Cat food, in a Snap.

Remember the Snapper I skinned for a project and made a stew with the other week? I had the head and other parts left over so I thought I'd try my hand at making fish stock.  With some gentle guidance from my husband I threw together a pot of stock-making ingredients:



Fish parts, old carrot, old onion, wilted dill and other miscellaneous aging produce all in a pot:







 



After browning it all, I added water:







 



I then let it simmer until about half of the water had evaporated, and then strained it into the crock pot:







 



Next came the chicken legs into the stock which I cooked until the meat just slid off the bones:







 



After the soupy mix had cooled enough, I added a combo of short grain wild rice, sushi rice, and mashed peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes.  Voila!







 



Despite the unattractive gruel-like appearance, it's packed full of all the nutrients and tastes that kitties love, and we're saving a boatload on cat food.  Happy customers include Francis, my studio buddy:







 



Aaaaand Opal, resident diva.  My apologies for the blurry shots; these two gobble so fast it's hard to get a good picture.

Put up your Dukes!

I was recently commissioned by a local Academy student to create a squirrel in a boxing pose-high chamber, I reckon it's called- to be employed as a reference for a series of paintings he wanted to create.  I sourced a nice specimen from storage and got to work, quite enthused.  While I am happy as a clam to be doing any type of taxidermy at all; it's these unusual requests the really float my boat.  The squirrel form required some altering of the arms to present the correct posture, but the rest of the job was pretty cut and dry.    Nature didn't bless my little friend with the best tail in the world, but nimble fingers and glue can work wonders.







The front paws are set to resemble curled fists; I believe the client is creating a pair of miniature boxing gloves to be donned at a later date.

Snapper's Delight

I'm working on a couple of pieces for an upcoming taxidermy competition, one of which involves a fish.  Any excuse to buy a decent snapper, right?  I was excited to sweep this beauty up at the local fine foodery; the fish monger seemed perplexed that I didn't want him to fillet it or anything but I like to think that gives me some foodie cred.







The skinning was a snap;  I packed up the dermis in the freezer to use later and got to work on creating a snapper stew.  The meat was cut into small chunks and I saved the head and bones to use in a fish stock later.  As for the stew, it was probably simplest meal I've made while still being palatable ( I don't have the best track record in the kitchen).  In fact, it was a hit!  I cannot sing the praises of my crock pot enough.



Snapper Stew:



1 1/2 pound red snapper fillets -- cut in 2" pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic -- minced

1 large onion -- sliced

1 green pepper -- cut in 1" pieces

1 zucchini squash -- unpeeled & sliced

15 ounces whole tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon leaf basil

1/2 teaspoon leaf oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup fresh mushrooms -- optional



Literally throw it all in the pot and keep it on low setting for six hours.







Then serve to friends and dazzle them with your culinary prowess!  I wanted to get some feasting shots but the stew was gobbled up too fast!

Squab, anyone?

I recently obtained a pigeon to complete a custom order for a client who dreamed up an angel-like tree topper for the upcoming holiday season.  I'm just about finished that piece but in the meantime here is what I did with the pigeon squab meat:

Potrawka Z Golebi (Polish Squab)  Pigeons Butter 3 Onions 1 c Meat stock 2 Tart apples 3 Mushrooms 1 Lemon; juice of 1 sm Glass of Madeira wine 1 tb Butter 1 tb Flour 1 c Sour cream Quarter the pigeons; Saute in butter for 15 minutes. Remove from butter and slice three onions into pan.  Fry onions until done. Add meat stock, sliced apples, mushrooms, and lemon juice. Mix well and bring to boiling point. Add wine. In another pan, brown flour in butter and thicken the mixture. Dip pigeons in sour cream, return to mixture and cook until tender.

Quite delicious, and nutritious!

Bunny Cheese

I recently received a fresh baby bunny from a friend.  Apparently her pet rabbit's litter was naturally thinning itself out,  or her cat snuck into the nursery.  Either one.  Regardless, look how cute!







Needless  to say, my friend was crest fallen.  She just wanted me to take the specimen off her hands.  I couldn't stop marveling at how adorable this little guy was.  I've only seen creatures this sweet in Disney movies.







I hope I can do him justice in the final mounting stage.  Such petite faces are still a challenge for me, especially when I'm trying to capture just how precious it is.  I'm still not entirely sure what type of mount this will become but it has to be very very special.



Skinning him was delicate, as expected, and I accidentally punctured the dermis several time due to man handling. It's nothing I can't sew up but what really threw a wrench in the gears was this little guy's stomach and its contents.  I always try not to cut through the skin and into the guts because it's never a non-mesy affair, but sometimes the skin is so thin I can't help it.  Plus, the bunny's belly was bloated and kind of in the way.  As I worked the skin off the side, the pressure forced some of the contents of the stomach out and I almost dry heaved.



It looked like ricotta cheese:



* not actual contents because I was too grossed out to think of getting a shot.  But it looked JUST LIKE THIS.



The stomach puncture was like an exploding zit and there seemed to be no way of avoiding all the white puss splooging out onto my work table.  The amount of it was shocking to me and I squealed as I wiped it up with towel after towel.  Shortly though, I noticed that there was no odor.  If this were some sort of massive infection; the equivalent of a zit or cyst (full of dead white blood cells), then it would've stunk like halitosis.  Or like death, at the very least.  However, there was no such scent.  I calmed down a bit and allowed my nose to take in some of it.



Ricotta.  It actually smelled like ricotta cheese. How bizarre  But then I thought about it- it was a baby, the stomach likely full of mother's milk (quite full, I might add, that this little piggy was a piggy) and had maybe somehow curdled during digestion.  Out of curiousity I looked up ricotta cheese and how to make it online.  Sure enough, many cheeses are made with a complex of enzymes known as Rennet which is found in the stomachs of calves.  According to Wikipedia:



Rennet (pronounced /ˈrɛnɪt/) is usually a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk, and is often used in the production of cheese. Rennet contains many enzymes, including a proteolytic enzyme (protease) that coagulates the milk, causing it to separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). The active enzyme in rennet is called chymosin or rennin (EC 3.4.23.4) but there are also other important enzymes in it, e.g., pepsin or lipase. There are non-animal sources for rennet that are suitable for vegetarian consumption.



Fear not, vegetarians!  Mass produced cheese is made from alternate methods these days  and the only folks still using sheep and cow stomach are for the most part artisan cheese makers in Europe.  Also, I don't think cheese was ever made inside of the animal's stomach as the method described in the Wiki article states that stomaches were cut up and soaked in a brine of sorts, with the raw milk.



Hmmm.  If I'd had my wits about me I would've saved it and tasted the first ever sample of in-stomach-curdled-rabbit-ricotta!



Or at least fed some to my cats.