Below is the recipe I'm considering for T-day this year
instead of turkey. I wonder if I can get the bear's foot
and TJ's. It will probably be organic though. If I make
it I will leave out the mushrooms as I *hate* mushrooms! ;-)

Kate

STUFFED BEAR’S FOOT
(Töltött Mechvetalp)

1 bear’s foot
vinegar, to taste
salt, pepper, paprika, bay leaf, lemon peel, and juniper berries, to taste
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb. cooked ham
2 eggs, beaten
melted rendered lard
1/2 c. red wine

Blanch the bear’s foot with boiling water. Repeat the blanching by
dipping the foot into boiling water until the fur becomes pluckable.
With a sharp knife cut around the food and between the nails several
times to clean properly. To prepare the marinade combing the vinegar,
salt, pepper, paprika, bay leaf, lemon peel, and juniper berries in a
pot. Boil the foot in this liquid for about 1 hour. Then let foot cool
in it. Remove the foot from the marinade. Reserve the marinade. Bone
the foot and remove the nails. Combine mushrooms, ham, eggs, and salt
and pepper and stuff the foot with this mixture. Grease the foot with
melted lard, and wrap it in parchment paper. Bake in a moderately hot
oven until meat is tender. When meat is ready remove food from the
paper. Add red wine to the marinade and pout the liquid over the foot
before serving. (Töltött Mechvetalp is still such a sophisticate
hunter’s dish in the Székelys’ land that the recipe is known only by a
few individuals. Those two or three cooks who know the secret prefer to
divulge only the basics. Thus, the quantities below are approximations,
because they are based on very old descriptions of this dish.) (From
Paul Kovi’s Transylvanian Cuisine)
--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?