Meals to remember.

[30-30remchester]

I gotta ask, 30-30. Did you just wake up one day and say, "Well, I guess I'll eat a coyote today and wash it down with beer coffee! I mean, why the heck not, right?!"

Or, is there a reason for the unusual meal and drink choices?

You asked the same question my wife asked.

I was working north of Newport, Washington. Night shift on a drill rig. Getting off at 4 AM. Driving home in the dark, I saw a coyote leaving a farmer's barn on several occasions. He had already given me permission to shoot every coyote I saw. Finally, the coyote dottled too long. Noticed that it had an apricot in its mouth. Checking the barn, it was full of freshly harvested apricots. I have read a story about starving Native Americans eating coyotes. If I was ever going to try a coyote, one that has been snacking on fruit was a big selling point. While cooking the coyote I remember a friend had beer-coffee and why not do it all at once.

This was the same time of my life that I thought it would be exciting to crawl into a bear's den with a wounded bear inside.

No need to ask the next uncomfortable question on your mind. Seeing how I live at higher elevations, oxygen to the brain, or lack of it, is a constant concern.

 

[Chukar60]

Some years back I had a crew of bird hunters from Texas coming to the ranch for a 3 day hunt.
Fifteen minutes before I was to head to the ranch I got a call from the cook. She told me there was a family emergency and she would not be able to cook dinner that night.
Fortunately I had bought a whole beef and put it in the freezers the week prior. Grabbed 5 ribeye steaks and a bag of spuds, some onions and salad out of my fridge and hit the road.
I made it there about 20 minutes before the hunters arrived. Naturally they are all starving. Went out to start the charcoal grill and found out we were out of charcoal. Desperate for fuel I went to a dead cherry tree that was at the edge of the yard and cut enough wood from it to form a good bed of coals then tossed a good sized chink of cherry wood on the coals for smoke and threw the steaks on.
Made mashed potatoes with minced onion. Secret here is to put the onions in while you are mashing the spuds. Then made a quick green salad.
The steaks turned out perfect and the hunters claimed they were one of the best steaks they have ever had.
I have tried many times to replicate those steaks and have never been able to get it quite the same.
They turned out to be one of the best groups I have ever guided. Learned all sorts of Texas terms like Texas skillet shot and liar's fire.

 

[Onomea]

You asked the same question my wife asked.

I was working north of Newport, Washington. Night shift on a drill rig. Getting off at 4 AM. Driving home in the dark, I saw a coyote leaving a farmer's barn on several occasions. He had already given me permission to shoot every coyote I saw. Finally, the coyote dottled too long. Noticed that it had an apricot in its mouth. Checking the barn, it was full of freshly harvested apricots. I have read a story about starving Native Americans eating coyotes. If I was ever going to try a coyote, one that has been snacking on fruit was a big selling point. While cooking the coyote I remember a friend had beer-coffee and why not do it all at once.

Thanks, 30-30, for the explanation.

Thinking on it, Koreans like to eat dogs, and I believe some folks in China/Taiwan do, too. I once listened as two colleagues of mine, one a Korean and the other Taiwanese Chinese argued whether brown colored dogs or white colored dogs were tastier. (They may have been puttin' me on, but, who knows?)

And a Thai guy I worked with in another job a long time ago told me of how he and his buddy would take foreigners out hunting in Thailand and if they were unsuccessful, would leave the foreigners at the campfire, visit a nearby temple, pick up a couple of stray dogs for dinner, and back at the campfire deny they knew the English name for the tasty dinner meat.

And my oldest friend, a Japanese guy, told me how as a little kid after the war in bombed flat Tokyo, he and his buddies were so hungry that they killed a dog and ate it.

So I think if starving, like in your example of native Americans, a coyote would go down okay, but otherwise you need to have one helluva cook on hand!

 

[quikdraw67]

The most memorable meal I had recently wasn't about the food, but the friendship.

My best friend and I would meet about every other month to eat wings, drink beer, and solve the world's problems on a barstool.

We were doing this for well over a decade, and then Covid hit. We didn't see each other for well over a year. We did call each other though to keep in touch.

The 1st weekend after Labor Day of this year he called and invited us to his house for a cook out.

Nothing special food wise. Burgers, hot dogs, salads etc.

But it was so nice to see my friend and his family after so long.

So that will always be a pleasant memory.

 

[Golddollar]

I grew up where beans on toast was standard fare. My mom still has it once in a while just for the nostalgia.

My late mother made a variation of this. She would use Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup out of the can as a sandwich spread. It's pretty good and I still make it for myself.

 

[JohnRippert]

The first time I invited my parents over to my apartment for Thanksgiving instead of the other way around.

 

[soFlaNative]

Early 70's about eight of us and a couple dads from the Boy Scout troop did five days on a GA / NC stretch of the Appalachian Trail with whatever we could carry on our backs. Some days were tougher than others but it was always a relief to pitch camp somewhere near a water source for boiling up our freeze dried whatever on the Bleuet stoves.
The one reconstituted meal I recall included shrimp cocktail that had to have been made from harvested Sea Monkeys and ice cream.