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Show COOKING A HEDGEHOG. Bake It In Clay Into a Solid Mass and Carve It With an Ax. When n Maine Indian has tho choice of a hedgehog, n skunk, a woodchuck nnd n muskrat for dinner ho will so-lect so-lect tho first named Invariably nud take the skunk as second choice, leaving leav-ing tho woodchuck. which Is tho only . ono of the lot a Mnlne white man will taste, to tho last. Unlike the skuuk : nnd tho woodchuck, which nre loan and unsavory except for a fow months , In tho fall, or the muskrat, which Is I nover fat and which has n strong . flavor In splto of parboiling, Hie hedge hog Is always In edible condition and has meat that Is as tender nnd white as that of n spring chlckuu. j Tho method of cooking n hedgehog Is so slinplo that n novlco enn learn In ono short lesson. When tho epicure Is permitted to make a choice he should ' shun tho largo old males, which nt j times weigh thirty or forty pounds. I Tho preparation consists In romovlng tho viscera, washing out tho Interior and tilling the cavity with slices of I fat pork, peeled raw potatoes, sprigs of spearmint and wild celery from tho brook. Then, without removing tho quills or skinning, tho body Is plastered thickly with wet clay from tho nearest bank. Tho muddy, bulky mass Is thrust Into ' live coals nnd covered with blazing I fagots to bo toasted for two hours. j On removal from thu coals, tho clay , Is found to Imvo boon baked Into n hard and solid mnss. which must bo brokon open with nn ax or a heavy stone, whereupon tho skin and quills of tho nnlmnl cling to tho ciny wrapping wrap-ping and fall away, leaving tho clean whlto meat ready to be eaten. New York Herald, |