A new offering by Hallie Bond and Stephen Topper entitled “Adirondack Cookbook” (Gibbs Smith Books, 2014) meshes history and tradition with up-to-date kitchen techniques.

“Recipes to please the modern palate that were inspired by the foods and foodways of the Adirondack past,” the introduction promises.

The authors relate their recipes back to a variety of progenitors: the Native Americans who first traveled the region, the early white settlers, the women expected to put meals on the table at lumber camps. They also refer to meals that might have been served in Great Camps, to patients coming here to cure tuberculosis, and to visitors staying in the region’s hotels.

Appetizers are a relatively modern refinement to the meal, so the book offers up such suggestions as curried wild turkey, turtle soup (once de rigeur in Adirondack hotels) and squirrel canneloni (a good way to use up any extra inventory of the bushy-tailed creatures). The corn chowder looks great; I think I’ll make this over the winter. Salads in the pioneer era depended on what you could forage. Vinegars for dressing were homemade.

Entrees run the gamut from fish to fowl to meat. Venison is given its due as the “the quintessential taste of the Adirondacks” all the way back to early Native days. A preparation suggested here includes a blackberry reduction sauce. Cooking bacon-wrapped trout over a campfire needs no special explanation. There’s a pork chop recipe I plan to try soon, but don’t count on me marinating a skirt steak in Pepsi-Cola.

Certainly there are surprises. Sure, I expected to see dishes using wild turkey and rabbit. (There’s a wonderful photo of the results from a rabbit hunt at Stony Creek Inn.) But barbecued eel? Aside from the lampreys in Lake Champlain, I didn’t realize eels populated our waters. However, an entry assures me that once upon a time, before dams blocked so many river routes, eels were quite plentiful in the North Country.

And there are practical notes. For instance, for bear chili, “beef can be substituted,” a good thing to know if your supermarket is out of bear. Accompanying a page on grouse is the assertion that game birds fed on wild nuts and seeds are “unparalleled” in taste. On the other hand, the writers concede, beaver stew can be a “hard sell.”

I expected the emphasis on the traditional Indian “Three Sisters” triad of corn, beans and squash. Anyone with a garden will appreciate the new ways of using the surfeit of squash we usually have by late summer.

One category of food that gets frequently overlooked is that of root vegetables, so I’m glad the authors gave them plenty of representation. I know how delicious they are when roasted. This book suggests I should consider adding a maple glaze. Perhaps if I had a root cellar as picturesque as the one shown from Kamp Kill Kare, I’d remember to use them more often.

Old food customs, such as the use of fiddleheads and ramps, are resurrected. Cornbread dates back to Native American versions, but something called “ployes” was completely new to me. They’re sourdough buckwheat pancakes that derive from French Quebecois tradition. I find it a bit ironic that buttermilk has to be explained to a contemporary audience.

When it comes to dessert, I’m a traditionalist. Therefore, I enjoyed the range of tarts, pies and cobblers – plus a buckle – that were included.

I learned a few things about food. Now I know how sugar house operators produce maple cream. Plus, I’ll remember to always first cook fish with the skin side down, then flip it. This way the skin becomes crisper, and the eater can make a decision on whether or not to eat it without it coming as a surprise later.

These pages are filled not just with lists of ingredients and steps in preparation. A peruser will also find a mix of anecdotes and diary entries. (For instance, you’ll learn about how woodchucks were caught in the 1840s.) Photos from the vaults of the Adirondack Museum add further interest. (Check out the reflector oven used to turn out industrial quantities of biscuits at a lumber camp.) And maybe you’ll be just curious enough to try making your own maple or spruce beer.