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In the Badger State, festival days have historically been good reason to gather with friends over culinary feats – like a pair conceived of by Captain Thomas Anderson, a prominent British fur trader.
In 1803, he endeavored to make a magnificent meal — roasted venison stuffed raccoon — for his Pottawatomie neighbors and fellow fur traders. Alas, the carefully prepared main course was “putrid and stinking” come Christmas morning after rotting by the hearth overnight.
He had similar (bad) luck years later when his “sea pie” – seasoned muskrat meat baked in a tallow-and-flour crust – drove diners from the Christmas table with its stench.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Wisconsin 100