Cooking with the Groundhog compiled by The Adrian Hospital Auxiliary of Punxsutawney, Pa 1958
The book opens with a recipe for cooking groundhog credited to “The Seer” followed by a poem about Punxsutawney and then a short history of how the area got its names and the groundhog which predicts the weather which they call the “The Seer of Seers and Weather Prophet Extraordinary!”.
According to the book, it was a tradition in the area for this group of picnickers to look for a groundhog on when they would capture and eat him in the summer and a PA Dutch legend as a weather prophet and a newspaperman Clymer Freas gave the group the name “Groundhog Club” and made the February 2nd appearance of the groundhog a tradition for the group. They would dress up to go see if the groundhog sees his shadow and then feast on barbecued groundhog, corn-on-the-cob and beer. This is written as if the tradition was going strong in the 1950s. The Groundhog Club has members all over the world.
They describe Punxsutawney as being “three hundred miles from the Shoefly Pie and Apple pan-dowdy region of Pennsylvania and 90 miles north of cosmopolitan Pittsburgh” and as a region of “game-filled forests”.
They boast the towns cultural heritage is represented in the book by the community contributors, Bill Pratt, poet and the artists Cy Hungerford who illustrated the book and Don Rodkey who designed the cover.
They warn if you couldn’t boil water before reading the book, you won’t be able to boil water afterward but you might be able to turn out a “creditable Pineapple Alaska” among other dishes.
There is quite a variety of dishes here! Everything from Pearl Chang Chong (Kamuela, Hawaii)’s Shrimp Tempura to Miguel Gamboa (Mexico City)’s Chicken Mole and Mrs. Jane McLeavy’s Toasted Spice Cake. I got the impression that if they weren’t credited with a location, they were Punxsutawney locals.
The recipes were mostly of the “from scratch” variety, not a ton of convenience foods but I did spy one unexpected ingredient in this Navy Bean Soup contributed by Frank Bailey.
Most of the recipes were on what I’d consider the high end, expensive ingredients and elaborate recipes. There was a surprising number of recipes for sweetbreads and pheasants.
And I think I might have an…autographed copy??
