices 1/4 inch wide. 7 After the sliced pigs’ ears have cooled, return them to the alum water to soak for 2 hours, then drain and rinse under cold water. 9 Dry lightly. Place the pigs’ ears in a jar, pressing them down. 9 Pour in enough cooled vinegar mixtureto completely cover the contents of the jar.

1 hour prep.

serves 4

1 hour cooking

Page 20

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1 Snapping Turtle2tsp Ground Ginger1 Onion Salt & Pepper

Turtle Soup

1 To butcher a turtle you start by chopping off the turtle’s head. Be careful becausethe head will still bite even after it is removed from the body and the body will still crawl away after the head is removed. Turtles don’t die right away. 2 When the body stops trying to crawl away, dip it in boiling water and scrape off the exterior layerof skin, including the shell. 3 Removethe shell. Cut along grove on each side between the front and back legs. It is the narrowest part of the shell. The tail, neck and all four legs are attached to the top of the shell. Remove from shell and you have the bulk of the meat. However, there will be some meat on the bottom shell and top shell. 5 It is at this point that you remove the fat. Just roll back the skin and with a paring knife and your index finger scrape out the fat. 6 Just cook it long with lots of vegetables and it will be good if you removed all of the fat.

20 minutes prep.

serves 4

1 hour cooking

Page 22

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3 Fruit bats Water1tb Finely sliced fresh ginger,1lg Onion Sea salt to taste Chopped scallions Soy sauce

Fruit Bat Soup

1 Place the bats in a large kettle and add water to cover, the ginger, onion, and salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 40 minutes. Strain broth into a second kettle. 2 Take the bats, skin them and discard the skin. Remove meat from the bones and return meat, and any of the viscera you fancy, to the broth. Heat. 3 Serve liberally sprinkled with scallions and further seasoned withsoy sauce and/or coconut cream.

15 minutes prep.

serves 6

3½ hours cooking

Page 24

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1 gallon locust shells 2 onions, roughly chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 celery stalk 2 carrots ½tsp powdered mace salt and pepper to taste 1c whipping cream

Locust Bisque

1 Put all ingredients except whipping cream into a large stew pot, and fill with water. 2 Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 hours. 3 Process in blender or food processor in batches, and strain before returning to clean pot. 4 Add whipping cream, being sure not to allow it to boil. 5 Serve with animal crackers.

colo

phon 28pp

74 × 120mm

Graphic Design by Aaron Skipperwww.aaronskipper.co.uk

Illustration by Alice Vinewww.alicevine.co.uk

Set in the following typefaces:Adobe Caslon RegularLL Brown Regular

Other titles in this series:Tastes of Today —DrinkTastes of Today —MainsTastes of Today —Desserts