Fur to table: exploring small game cuisine with Baron Ambrosia
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We all know farm to table cooking. But once a year, a mysterious man named Baron Ambrosia hosts a unique dinner party that you could describe as "fur to table." Dishes on the ecclectic menu are made with small game caught in the forests of upstate New York, then served at this wild event in the Bronx. Field reporter Daniella Cheslow brings us this taste of the wild with the audio story above and the photo gallery below.
Left: At the Small Game Dinner in the Bronx, Baron Ambrosia (center) sips out of a chalice made of human skull bones brought to him by a guest. Right: New Jersey fur trapper Bill Guiles settles into a photo booth wearing a coyote pelt hat. [Photos: Daniella Cheslow]
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Clockwise from top left: Cooks roll out donut dough made with 20 percent raccoon tallow, one of dozens of dishes featuring the meat of animals caught by New Jersey fur trappers. One of the dishes on offer at the Small Game Dinner is alligator meatballs, made from the cheeks of an animal caught in Louisiana. A Guyanese cook boiled a wild bobcat into a spicy dark stew known as Pepper Pot. Diners are treated to a unique savory experience with coyote nacho dip. [Photos: Daniella Cheslow]
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Spirited spirits: Dinner guests sip a liquor made of beaver's castor gland (left) and another made with crow (right). [Photos: Daniella Cheslow]
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Left: A guest wears a whole coyote pelt as a hat. The body hangs down the back of his neck. Right: A guineau pig skull is the centerpiece of a necklace. [Photos: Ellie Tzortzi]
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