Orvis Company. - The Orvis Guide to Great Sporting Lodge Cuisine

ORVIS

Guide to Great
SPORTING LODGE
Cuisine

BY JIM LEPAGE & PAUL FERSEN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRUCE CURTIS & f-STOP FITZGERALD
Produce by BAND-F Ltd.

Compilation by Band-f Ltd. 2008. All rights reserved.
Text by Jim Lepage and Paul Fersen 2007.

Band-f Ltd. President: f-stop Fitzgerald
Development Director: Karen Jones
Production Director: Mie Kingsley
Book Design: David Perry and Jason Cring
Production: Teal Hutton and Robin Dana
Director of Photography: Bruce Curtis

Select photographs from this book are available via our websites,
www.band-f.com or www.f-stopfitzgerald.com

The Orvis name and logo are registered trademarks of The Orvis Company, and may not be reproduced without prior written consent.

Any activities described herein undertaken by the reader are undertaken solely at the readers sole risk. The publisher, packager, photographers, and authors, disclaim any and all liability from any injuries or damages therefrom.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lepage, Jim.
Orvis guide to great sporting lodge cuisine / Jim Lepage and Paul
Fersen ; photographs by Bruce Richard Curtis and F-Stop Fitzgerald.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN: 978-1-4016-0328-1
1. Cookery. 2. Cookery (Game) 3. Hunting lodges--United
States--Guidebooks. 4. Hunting lodges--Canada--Guidebooks. 5. Fishing
lodges--United States--Guidebooks. 6. Fishing
lodges--Canada--Guidebooks. I. Fersen, Paul. II. Orvis Company. III.
Title.
TX714.L4545 2008
641.691--dc22

2007047783

Printed in China

08 09 10 11 12 135 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

PREFACE
by Paul Fersen

T here are those of us consumed by what we call the sporting traditions.

For us, holding a beautifully figured walnut stock on a fine side-by-side engenders as much, if a different emotion, as holding the one we love. We cherish them both and without them our lives would be much the lesser. For us, a bamboo rod is a work of art but, when bent with the weight of a fish, a masterpiece. For us, the frozen poise of a great pointer is admirable, the courage of a magnificent retriever through frozen rivers heroic, the flight of the wild game bird and the leap of a wild rainbow heart-stopping.

They are traditions, for they have been with us for generations. Born of the necessity to provide sustenance in the primeval forest, the desire to hunt and fish has evolved from necessity to inclination, but for the true sportsman, the desire is in the experience, not the result. The passion is in finding ourselves in our quarrys environs and not in our own, for we have failed miserably there. For the true sportsman, the wilderness is life and the loss of it crushing. For the creatures we hunt, their sacrifice is further life for they feed and sustains us, but we have obligation in every death of our creation to honor them for their sacrifice and protect and preserve their habitats that they can thrive in perpetuity. This is the mission in the heart of a true sportsman.

It is the great sporting lodges that preserve these traditions. As the world grows smaller and the wilderness shrinks, the sporting lodges become more and more important in preserving these wilderness areas and the wild environs in which our beloved prey thrive. Whether finding oneself in a DeHaviland Beaver dropping into an Alaskan lake or on horseback high in the River of No Return Wilderness, there is solitude and a soulful peace that one cannot find in any other way. Watching a river full of bright spawning salmon and understanding the epic journey they have taken, the end of which you are witnessing, gives us an understanding of our true insignificance, but at the same time inspires us to be significant in trying to preserve these last great places.

The lodge experience is one of great friendship and shared passion, for those who frequent these lodges all share the belief that there is no better place one can be, and these shared passions are most frequently expressed over a magnificent meal at the end of the day. Here the adventures and wondrous experiences are shared with those who most appreciate them. Here the quarry is honored and thanked through its consumption and the great satisfaction it brings is.

This book is dedicated to the lodges that preserve these sporting traditions, these habitats, these last vestiges of the true wilderness experience, and share them with all who visit.

INTRODUCTION
by Jim Lepage

I t has been a dream of mine to see this collection of great lodge recipes in print. This book is the culmination of many rewarding years at sporting lodges and on sporting trips where everythingthe food, the wine, a long day in a field, a sunrise and sunset, and the companyall come together to form a unique and unforgettable experience at the dining table. A wonderful meal with hunting and fishing companions can salvage a tough day in the field or be the crowning touch after a particularly memorable day hunting or fishing. The Orvis brand symbolizes distinctive country living, world class customer service, and more than 150 years of sporting tradition heritage. Only the finest lodges in the country can aspire to be part of the Orvis Endorsed Lodge Program, and although the best hunting and fishing is a prerequisite, that is only the beginning. Each lodge must have the best qualified guides in the region, offer the best customer experience, be a leader in conservation, offer the pinnacle of sporting lodging and cuisine, and deliver those attributes day in, day out without fail. Annual Orvis customer surveys of each lodge are the best information the lodges can receive to maintain their quality because the Orvis customer has the final word. As Chairman Leigh Perkins once said, The customer is always right, even when you know damn well hes wrong.

Orvis Great Sporting Lodges and the Orvis Endorsed Lodge Program network is truly the best in the world, offering the best experience in hunting, fishing, and other field sports.

There are more than 80 Orvis-endorsed fly fishing and wingshooting lodges in North America, but these 41 are some of the more interesting. More than 140 recipes as unique as the lodges themselves are found in this cookbook. Each lodge supplied those recipes that have become favorites of the guests over the years. These recipes create a cookbook that is a unique culinary collection from the very best North American sporting lodges. You will find not only the finest in game recipes, but also side dishes, desserts, salads, appetizers, and other non-game entrees that will turn your dining experience into a sporting tradition.

Reading this book, you will also get to know each of these great sporting lodges, the history, and the world-class fishing or hunting they provide. To experience these lodges, Paul Fersen takes you on a journey to each lodge, creating the unique feeling that you are at the lodge, seeing what a guest would see, and feeling what is like to take part in the sporting experience the lodge has to offer. You will be able to envision what it is like to sit on the front porch of Libbys Camps (2007 Endorsed Fly Fishing Lodge of the Year) and watch the sunset deep in the north Maine woods before sitting down to enjoy the family-style food that Ellen and Jess Libby serve in their great log lodge. This is where the guests gather at the end of a days grouse hunt or a day fishing the streams and ponds for the jeweled Maine brook trout.