Exactly as printed, 1880
Soak wheat in strong alcohol, and scatter where they are in the habit of feeding, and take them while they are drunk.
Buckeye Cookery, 1880. Public domain; transcription unaltered.
🎩 Just Plain Weird
1880
To Catch Wild Ducks or Geese Alive
Soak wheat in strong alcohol, scatter it where they feed, and collect them while drunk.
So what happens if I make it?
It works, more or less, which is the funny part. Grain-fed birds will eat it, alcohol affects them quickly, and a drunk goose is a catchable goose.
It is also illegal now, and not marginally. Baiting migratory waterfowl is prohibited under US federal law, and has been since the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Notes from the 21st century
- One sentence, no method. No quantities, no soaking time, no indication of how much wheat. It is a tip passed along rather than a receipt.
- Baiting is the specific offence. Federal regulations prohibit taking migratory birds by the aid of bait. The alcohol is beside the point legally.
- Buckeye Cookery is full of these. It bound farm and household know-how in with the recipes, so poultry-catching sits a few pages from the cake.
Also in this book
- Beef-Steak for Winter Use — Raw steaks packed dry in a jar with saltpetre and kept for weeks in the cellar, then fried as usual.
- Bite of Serpent — Apply fire to the wound, thoroughly and immediately. Then whisky, to intoxication.
- Raw Beef for Dysentery — Minced raw beef, a spoonful every four hours, for a patient with dysentery.
Don't take our word for it. The complete book is online, free and searchable.
Read the original page →More plain weirdness
To Keep Oysters Alive and Fatten
Stand the oysters in a tub “with their mouths upwards” and feed them salt water “by dipping in a broom and frequently passing over their mouths.” Add meal to fatten.
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Iffy
Housekeeping in Old Virginia · 1879
Bearnaise Sauce (invalid version)
Four tablespoons of shortening creamed into four egg yolks, with tarragon vinegar and onion juice. A béarnaise for patients, made with Crisco.
🎩 Just Plain Weird
Iffy
Modernistic Recipe-Menu Book · 1929
Good Mincemeat Without Intoxicants
Five pounds of beef, twice the apple, a quart of boiled cider and no spirits at all. The title does the framing; the canning method does the damage.
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Odd
Good Housekeeping's Cook Book · 1909