POULTRY AND GAME
Poultry includes all domestic birds suitable for food except pigeon and
squab. Examples: chicken, fowl, turkey, duck, goose, etc. Game includes
such birds and animals suitable for food as are pursued and taken in
field and forest. Examples: quail, partridge, wild duck, plover, deer,
etc.
The flesh of chicken, fowl, and turkey has much shorter fibre than that
of ruminating animals, and is not intermingled with fat,—the fat always
being found in layers directly under the skin, and surrounding the
intestines. Chicken, fowl, and turkey are nutritious, and chicken is
specially easy of digestion. The white meat found on breast and wing is
more readily digested than the dark meat. The legs, on account of
constant motion, are of a coarser fibre and darker color.
Since incubators have been so much used for hatching chickens, small
birds suitable for broiling may be always found in market. Chickens
which appear in market during January weighing about one and one-half
pounds are called _spring chickens_.
Fowl is found in market throughout the year, but is at its best from
March until June.
Philadelphia, until recently, furnished our market with Philadelphia
chickens and _capons_, but now Massachusetts furnishes equally good
ones, which are found in market from December to June. They are very
large, plump, and superior eating. At an early age they are deprived of
the organs of reproduction, penned, and specially fatted for killing.
They are recognized by the presence of head, tail, and wing feathers.
Turkeys are found in market throughout the year, but are best during the
winter months. Tame ducks and geese are very indigestible on account of
the large quantity of fat they contain. Goose meat is thoroughly
infiltrated with fat, containing sometimes forty to forty-five per cent.
Pigeons, being old birds, need long, slow cooking to make them tender.
Squabs (young pigeons) make a delicious tidbit for the convalescent, and
are often the first meat allowed a patient by the physician.
The flesh of game, with the exception of wild duck and wild geese, is
tender, contains less fat than poultry, is of fine though strong flavor,
and easy of digestion. Game meat is usually of dark color, partridge and
quail being exceptions, and is usually cooked rare. Venison, the flesh
of deer, is short-fibred, dark-colored, highly savored, tender, and easy
of digestion; being highly savored, it often disagrees with those of
weak digestion.
Geese are in market throughout the year; Massachusetts and Rhode Island
furnishing specially good ones. A goose twelve weeks old is known as a
_green goose_. They may be found in market from May to September. Young
geese which appear in market September first and continue through
December are called _goslings_. They have been hatched during May and
June, and then fatted for market.
Young ducks, found in market about March first, are called _ducklings_.
Canvasback Ducks have gained a fine reputation throughout the country,
and are found in market from the last of November until March. Redhead
Ducks are in season two weeks earlier, and are about as good eating as
Canvasback Ducks, and much less in price. The distinctive flavor of both
is due to the wild celery on which they feed. Many other kinds of ducks
are found in market during the fall and winter. Examples: Widgeon,
Mallard, Lake Erie Teal, Black Ducks, and Butterballs.
Fresh quail are in market from October fifteenth to January first, the
law forbidding their being killed at any other time in the year. The
same is true of partridge, but both are frozen and kept in cold storage
several months. California sends frozen quail in large numbers to
Eastern markets. Grouse (_prairie chicken_) are always obtainable,—fresh
ones in the fall; later, those kept in cold storage. Plover may be
bought from April until December.
=To Select Poultry and Game.= A _chicken_ is known by soft feet, smooth
skin, and soft cartilage at end of breastbone. An abundance of
pinfeathers always indicates a young bird, while the presence of long
hairs denotes age. In a _fowl_ the feet have become hard and dry with
coarse scales, and cartilage at end of breastbone has ossified. _Cock
turkeys_ are usually better eating than hen turkeys, unless hen turkey
is young, small, and plump. A good turkey should be plump, have smooth
dark legs, and cartilage at end of breastbone soft and pliable. Good
geese abound in pinfeathers. Small birds should be plump, have soft feet
and pliable bills.
=To Dress and Clean Poultry.= Remove hairs and down by holding the bird
over a flame (from gas, alcohol, or burning paper) and constantly
changing position until all parts of surface have been exposed to flame;
this is known as _singeing_. Cut off the head and draw out pinfeathers,
using a small pointed knife. Cut through the skin around the leg one and
one-half inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut
tendons; place leg at this cut over edge of board, press downward to
snap the bone, then take foot in right hand, holding bird firmly in left
hand, and pull off foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds the
tendons must be drawn separately, which is best accomplished by using a
steel skewer. Make an incision through skin below breastbone, just large
enough to admit the hand. With the hand remove entrails, gizzard, heart,
and liver; the last three named constitute what is known as _giblets_.
The gall-bladder, lying on the under surface of the right lobe of the
liver, is removed with liver, and great care must be taken that it is
not broken, as a small quantity of the bile which it contains would
impart a bitter flavor to the parts with which it came in contact.
Enclosed by the ribs, on either side of backbone, may be found the
lungs, of spongy consistency and red color. Care must be taken that
every part of them is removed. Kidneys, lying in the hollow near end of
backbone, must also be removed. By introducing first two fingers under
skin close to neck, the windpipe may be easily found and withdrawn; also
the crop, which will be found adhering to skin close to breast. Draw
down neck skin, and cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough
to fasten under the back. Remove oil bag, and wash bird by allowing cold
water to run through it, not allowing bird to soak in cold water. Wipe
inside and outside, looking carefully to see that everything has been
withdrawn. If there is disagreeable odor, suggesting that fowl may have
been kept too long, clean at once, wash inside and out with soda water,
and sprinkle inside with charcoal and place some under wings.
Poultry dressed at market seldom have tendons removed unless so ordered.
It is always desirable to have them withdrawn, as they become hard and
bony during cooking. It is the practice of market-men to cut a gash
through the skin, to easier reach crop and windpipe. This gash must be
sewed before stuffing, and causes the bird to look less attractive when
cooked.
=To Cut up a Fowl.= Singe, draw out pinfeathers, cut off head, remove
tendons and oil bag. Cut through skin between leg and body close to
body, bend back leg (thus breaking ligaments), cut through flesh, and
separate at joint. Separate the upper part of leg, _second joint_, from
lower part of leg, _drumstick_, as leg is separated from body. Remove
wing by cutting through skin and flesh around upper wing joint which
lies next to body, then disjoint from body. Cut off tip of wing and
separate wing at middle joint. Remove leg and wing from other side.
Separate breast from back by cutting through skin, beginning two inches
below breastbone and passing knife between terminus of small ribs on
either side and extending cut to collar-bone. Before removing entrails,
gizzard, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, crop, and windpipe, observe their
position, that the anatomy of the bird may be understood. The back is
sometimes divided by cutting through the middle crosswise. The wishbone,
with adjoining meat, is frequently removed, and the breast meat may be
separated in two parts by cutting through flesh close to breastbone with
cleaver. Wipe pieces, excepting back, with cheese-cloth wrung out of
cold water. Back piece needs thorough washing.
=To Clean Giblets.= Remove thin membrane, arteries, veins, and clotted
blood around heart. Separate gall-bladder from liver, cutting off any of
liver that may have a greenish tinge. Cut fat and membranes from
gizzard. Make a gash through thickest part of gizzard, and cut as far as
inner lining, being careful not to pierce it. Remove the inner sack and
discard. Wash giblets and cook until tender, with neck and tips of
wings, putting them in cold water and heating water quickly that some of
the flavor may be drawn out into stock, which is to be used for making
gravy.
=To Stuff Poultry.= Put stuffing by spoonfuls in neck end, using enough
to sufficiently fill the skin, that bird may look plump when served.
Where cracker stuffing is used, allowance must be made for the swelling
of crackers, otherwise skin may burst during cooking. Put remaining
stuffing in body; if the body is full, sew skin; if not full, bring skin
together with a skewer.
=To Truss Fowl.= Draw thighs close to body and hold by inserting a steel
skewer under middle joint running it through body, coming out under
middle joint on other side. Cut piece three-fourths inch wide from neck
skin, and with it fasten legs together at ends; or cross drumsticks, tie
securely with a long string, and fasten to tail. Place wings close to
body and hold them by inserting a second skewer through wing, body, and
wing on opposite side. Draw neck skin under back and fasten with a small
wooden skewer. Turn bird on its breast. Cross string attached to tail
piece and draw it around each end of lower skewer; again cross string
and draw around each end of upper skewer; fasten string in a knot and
cut off ends. In birds that are not stuffed legs are often passed
through incisions cut in body under bones near tail.
=To Dress Birds for Broiling.= Singe, wipe, and with a sharp-pointed
knife, beginning at back of neck, make a cut through backbone the entire
length of bird. Lay open the bird and remove contents from inside. Cut
out rib bones on either side of backbone, remove from breastbone, then
cut through tendons at joints.
=To Fillet a Chicken.= Remove skin from breast, and with a small sharp
knife begin at end of collar-bone and cut through flesh, following close
to wish and breast bones the entire length of meat. Raise flesh with
fingers, and with knife free the piece of meat from bones which lie
under it. Cut meat away from wing joint; this solid piece of breast is
meat known as a _fillet_. This meat is easily separated in two parts.
The upper, larger part is called the _large fillet_; the lower part the
_mignon fillet_. The tough skin on the outside of large fillet should be
removed, also the sinew from mignon fillet. To remove tough skin, place
large fillet on a board, upper side down, make an incision through flesh
at top of fillet, and cut entire length of fillet, holding knife as
close to skin as possible. Trim edges, that fillet may look shapely.
Broiled Chicken
Dress for broiling, following directions on page 244. Sprinkle with salt
and pepper, and place in a well-greased broiler. Broil twenty minutes
over a clear fire, watching carefully and turning broiler so that all
parts may be equally browned. The flesh side must be exposed to the fire
the greater part of time, as the skin side will brown quickly. Remove to
a hot platter, spread with soft butter, and sprinkle with salt and
pepper. Chickens are so apt to burn while broiling that many prefer to
partially cook in oven. Place chicken in dripping-pan, skin side down,
sprinkle with salt and pepper, dot over with butter, and bake fifteen
minutes in hot oven; then broil to finish cooking. _Guinea chickens_ are
becoming popular cooked in this way.
Boiled Fowl
Dress, clean, and truss a four-pound fowl, tie in cheese-cloth, place on
trivet in a kettle, half surround with boiling water, cover, and cook
slowly until tender, turning occasionally. Add salt the last hour of
cooking. Serve with Egg, Oyster, or Celery Sauce. It is not desirable to
stuff a boiled fowl.
Boiled Capon with Cauliflower Sauce
Prepare and cook a capon same as Boiled Fowl, and serve surrounded with
Cauliflower Sauce and garnished with parsley.
Chicken à la Providence
Prepare and boil a chicken, following recipe for Boiled Fowl. The liquor
should be reduced to two cups, and used for making sauce, with two
tablespoons each butter and flour cooked together. Add to sauce one-half
cup each of cooked carrot (cut in fancy shapes) and green peas, one
teaspoon lemon juice, yolks two eggs, salt and pepper. Place chicken on
hot platter, surround with sauce, and sprinkle chicken and sauce with
one-half tablespoon finely chopped parsley.
Stewed Chicken with Onions
Dress, clean, and cut in pieces for serving, two chickens. Cook in a
small quantity of water with eighteen tiny young onions. Remove chicken
to serving dish as soon as tender, and when onions are soft drain from
stock and reduce stock to one and one-half cups. Make sauce of three
tablespoons butter, four tablespoons flour, stock, and one-half cup
heavy cream; then add yolks three eggs, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to
taste. Pour sauce over chicken and onions.
Chicken à la Stanley
Melt one-fourth cup butter, add one large onion thinly sliced, and two
broilers cut in pieces for serving; cover, and cook slowly ten minutes;
then add one cup Chicken Stock, and cook until meat is tender. Remove
chickens, rub stock and onions through a sieve, and add one and one-half
tablespoons each butter and flour cooked together. Add cream to make
sauce of the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange
chicken on serving dish, pour around sauce, and garnish dish with
bananas cut in diagonal slices dipped in flour and sautéd in butter.
Chili Con Carni
Clean, singe, and cut in pieces for serving, two young chickens. Season
with salt and pepper, and sauté in butter. Remove seeds and veins from
eight red peppers, cover with boiling water, and cook until soft; mash,
and rub through a sieve. Add one teaspoon salt, one onion finely
chopped, two cloves of garlic finely chopped, the chicken, and boiling
water to cover. Cook until chicken is tender. Remove to serving dish,
and thicken sauce with three tablespoons each butter and flour cooked
together; there should be one and one-half cups sauce. Canned pimentoes
may be used in place of red peppers.
Roast Chicken
Dress, clean, stuff, and truss a chicken. Place on its back on rack in a
dripping-pan, rub entire surface with salt, and spread breast and legs
with three tablespoons butter, rubbed until creamy and mixed with two
tablespoons flour. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven,
and when flour is well browned, reduce the heat, then baste. Continue
basting every ten minutes until chicken is cooked. For basting, use
one-fourth cup butter, melted in two-thirds cup boiling water, and after
this is gone, use fat in pan, and when necessary to prevent flour
burning, add one cup boiling water. During cooking, turn chicken
frequently, that it may brown evenly. If a thick crust is desired,
dredge bird with flour two or three times during cooking. If a glazed
surface is preferred, spread bird with butter, omitting flour, and do
not dredge during baking. When breast meat is tender, bird is
sufficiently cooked. A four-pound chicken requires about one and
one-half hours.
Stuffing I
1 cup cracker crumbs
⅓ cup butter
⅓ cup boiling water
Salt and Pepper
Powdered sage, summer savory, or marjoram
Melt butter in water, and pour over crackers, to which seasonings have
been added.
Stuffing II
1 cup cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
Sage of Poultry Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
⅔ cup scalded milk
Make same as Stuffing I.
Gravy
Pour off liquid in pan in which chicken has been roasted. From liquid
skim off four tablespoons fat; return fat to pan, and brown with four
tablespoons flour; add two cups stock in which giblets, neck, and tips
of wings have been cooked. Cook five minutes, season with salt and
pepper, then strain. The remaining fat may be used, in place of butter,
for frying potatoes, or for basting when roasting another chicken.
For =Giblet Gravy=, add to the above, giblets (heart, liver, and
gizzard) finely chopped.
Braised Chicken
Dress, clean, and truss a four-pound fowl. Try out two slices fat salt
pork cut one-fourth inch thick; remove scraps, and add to fat five
slices carrot cut in small cubes, one-half sliced onion, two sprigs
thyme, one sprig parsley, and one bay leaf, then cook ten minutes; add
two tablespoons butter, and fry fowl, turning often until surface is
well browned. Place on trivet in a deep pan, pour over fat, and add two
cups boiling water or Chicken Stock. Cover, and bake in slow oven until
tender, basting often, and adding more water if needed. Serve with a
sauce made from stock in pan, first straining and removing the fat.
Chicken Fricassee
Dress, clean, and cut up a fowl. Put in a kettle, cover with boiling
water, and cook slowly until tender, adding salt to water when chicken
is about half done. Remove from water, sprinkle with salt and pepper,
dredge with flour, and sauté in butter or pork fat. Arrange chicken on
pieces of dry toast placed on a hot platter, having wings and second
joints opposite each other, breast in centre of platter, and drumsticks
crossed just below second joints. Pour around White or Brown Sauce.
Reduce stock to two cups, strain, and remove the fat. Melt three
tablespoons butter, add four tablespoons flour, and pour on gradually
one and one-half cups stock. Just before serving, add one-half cup
cream, and salt and pepper to taste; or make a sauce by browning butter
and flour and adding two cups stock, then seasoning with salt and
pepper.
Fowls, which are always made tender by long cooking, are frequently
utilized in this way. If chickens are employed, they are sautéd without
previous boiling, and allowed to simmer fifteen to twenty minutes in the
sauce.
Fried Chicken
Fried chicken is prepared and cooked same as Chicken Fricassee, with
Brown Sauce, chicken always being used, never fowl.
Fried Chicken (Southern Style)
Clean, singe, and cut in pieces for serving, two young chickens. Plunge
in cold water, drain but do not wipe. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and
coat thickly with flour, having as much flour adhere to chicken as
possible. Try out one pound fat salt pork cut in pieces, and cook
chicken slowly in fat until tender and well browned. Serve with White
Sauce made of half milk and half cream.
Maryland Chicken
Dress, clean, and cut up two chickens. Sprinkle with salt and pepper,
dip in flour, egg, and crumbs, place in a well-greased dripping-pan, and
bake thirty minutes in a hot oven, basting after first five minutes of
cooking with one-third cup melted butter. Arrange on platter and pour
over two cups Cream Sauce.
Blanketed Chicken
Split and clean two broilers. Place in dripping-pan and sprinkle with
salt, pepper, two tablespoons green pepper finely chopped, and one
tablespoon chives finely cut. Cover with strips of bacon thinly cut, and
bake in a hot oven until chicken is tender. Remove to serving dish and
pour around the following sauce:
To three tablespoons fat, taken from dripping-pan, add four tablespoons
flour and one and one-half cups thin cream, or half chicken stock and
half cream may be used. Season with salt and pepper.
Chicken à la Merango
Dress, clean, and cut up a chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper,
dredge with flour, and sauté in salt pork fat. Put in a stewpan, cover
with sauce, and cook slowly until chicken is tender. Add one-half can
mushrooms cut in quarters, and cook five minutes. Arrange chicken on
serving dish and pour around sauce; garnish with parsley.
Sauce
¼ cup butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 slice carrot, cut in cubes
1 slice turnip, cut in cubes
¼ cup flour
2 cups boiling water
½ cup stewed and strained tomato
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
Few grains cayenne
Cook butter five minutes with vegetables. Add flour, with salt, pepper,
and cayenne, and cook until flour is well browned. Add gradually water
and tomato; cook five minutes, then strain.
Baked Chicken
Dress, clean, and cut up two chickens. Place in a dripping-pan, sprinkle
with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and dot over with one-fourth
cup butter. Bake thirty minutes in a hot oven, basting every five
minutes with one-fourth cup butter melted in one-fourth cup boiling
water. Serve with gravy made by using fat in pan, one-fourth cup flour,
one cup each Chicken Stock and cream, salt and pepper.
Planked Chicken
¼ cup butter
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Red pepper │¼ tablespoon each, finely chopped
Green pepper│
Parsley │
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Duchess potatoes
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
½ clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
8 mushroom caps
Cream the butter, add pepper, parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice.
Split a young chicken as for broiling, place in dripping-pan, sprinkle
with salt and pepper, dot over with butter, and bake in a hot oven until
nearly cooked. Butter plank, arrange a border of Duchess Potatoes (see
p. 312) close to edge of plank, and remove chicken to plank. Clean,
peel, and sauté mushroom caps, place on chicken, spread over prepared
butter, and put in a very hot oven to brown potatoes and finish cooking
chicken. Serve on the plank.
Chicken Gumbo
Dress, clean, and cut up a chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper,
dredge with flour, and sauté in pork fat. Fry one-half finely chopped
onion in fat remaining in frying-pan. Add four cups sliced okra, sprig
of parsley, and one-fourth red pepper finely chopped, and cook slowly
fifteen minutes. Add to chicken, with one and one-half cups tomato,
three cups boiling water, and one and one-half teaspoons salt. Cook
slowly until chicken is tender, then add one cup boiled rice.
Chicken Stew
Dress, clean, and cut up a fowl. Put in a stewpan, cover with boiling
water, and cook slowly until tender, adding one-half tablespoon salt and
one-eighth teaspoon pepper when fowl is about half cooked. Thicken stock
with one-third cup flour diluted with enough cold water to pour easily.
Serve with Dumplings. If desired richer, butter may be added.
Chicken Pie
Dress, clean, and cut up two fowls or chickens. Put in a stewpan with
one-half onion, sprig of parsley, and bit of bay leaf; cover with
boiling water, and cook slowly until tender. When chicken is half
cooked, add one-half tablespoon salt and one-eighth teaspoon pepper.
Remove chicken, strain stock, skim off fat, and then cook until reduced
to four cups. Thicken stock with one-third cup flour diluted with enough
cold water to pour easily. Place a small cup in centre of baking-dish,
arrange around it pieces of chicken, removing some of the larger bones;
pour over gravy, and cool. Cover with pie-crust in which several
incisions have been made, that there may be an outlet for escape of
steam and gases. Wet edge of crust and put around a rim, having rim come
close to edge. Bake in a moderate oven until crust is well risen and
browned. Roll remnants of pastry and cut in diamond-shaped pieces, bake,
and serve with pie when reheated. If puff paste is used, it is best to
bake top separately.
Chicken Curry
3 lb. chicken
⅓ cup butter
2 onions
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vinegar
Clean, dress, and cut chicken in pieces for serving. Put butter in a hot
frying-pan, add chicken, and cook ten minutes; then add liver and
gizzard and cook ten minutes longer. Cut onions in thin slices, and add
to chicken with curry powder and salt. Add enough boiling water to
cover, and simmer until chicken is tender. Remove chicken; strain, and
thicken liquor with flour diluted with enough cold water to pour easily.
Pour gravy over chicken, and serve with a border of rice or Turkish
Pilaf.
Chicken en Casserole
Cut two small, young chickens in pieces for serving. Season with salt
and pepper, brush over with melted butter, and bake in a casserole dish
twelve minutes. Parboil one-third cup carrots cut in strips five
minutes, drain, and fry with one tablespoon finely chopped onion and
four thin slices bacon cut in narrow strips. Add one and one-third cups
Brown Sauce and two-thirds cup potato balls. Add to chicken, with three
tablespoons Sherry wine, salt and pepper to taste. Cook in a moderate
oven twenty minutes, or until chicken is tender. If small casserole
dishes are used allow but one chicken to each dish.
Breslin Potted Chicken
Dress, clean, and truss a broiler. Put in a casserole dish, brush over
with two and one-half tablespoons melted butter, put on cover, and bake
twenty minutes; then add one cup stock and cook until chicken is tender.
Thicken stock with one tablespoon, each, butter and flour cooked
together, and add one-half cup cooked potato balls, one-third cup canned
string beans, cut in small pieces, one-third cup cooked carrot, cut in
fancy shapes, and six sautéd mushroom caps.
Jellied Chicken
Dress, clean, and cut up a four-pound fowl. Put in a stewpan with two
slices onion, cover with boiling water, and cook slowly until meat falls
from bones. When half cooked, add one-half tablespoon salt. Remove
chicken; reduce stock to three-fourths cup, strain, and skim off fat.
Decorate bottom of a mould with parsley and slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Pack in meat freed from skin and bone and sprinkled with salt and
pepper. Pour on stock and place mould under heavy weight. Keep in a cold
place until firm. In summer it is necessary to add one teaspoon
dissolved granulated gelatine to stock.
Chickens’ Livers with Madeira Sauce
Clean and separate livers, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with
flour, and sauté in butter. Brown two tablespoons butter, add two and
one-half tablespoons flour, and when well browned add gradually one cup
Brown Stock; then add two tablespoons Madeira wine, and reheat livers in
sauce.
Chickens’ Livers with Bacon
Clean livers and cut each liver in six pieces. Wrap a thin slice of
bacon around each piece and fasten with a small skewer. Put in a
broiler, place over a dripping-pan, and bake in a hot oven until bacon
is crisp, turning once during cooking.
Sautéd Chickens’ Livers
Cut one slice bacon in small pieces and cook five minutes with two
tablespoons butter. Remove bacon, add one finely chopped shallot, and
fry two minutes; then add six chickens’ livers cleaned and separated,
and cook two minutes. Add two tablespoons flour, one cup Brown Stock,
one teaspoon lemon juice, and one-fourth cup sliced mushrooms. Cook two
minutes, turn into a serving dish, and sprinkle with finely chopped
parsley.
Chickens’ Livers with Curry
Clean and separate livers. Dip in seasoned crumbs, egg, and crumbs, and
sauté in butter. Remove livers, and to fat in pan add two tablespoons
butter, one-half tablespoon finely chopped onion, and cook five minutes.
Add two tablespoons flour mixed with one-half teaspoon curry powder and
one cup stock. Strain sauce over livers, and serve around livers Rice
Timbales.
Boiled Turkey
Prepare and cook same as Boiled Fowl. Serve with Oyster or Celery Sauce.
Roast Turkey
Dress, clean, stuff, and truss a ten-pound turkey (see pages 242–244).
Place on its side on rack in a dripping-pan, rub entire surface with
salt, and spread breast, legs, and wings with one-third cup butter,
rubbed until creamy and mixed with one-fourth cup flour. Dredge bottom
of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven, and when flour on turkey begins
to brown, reduce heat, baste with fat in pan, and add two cups boiling
water. Continue basting every fifteen minutes until turkey is cooked,
which will require about three hours. For basting, use one-half cup
butter melted in one-half cup boiling water, and after this is used
baste with fat in pan. During cooking turn turkey frequently, that it
may brown evenly. If turkey is browning too fast, cover with buttered
paper to prevent burning. Remove string and skewers before serving.
Garnish with parsley, or celery tips, or curled celery and rings and
discs of carrots strung on fine wire.
For stuffing, use double the quantities given in recipes under Roast
Chicken. If stuffing is to be served cold, add one beaten egg. Turkey is
often roasted with Chestnut Stuffing, Oyster Stuffing, or Turkey
Stuffing (Swedish Style).
Chestnut Stuffing
3 cups French chestnuts
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup cream
1 cup cracker crumbs
Shell and blanch chestnuts. Cook in boiling salted water until soft.
Drain and mash, using a potato ricer. Add one-half the butter, salt,
pepper, and cream. Melt remaining butter, mix with cracker crumbs, then
combine mixtures.
Oyster Stuffing
3 cups stale bread crumbs
½ cup melted butter
Salt and pepper
Few drops onion juice
1 pint oysters
Mix ingredients in the order given, add oysters, cleaned and drained
from their liquor.
Turkey Stuffing (Swedish Style)
2 cups stale bread crumbs
⅔ cup melted butter
½ cup raisins, seeded and cut in pieces
½ cup English walnut meats, broken in pieces
Salt and pepper
Sage
Mix ingredients in the order given.
Gravy
Pour off liquid in pan in which turkey has been roasted. From liquid
skim off six tablespoons fat; return fat to pan and brown with six
tablespoons flour; pour on gradually three cups stock in which giblets,
neck, and tips of wings have been cooked, or use liquor left in pan.
Cook five minutes, season with salt and pepper; strain. For Giblet Gravy
add to the above, giblets (heart, liver, and gizzard) finely chopped.
Chestnut Gravy
To two cups thin Turkey Gravy add three-fourths cup cooked and mashed
chestnuts.
To Carve Turkey
Bird should be placed on back, with legs at right of platter for
carving. Introduce carving fork across breastbone, hold firmly in left
hand, and with carving knife in right hand cut through skin between leg
and body, close to body. With knife pull back leg and disjoint from
body. Then cut off wing. Remove leg and wing from other side. Separate
second joints from drumsticks and divide wings at joints. Carve breast
meat in thin crosswise slices. Under back on either side of backbone may
be found two small, oyster-shaped pieces of dark meat, which are dainty
tidbits. Chicken and fowl are carved in the same way. For a small family
carve but one side of a turkey, that remainder may be left in better
condition for second serving.
Roast Goose with Potato Stuffing
Singe, remove pinfeathers, wash and scrub a goose in hot soapsuds; then
draw (which is removing inside contents). Wash in cold water and wipe.
Stuff, truss, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and lay six thin strips fat
salt pork over breast. Place on rack in dripping-pan, put in hot oven,
and bake two hours. Baste every fifteen minutes with fat in pan. Remove
pork last half-hour of cooking. Place on platter, cut string, and remove
string and skewers. Garnish with watercress and bright red cranberries.
Serve with Apple Sauce.
Potato Stuffing
2 cups hot mashed potato
1¼ cups soft stale bread crumbs
¼ cup finely chopped fat salt pork
1 finely chopped onion
⅓ cup butter
1 egg
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sage
Add to potato, bread crumbs, butter, egg, salt, and sage; then add pork
and onion.
Goose Stuffing (Chestnut)
½ tablespoon finely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons butter
¼ lb. sausage meat
12 canned mushrooms, finely chopped
1 cup chestnut purée
⅓ cup stale bread crumbs
½ tablespoon finely chopped parsley
24 French chestnuts cooked and left whole
Salt and pepper
Cook shallot with butter five minutes, add sausage meat, and cook two
minutes, then add mushrooms, chestnut purée, parsley, and salt and
pepper. Heat to boiling-point, add bread crumbs and whole chestnuts.
Cool mixture before stuffing goose.
[Illustration:
ROAST TURKEY GARNISHED FOR SERVING.—_Page 254._
]
[Illustration:
DUCK STUFFED AND TRUSSED FOR ROASTING.—_Page 257._
]
[Illustration:
STUFFED EGG PLANT.—_Page 293._
]
[Illustration:
PURÉE OF SPINACH.—_Page 300._
]
To Truss a Goose
A goose, having short legs, is trussed differently from chicken, fowl,
and turkey. After inserting skewers, wind string twice around one leg
bone, then around other leg bone, having one inch space of string
between legs. Draw legs with both ends of string close to back, cross
string under back, then fasten around skewers and tie in a knot.
Roast Wild Duck
Dress and clean a wild duck and truss as goose. Place on rack in
dripping-pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover breast with two
very thin slices fat salt pork. Bake twenty to thirty minutes in a very
hot oven, basting every five minutes with fat in pan; cut string and
remove string and skewers. Serve with Orange or Olive Sauce. Currant
jelly should accompany a duck course. Domestic ducks should always be
well cooked, requiring little more than twice the time allowed for wild
ducks.
Ducks are sometimes stuffed with apples, pared, cored, and cut in
quarters, or three small onions may be put in body of duck to improve
flavor. Neither apples nor onions are to be served. If a stuffing to be
eaten is desired, cover pieces of dry bread with boiling water; as soon
as bread has absorbed water, press out the water; season bread with
salt, pepper, melted butter, finely chopped onion, or use
Duck Stuffing (Peanut)
¾ cup cracker crumbs
½ cup shelled peanuts, finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
Few drops onion juice
Salt and pepper
Cayenne
Mix ingredients in the order given.
Braised Duck
Tough ducks are sometimes steamed one hour, and then braised in same
manner as chicken.
Broiled Quail
Follow recipe for Broiling Chicken, allowing eight minutes for cooking.
Serve on pieces of toast, and garnish with parsley and thin slices of
lemon. Currant jelly or Rice Croquettes with Jelly should accompany this
course.
Roast Quail
Dress, clean, lard, and truss a quail. Bake same as Larded Grouse,
allowing fifteen to twenty minutes for cooking.
Larded Grouse
Clean, remove pinions, and if it be tough the skin covering breast. Lard
breast and insert two lardoons in each leg. Truss, and place on trivet
in small shallow pan; rub with salt, brush over with melted butter,
dredge with flour, and surround with trimmings of fat salt pork. Bake
twenty to twenty-five minutes in a hot oven, basting three times.
Arrange on platter, remove string and skewers, pour around Bread Sauce,
and sprinkle bird and sauce with coarse brown bread crumbs. Garnish with
parsley.
Breast of Grouse Sauté Chasseur
Remove breasts from pair of grouse, and sauté in butter. When partially
cooked, season with salt and pepper. Break carcasses in pieces, cover
with cold water, add carrot, celery, onion, parsley, and bay leaf, and
cook until stock is reduced to three-fourths cup. Arrange grouse on a
serving dish, and pour around a sauce made of three tablespoons butter,
four and one-half tablespoons flour, stock made from grouse, and
three-fourths cup stewed and strained tomatoes. Season with salt,
cayenne, and lemon juice, and add one teaspoon finely chopped parsley,
and one-half cup canned mushrooms cut in slices.
Broiled or Roasted Plover
Plover is broiled or roasted same as quail.
Potted Pigeons
Clean, stuff, and truss six pigeons, place upright in a stewpan, and add
one quart boiling water in which celery has been cooked. Cover, and cook
slowly three hours or until tender; or cook in oven in a covered earthen
dish. Remove from water, cool slightly, sprinkle with salt and pepper,
dredge with flour, and brown entire surface in pork fat. Make a sauce
with one-fourth cup, each, butter and flour cooked together and stock
remaining in pan; there should be two cups. Place each bird on a slice
of dry toast, and pour gravy over all. Garnish with parsley.
Stuffing
1 cup hot riced potatoes
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon marjoram or summer savory
Few drops onion juice
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup soft stale bread crumbs soaked in some of the celery water and
wrung in cheese-cloth
Yolk 1 egg
Mix ingredients in order given.
Broiled Venison Steak
Follow recipe for Broiled Beefsteak. Serve with Maître d’Hôtel Butter.
Venison should always be cooked rare.
Venison Steaks, Sautéd, Cumberland Sauce
Cut venison steaks in circular pieces and use trimmings for the making
of stock. Sauté steaks in hot buttered frying-pan and serve with
=Cumberland Sauce.= Soak two tablespoons citron, cut in julienne-shaped
pieces, two tablespoons glacéd cherries, and one tablespoon Sultana
raisins, in Port wine for several hours. Drain and cook fruit five
minutes in one-third cup Port wine. Add one-half tumbler currant jelly,
and, as soon as jelly is dissolved, add one and one-third cups Brown
Sauce, and two tablespoons shredded almonds.
Venison Steak, Chestnut Sauce
Wipe steak, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place on a greased broiler,
and broil five minutes. Remove to hot platter and pour over
=Chestnut Sauce.= Fry one-half onion and six slices carrot, cut in small
pieces, in two tablespoons butter, five minutes, add three tablespoons
flour, and stir until well browned; then add one and one-half cups Brown
Stock, a sprig of parsley, a bit of bay leaf, eight peppercorns, and one
teaspoon salt. Let simmer twenty minutes, strain, then add three
tablespoons Madeira wine, one cup boiled French chestnuts, and one
tablespoon butter.
Venison Cutlets
Clean and trim slices of venison cut from loin. Sprinkle with salt and
pepper, brush over with melted butter or olive oil, and roll in soft
stale bread crumbs. Place in a broiler and broil five minutes, or sauté
in butter. Serve with Port Wine Sauce.
Roast Leg of Venison
Prepare and cook as Roast Lamb, allowing less time that it may be cooked
rare.
Saddle of Venison
Clean and lard a saddle of venison. Cook same as Saddle of Mutton. Serve
with Currant Jelly Sauce.
Belgian Hare à la Maryland
Follow directions for Chicken à la Maryland (see p. 249). Bake forty
minutes, basting with bacon fat in place of butter.
Belgian Hare, Sour Cream Sauce
Clean and split a hare. Lard back and hind legs, and season with salt
and pepper. Cook eight slices carrot cut in small pieces and one-half
small onion in two tablespoons bacon fat five minutes. Add one cup Brown
Stock, and pour around hare in pan. Bake forty-five minutes, basting
often. Add one cup heavy cream and the juice of one lemon. Cook fifteen
minutes longer, and baste every five minutes. Remove to serving dish,
strain sauce, thicken, season with salt and pepper, and pour around
hare.
WAYS OF WARMING OVER POULTRY AND GAME
Creamed Chicken
1½ cups cold cooked chicken, cut in dice 1 cup White Sauce II ⅛ teaspoon
celery salt
Heat chicken dice in sauce, to which celery salt has been added.
Creamed Chicken with Mushrooms
Add to Creamed Chicken one-fourth cup mushrooms cut in slices.
Chicken with Potato Border
Serve Creamed Chicken in Potato Border.
Chicken in Baskets
To three cups hot mashed potatoes add three tablespoons butter, one
teaspoon salt, yolks of three eggs slightly beaten, and enough milk to
moisten. Shape in form of small baskets, using a pastry bag and tube.
Brush over with white of egg slightly beaten, and brown in oven. Fill
with Creamed Chicken. Form handles for baskets of parsley.
Chicken and Oysters à la Métropole
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
2 cups cream
2 cups cold cooked chicken, cut in dice
1 pint oysters, cleaned and rained
⅓ cup finely chopped celery
Make a sauce of first five ingredients, add chicken dice and oysters;
cook until oysters are plump. Serve sprinkled with celery.
Luncheon Chicken
1½ cups cold cooked chicken, cut in small dice
2 tablespoons butter
1 slice carrot, cut in small cubes
1 slice onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup Chicken Stock
Salt
Pepper
⅔ cup buttered cracker crumbs
4 eggs
Cook butter five minutes with vegetables, add flour, and gradually the
stock. Strain, add chicken dice, and season with salt and pepper. Turn
on a slightly buttered platter and sprinkle with cracker crumbs. Make
four nests, and in each nest slip an egg; cover eggs with crumbs, and
bake in a moderate oven until whites of eggs are firm.
Blanquette of Chicken
2 cups cold cooked chicken, cut in strips
1 cup White Sauce II
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Yolks 2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Add chicken to sauce; when well heated, add yolks of eggs slightly
beaten, diluted with milk. Cook two minutes, then add parsley.
Scalloped Chicken
Butter a baking-dish. Arrange alternate layers of cold, cooked sliced
chicken and boiled macaroni or rice. Pour over White, Brown, or Tomato
Sauce, cover with buttered cracker crumbs, and bake in a hot oven until
crumbs are brown.
Mock Terrapin
1½ cups cold cooked chicken or veal, cut in dice
1 cup White Sauce I
Yolks 2 “hard-boiled” eggs, finely chopped
Whites 2 “hard-boiled” eggs, chopped
3 tablespoons Sherry wine
¼ teaspoon salt
Few grains cayenne
Add to sauce, chicken, yolks and whites of eggs, salt, and cayenne; cook
two minutes, and add wine.
Chicken Soufflé
2 cups scalded milk
⅛ cup butter
⅛ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
½ cup stale soft bread crumbs
2 cups cold cooked chicken, finely chopped
Yolks 3 eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Whites 3 eggs, beaten stiff
Make a sauce of first five ingredients, add bread crumbs, and cook two
minutes; remove from fire, add chicken, yolks of eggs, and parsley, then
fold in whites of eggs. Turn in a buttered pudding-dish, and bake
thirty-five minutes in a slow oven. Serve with White Mushroom Sauce.
Veal may be used in place of chicken.
Chicken Hollandaise
1½ tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons corn-starch
1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon lemon juice
⅓ cup finely chopped celery
¼ teaspoon salt
Few grains paprika
1 cup cold cooked chicken, cut in small cubes
Yolk 1 egg
Cook butter and onion five minutes, add corn-starch and stock gradually.
Add lemon juice, celery, salt, paprika, and chicken; when well heated,
add yolk of egg slightly beaten, and cook one minute. Serve with
buttered Graham toast.
Chicken Chartreuse
Prepare and cook same as Casserole of Rice and Meat, using chicken in
place of lamb or veal. Season chicken with salt, pepper, celery salt,
onion juice, and one-half teaspoon finely chopped parsley.
Scalloped Turkey
Make one cup of sauce, using two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons
flour, one-fourth teaspoon salt, few grains of pepper, and one cup stock
(obtained by cooking in water bones and skin of a roast turkey). Cut
remnants of cold roast turkey in small pieces; there should be one and
one-half cups. Sprinkle bottom of buttered baking-dish with seasoned
cracker crumbs, add turkey meat, pour over sauce, and sprinkle with
buttered cracker crumbs. Bake in a hot oven until crumbs are brown.
Turkey, chicken, or veal may be used separately or in combination.
Minced Turkey
To one cup cold roast turkey, cut in small dice, add one-third cup soft
stale bread crumbs. Make one cup sauce, using two tablespoons butter,
two tablespoons flour, and one cup stock (obtained by cooking bones and
skin of a roast turkey). Season with salt, pepper, and onion juice. Heat
turkey and bread crumbs in sauce. Serve on small pieces of toast, and
garnish with poached eggs and toast points.
Salmi of Duck
Cut cold roast duck in pieces for serving. Reheat in Spanish Sauce.
=Spanish Sauce.= Melt one-fourth cup butter, add one tablespoon finely
chopped onion, a stalk of celery, two slices carrot cut in pieces, and
two tablespoons finely chopped lean raw ham. Cook until butter is brown,
then add one-fourth cup flour, and when well browned add two cups
Consommé, bit of bay leaf, sprig of parsley, blade of mace, two cloves,
one-half teaspoon salt, and one-eighth teaspoon pepper; cook five
minutes. Strain, add duck, and when reheated add Sherry wine, stoned
olives, and mushrooms cut in quarters. Arrange on dish for serving, and
garnish with olives and mushrooms. Grouse may be used in place of duck.