POULTRY AND GAME.
=Capon.=--CAPON is the best of all poultry, having been specially
treated and fattened for the table. They can be distinguished in the
market by the head, tail and wing feathers being left intact. They are
always high in price and considered great luxuries. They are cooked the
same as chicken. If to be stuffed, choose a delicate dressing like
oysters or chestnuts. Cut the neck off short and remove the oil bag from
the root of the tail. Singe carefully, pluck out every lingering pin
feather, wash quickly with a rough, clean cloth and warm--not
hot--water; dash cold water over it, let drain, then wipe carefully with
a soft, damp cloth inside and out. Salt lightly inside and dust with
pepper, stuff with whatever dressing you elect to have, truss, fasten
thin slices of bacon or salt pork over the breast and thighs, grease the
entire body liberally with soft butter or vegetable oils, put into a
loose fitting well-greased bag, breast down, seal, lay on a trivet, set
on broiler in hot oven, let cook till bag corners turn very brown, then
slack heat one-half, or even a little more if the heat is fierce, and
cook from an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters. The capon
should be a golden brown all over, except on the back where it touches
the bag and underneath the bacon slices. But it will be as well done
everywhere as in the brown part. Cook the liver, gizzard and neck in a
small separate bag, wrapping each in a slice of bacon and seasoning
them with salt and pepper. Add a very little water, seal and put on to
cook less than an hour before dinner time. The slow heat will make them
very tender. Cooked with capon, they would be overdone. Serve with sweet
potatoes Southern style, or baked apples slightly sweetened.
=Chicken with Parsnips.=--Wash, parboil and scrape a quart of tender
parsnips. Split a Spring chicken down the back and lay in a buttered
bag, skin side up. Arrange the sliced parsnips around the chicken,
sprinkle with salt and pepper, dot with bits of butter until a half cup
has been used, and top with two or three thin slices of fat, salt pork.
Put a half cup hot water in the bag and bake to a delicate brown. Put
the chicken on a hot platter and arrange the parsnips around it. Make a
cream gravy from the drippings in the bag and serve with mashed
potatoes, currant jelly and beet greens.
=Chicken à la Baltimore.=--Take two small Spring chickens, prepare as
for broiling, but cut into joints. Wipe dry, season well with salt and
pepper, dip into beaten egg, then cover well with bread crumbs. Place in
a well-buttered bag, pour a little melted butter or oil over them and
bake in the oven twenty or twenty-five minutes. Serve with cream sauce
and garnish with thin, crisped slices of bacon and tiny corn oysters.
=Chicken Croquettes.=--This may be made from left-over cooked chicken or
from canned chicken. For a dozen croquettes allow one cupful of solid
meat chopped fine, a cupful of cream sauce, made by cooking together
four tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour, then stirring in a scant
cupful of hot milk and cooking until smooth and thick. Combine chicken
and sauce, season with half a teaspoonful each plain and celery salt, a
teaspoonful of onion juice, a little lemon juice and chopped parsley.
Mix thoroughly, then set the mixture away to cool. When cool and stiff
roll in finely powdered bread crumbs so that every bit of the chicken is
covered and shape into cones, cutlets or cylinders. Have ready a beaten
egg to which a scant tablespoonful of milk has been added, dip the
croquettes in this, drain well, roll in crumbs again, and again set
aside to cool and stiffen. When ready to cook, slip in well-buttered bag
and bake in a hot oven twenty minutes.
=Paper Bagged Chicken.=--Split the chicken down the middle of the back,
spread flat, and put a skewer in each side to prevent it from curling.
Beat up a very fresh egg, with a pinch of salt, black pepper to taste,
an ounce of melted butter, a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce or
something similar and a teaspoonful of made mustard. Mix well. With a
brush glaze the chicken with the mixture. Place in a greased bag with
bread crumbs around and over it. Be careful that the skewers do not tear
the bag. Seal up tight and cook from thirty-five to forty minutes in a
very hot oven.
=Chicken Pie.=--Disjoint two chickens and cook until tender in just
enough water to cover. Remove all the thick skin and the largest bones.
Line a baking dish with good paste, pack the chicken in layers and dust
each with salt, pepper and flour. Pour in enough of the chicken liquor
to come nearly to the top; lay on a tablespoon of butter and cover with
a crust after cutting out a piece as large as the top of a small cup.
Moisten the edges and press together, then ornament the top with leaves
cut from the trimmings of paste. Bag and bake in a quick oven.
=Paste for Chicken Pie.=--Sift five level teaspoons of baking powder and
one level teaspoon of salt with four cups of flour and rub in one cup of
butter until like coarse meal. Mix with nearly two cups of milk or
enough to make a dough that can be rolled out. This makes a more
hygienic crust than where no baking powder is used.
=Chicken Rissoles.=--Chop fine two cupfuls chicken and dressing or any
scraps left. Add two spoonfuls mashed potato, the beaten yolk of one
egg, salt and pepper to season. Roll in balls, dip in beaten egg yolk,
then in fine bread crumbs and place in paper bag. Bake twenty minutes.
=Roast Chicken.=--Cover the breast of the fowl or chicken with butter,
drippings, or any refined vegetable oil or tie a piece of fat bacon over
it. Place in a bag and set on broiler in a hot oven. Allow twenty-five
minutes for a small Spring chicken, thirty-five minutes for a large
fowl, forty-five to fifty minutes (according to size) for stuffed
poultry in a moderate oven.
=Saute of Chicken With Mushrooms.=--Cut a young, tender chicken into
joints, trim off all projecting bones, season with salt and pepper--not
too highly--and brush over with melted butter. Put into a well-buttered
wooden cook dish, with eight or twelve small mushrooms, cut in slices.
Add a pinch of herbs, a very small onion, and a half gill of good white
stock. Seal bag tight, give ten minutes in a very hot oven, then thirty
in moderate heat. Take up on a hot dish and keep hot, while you make the
gravy. Take for the gravy the hot liquor from the bag, put it in a bowl
with the yolk of an egg beaten up in half a gill of cream. Stir hard
over hot water, but do not let boil. When thoroughly blended, pour over
the chicken, garnish with chopped parsley, a few mushroom heads and half
moons of crisp puff paste. Serve as hot as possible.
=Smothered Chicken.=--Have a good sized broiler cut into joints, taking
care not to leave sharp bones projecting. Salt and pepper them lightly,
dredge with flour and lay in a well-greased bag upon thin slices of
bacon. Cover the chicken with more bacon slices, taking care to keep the
chicken spread rather flat. Add a tablespoonful of water or a couple of
peeled and sliced tomatoes. Shreds of green pepper add somewhat of
flavor to the tomatoes. Seal in a bag and cook for forty minutes,
slacking the heat almost half after the first five minutes. Serve on a
hot dish with gravy from the bag.
=Ducks With Banana Dressing.=--Wash with cold salt water inside and out,
drain, wipe dry and season lightly with salt and pepper. Make a dressing
of toasted bread crumbs mixed with an equal quantity of banana. Cut in
small pieces, well seasoned with chopped celery, salt and pepper. Stuff,
truss, grease all over and tie slices of bacon over the breast. Put in a
well-greased bag, add the juice of a lemon, and a wine glass of sherry.
Seal and put in a very hot oven. At the end of fifteen minutes reduce
heat one-half and cook for fifty minutes longer.
=Canvas Backs.=--Draw the ducks as soon as they are received, pluck,
singe and wipe them with a damp cloth, but under no conditions wash
them. When ready to cook, truss, dust lightly with pepper, and salt and
spread them thickly with butter or vegetable oil. A very slight dusting
of flour should be given when they are put into the oven. After
eighteen minutes of intense heat they are ready to serve, accompanied by
toasted hominy and black currant jelly.
=Chicken, Italian Style.=--Chop fine one onion, one small carrot, a
stick of celery and a sprig of parsley. Place in the bottom of one of
the wooden cookery dishes and season with salt, pepper and two
tablespoonfuls of olive oil. Lay a good sized broiling chicken cut into
joints on top of the vegetables, and around the chicken a half dozen
dried mushrooms that have been soaked for fifteen minutes in cold water.
Put in paper bag, seal and bake forty-five minutes. Remove chicken to
hot platter, add a little tomato sauce to the vegetables and stock
remaining in the dish, pour over the chicken and serve.
=Roast Wild Duck.=--If these come from salt marshes, and have therefore
a fishy taste, pick, dress, scald a moment in boiling salt water, then
put in very cold water for half an hour. Drain, wipe dry and having cut
a lemon in half rub all over inside and out with the juice and pulp.
Then grease the outside of the duck with vegetable oil or butter, salt
very lightly and put in greased bag. Seal and roast in a moderate oven
for an hour. Serve with paper bag baked potatoes, tart jelly and
pickles.
=Roast Wild Duck No. 2.=--Clean and singe your duck; have a dish with
boiling water enough to cover same, in which you put a tablespoonful of
salt and a little carrot; parboil for only five minutes; then take out
and dry. Have apples peeled and cut in quarters; stuff the duck with
them. Slice bacon and wrap about four slices around it, tied with a
string, lay in a buttered bag with a teacupful of water and a little
salt and pepper and roast in a very hot oven for an hour. Make a gravy
from the drippings in bag thickened slightly and seasoned with lemon
juice, a little curry powder and any good sauce.
=Roast Wild Duck, Ohio Style.=--Dress the duck as usual, then stuff with
one quart of sauer kraut mixed with one sweet apple sliced and a few
mixed spices to season. Place two stalks of celery in one of the wooden
cookery dishes, lay the duck on top, place in bag. Seal and bake in a
moderate oven for an hour and a half.
=Frogs' Legs.=--Scald the legs in boiling hot water for a minute or two,
drain and wipe them dry, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dip in beaten
egg, roll in cracker crumbs and put in a well-greased bag. The use of a
wood cookery dish is recommended. Bake fifteen minutes in a hot oven.
Serve hot with points of toast and slices of lemon placed around the
platter.
=Paper Bag Roast Goose.=--For roasting, a goose should preferably be
scarcely passed the gosling period, not more than a year old at the
most. Its wings should be supple and tender at the pinions, its breast
bone soft and pliable. Its feet smooth and yellow, and its fat white and
soft. Before drawing, singe the bird, then give it a thorough bath with
soapsuds and a soft scrubbing brush. The skin is so oily that cold water
would make no impression, and the skin is bound to be full of dust. When
purification is complete, rinse thoroughly in clear cold water, then dry
and draw. Wash the inside quickly with clear water to which a little
baking soda has been added, then rinse and wipe. The Germans are partial
to a stuffing made of equal parts of bread crumbs, chopped apples,
seeded raisins and boiled onions well seasoned with salt, pepper and
butter. Americans as a rule give the preference to a potato stuffing
made of mashed potato highly seasoned with onion, salt, pepper and a
little butter and sage. The yolks of two eggs allowed to each pint of
potato makes the dressing richer. Before trussing the goose, remove all
the extra fat. This should be saved and tried out later for that
sovereign remedy for croup,--"goose grease." It is of no value, however,
in cooking and if left in the bird, gives a coarse, rank flavor. Season
the goose on the inside with salt and pepper, then stuff and truss it
into shape like a turkey. Rub over lightly with vegetable oil or butter,
or cover the breast with several thin slices of fat salt pork. This
keeps the skin moist. Put into a well-greased bag of goodly proportions,
or better still, two bags, add a tablespoonful of cold water, seal and
set in a very hot oven for fifteen minutes. Then reduce the heat about
half and cook until done, allowing twenty-two minutes to the pound.
Serve with apples baked in a bag, mashed turnips or squash and hot corn
bread that can also be cooked in a bag.
=Sage and Potato Stuffing.=--Should you give the preference to the
old-fashioned potato-and-sage stuffing, such as your grandmother used to
make, fashion it in this way: peel and boil for half an hour a half
dozen good-sized potatoes. Mash well and season with one tablespoonful
salt, and a teaspoonful pepper, two tablespoonfuls of white onions
minced fine, and cooked in a tablespoonful of butter and a teaspoonful
of sage. Mix lightly and stuff.
=Bag Roasted Young Guinea Fowl.=--It is but a few years ago
comparatively that the excellence of the guinea fowl for the table was
duly recognized. Most people were afraid to try them. Now the guinea is
not only being served in all the best restaurants, but in many private
homes as well. While the young guineas make the choicest eating, the old
birds are not to be despised. In stuffing the guinea any approved turkey
stuffing may be used, the accompaniments being as with turkey, giblet
gravy and cranberry sauce. In roasting a very little water goes into the
bag, instead thin pieces of fat, salt pork are skewered across the
breast and around the drum sticks.
=Bag Broiled Young Guinea Hen.=--For bag broiling, split down the back
and flatten. Brush over with vegetable oil or melted butter, put in
buttered bag and bake in gas oven or hot coal oven. Lay on a hot
platter, season with salt and pepper, spread with a rounding
tablespoonful butter stirred with a tablespoonful finely minced parsley,
garnish with watercress and little moulds or spoonfuls of cranberry
jelly and serve.
=Quail.=--As for cooking quail there is no better way than to roast them
plain, with plenty of red pepper and a little salt. For those who
prefer, an excellent way is to serve them with bacon, which supplies the
fat which all game birds lack.
Take a half dozen quail, wipe with a damp cloth, split them and break
the leg bones. Mix together a teaspoonful of pure olive or cotton seed
oil, a dash of cayenne and a tiny bit of salt. Brush the birds with this
mixture and put in well-greased bag, seal, put in oven and roast fifteen
minutes. Arrange six slices of delicately browned toast on a hot
platter, place the birds on the slices and baste with a mixture of good
butter, minced parsley and the juice of a half dozen lemons. Garnish
with slices of crisped bacon and watercress.
=Quail No. 2.=--Place four quail in a wooden dish with a link of sausage
between the birds and a strip of bacon laid on each. Put in bag, seal,
and bake twenty-five minutes.
=Stuffed Quail.=--Put into each bird a half prune or fat raisin, with a
bit of butter and a few well seasoned bread crumbs. Wrap each bird in a
slice of bacon, fastening with string or tooth picks and put in
well-buttered bag. Seal and place on broiler and bake about twenty-five
minutes, reducing the heat during the last half of the time.
=Rabbit Cookery.=--In selecting a rabbit the principal thing is to find
out the age and also how long hung. A rabbit should be ripe but not
gamy. Unless in cold storage, they should not be kept for more than two
or three days. The age of a rabbit may be determined by testing the paw.
If there is a little nut there and the paw may be broken readily between
the thumb and finger the rabbit is young. If the nut has disappeared and
the paw resists pressure, the rabbit is too venerable for anything but a
stew. In dressing a rabbit there is a little secret that enables the
cook to dispose of the gamy odor that so many object to. If the thin,
muscular membrane that extends from the flank over the intestines is
carefully removed before cooking, the strong flavor will go with it,
leaving the flesh delightfully sweet. The gall bladder in the liver must
also be removed with extreme care, so as not to break it.
=Barbecued Rabbit.=--Open plump young rabbits all the way down the under
side, wash and clean thoroughly. Lay out flat in a pan of salt and water
for an hour, with a weighted plate or saucer on top to hold under the
water. Wipe dry and gash across the backbone in eight or ten places and
having brushed it over with olive oil or melted butter, bag and bake in
a hot oven forty-five minutes.
Lay on a hot dish, season with salt, pepper and plenty of melted butter,
then set in the oven for the butter to soak in. Heat in a small cup two
tablespoonfuls vinegar with one of made mustard and brush over the
rabbit while boiling hot. Garnish with parsley and watercress and serve
alone or with a currant jelly sauce.
=Roast Rabbit.=--Stuff, truss, dredge with flour and rub all over with
vegetable oil, soft butter or good drippings. Season lightly with salt
and paprika or black pepper, place in wood cookery dish in well-greased
bag, seal and place in hot oven. Allow fifty minutes, reducing the heat
at the end of the first twenty minutes.
=Roast Rabbit No. 2.=--For an older rabbit, put into a stew kettle whole
without dividing the pieces from the body. Pour in one quart of water,
add a little pinch of soda when it starts to boil, and stew gently until
tender. When tender take from the broth. Meantime mix together three
large cupfuls dried bread crumbs, butter the size of a walnut and salt,
pepper and sage to taste. Pour enough of the broth over this to mix
rather soft. Stuff the rabbit, spread with butter, sprinkle with salt
and pepper, lay in a buttered bag and bake to a rich brown in a moderate
oven. It will not take more than a few moments. Make a good brown gravy,
adding onion browned in butter if desired. A little onion may also be
added to the dressing, according to preference.
=Stewed Rabbit.=--Cut in eight pieces, salt and pepper and put in
buttered wooden dish, set in a buttered bag with a finely chopped onion,
a bunch of sweet herbs, a quarter cupful stock or hot water and a
tablespoonful of flour stirred smooth with a little cold water, then
blended with the hot. Seal the bag and bake forty-five minutes in a hot
oven.
=Reed Birds.=--Most of the reed birds obtained in our markets are in
reality nothing but sparrows, and those undrawn. If fed on grain, as
they are in Chicago, they are really very nice. To bake, wrap each one
in a thin slice of bacon or salt pork, put in buttered bag, seal and
cook in a quick oven. Still more delectable are they cooked en surprise.
For a half dozen covers, prepare the same number of birds, six large
oval potatoes, six oysters, and some thin slices of bacon. Prepare the
birds as for roasting, and tuck into each little interior an oyster,
seasoned with salt and pepper. Then wrap each bird in a slice of bacon.
Now, having the potatoes well scrubbed, cut off one end, and using a
vegetable scoop, cut out a hollow in each large enough to hold a bird.
Insert the bird, replace the end of the potato, cut off, tie in place,
put in buttered bag and bake in a moderate oven. Serve as soon as done,
removing the string. The flavor of the bird, oysters and potato makes a
delicious combination that cannot be surpassed. Serve simply with
butter, or if preferred, a mushroom or oyster sauce.
=Squab.=--In cleaning a squab, take care not to break the little sack
that holds the entrails. Split the birds down the back, rub with salt,
pepper and butter or oil. Sprinkle with cracker dust and put into
well-buttered bag. Bake fifteen minutes and serve on slices of crisp,
hot, buttered toast with or without a thin, crispy slice of bacon.
Garnish with cress or parsley.
=Barbecued Squirrel, (Southern Style.)=--Get two fat squirrels, skin and
draw. Cut the thin skin on each side of the stomach close to the ribs,
then wipe with damp cloth. Sprinkle with black pepper but use no salt.
Put a layer of fat bacon in a wooden dish, set in a well-greased bag and
lay the squirrels on this bed. Cover with more thin slices of bacon pour
in the bag a half cupful good broth, seal, and bake an hour in a
moderate oven. Serve with grape jelly or spiced grapes.
=Turkey à la Bonham.=--Pick out a young hen turkey, plump and delicate
with small bones. Carefully remove all pin feathers and complete the
drawing which may have been imperfectly done by the butcher. Cut off the
neck close to the body which will make the turkey fit in the bag better,
and make a proper appearance when placed on the table. Wash thoroughly
inside and out and wipe dry. For the stuffing make two kinds--one for
the body and one for the breast. It is a good plan to make these
different so as to suit all tastes. For the body, make a chestnut
stuffing. Boil and peel one quart of large chestnuts and mash with a
fork. Season with pepper, salt and a little butter. For the breast, take
a pint of bread crumbs free from crusts. Fry a half onion cut fine in a
very little butter or vegetable oil until tender but not brown. Season
nicely with chopped parsley and thyme, not too much. Salt and pepper and
moisten with one beaten egg. Fill the breast and sew body and breast
neatly, pulling the skin of the breast over the stuffing, and fastening
in place with the wings which should be turned back to hold the skin in
place. Rub the outside of the bird with flour mixed with salt and
pepper, cover the breast with slices of fat salt pork tied on. Now slip
breast down into a thoroughly greased bag or preferably two bags, one
outside the other, the outside one also well-greased. Lay some of the
fat from the turkey or a few strips of bacon over the bag, and put on
the grate, seam up. Slip under the grid on the bottom of the oven a
dripping pan half full of water to keep the bird moist, and prevent any
fat leaking through in case the bag should burst. Be careful not to let
the bag touch the side of the oven. Light both burners of the gas stove
for five minutes to get the oven hot for the start. Turn out one and
roast about an hour and three-quarters for a twelve pound bird. Lift out
carefully, sliding the pancake turner under it to get it out easily and
put it on hot platter.
For the gravy, clean the giblets thoroughly and put to cook with the
neck in water to cover well. Add one onion cut up and cook until tender.
Chop fine and thicken slightly with browned flour or caramel which is
simply sugar browned in a pan with a little boiling water.
=Venison.=--For roasting, the saddle is best. As the meat is naturally
dry, it must be well larded with strips of firm fat pork. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper and rub over with pork drippings. Put in large
well-greased bag, add two glasses of port or claret, seal and bake in
moderate oven. For a roast of three pounds, allow an hour and ten
minutes. For an eight pound roast, two hours and a half. Serve very hot
with red or black currant jelly.
=Venison Steak.=--Prepare in the regular way, place in wooden cookery
dish and season with salt and pepper. Put in bag. Seal and cook an hour
and twenty minutes. The wooden dishes add to the flavor of all game.