A kid should be cooked the day it is killed, or the day after at
farthest. They are best from three to four months old, and are
only eaten while they live on milk.
Wash the kid well, wipe it dry, and truss it. Stuff the body with
a force-meat of grated bread, butter or suet, sweet herbs, pepper,
salt, nutmeg, grated lemon-peel, and beaten egg; and sew it up to
keep the stuffing in its place. Put it on the spit and rub it over
with lard, or sweet oil. Put a little salt and water into the
dripping-pan, and baste the kid first with that, and afterwards
with its own gravy. Or you may make it very nice by basting it
with cream. It should roast about three hours. At the last,
transfer the gravy to a small sauce-pan; thicken it with a little
butter rolled in flour, give it a boil up, and send it to table in
a boat. Garnish the kid with lumps of currant jelly laid round the
edge of the dish.
A fawn (which should never be kept more than one day) may be
roasted in the same manner; also, a hare, or a couple of rabbits.
You may send to table, to eat with the kid, a dish of chestnuts
boiled or roasted, and divested of the shells.