The Beast Feast

Plus a Governor's Strawberry Pie Recipe (no beasts)

“What is the weirdest thing you’ve eaten?”

One of my favorite questions posed by a student at a recent presentation I gave last week on how to use a liberal arts education to find a job you love (spoiler: I didn’t find it; I made it up).

After recalling a few Cookin’ with Congress creations (Ham Mousse, Frozen Salad), I opened up and shared that I’d actually eaten a lot of strange food prior to this series. Growing up in rural and suburban Pittsburgh (my dad was the one who really grew up in rural Pittsburgh and brought it with him), I was exposed to a litany of what people might consider…off-the-beaten-path kinds of meats.

I took a poll of the room. Had anyone tried squirrel? About 25%. How about dove? 10% How about raccoon? One person. Possum? Fox? Bear? Beaver (easy now…)? This was in the rural red heart of Pennsylvania, too. I’ve been able to eat so many strange meats because my dad was (and is) a primitive bowhunter. He makes his own long bows, arrows, quivers, etc. and uses these handcrafted works of art to “fill the freezer.”

Deer was of course on the menu for many years (elk, moose, etc.), but the trapper connections he made also landed us with a variety of meat you can’t find from a store. That variety eventually culminated in an annual tradition at my parents’ house: The Beast Feast, a cornucopia of every meat I’ve already listed plus rattlesnake, pike and anything else my dad could get his hands on. He’d grill and stew and sauté them up (with lots of help from the rest of my family) for a big crowd of 20-30 people in what had to be the strangest and most delicious party most of them had ever been to.

Dining on fried squirrel and BBQ raccoon burgers gave me an adventurous palate, and I’m guessing that plays a role in why I’m able to eat frozen mayonnaise with ease — or at least, without fear.

I would LOVE to know if you’ve eaten any of these meats (and beyond), so let me hear ‘em. But if I’m walking the weird meat path alone, so be it.

It’s been an exciting, busy week of travel for Cookin’ with Congress, and I’ve been wanting to share some good recipes with you for a while now — recipes that don’t fit the general nature of this project, which is mainly focused on the inhumane culinary atrocities committed by politicians. Hey, that’s my fun.

But I have to be transparent: midcentury congresspeople had really, really good pie recipes. It’s one area in which 99% of the recipes look killer. So while I settle back into the LA rhythm and start whipping up Hobo Bread and eating like Ronald Reagan for a day, I’m leaving you with an unearthed strawberry pie recipe from Louisiana Governor David Treen:

Louisiana Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 nine-inch pie shell, pre-baked

1 quart fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

3/4 cup water

3 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup whipping cream

Line baked pie shell with fresh strawberries, reserving about 1 cup for glaze. Simmer the 1 cup and 3/4 cup water for 3-4 minutes. Combine cornstarch and sugar; add this and lemon juice to simmered berries. Cook until thickened and clear. Pour over berries in pie shell and chill in refrigerator. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Lastly, here’s what you missed in September in case you’re not on TikTok or Instagram:

• Former Seattle Seahawk and failed gubernatorial candidate Steve Largent’s Salmon Cheese Ball

• Rep. Erlan Hedrick’s Frozen Salad, one of the roughest things I’ve ever eaten on here

• Eating like George H.W. Bush for a day (aka Skin Man of the Year)

• Ambassador Max Taylor’s 10-Minute Mock Pizza (everyone has a version of this, right?)

• Rep. Mike Feighan’s Tuna Loaf (better than Chicken Loaf from August)

• Eating like embroiled NYC Mayor Eric Adams for an entire day (vegan-not-vegan)

Frozen Salad…yes those are cottage cheese curds.

And hey shoutout to my mom, who does not have TikTok, but goes to tiktok.com/@cookinwithcongress on her web browser to check these all out, which is both funny and sweet.

Have a great, weird week,

Bennett