Keep as long as it can be preserved sweet, by the different modes of
keeping. Let it be washed with warm milk and water, or vinegar, if
necessary; but soak off the flavour from keeping. Put a coarse paste on
strong paper, and fold the haunch in: set it at a great distance from
the fire, and allow proportionable time for the paste, which do not
remove till about thirty five or forty minutes before serving; then
baste it perpetually. You will have brought the haunch nearer to the
fire before you take off the paste, and must froth it up as you would
venison.
A gravy must be made of a pound and a half of loin of old mutton,
simmered in a pint of water to half, and no seasoning but salt. Brown it
with a little burnt sugar, and send it up in the dish: but there should
be much gravy in the meat; for though long at the fire, the distance and
covering will prevent its being done dry.
Serve with currantjelly sauce.
Legs roasted, and onion or currantjelly sauce: or, boiled, with caper
sauce and vegetables.
Necks are particularly useful, as so many dishes may be made of them;
but they are not advantageous for the family. The bones should be cut
short; which the butchers will not do unless particularly desired.
_Note._ When there is more fat to a neck or loin of mutton than is
agreeable to eat with the lean, it makes an uncommonly good suet
pudding, or crust for a meatpie, being cut very fine.
The best end of the neck boiled, and served with turnips: or roasted: or
in steaks, in pies, or harrico.
The scrag stewed in broth, or with a small quantity of water, some small
onions, a few peppercorns and a little rice, and served together.
_Harrico._
Take off some of the fat, and cut the middle or best end of the neck
into rather thin steaks. Put the fat into a fryingpan, and, flouring,
fry them in it of a fine light brown, but not enough for eating. Put
them in a dish while you fry the carrots, turnips, and onions; the
former in dice, the latter sliced; but they must only be warmed, not
browned, or you need not fry them. Then lay the steaks at the bottom of
a stewpan, the vegetables over, and pour as much boiling water on them
as will just cover: give one boil, skim well, and then set the pan on
the side of the fire to simmer gently till tender: in three or four
hours skim, and add pepper, salt, and one spoonful of catsup.
_Mutton Pie._
Cut steaks from a loin or neck of mutton: beat them and remove some of
the fat. Season with salt, pepper, and a little onion. Put a little
water at the bottom of the dish, and a little paste on the edge; then
cover with a moderately thick paste. Or raise small pies, and, breaking
each bone in two to shorten it, season and cover it over, pinching the
edge. When they come out, pour a spoonful of gravy, made of a bit of
mutton, into each. The mutton should have hung.
_Mutton and Potatoe Pie._
Season the steaks of a loin or neck; lay them in a dish: have ready
potatoes mashed very thick, with some milk, and a bit of butter and
salt, and cover the meat as with a very thick crust, and to come on the
surrounding edge.
_Mutton Pudding._
Season as above. Lay one layer of steaks at the bottom of the dish, and
pour a batter of potatoes boiled and pressed through a colander, and
mixed with milk and an egg, over them: then putting the rest of the
steaks, and batter, bake it.
Batter with flour, instead of potatoes, eats well, but requires more
egg, and is not so good.
_Mutton Sausages._
Take a pound of the rawest part of a leg of mutton that has been either
roasted or boiled: chop it extremely small: season with pepper, salt,
mace, and nutmeg. Add six ounces of beef suet, some sweet herbs, two
anchovies, and a pint of oysters, all chopped very small; a quarter of a
pound of grated bread, some of the anchovy liquor, and all that came
from the oysters; the yelks and whites of two eggs well beaten. Put it
all, when well mixed, into a little pot, and use it by rolling it into
balls or sausage shape, and fry them. If approved, a _little_ shalot may
be added; or garlick, which is a great improvement.
_Mutton Steaks_
Should be cut from a loin or neck that has hung. If the latter, the
bones should not be long. They should be broiled on a clear fire, and
seasoned when half done, and frequently turned; when, taking into a very
hot dish, rub a bit of butter on each, and serve hot and hot the moment
they are done.
They may be covered with forcemeat.
_Mutton Collops._
Cut from that part of a well hung loin of mutton which is next the leg,
some collops very thin. Take out the sinews. Season them with salt,
pepper and mace, and strew over them shred parsley, thyme, and two or
three shalots. Fry them in butter till half done. Add half a pint of
gravy, a little juice of lemon, and a piece of butter rubbed in flour,
and simmer the whole very gently five minutes. They should be served
immediately, or they will be hard.
_Lamb Steaks._
Fry a beautiful brown. Throw over them, when served, a good quantity of
crumbs of bread fried, and crimped parsley: the receipt for doing which
of a fine colour, is given under the article of vegetables.
Mutton and Lamb steaks, seasoned and broiled in buttered papers, either
with crumbs and herbs, or without, are a genteel dish, and eat well.
Sauce for them, called sauce Robart, under the list of sauces.
Saddle or Loin of mutton, roasted: the former a fashionable dish.
Shoulder of mutton, roasted, and onion sauce. Bladebone broiled.
_Shoulder of Mutton boiled with Oysters._
Hang it some days, then salt it well for two. Bone it, and sprinkle it
with pepper, and a bit of mace pounded. Lay some oysters over it, and
roll the meat up tight with a fillet. Stew it in a small quantity of
water, with an onion, and a few peppercorns, till quite tender.
Have ready a little good gravy, and some oysters stewed in it: thicken
with flour and butter, and pour over the mutton when the tape is
removed. The stewpan should be kept close covered.
_Breast of Mutton._
The superfluous fat being cut off, roast, and serve with stewed
cucumbers: or, to eat cold, having covered it with chopped parsley: or
half boiled, and then grilled before the fire, being covered with crumbs
and herbs, and served with caper sauce: or boned, a good deal of the fat
being taken off, and covered with bread, herbs, and seasoning; then
rolled, and boiled, and served with chopped walnut, or capers and
butter.
_Rolled Loin of Mutton._
Hang the mutton, to be tender. Bone it, and lay a seasoning of pepper,
pimento, mace, nutmeg, a few cloves, all in fine powder, over it. Next
day prepare a stuffing as for a hare, beat the meat, and cover it with
the stuffing, roll it tight, and fillet it. Half bake it in a slow oven:
let it grow cold: remove the fat, and put the gravy into a stewpan:
flour the meat, and put in likewise; stew till near ready, and add a
glass of port wine, some catsup, an anchovy, and a little lemon pickle,
half an hour before serving, which do in the gravy, and with jelly
sauce. A few fresh mushrooms are a great improvement, but not if to eat
like hare, nor add the lemon pickle.
Rumps, kidneys, livers, and hearts, well washed, seasoned, and broiled,
and served with cold butter rubbed on them.
_Steaks of Mutton, or Lamb and Cucumbers._
Quarter cucumbers, and lay them in a deep dish; sprinkle them with salt,
and pour vinegar over. Fry chops of a fine brown, and put them in a
stewpan: drain the cucumbers, and put over the steaks: put some sliced
onions, pepper, and salt: pour hot water or weak broth on them: stew and
skim well.
_An excellent Hotch Potch._
Stew pease, lettuce, and onions, in a very little water, with a beef or
ham bone. While doing, fry some mutton or lamb steaks, seasoned, of a
nice brown. Three quarters of an hour before dinner put the steaks into
a stewpan, and the vegetables over: stew them, and serve all together in
a tureen.
_Another Hotch Potch._
Knuckle of veal, and scrag of mutton, stewed with vegetables as above.
_Mutton Ham._
Choose a fine grained leg of wether mutton, of twelve or fourteen pounds
weight. Let it be cut ham shape, and hang two days: then put into a
stewpan half a pound of bay salt, the same of common salt, two ounces of
saltpetre, half a pound of coarsest sugar, all in powder: mix and make
it quite hot; then rub it well into the ham, let it be turned in the
liquor daily. At the end of four days put two ounces more of common
salt: in twelve days take it out; dry, and hang it up in the wood smoke
a week.
_Mutton Cutlets in the Portuguese way._
Cut the chops, and half fry them, with sliced shalot or onion, chopped
parsley, and two bayleaves; seasoned with pepper and salt. Then lay a
forcemeat on a piece of white paper, put the chop on it, cover with
forcemeat, and twist the paper up, leaving a hole for the end of the
bones to go through. Broil on a gentle fire. Serve with sauce Robart;
or, as the seasoning makes the cutlets high, a little gravy.
_Lamb._
Leg boiled in a cloth to look as white as possible: the loin fried in
steaks and served round, garnished with dried or fried parsley. Spinach
to eat with it. Or dressed separately, or roasted.
_Lamb’s Head and Hinge._
That of a house lamb is best, but either, if soaked in cold water, will
be white. Boil the head separately till very tender, and have ready the
liver and lights cut small. After being three parts boiled, stew them in
a little of the water in which they were boiled. Season, and thicken
with flour and butter, and serve the mince round the head.
_Fore Quarter of Lamb._
Roasted whole, or separately. If left to be cold, chopped parsley should
be sprinkled over it.
_Lamb’s Fry._
Serve it fried a beautiful colour, and a good deal of dried or fried
parsley over it.
_Turkey to Boil._
Make a stuffing of bread, herbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, lemonpeel, a few
oysters or an anchovy, a bit of butter, some suet, and an egg. Put this
in the crop, and fasten up the skin, and boil the turkey in a floured
cloth, to make it very white. Have ready a fine oyster sauce, made rich
with butter, a little cream, a spoonful of soy, if approved, and pour
over the bird. Or, liver and lemon sauce.
Hen birds are best for boiling, and should be young.
_Turkey to Roast._
The sinews of the legs should be drawn, whichever way it be dressed. The
head should be twisted under the wing; and in drawing, care should be
taken not to tear the liver, or let the gall touch it. Put a stuffing of
sausage meat; or, if sausages are to be served in the dish, a bread
stuffing. As this makes a large addition to the size of the bird,
observe that the heat of the fire be constantly to that part; for the
breast is frequently not enough done. A little strip of paper should be
put on the bone to prevent scorching, while the other parts roast. Baste
well, and froth it up. Gravy in the dish, and plenty of bread sauce in a
sauce tureen.
_Pulled Turkey._
Divide the meat of the breast by pulling instead of cutting; then warm
it in a spoonful or two of white gravy, a little cream, grated nutmeg,
salt, and a little flour and butter: warm, but do not boil it. The leg
seasoned, scored, and broiled, put in the dish, with the above round it.
Cold chicken does as well.
_Turkey Patties._
Mince some of the white parts, and with grated lemon, nutmeg, salt, a
very little white pepper, cream, and a very little bit of butter warmed.
Fill the patties; they having been first baked with a bit of bread in
each, to keep them hollow.
_Pheasants and Partridges._
Roast as turkey, and serve with a fine gravy: in which put the smallest
bit of garlick, and bread sauce. When cold, they may be made into
excellent patties, but their flavour should not be overpowered by lemon.
_Potted Partridge._
When nicely cleaned, season with the following, in finest powder: mace,
Jamaica pepper, white pepper, and salt. Rub every part well; then lay
the breasts downwards in a pan, and pack the birds as close as you
possibly can. Put a good deal of butter on them; then cover the pan with
a coarse flour paste, and a paper over: tie close and bake. When cold,
put into pots, and cover with butter.
_A very economical way of Potting Birds._
Prepare as before. When baked, and become cold, cut them in proper
pieces for helping, and pack them close into a large potting pot, and
leave, if possible, no spaces to receive the butter; with which, cover
them, and one third part less will be requisite than when done whole.
_To clarify Butter for potted things._
Put it in a sauce boat, and set that in a stewpan that has a little
water in, over the fire. When melted, observe not to pour the milky
parts over the potted things, they will sink to the bottom.
_Fowls._
Boiled, with oyster, lemon, parsley, and butter, or liver sauces; or
with bacon and greens.
_Ditto roasted._
Egg sauce, bread sauce, or garnished with sausages, scalded, and
parsley.
A large barndoor fowl well hung, stuffed in the crop with sausage meat,
and gravy in the dish, and with bread sauce.
The head should be turned under the wing.
Fowl split down the back, peppered, salted, and broiled. Serve it with
mushroom sauce.
_To boil Fowl with Rice._
Stew the fowl very slowly, in some clear mutton broth, well skimmed, and
seasoned with onion, mace, pepper, and salt. About half an hour before
it be ready, put in a quarter of a pint of rice, well washed and soaked.
Simmer till tender; then strain from the broth, and put the rice on a
sieve before the fire. Keep the fowl hot; lay it in the middle of the
dish, and the rice round it, without the _broth_; which will be very
nice to eat as such; but the less liquor it is done with the better.
_Fricassee of Chickens._
Boil them rather more than half in a small quantity of water: let them
cool; then cut them up, and put them to simmer in a little gravy, made
of the liquor they were boiled in, and a bit of veal or mutton, onion,
mace, lemonpeel, white pepper, and a bunch of sweet herbs. When quite
tender, keep them hot while you thicken the sauce thus: strain off, and
put it back into the saucepan, with a little salt, a scrape of nutmeg, a
bit of flour and butter: give it one boil; and when you are going to
serve, beat up the yelk of an egg, add half a pint of cream, and stir
them over the fire, but do not let it boil.
It will be equally good without the egg.
_Another white Sauce, more easily made._
Take a little of the water that boiled the fowls, (which must be kept
hot) and stew with it some cut onion, a bit of parsley, a blade of mace,
and a bit of lemonpeel. Mix with this a bit of butter, flour, and little
thick cream, and adding the chicken, warm it with the sauce.
The above for veal or rabbit; but if either are not sufficiently done
before, then the cream and flour should be added just before serving,
after the meat is a little stewed.
_Davenport Fowls._
Hang young fowls a night: take the livers, hearts, and tenderest parts
of the gizzards, shred very small, with half a handful of young clary,
an anchovy to each fowl, one onion, and the yelks of four eggs, boiled
hard, with pepper, salt, and mace to your taste. Stuff the fowls with
this, and sew up the vents and necks quite close, that the water may not
get in. Boil them in salt and water till near done; then drain, and put
them into a stewpan, with butter enough to brown them. Then serve with
fine melted butter, and a spoonful of catsup, of either sort, in the
dish.
_To pull Chicken._
Take off the skin, and pull the flesh off the bones of a cold fowl, in
as large pieces as you can. Dredge with flour, and fry of a nice brown
in butter; which drain from it, and simmer in a good gravy, well
seasoned, and thickened with a little flour and butter. Add the juice of
half a lemon.
_Chicken Pie._
Cut up two young fowls: season with white pepper, salt, a little mace,
and nutmeg, all in the finest powder; likewise a little Cayenne. Put the
chicken, slices of ham or gammon, forcemeat, and hard eggs, alternately.
If to be in a dish, put a little water; if in a raised crust, none.
Against the pie be baked, have ready a gravy of knuckle of veal, with a
few shank bones, seasoned with herbs, onion, mace, and pepper. If in a
dish, put in as much gravy as will fill it: if in crust, let it go cold;
then open the lid, and put in the jelly.
_The Forcemeat for Pies of Fowls of any kind._
Pound fine, cold chicken, or veal, a bit of fat bacon, some grated ham,
crumbs of bread, a very little bit of onion, parsley, knotted marjorum,
and a very small bit of tarragon, chopped fine; a blade of mace, a
little nutmeg, white pepper, and salt, in finest powder. When well
mixed, add eggs to make into balls.
_Chicken Curry._
Cut up the chickens before they are dressed, and fry them in butter,
with sliced onions, till of a fine colour: or if you use those that have
been dressed, do not fry them: lay the joints, cut in two or three
pieces each, into a stewpan, with veal or mutton gravy, a clove or two
of garlick, four large spoonfuls of cream, and some Cayenne: rub smooth
one or two spoonfuls of curry powder, with a little flour, and a bit of
butter, and add twenty minutes before you serve; stewing it on till
ready. A little juice of lemon should be squeezed in when serving.
Slices of rare done veal, rabbit, or turkey, make a good curry.
A dish of rice boiled plain, as hereafter directed, must be always
served to eat with curry.
_Another Curry, and more quickly made._
Cut up a chicken or young rabbit; if the former, take off the skin, and
rub each piece in a large spoonful of flour, mixed with half an ounce of
curry powder: slice two or three onions, and fry in butter, of a fine
light brown; then add the meat, and fry altogether, until the latter
begin to brown; then put into a stewpan, and pour boiling water over to
cover. Let it simmer very gently two or three hours until quite tender.
If too thick, put more water half an hour before it be served.
Dressed fowl or meat may be done; but the curry will be better made of
fresh.
_Grouse._
Are to be roasted like fowls; but their heads twisted under the wing,
and served with gravy, and bread sauce, or with sauce for wild fowl. See
Sauces.
_To pot Grouse, or Moor Game._
Pick, singe, and wash them very clean; then rub them inside and out with
a high seasoning of salt, pepper, mace, nutmeg, and allspice. Lay them
in as small a pot as will hold them: cover them with butter, and bake
them in a slow oven. When cold, take off the butter, move the birds from
the gravy, dry, and put them into pots that will just fit one or two;
the former, where there are not many. Melt the former butter with some
more, so as to completely cover the birds: but take care not to oil it.
Do not let it be too hot.
_To roast Widgeon, Duck, Teal, or Moorhen._
The flavour is best preserved without stuffing; but put some pepper,
salt, and a bit of butter in the birds. Wild fowl require to be much
less done than tame, and to be served of a fine colour.
The basting ordered in the foregoing receipt takes off a fishy taste
which wild fowl sometimes have. Send up a very good gravy in the dish;
and on cutting the breast, half a lemon squeezed over, with pepper on
it, improves the taste.
Or stuff them with crumbs, a little shred onion, sage, pepper, and salt,
but not a large quantity, and add a bit of butter. Slice an onion, and
put into the dripping pan, with a little salt, and baste the fowls with
it till three parts done; then remove that, and baste with butter. They
should come up finely frothed, and not be overdone.
An excellent sauce under that article.
_Duck to boil._
Choose a fine fat duck, salt it two days, then boil it slowly, and cover
it with onion sauce made very white, and the butter melted with milk
instead of water.
To roast duck: stuff or not, and serve with gravy.
_Duck Pie._
Bone a full grown young duck, and a fine young fowl of a good size.
Season them both well with mace, pepper, salt and allspice. Put the fowl
within the duck, and a calf’s tongue that has been pickled red, and
boiled, within the fowl. Make the whole to lie close. The skin of the
legs and wings should be drawn inwards, that the body may lie smooth,
Put the birds into a raised pie, or small piedish, and cover it with a
thickish paste. Bake in a slow oven to eat cold.
The old Staffordshire raised pies were made as above, but a turkey was
put over the duck, and a goose over that, forming a very large pie.
_Goose to Roast._
After being carefully picked, the plugs of the feathers pulled out, and
the hairs singed, let it be well washed, dried, and seasoned with onion,
sage, pepper, and salt; fasten it tight at the neck and vent, and roast
it.
When half done, let a narrow strip of paper be skewered on the
breastbone. Baste it well, and observe to take it up the moment it is
done, nicely frothed. When the breast rises, take off the paper, and
observe to serve it before it fall, or it will be spoiled, and come to
table flattened. Before it is cut up, cut the apron off, and pour in a
wineglass of port wine and a teaspoonful of mustard. Cut the breast from
one pinion to the other, if for a large party, without leaving meat to
the wingbone.
Gravy, and apple sauce.
_Green Goose Pie._
Bone two green geese, having first removed every plug, and singed them
nicely. Wash them clean; season high with salt, mace, pepper, and
pimento: put one within the other, and press them close into your
piedish; put a good deal of butter over them, and bake with or without a
crust: if the latter, a cover that will keep the steam in, must supply
the place of a crust. It will keep long.
_Giblet Pie._
Stew duck or goose giblets, when nicely cleaned, with onion, black
pepper, and a bunch of sweet herbs, till tender. Let them become cold;
then put them in the dish with two or three steaks of veal, beef, or
mutton, especially if there are not giblets enough to make the sized pie
that you wish. A little cup of cream, put in when baked, is a great
improvement. Put the liquor in first.
_Stewed Giblets._
As above, and add a little butter and flour. Serve with sippets, and
cream just scalded in the sauce.
_Stewed Pigeons._
Let them be fresh, and carefully cropped, drawn, and washed, then let
them soak half an hour: in the mean time cut a hard white cabbage into
water in slices as for pickling; drain it, and boil it in milk and
water; drain it again, then lay some of it at the bottom of a stewpan;
put the birds on it, being well seasoned, and cover them with the
remainder; put a little broth into them, and stew till quite tender,
before you serve. Add some cream, and a little flour and butter; give it
one boil, and serve the cabbage round the pigeons.
_Another way._
Stew in a good gravy, stuffed or not, and season well. Add a little
mushroom catsup, or fresh mushrooms.
_To pickle Pigeons._
Bone the pigeons, turn the inside out, and lard it: season with Jamaica
pepper pounded very fine, and a little salt: turn the inside outward
again, and tie the neck and rump with thread: put them in boiling water,
let them boil a minute or two to plump; take them out, and dry with a
cloth. The pickle must be made of an equal quantity of wine, and white
wine vinegar; white pepper, Jamaica pepper, sliced nutmeg, ginger, and
two or three bayleaves boiled. When it boils, put the pigeons into it,
and let them boil fifteen minutes, if small; twenty, if large. Then take
them out, wipe, and let them cool. When the pickle is cold, take off the
fat, and put them in.
They must be kept in a stonejar, tied down with a bladder to exclude the
air. You may in some, instead of larding, put a stuffing of hard yelks
of eggs, and marrow, in equal quantities, spices, and sweet herbs.
_Pigeons in Jelly._
Save some of the liquor in which a knuckle of veal has been boiled, as
likewise a calf’s foot, or else simmer some isinglass in it, a blade of
mace, an onion, a bunch of herbs, some lemonpeel, white pepper, and
salt. When the pigeons are nicely cleaned and soaked, put them in a pan,
and pour the liquor over them; and let them be baked, and remain in it
till cold. When served, put jelly over and round them. Season them as
you approve.
_Potted Pigeons._
Take fresh ones: clean them carefully: season with pepper and salt: put
them close in a small pan, and pour butter over: bake, and when cold
take them out. Put into fresh pots, fit to serve to table, two or three
in each, and pour butter over, using that which was baked with them as
part. Observe, that it is necessary to put a good deal of butter if to
be kept.
_Note._ Butter that has covered potted things is good for basting, and
will make very good paste for meatpies. If to be high, add some mace,
and a few Jamaica peppers to the seasoning.
_Pigeon Pie._
Clean as before: season; and, if approved, put some parsley into the
birds, and a bit of butter, with pepper and salt. Lay a beefsteak at the
bottom of the dish, and hard eggs between each two birds, and a little
water. If you have ham in the house, lay a slice on each: it is a great
improvement to the flavour.
Observe, when you cut ham for sauce or pies, to turn it, and take from
the underside instead of the prime.
_Broiled Pigeons._
Slit them down the back: season, and broil. Serve with mushroom sauce;
or melted butter, with a little mushroom catsup.
_Roast Pigeons._
Should be stuffed with uncut parsley, seasoned; and served with parsley
and butter. Asparagus, or peas, should be dressed to eat with them.
_Parsley Pie._
Lay veal or fowl at the bottom of a pie dish, seasoned. Take a colander
full of picked parsley, cover the meat with it, and pour some cream into
the dish, and a spoonful or two of broth. Cover with crust.
_Potatoe Pasty._
Boil, peel, and mash potatoes as fine as possible; then mix pepper,
salt, and a little thick cream, or, if you prefer it, butter. Make a
paste, and, rolling it out like a large puff, put the potatoe into it,
and bake it.
_Turnip Pie._
Season mutton chops with pepper and salt: lay them in the bottom of a
dish, reserving the ends of the bones to lay over the turnips; which cut
and season, and lay over the steaks till the dish be full. Put two or
three spoonfuls of water in, and cover with crust. You may add a little
onion.
_Shrimp Pie. Excellent._
Take a quart of picked shrimps: if very salt, only season with mace, and
a clove or two in fine powder; but if not salt, mince two or three
anchovies, mix with the spice, and season them. Put some butter at the
bottom of the dish, and over the shrimps, and a glass of sharp white
wine. Put a good light paste over. They do not require long baking.
_Cornish Pies._
Scald and blanch some broad beans: cut mushrooms, carrots, turnips, and
artichoke bottoms, and with some peas, and a little onion, make the
whole into a nice stew, with some good veal gravy. Bake a crust over a
dish, with a little lining round the edge, and a cup within to keep it
from sinking: open the lid, and put in the fricassee made hot; seasoning
to your taste. Shalots, parsley, lettuce, celery, or any sort of
vegetables that you like, may be added.
_Fish Pie._
Put slices of cod that have been salted a night; pepper, and between
each layer put a good quantity of parsley picked from the stalks, and
some fresh butter. Pour a little broth, if you have any, or else a
little water. Bake the pie; and when to be served, add a quarter of a
pint of raw cream warm, with half a teaspoonful of flour. Oysters may be
added.
Mackerel will do well; but do not salt it till used.
Soals, with oysters, seasoned with pounded mace, nutmeg, pepper, an
anchovy, and some salt, make an excellent pie. Put in the oyster liquor,
two or three spoonfuls of broth, and some butter, for gravy. When come
from the oven, pour in a cup of thick cream.
_To prepare Meat or Fowls for raised Pies._
When washed, put a good seasoning of spices and salt. Set it over a fire
in a stewpan, that will just hold the meat: put a piece of butter, and,
covering close, let it simmer in its own steam till it shrink. It must
be cool before it be put into the pie. Chicken’s sweetbreads, giblets,
pigeon’s meat, almost any thing will make a good pie, if well seasoned,
and made tender by stewing. A forcemeat may be put under and over, of
cold chicken or veal, fat bacon, shred ham, herbs, bread, and seasoning,
bound with an egg or two, or in balls. Or instead of crust, use an
earthen pie form.
_Hares_,
If old, should be larded with bacon, after having hung as long as they
will keep, and being first soaked in pepper and vinegar.
If not paunched as soon as killed, hares are more juicy: but as that is
usually done in the field, the cook must be careful to wipe it dry every
day; the liver being removed, and boiled to keep for the stuffing.
Parsley put into the belly will help keep it fresh.
When to be dressed, the hare must be well soaked; and if the neck and
shoulders are bloody, in warm water: then dry it, and put to it a large
fine stuffing, made of the liver, an anchovy, some fat bacon, a little
suet, herbs, spice, and bread crumbs, with an egg to bind it. Sew it up.
Observe that the ears are nicely cleaned and singed. When half roasted,
cut the skin off the neck to let out the blood, which afterwards fixes
there. Baste with milk till three parts done, then with butter: and
before served, froth it up with flour. It should be put down early, kept
at a great distance at first from the fire, and drawn nearer by degrees.
Send a rich brown gravy in the dish; melted butter in one boat, and
currantjelly in another.
_To jug an old Hare._
After it is well cleaned and skinned, cut it up and season it with
pepper, allspice, salt, pounded, mace, and a little nutmeg: put it into
a jar, with an onion, a clove or two, a bunch of sweet herbs, and over
all a bit of coarse beef. Tie it down with a bladder and leather quite
close, and put the jar into a saucepan of water up to its neck, but no
higher. Let the water boil gently five hours. When to be served, pour
the gravy into a saucepan, and thicken it with butter and flour; or if
become cold, warm the hare with the gravy.
_Hare Soup._ See _Soups_.
_Hare Pie._
Season the hare after it is cut up. Put eggs, and forcemeat, and either
bake in a raised crust or a dish: if in the former, put cold jelly gravy
to it; if for the latter, the same hot; but the pie is to be eaten cold.
See _Jelly Gravy among similar articles_.
_Potted Hare._
Having seasoned, and baked it with butter over, cover it with brown
paper, and let it grow cold. Then take the meat from the bones, beat it
in a mortar, and add salt, mace, and pepper, if not high enough; a bit
of fresh butter melted, and a spoonful of the gravy that came from the
hare when baked. Put the meat into small pots, and cover it well with
butter warmed. The prime should be baked at the bottom of the pot.
_Broiled Hare and hashed._
The flavour of broiled hare is particularly fine. The legs or wings
peppered and salted first, and when done, rubbed with cold butter.
The other parts warmed with the gravy and a little stuffing.
_Rabbits_
May be eaten various ways.
Roasted with stuffing and gravy.
Ditto without stuffing; and with liver, parsley, and butter: seasoned
with pepper and salt.
Boiled, and smothered with onion sauce; the butter being melted with
milk instead of water.
Fried, and served with dried or fried parsley, and liver sauce as above.
Fricasseed, as directed for chickens.
Made into Pies, as chickens, with forcemeat, &c. are excellent, when
young.
_To make Rabbit taste much like_ Hare.
Choose a young full grown one: hang it, with the skin on, two or three
days: skin, and lay it unwashed in a seasoning of black and Jamaica
peppers, in fine powder, putting some port wine into the dish, and baste
it occasionally for forty hours: then stuff and roast it as hare, and
with the same sauce. Do not wash off the liquor that it lay in.
_Potted Rabbit._
Cut up and season three or four after washing them. The seasoning must
be mace, pepper, salt, a little Cayenne, and a few pimentos in finest
powder. Pack them as close as possible in a small pan, and make the
surface smooth. Keep out the carcasses, having taken all the meat off
them, and, putting a good deal of butter over the rabbits, bake them
gently. Let them remain a day or two, then remove into potting pans; and
add some fresh butter to that which already covers them.