[Illustration]
Choose a fat hen turkey. When dressing it, leave the crop skin (the skin
over the breast) whole; cut off the legs, wings, and neck. Now slit the
skin at the back, and carefully remove it all around. Cut out the
breasts carefully; cut them into little elongated pieces, about a
quarter of an inch square and an inch long (parallelograms); or cut them
any way you like. Season them with pepper, salt, a little nutmeg, mace,
pounded cloves, sweet basil, and a little chopped parsley, all mixed.
Now make a force-meat, with a pound and a quarter of lean veal or fresh
pork, well freed from skin and gristle. Mix this with the meat of the
turkey (all but the breasts); chop it well. Then chop an equal volume of
fresh bacon, which mix with the other chopped meat: season this with the
condiments last mentioned. Now pound it in a mortar to a paste. Cut one
pound of truffles, half a pound of cooked pickled tongue, and half a
pound of cooked fat bacon, into three-quarter-inch dice. Season these
also.
Spread the turkey skin on a board. Make alternate layers on it, first of
half of the force-meat, then half of the turkey breasts, then half of
the dice of tongue, truffles, and bacon, then, turkey fillets and dice
again: save some of the force-meat to put on the last layer. Now begin
at one side and roll it over, giving it a round and long shape; sew up
the skin; wrap it, pressing it closely in a napkin; tie it at the
extremities, and also tie it across in two places, to keep it in an oval
shape with round ends.
Boil the galantine gently for four hours in boiling water (or, better,
in stock), with the bones of the turkey thrown in. At the end of that
time, take the stew-pan off the fire. Let the galantine cool in the
liquor one hour; then drain it, and put it on a dish with a seven-pound
weight on it.
When cold, take the galantine out of the napkin; put it at the end of an
open oven for some minutes to melt the fat, which wipe off with a cloth;
glaze it, or sprinkle it with a little egg and fine bread-crumbs, and
bake it a few minutes. It is, of course, to be sliced when eaten. It is
generally served placed on a wooden standard, as described for a
_Mayonnaise_ of salmon.
A boned turkey, or galantine, is seen at almost all large parties. It is
convenient to have one in the house, as it will keep for a long time,
and is very nice for lunch or tea. It costs ten dollars to buy one, and
about half of the amount to make it. Of course, it is some trouble to
make; yet if one’s time is worth less than one’s money, there is plenty
of time for the purpose, as it can be made three or four days before an
entertainment. Chicken and game galantines are made in the same way. The
figure on page 169 is a boned turkey or chicken prepared for boiling.