Wipe it all over with a sponge dipped in warm water. Then rub the skin
with lard or nice dripping. Cover the fat with sheets of paper two
double, buttered, and tied on with packthread that has been soaked
to keep it from burning. Or, what is still better, you may cover the
first sheets of paper with a coarse paste of flour and water rolled out
half an inch thick, and then cover the paste with the second sheets of
paper, securing the whole well with the string to prevent its falling
off. Place the venison on the spit before a strong clear fire, such as
you would have for a sirloin of beef, and let the fire be well kept
up all the time. Put some claret and butter into the dripping-pan and
baste the meat with it frequently. If wrapped in paste, it will not
be done in less than five hours. Half an hour before you take it up,
remove the coverings carefully, place the meat nearer to the fire,
baste it with fresh butter and dredge it very lightly with flour. Send
it to table with fringed white paper wrapped round the bone, and its
own gravy well skimmed. Have currant jelly to eat with it. As venison
chills immediately, the plates should be kept on heaters.
You may make another gravy with a pound and a half of scraps and
trimmings or inferior pieces of venison, put into a sauce-pan with
three pints of water, a few cloves, a few blades of mace, half a
nutmeg; and salt and cayenne to your taste. Boil it down slowly to
a pint. Then skim off the fat, and strain the gravy into a clean
sauce-pan. Add to it half a pint of currant jelly, half a pint of
claret, and near a quarter of a pound of butter divided into bits and
rolled in flour. Send it to table in two small tureens or sauce-boats.
This gravy will be found very fine.
Venison should never be roasted unless very fat. The shoulder is a
roasting piece, and may be done without the paper or paste.
Venison is best when quite fresh; but if it is expedient to keep it a
week before you cook it, wash it well with milk and water, and then dry
it perfectly with cloths till there is not the least damp remaining on
it. Then mix together powdered ginger and pepper, and rub it well over
every part of the meat. Do not, however, attempt to keep it unless the
weather is quite cold.