Text 13001, 71 rader
Skriven 2011-07-04 09:20:24 av Michael Loo (1:18/200)
     Kommentar till en text av Jim Weller
Ärende: foreign habits 552
==========================
 JW> I've learned enough to satisfy me and I'm moving on to the next
 JW> country on my list.

Liberia?

 ML> The term seafood has taken on non-sea food meanings over the
 ML> years
 JW> I dislike such sloppy use of words.

Indeed. Except that the word "sea" or its equivalent has
periodically been used to refer to bays, rivers, and lakes;
perhaps in the same way that "rat" has been used to refer
to muskrat.

 ML> Catholics who defined such nonfish things as
 ML> ducks and capybaras as fish for the purpose of
 ML> conforming to the Lenten dietary requirements.
 JW> A bishop in Detroit allegedly did the same a long time ago with
 JW> muskrats.

Apparently not, according to Catholic Online; but in Michigan
muskrat was allowed under a different reasoning: 

 The late Bishop Kenneth Povish of Lansing wrote 
 in a 1987 column in The Michigan Catholic, 
 Detroit archdiocesan newspaper, that "no 
 (formal) dispensation was ever given to allow 
 Catholics to eat muskrat on Fridays."

 He referred to what he called the "Great 
 Interdiocesan Doctrinal Debate" of 1956, during 
 which he determined that although muskrat is a 
 warm-blooded mammal and technically flesh, the 
 custom had been so long held along Michigan's 
 rivers and marshes that it was "immemorial 
 custom," thus allowed under church law.

 For the record, Bishop Povish didn't much care 
 for muskrat as a meal. He wrote that "anyone who 
 could eat muskrat was doing penance worthy of the 
 greatest of the saints." 

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=23328

Muskrat stew
cat: game, main
servings: 4 to 6

1 md muskrat, about 3 lb, dressed
salted water
4 oz salt pork
2 c water
4 potatoes
s, p

When dressing the muskrat, one must be very careful
not to burst the musk bag. All fat must be cut off,
particularly under the front and back legs. Cut up
(as for chicken stew), soak overnight. Wash well
the next morning, parboil, wash again. Try out in
an iron kettle 4 pieces of fat salt pork, sear the
muskrat, put in 2 c water and cook slowly for 1/2 hr.
Peel about 4 good-sized potatoes and cut in half,
place on top and season with salt and pepper.
When potatoes are almost done, remove lid until
all liquid is evaporated. Serve hot.

Imogene Wolcott, The Yankee Cookbook
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Telegard/2/QWK v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
 * Origin: Paragon BBS - 423.434.0851 - paragon.darktech.org (1:18/200)