And then I sat down with my cup of hot tea (Earl Grey, lots of sugar) and began to peruse. Egads. What a terrifically dull book. And with just enough information to make you realize that the info is useless--example: if someone happens to give you a bird that they've killed, your first step is to singe off the feathers (okay, my first step might be trying to figure out how to refuse the gift to begin with, but I'm a wimp). But that's useful to know, remove the feathers by singeing them. But how on earth do you do that?!? Apparently earlier editions told you how to 'draw' (ie remove the guts) from game birds--a bit of data that might be nice to still have, given that the sections on game birds themselves remain. Oh--the bit about never rupture the gallbladder is still there, but not how to identify it, or even why exactly horror will ensue if it does rupture (it does seem that rinsing the bird off might repair any damage done, but hey, what do I know?)
And so on to the rest of the book that doesn't deal with snipe, woodcock, grouse, or squab. Snore. Absolutely dull. Too dull to imagine cooking. And, given Beard's comfort level with rare poultry, somewhat nauseating as well. Pink chicken breast? No, thank you. The man didn't like turkey, apparently, and although John Ferrone (in the introduction) thinks Beard is quite generous for including any recipes for this holiday bird, I think it would have been nicer if the couple of recipes had sounded interesting enough to cook.
All in all, a terrible disappointment from American's master chef. And I don't care that it won the RT French's Tastemaker Award. Phooey.
For information on the James Beard Foundation: http://www.jamesbeard.org/
Epicurious has elected James Beard as the first honoree in its Hall of Fame:
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