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A T THE Anteater’s luncheon yesterday, 
Dr. William Mann, Washington Zoo di¬ 
rector^ introduced his guest, James M. Cain 
(right) to the pleasures of wild duck eating. 
Seated at the left is Mrs. Mann. Mr. Cain, 
Anteaters’ Feast at Zoo 
By Arthur Ellis—The Washington Post 
author of “The Postman Always Rings Twice ” 
and other novels, visited Dr. Mann to get some 
information on tiger cats to use in a forth - 
coming story 
9 
Gourmets Enjoy Unusual Game 
By Lucia Brown 
WILD DUCK, stuffed with wild 
rice and basted with orange 
juice, was the star of the occasion 
yesterday when Anteaters gathered 
by the hundreds at the Washington 
Zoo. 
Thus did the Anteaters—-two leg¬ 
ged type—launch a series of five 
wild game luncheons to be held 
during the fall season at the Zoo 
restaurant. Next week, they’ll eat 
buffalo, and after that, bear, pheas¬ 
ant and venison, in the order 
named. 
The Anteaters’ Association, 
which includes many a prominent 
Washingtonian, is a club devoted 
solely to enjoying the fruits of 
rod and gun and congenial com- 
pany. It was given its name, in¬ 
cidentally, by Dr. William Mann, 
Zoo director, whose predilection 
for ants is also shown in the title 
of his book, “Ant Hill Odyssey.^ 
Formed four years ago, the*cmb 
boasts no officers, no dues and no 
programs. And though its menus 
have included such strange things 
as green turtle steaks from the 
Caribbean, sturgeon and reindeer, 
it never had any wild ducks until 
yesterday’s luncheon. 
To find out just how you’d go 
about preparing a duck feast for 
some 500 game gourmets, we paid 
a visit to the Zoo kitchen at an 
early hour, Tuesday. The place 
was literally covered with wild 
ducks—240 of them shipped in 
frozen from the North country— 
in various stages of baking and 
in the midst of it all was Gordon 
Leech, proprietor of the Zoo res¬ 
taurant. 
“It took eight men three days 
to pick this flock,” said Mr. Leech, 
as we sniffed the mouth-watering 
aroma of onions and herbs and 
roasting fowl. Besides being 
plucked, he added, thqy had to be 
“paraffined” before serving. 
Job of Plucking 
^Y^U melt a cake of paraffin 
in a couple of quarts of boil¬ 
ing water,” he explained, “then 
take it from the fire and dip the 
ducks in the solution. The par¬ 
affin, which has gathered on top, 
gathers on the ducks. When it 
cools, you pull it off along with all 
the pin feathers” and incidental 
1 
fuzz. 
In cleaning and preparing wild 
duck, it’s very important not to 
douse them with a lot of water, 
said Mr. Leech. Just wipe them 
off with a damp cloth before stuff¬ 
ing. The dressing yesterday was 
made with cooked wild rice, 
chopped parsley, onion, celery, 
bread crumbs, poultry seasoning, 
salt and pepper. 
Ducks were baked with such 
raw vegetables as turnips, celery, 
and onions in the pan with them, 
and every five minutes or so, they 
were basted with fresh orange 
juice. Drippings left in the pan 
were used as a base for gravy. 
“We roasted our ducks about an 
hour, though a lot of epicures be¬ 
lieve in cooking them only 20 
minutes,” said Mr. Leach. “Some 
people want the blood to run out 
when you cut them, but I don’t 
think the majority of people like 
them that way.” < 
Since Anteaters are renowned 
as good trenchermen, there was a 
man-sized menu to accompany yes¬ 
terday’s duck. First came a choice 
of grapefruit juice,. tomato juice 
or wild duck broth. Next came a 
plate with half a duck, dressing, 
See BROWN, Page 11, Column 1 
r 
BIOWN—From Pag e ES-IO 
Anteaters Luncheon 
and a baked Idaho potato, flanked both r 
by bowls of lima beans and sauer- meal* 
kraut. Currant jelly, celery, and of ' 
olives were served, and for dessert 
there was a choice of pumpkin pie, P 
frozen custard, and camembert p 
cheese with wafers. 0 i 
Getting the wild game for the oi 
luncheons is usually more of a job 
than preparing it, said Mr. Leech, bl 
When the club was first formed, sp 
he made a trip out West, met a w 
lot of professional hunters and tl 
game dealers and lined up sources ss 
of supply. Today, though, he still — 
has to search through sportsmen’s f| 
magazines and write a lot of letters * 
of inquiry before he plans a meal. 
The buffalo for next Tuesday’s 
luncheon is already here in the 
deep freeze. It came from the 
Wichita Mountain Refuge in Okla¬ 
homa, will be served as roast and 
steaks. One bear from Montana 
and three from Wisconsin are also 
in the freezer, as well as venison 
from the Adirondacks and Mon¬ 
tana. Pheasant are due to arrive 
soon from South Dakota. 
blo\i. n - 
