It’s not exactly a recipe, but have you ever wondered about the phrase “eat crow”?

It originated in the War of 1812. During a cease fire, a New England soldier out hunting strayed onto British territory. An English officer went to investigate a shot and found the Yankee had bagged a crow. (Poor eating, crow is. Our Yank must have been hungry!) The officer was unarmed, so he professed admiration for the American's weapon and asked if he could inspect it. Once he had the gun in hand, he covered the American and charged him with trespassing. The officer told the solider that as punishment he must swallow a bite of the crow. It was in the nature of "Let this be a lesson to you." Raw crow is even worse than cooked crow. When Our Hero had chocked down a gobbet of uncooked bird, the Redcoat returned his gun. But the damned fool didn't unload it first. The New Englander turned his squirrel rifle upon the Englishman and compelled him to eat the rest of the crow.

The next day this officer visited the commander of the American forces to complain of this trooper’s ungentlemanly behavior. From the description the Englishman gave, the commander recognized the soldier in question, an inveterate poacher. The soldier was called on the carpet, and his commander asked “Did you ever meet this gentleman?” Our man was no fool, and he knew he was in trouble. He hemmed and hawed and finally said, “I dined with him yesterday, captain”.

The story is the poacher’s quick wit saved him from punishment.