IN camp life, small and large birds should be either roasted, broiled,
or stewed.
Pick all the feathers off, cut a slit in them, and draw them. Either
wash or wipe carefully. If for roasting, tie the legs down, and place
in the pan. Sprinkle with flour, cover the bottom of the pan with
water, and roast, if ducks, thirty minutes, grouse and partridges the
same.
Small birds, about half as long. The oven must be very hot.
Birds Roasted in their Feathers.
Open the bird in the usual manner, and draw it; then cover with wet
clay, and bury in hot coals. In forty minutes, draw from the coals, and
peel off the clay, when feathers and skin will come also.
A gentleman assures me that they are perfectly delicious cooked in this
manner.
Broiled Birds.
Clean, and split down the back. Wipe dry, and broil over a clear fire,
if small, ten minutes, but, if large, fifteen.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter, and serve on toast.
Stewed Partridges or Pigeons.
Place two partridges in a small kettle, and dredge with salt, pepper,
flour, half teaspoonful of mace, half of cloves, and cover with cold
water. Cover tight, and simmer two hours. Thicken with three spoonfuls
of flour, and stir in two spoonfuls of catsup; simmer one hour longer,
and serve. Grouse and pigeons are stewed in the same manner.
Brown Fricassee of Chicken.
Cut two chickens or old fowl into handsome pieces, and parboil them
in just water enough to cover them; when they are tender, take them
up, and drain them dry. Cut a pound of saltpork into slices, and fry
them brown; take up the pork, dredge the chicken with salt, pepper,
and flour, and fry a dark brown in the pork fat. When the chicken is
all fried, stir into the remaining pork fat half a cup of dry flour;
stir this until a dark brown, then pour on it one quart of the liquor
in which the chicken was boiled. (This liquor must be boiling.) Season
with pepper and salt to taste. Lay the chicken in this gravy, and
simmer twenty minutes. Garnish the dish with boiled rice.
White Fricassee of Chicken.
Boil the chicken until tender, then cut it into small pieces. With the
water in which it was boiled make a gravy, allowing half a cup of
flour and two spoonfuls of butter to every quart of water. Season with
pepper and salt; turn in the chicken, and let it boil five minutes, and
serve. Garnish the dish with boiled rice.
Chicken Curry.
Make the same as white fricassee, with the addition of one teaspoonful
of Indian curry to one pint of gravy, if it is liked strong, if not,
half a teaspoonful. Dissolve the curry in a little water, and stir in.
Garnish the dish with rice. Veal and mutton can be curried in the same
manner.
Chicken Salad.
Boil tender four good-sized chickens; when cold, cut off the white
meat, and chop rather coarse. Cut off the white part of the celery, and
chop in the same manner. To two quarts and a pint of the chicken, allow
one quart and a pint of the celery and a spoonful of salt. Mix well
together, and then stir in part of the dressing. Shape the salad in a
flat dish, and pour over the remainder of the dressing. Garnish with
hard-boiled eggs, beets, and the tops of the celery.
Sauce for Birds.
Put one tablespoonful of butter into a pan; and, when it gets hot,
add one tablespoonful of flour; stir until brown, then add one cup of
boiling water, and salt and pepper to taste.
Broiled Chicken.
Split down the back, wash, and wipe dry, and broil over clear coals
twenty-five minutes. Season with pepper, salt, and butter.