Make sure the ax is well-cooked

—Photo by Rhododendrites

“Everybody remembers the recipe for cooking a coot: put an ax in the pan with the coot, and when you can stick a fork in the ax, the coot is done.’’

— John Gould (1908-2003), Maine-based (mostly humorous) writer, in “They Come High,’’ in New England: The Four Seasons (1980)

Coot are coastal birds that hunters in New England shoot at in the fall, despite their tough, oily flesh.