cut right through towards the vent, then pull the breast back, and
cut it off altogether. Having removed the inside of the fowl, you
chop off the ribs on either side of the back, and trim this piece
neatly as well as the breast piece. The breast and the back are each
cut across into 3 or 2 pieces, according to circumstances. Taking
now each leg in turn, you make an incision round the heel, and pull
the flesh back, chop off the bone above the heel, and pull back the
flesh; then chop off the head of the thigh bone. The 2 wings are
divided at the second joint, the head of the bones being cut off, as
well as the spur at the end of the second joint.
Care must be had in chopping off the bones to do so at one blow, and
to have a sufficiently heavy knife to make a clean cut. The blow
should be given with the part of the knife next the handle; a meat
chopper would be too heavy. Another point which requires attention
is to let each piece, especially the wings and legs, have its proper
allowance of skin. The cuts should be given freely, and at one
stroke, as it were, so as to avoid any little bits of flesh or skin
hanging from any of the pieces.
Fillets.--Take 3 small fowls--the backs and legs cannot be used for
this dish, but they will come in usefully in making white soup, and
in many other ways. The fowls should be fat and white. Clean and pick
them well, scalding the legs in boiling water. Having singed the
chickens, cut the fillets from the breasts; flatten and trim the 6
large fillets; of the 6 small ones make 3, by sticking 2 together.
Then lay them in a sauté or frying-pan (a delicately clean one),
covering them with melted butter, and sprinkling fine salt over them,
and let them remain until just before dinner time; then put the
sautépan on the fire, and fry the fillets lightly on both sides until
they are firm, which will show that they are done. Having drained off
the butter gravy will be found at the bottom of the pan; add to this
3-4 spoonfuls of rich white sauce well seasoned, moving the pan over
the fire, and not letting the sauce boil at all; were it to boil, the
fillets of chicken would be spoiled. Cut some slices of stale bread,
rather thicker than a penny piece, stamp it out either into rounds,
or into pear-shaped pieces, one on the other; fry these pieces of
bread in butter until of a light brown colour. Dress the 9 fillets in
a circle, with a piece of the fried bread between each. Put the sauce
into the middle of the dish, and put a little of it over each fillet
with a spoon, taking care not to let it touch the fried bread, which
should be nice and crisp. Serve them up at once very hot.
(_b_) Having prepared the fillets as (_a_), flatten them and garnish
the larger ones with truffles as follows: Cut thin small rounds
of truffles, and having made 3 or 4 round slits in each of the
fillets, place a round of the truffle in each of these slits, taking
care not to carry it through the fillets, which would break them.
After garnishing, dip each fillet into melted butter, as also the
smaller fillets, and fry them lightly, so as to leave them slightly
underdone. Take them off the fire, drain off the butter, reduce the
sauce as before, and add to it a few spoonfuls of well-flavoured
white sauce; put the fillets into this, and let them simmer gently,
moving them during the time until they become firm, which will
show that they are done enough. Dish them up alternately, a large
garnished fillet and then a small plain one. Stir a good spoonful of
thick cream into the sauce, pour it into the centre of the dish, and
with a spoon put some of the sauce over each of the small fillets,
but not over those which are garnished. Serve very hot.
Galantine.--(_a_) Bone a large fowl, sprinkle the inside with salt
and pepper, take 1½ lb. lean veal, ½ lb. fat bacon; pound together,
and pass them through a wire sieve, add a little chopped parsley and
thyme, a little grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper; when this is well
mixed place it on the fowl with a few truffles, pieces of tongue,
previously dressed, cut the same size as the truffles, place these
at equal distances and fold over the fowl carefully, so that the
forcemeat is well enclosed in it, tie it up tightly in a strong
cloth, tying the ends in the same way as a roley poley pudding, place
a large pin in the centre to keep it quite tight while boiling:
put into a large stewpan any veal trimmings, lean bacon, and fowl
trimming with the bones of the fowl, and 1 large carrot, 3 large
onions, some parsley, thyme, 2 bay leaves, some peppercorns, and
salt, fill with cold water; when boiling put in the galantine, leave
it to boil gently for 1½-1¾ hour, according to the size, but not
longer; then take off the cloth while hot, and roll the galantine
tightly again in it, taking care which side is the breast; place
the galantine between 2 common dishes or boards breasts uppermost,
place a weight on it (for a galantine of this size a 7 lb. weight is
sufficient); leave it until cold, when it should be garnished with
some pale aspic jelly. If the galantine appears dry on the outside
glaze it lightly and garnish with parsley. Galantines can be made of
turkey, pheasant, partridge, or grouse in the same way as the above,
only the livers should be lightly fried and added to the forcemeat.
(Jane Burtenshaw.)
(_b_) To bone a fowl, proceed as follows: Give a blow to the legs
just above the heel with a heavy kitchen knife, so as to break the
bone; cut the skin round; then, holding the foot, give it a twist,
and pull it off, thereby removing the strong sinews of the leg. Chop
off the wings just above the second joint, then slit the skin of
the neck lengthways; pull this out, cut it off close, and cut the
skin square. Lay the fowl breast undermost and make an incision all
along the back, from end to end; then with a pointed knife--what is
called a vegetable knife will do very well--proceed to detach the
flesh from the carcase, beginning at the neck end; when you come to
the wing bone disjoint it from the carcase, and then make a slit
inwardly along the wing joint, and remove the bone; work along down
to the leg, and when you come to the thigh bone disjoint it from
the carcase. Also do the other side in the same way. Now work along
each side, detaching the breast; and this requires great care not
to injure the skin, especially over the breast bone. When you have
worked round both sides, remove the carcase--which can be drawn at
leisure, and should be boiled along with the galantine when this is
put to cook and you have the fowl all boned except the thigh and leg
bones on each side. The mode of getting rid of these is this: Make
an incision along the thigh, dissect the bone from the flesh, scrape
the flesh along the leg bone, and finally pull this out, and it will
carry the remaining sinews with it. All that now remains to be done
is to cut out the “wishing-bone,” which will probably have remained
in the flesh of the breast, as well as the two large white sinews of
the breast. (The G. C.)
Grilled Legs.--Take the legs of cold fowl, score them well, and rub
in plentifully some made mustard, salt, and cayenne; broil over a
clear fire and serve with: _grill sauce_. Take 1 gill good gravy, add
to it 1 tablespoonful mushroom ketchup, 1 teaspoonful French mustard,
a few chopped capers, and a little grated lemon peel; add a little
butter rolled in flour, a few drops of chili vinegar, simmer until
quite hot, pour over the legs, and serve.
Old Hen.--(_a_) To make this tender, it should be divided into
joints, after picking and drawing; place these pieces into a deep
baking dish with a pinch or two of salt, filling the dish with cold
water so as to more than cover the meat. Set it in the oven and let
it remain there for 3-4 hours, or until it is sufficiently done to
draw the bones out easily, which must be ascertained by occasionally
taking it out to try; it will also require watching to see that
the water does not dry up, or if it does, to keep adding from time
to time a little hot water to keep the meat covered till it is
sufficiently done. When this is the case, draw out the bones, remove
all the skin, and take the sinews from the drumsticks. The meat will
now be perfectly tender, and may be used for curries, rissoles,
fricassées, or in any other way in which ordinary chickens are used.
(_b_) Pluck, draw, and singe the hen and put it into a saucepan with
just enough water to cover; stew very gently for 1 hour, keeping the
lid of the saucepan on all the time. Take up the bird, cut it into
medium-sized pieces, and roll round each piece a thin slice of bacon;
place in a pie dish, cut 2 hard-boiled eggs into slices, lay these
among the pieces of fowl, sprinkle over a tablespoonful of minced
parsley, season with pepper and salt, and pour over all the gravy in
which the fowl was stewed, or as much of it as the dish will hold;
cover with a light crust and bake one hour. Any gravy left over
should be saved, as it makes excellent light stock for many purposes.
(Bessie Tremaine.)
(_c_) Put 4 quarts water in a pot with 3 teaspoonfuls salt, 1 of
pepper; stuff the hen with veal stuffing, after taking off the head;
take off the legs and draw out the strings, and truss. When the water
boils, put in the hen with 4 pieces salt pork, ½ lb. each, or whole
if preferred; add ½ lb. onions, 1 lb. celery, 6 pepper-corns, a bunch
of sweet herbs; boil slowly 1½ hour. Mix 3 oz. flour with 2 oz.
butter, melt in a small pan with 1 pint of the liquor from the pot,
½ pint milk, the onions and celery cut up fine and added to it. Boil
for 20 minutes until rather thick. Serve the hen on a dish with the
pork, pouring the sauce over all. The remainder of the broth makes
excellent white soup. (Soyer.)
(_d_) When plucked and drawn joint it as for a pie. Do not skin
it. Stew 5 hours in a covered saucepan with salt, mace, onions,
or any other flavouring; turn out into so deep a dish that the
meat be covered with the liquor. Let it--and this is the secret of
success--stand thus in its own jelly for a day or two; then serve as
a curry hash or pie, and it will be found nearly equal to a pheasant.
(_e_) Stuff with forcemeat; put an onion inside; let the fowl simmer,
not boil, for 4 hours, just covered with water. Send it to table with
either onion or white sauce, with a small pickled cucumber cut finely
in it; garnish with bacon; the stock will make Palestine soup.
(_f_) Pick, singe, and truss, as usual; put into the inside of the
fowl a large lump of fat bacon, and sew the neck and vent, so as to
fasten the bacon in securely; dust the fowl with flour, and tie it up
in a cloth, put it into a pan with a close-fitting lid, and nearly
cover the fowl with warm, not hot water; put in also 2 onions, a
sliced carrot, and 1 or 2 cloves; let the water come to the boil as
slowly as possible, and then let it simmer in the gentlest manner for
3 hours, or longer if the fowl be a large one. Take it carefully out
of the cloth and completely smother it with any sauce you prefer.
Next day break up the carcase of the cold fowl, and put it back into
the liquor it was boiled in, with the drumsticks if you have them;
add a cupful of rice, a blade of mace, and some pieces of turnip,
boil 2 hours gently, and pulp through a sieve everything that will
pass. You will have a small quantity of excellent soup; salt and
pepper to taste.
(_g_) The following way makes excellent potted meat: After dressing
the fowl, skin it, cut it up, and stew gently into a digester with a
ham bone and 1 qt. water for 6 hours; strain the liquor off, pass the
fowl through a sausage machine, then beat in a mortar or wooden bowl,
keep adding the liquor to moisten it; season according to taste, put
into pots, and cover with clarified butter.
Panada.--(_a_) Take the meat of a cold roast fowl, carefully removing
all the skin, and put it in a stewpan with ¼ pint water, a few herbs
and vegetables (if allowed), and a shallot. Boil these ingredients
very gently, and, when quite tender, take out the meat and mince
it, and then pound it in a mortar with 1 oz. butter, and as much of
the liquor as is required to bring it to pulp. Put this back into a
stewpan, after rubbing it through a hair sieve, with about 1 gill
stock made from the bones of the fowl, a gill of cream, a slight
seasoning of pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of flour.
Let this simmer gently till it thickens sufficiently, and serve hot,
with toast sippets; or it may be eaten cold.
(_b_) Skin the chicken and cut it up in joints. Take all the meat
off the bones, and cut up into small pieces; put it in a jar with
a little salt, tie it down, and set it in a saucepan of boiling
water. It should boil 4-6 hours; then pass it through a sieve with a
little of the broth. It could be made in a hurry in 2 hours; but it
is better when longer time is allowed. Do not put the wings in the
panada.
Poos-pass.--Put a fowl into a saucepan with 3½ qt. water and boil for
½ hour; then take it off the fire and strain and skim it. This done,
put the gravy, fowl, and 4 oz. rice (or 2 oz. for each person) again
into the saucepan, and stew them for ¾ hour, adding salt, cloves, and
cardamoms to your taste.
Roast.--(_a_) Take a piece of butter the size of a walnut, mix with
it some pepper and salt and a little flour, put it inside the fowl,
then baste it with a little butter (a small tin is best to use
instead of a dripping pan). When the fowl is done pour the gravy
(made with the giblets, thickened with flour and flavoured with
mushroom ketchup) into the tin, and strain over the bird. Tiny suet
dumplings to be served in the dish with it.
(_b_) Fowls require constant attention in dredging and basting, and
the last 10 minutes let butter rolled in flour be stuck over them
in little bits, and allowed to melt, without basting. The gravy
for fowls should always be thickened, and slightly flavoured with
lemon-juice. Sausages or rolled bacon should be served on the same
dish, and white mashed potatoes always be handed with poultry.
Salad.--Pick 1 lb. meat quite free from bone, and thoroughly cleanse
a good head of celery; chop both very fine, or, better still, pass
through a mincing machine; put this in a large basin. Beat the yolk
of an egg until it is thick, mix with it 1 teaspoonful made mustard,
a pinch of salt, and ¼ teaspoonful white pepper. Beat well into the
mixture ½ teacupful thick cream, and add the juice of a small lemon
drop by drop, beating the mixture with a fork all the time. Stir
this dressing well among the minced chicken and celery. Mould with a
spoon into any shape you like, and serve on a dish with beetroot cut
into fanciful shapes. Some prefer a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar
instead of lemon juice, and salad oil can be used instead of the
cream; but the cream makes it much whiter and daintier in appearance,
and gives a better flavour.
Soufflé.--Pound the white flesh of a roast or boiled chicken in a
mortar with quarter of its bulk of butter, and with pepper, salt, and
spices to taste. Mix all well together, add a gill of cream, or of
Béchamel sauce, and leave it to get nearly cold; then add the yolks
of 3 or 4 eggs, according to quantity, and lastly the whites of the
eggs whipped to a stiff froth. Put it at once into a soufflé tin, or
into paper cases, and bake in the oven.
Stewed (sauté).--Slice 2 onions and fry them in oil or butter with
a fowl cut up as for fricassée. When the pieces of fowl have taken
colour, moisten with 3-4 tablespoonfuls French tomato sauce, and as
much stock free from fat as may be necessary to make enough gravy;
add 6 button mushrooms cut in half, some minced parsley, pepper,
salt, and powdered spices to taste, and let the whole simmer till
done.
Timballe.--Bone and cut up 2 chickens, lard the pieces, put them
into a stewpan with some mushrooms, shallot, spices, pepper, minced
parsley, a little butter, a glass of white wine, and two large
spoonfuls of good stock; simmer till quite done. Boil some truffles
in white wine, add them to the chicken, and let it all cool. Butter
a mould, line it with rolled paste, beginning at the middle of the
bottom, and continuing till it comes to the top; the rolls of paste
must lie firmly one over the other. Have a piece of paste, a little
larger than the bottom, to come up the sides; brush it over with the
yolk of an egg and put it in, pressing it well down; put a lining
of forcemeat balls round the sides nearly to the top, lay in the
chicken and truffles, cover the whole with paste, fixing it firmly,
make a hole in the top, bake 1½ hour, fill up the hole with a piece
of paste, turn out the timballe, cut a small hole in the top, pour in
some reduced gravy, and serve.
Vol-au-Vent.--Roll out some puff paste to the thickness of ¾ in. on a
baking sheet. A plate or a piece of paper cut in a circle being used
as a guide, cut the paste all round it with a sharp knife dipped in
hot water and held at such an angle that the top of the disc of paste
be slightly (not more than ⅛ in.) less in diameter than the base.
Carefully brush over with beaten-up egg the round of paste, taking
care not to egg the sides, then, using a knife dipped in hot water
as above, make an incision ½ in. deep within 1 in. of the edge all
round the top, and put the vol-au-vent case in a brisk oven. If the
oven be at the right temperature, and the paste well made, ½ hour’s
baking will cook it. Being removed from the oven, the top is lifted
off, the inside is taken away in flakes, and, should it be necessary,
the sides of the vol-au-vent are strengthened inside by having
pieces of the flakes stuck against them with white of egg. Lastly,
the vol-au-vent is placed at the mouth of the oven for 10-15 minutes
to dry up the inside. Fill it with quenelles, adding as much as is
wanted of sauce, and garnish the top with truffles, cockscombs and
mushrooms. Or, more economically, use none of these last, and simply
put on the paste cover.
_Goose_ (Oie). Roast: see Fowl.
Liver patty (pâté de foie gras).--(_a_) Line some small moulds with
puff paste, fill them with rice, and put on the covers, egg the top,
and bake in a moderate oven; take off the covers, remove the rice,
and fill them with sliced foies gras and truffles, tossed in some
thick well-flavoured brown sauce; put on the covers, and serve hot.
(_b_) Take 1½ lb. turkey or goose livers (the latter is best) and ½
lb. calves’ liver, chop fine, and then pound in an iron mortar or
pass through an iron sieve; then add ¼ lb. butter, put on the fire,
and stir about 2 minutes, then add ⅛ pint cream, 12 drops rose water,
and a little cayenne pepper and salt, keep it on the fire, and stir 5
minutes more; add truffles and a teaspoonful of brandy, put it again
on the fire, and keep stirring till it becomes thick, when you may
pour it into jars, and as soon as it is hard cover with butter.
Pie.--Boil a neat’s tongue till it is tender, peel it, and cut off
the root and tip end. Bone a large goose and a large fowl. Mix ½
oz. beaten mace with a spoonful of pepper and one of salt; season
the inside of the fowl and of the goose, put the fowl in the goose
and the tongue in the fowl. Make some raising paste and raise it up
high, put in the goose breast uppermost, sprinkle some seasoning on
it, lay on ½ lb. butter; put on the lid. Rub the pie all over with
the yolk of an egg, and ornament the sides and top. Bake 3 hours. If
it is to be eaten hot, put the bones of the goose and fowl into a
saucepan with 1 qt. water, a bundle of sweet herbs; 2 blades of mace,
a little pepper and salt, and stew it till it is about half wasted;
then strain it off, and 1 hour before the pie is done, take it out
and put the liquor in, and when it is done send it up hot. If it is
to be eaten cold, put no liquor in, but cut it in slices, cut across,
put it in a dish, and garnish it with parsley.
_Grouse_ (Coq de bruyère).--For roasting, grouse should be young, and
in selecting them the wing feathers should be examined. If these are
sharp and clearly defined at the ends, the bird is young and may be
safely roasted. Very young grouse, partridges, and all woodcock and
snipe are never better than on the day of their death; but when this
opportunity of eating them in perfection has once been allowed to
pass over and the flesh has been permitted to get thoroughly cold and
stiff, it is the better for a few days “hanging,” to allow it to grow
tender again. An old-fashioned rule is to wait till the feathers come
away at the slightest tug, but the complete adoption of that plan is
apt to make game too “high” for delicate palates. Grouse are very
good about the 6th or 7th day after shooting, and when drawn, singed,
and trussed with the head under the wing--the decapitation of a game
bird is a barbarous innovation--should be skewered together and
fastened to the spit. Then set them down before a very sharp clear
fire, and keep them well basted with butter during the whole time
they are cooking, about 30 minutes. When nearly done sprinkle over
them a little flour, and put them to the fire again, and serve on a
buttered toast soaked in the dipping pan; garnish with watercress,
and accompany the grouse with good beef gravy, bread sauce, and fried
crumbs in boats.
To make fried breadcrumbs, toast carefully in the oven a few thin
slices of bread with the crusts cut off, and then rub them done and
pass them through a colander. Put a liberal allowance of lard into
a stewpan or frying pan, make it very hot, and take care that the
fat is perfectly clear and transparent. Fry the prepared crumbs,
taking care not to overdo them, and drain them before the fire very
thoroughly and completely, as the whole success of fried crumbs
consists in their being sent to table perfectly dry and quite hot.
To make bread sauce take ¾ lb. stale breadcrumbs rubbed through a
colander and put it in a stewpan with a little white stock, white
peppercorns, salt, a blade of mace, and an onion. When this has
soaked, add 1 pint of milk and a little butter; simmer gently,
and keep stirring the sauce till it is smooth. Then remove the
peppercorns, mace, and onion, beat up the sauce well with a spoon,
make it hot and serve in a sauceboat.
Cold roast grouse are very well in a _salmis_ made as follows: Cut
the bird into pieces, and put the best of these into a stewpan. Take
the bones and odds and ends, break them up and put them into another
stewpan with some good gravy, a few fragments of cooked ham, a bit of
lemon peel, 6 shallots, 2 glasses white wine, a bay leaf, parsley,
pepper, and a little salt. Let this boil for about 1 hour, and strain
it on to the grouse in the other stewpan. Simmer all together without
letting it boil, and serve very hot with sippets around.
Excellent soup may be made either of roasted or half roasted old
birds--let them be as tough as they may; or the soup may be made
as follows: Skin 3 or 4 old grouse, cut them up, and fry them with
slices of lean ham, sliced onions, carrots, turnips, and 2 shallots.
Put the fry into a saucepan, and add 2 qt. good stock. Throw in a
little chopped celery, minced parsley, and a faggot of sweet herbs.
Let this simmer for 2 hours, strain, and serve. Fillets from a
young bird, deftly prepared by frying, may be put into this soup,
which should be very strong. In the north of England grouse pie is
very popular, and is made either as a pastry or as a raised pie,
and differs from other simple and compound game pie in no single
particular.
Braised.--Truss as for boiling. Place the birds in an oval stewpan,
the bottom of which must be first covered with slices of streaky
bacon, a carrot sliced, a head of celery cut up, a good sized onion
stuck with six cloves, a small bunch of parsley and sweet herbs, and
18 black peppercorns. Fry a raw beetroot in butter, after peeling and
slicing it, and with it a few slices of onion, moistening it with
about ½ pint broth; pour this over the grouse, add a teaspoonful of
brandy, covered with buttered paper, put on the lid covered with live
embers, or, if not, place the pan in the oven and let it remain until
the birds are done, when they must be taken out and put on a dish
to keep hot. Then strain the liquor from the vegetables, skim off
the grease, and boil it down until it is a semi-glaze; add to it a
spoonful or two of good brown sauce and a very little red wine; let
this boil by the fire for 5 minutes; skim it and pass it through a
tammy into a small stewpan to keep hot. Set the birds on their dish,
garnish with the slices of bacon cut in neat pieces, and some small
balls of carrot; pour the sauce over and serve. The carrot balls
should be previously dressed by boiling them down in a stewpan with
a little butter, about a wineglassful of vinegar, a little pounded
sugar, grated nutmeg, and salt; let them stew steadily, turning
them over occasionally, for about an hour, or until the moisture is
absorbed. There should be enough liquid to cover them.