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.