CHICKENS STEWED WHOLE.--Having trussed a pair of fine fat young fowls or
chickens, (with the liver under one wing, and the gizzard under the
other,) fill the inside with large oysters, secured from falling out, by
fastening tape round the bodies of the fowls. Put them into a tin
butter-kettle with a close cover. Set the kettle into a larger pot or
sauce-pan of boiling water, (which must not reach quite to the top of
the kettle,) and place it over the fire. Keep it boiling till the fowls
are well done, which they should be in about an hour after they begin to
simmer. Occasionally take off the lid to remove the scum; and be sure to
put it on again closely. As the water in the outside pot boils away,
replenish it with more _hot_ water from a tea-kettle that is kept
boiling hard. When the fowls are stewed quite tender, remove them from
the fire; take from them all the gravy that is about them, and put it
into a small sauce-pan, covering closely the kettle in which they were
stewed, and leaving the fowls in it to keep warm. Then add to the gravy
two table-spoonfuls of butter rolled in flour; two table-spoonfuls of
chopped oysters; the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs minced fine; half a
grated nutmeg; four blades of mace; and a small tea-cup of cream. Boil
this gravy about five minutes. Put the fowls on a dish, and send them to
table, accompanied by the gravy in a sauce-boat. This is an excellent
way of cooking chickens.
FOWL AND OYSTERS.--Take a fine fat young fowl, and having trussed it for
boiling, fill the body and crop with oysters, seasoned with a few blades
of mace; tying it round with twine to keep them in. Put the fowl into a
tall strait-sided jar, and cover it closely. Then place the jar in a
kettle of water; set it over the fire, and let it boil at least an hour
and a half after the water has come to a hard boil. When it is done,
take out the fowl, and keep it hot while you prepare the gravy, of which
you will find a quantity in the jar. Transfer this gravy to a sauce-pan;
enrich it with the beaten yolks of two eggs, mixed with three
table-spoonfuls of cream; and add a large table-spoonful of fresh butter
rolled in flour. If you cannot get cream, you must have a double portion
of butter. Set this sauce over the fire; stirring it well; and when it
comes to a boil, add twenty oysters chopped small. In five minutes take
it off; put it into a sauce-boat, and serve it up with the fowl, which
cooked in this manner will be found excellent.
Clams may be substituted for oysters; but they should be removed from
the fowl before it is sent to table. Their flavour being drawn out into
the gravy, the clams themselves will be found tough, tasteless, and not
proper to be eaten.
FRENCH CHICKEN PIE.--Parboil a pair of full-grown, but fat and tender
chickens. Then take the giblets, and put them into a small sauce-pan
with as much of the water in which the chickens were parboiled as will
cover them well, and stew them for gravy; add a bunch of sweet herbs and
a few blades of mace. When the chickens are cold, dissect them as if for
carving. Line a deep dish with thick puff-paste, and put in the pieces
of chicken. Take a nice thin slice of cold ham, or two slices of smoked
tongue, and pound them one at a time in a marble mortar, pounding also
the livers of the chickens, and the yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled
eggs. Make this force-meat into balls, and intersperse them among the
pieces of chicken. Add some bits of fresh butter rolled in flour, and
then (having removed the giblets) pour on the gravy. Cover the pie with
a lid of puff-paste, rolled out thick; and notch the edges handsomely;
placing a knot or ornament of paste on the centre of the top. Set it
directly into a well-heated oven, and bake it brown. It should be eaten
warm.
This pie will be greatly improved by a pint of mushrooms, cut into
pieces. Also by a small tea-cup of cream.
Any pie of poultry, pigeons, or game may be made in this manner.
CHICKEN GUMBO.--Cut up a young fowl as if for a fricassee. Put into a
stew-pan a large table-spoonful of fresh butter, mixed with a
tea-spoonful of flour, and an onion finely minced. Brown them over the
fire, and then add a quart of water, and the pieces of chicken, with a
large quarter of a peck of ochras, (first sliced thin, and then
chopped,) and a salt-spoon of salt. Cover the pan, and let the whole
stew together till the ochras are entirely dissolved, and the fowl
thoroughly done. If it is a very young chicken, do not put it in at
first; as half an hour will be sufficient to cook it. Serve it up hot in
a deep dish.
A cold fowl may be used for this purpose.
You may add to the ochras an equal quantity of tomatoes cut small. If
you use tomatoes, no water will be necessary, as their juice will supply
a sufficient liquid.
TOMATO CHICKEN.--Take four small chickens or two large ones, and cut
them up as for carving. Put them into a stew-pan, with one or two large
slices of cold boiled ham cut into little bits; eight or ten large
tomatoes; an onion sliced; a bunch of pot-herbs, (cut up;) a small green
pepper, (the seeds and veins first extracted;) half a dozen blades of
mace; a table-spoonful of lard, or of fresh butter rolled in flour; and
two pounded crackers, or a handful of grated bread-crumbs. Add a tumbler
or half a pint of water. Cover the sauce-pan closely with a cloth
beneath the lid; set it on hot coals, or over a moderate fire; and let
it stew slowly till the chickens are thoroughly done, and the tomatoes
entirely dissolved. Turn it out into a deep dish.
Rabbits may be stewed in this manner. Also, veal steaks, cut thin and
small.
TURKEY AND CHICKEN PATTIES.--Take the white part of some cold turkey or
chicken, and mince it very fine. Mince also some cold boiled ham or
smoked tongue, and then mix the turkey and ham together. Add the yolks
of some hard-boiled eggs, grated or minced; a very little cayenne; and
some powdered mace and nutmeg. Moisten the whole with cream or fresh
butter. Have ready some puff-paste shells, that have been baked empty in
patty-pans. Place them on a large dish, and fill them with the mixture.
Cold fillet of veal minced, and mixed with chopped ham, and grated yolk
of egg, and seasoned as above, will make very good patties.
CHICKEN RICE PUDDING.--Parboil a fine fowl, and cut it up. Boil, till
soft and dry, a pint of rice; and while warm, mix with it a large
table-spoonful of fresh butter. Beat four eggs very light; and then mix
them, gradually, with the rice. Spread a coating of the rice, &c., over
the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Place on it the pieces of the
parboiled fowl, with a little of the liquid in which it was
boiled--seasoned with powdered mace and nutmeg. Add some bits of fresh
butter rolled in flour, and a little cream. Cover the dish closely with
the remainder of the rice; set the pudding immediately into the oven and
bake it brown.
Cold chicken or turkey cooked the day before may be used for this
purpose. The pudding may be improved by the addition of a few very thin,
small slices of cold ham or smoked tongue.
RICE CROQUETTES.--Boil half a pound of rice till it becomes quite soft
and dry. Then mix with it two table-spoonfuls of rich (but not strong)
grated cheese, a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and sufficient
fresh butter to moisten it. Mince very fine six table-spoonfuls of the
white part of cold chicken or turkey, the soft parts of six large
oysters, and a sprig or two of tarragon or parsley; add a grated nutmeg,
and the yellow rind of a lemon. Mix the whole well, moistening it with
cream or white wine. Take of the prepared rice a portion about the size
of an egg, flatten it, and put into the centre a dessert-spoonful of the
mixture; close the rice round it as you would the paste round a
dumpling-apple. Then form it into the shape of an egg. Brush it over
with some beaten yolk of egg, and then dredge it with pounded crackers.
In this way make up the whole into oval balls. Have ready, in a
sauce-pan over the fire, a pound of boiling lard. Into this throw the
croquettes, two at a time, so as to brown them. Let them brown for a few
minutes; then take them out with a perforated skimmer. Drain them from
the lard, and serve them up hot, garnished with curled parsley.
COLUMBUS EGGS.--Take twelve hard-boiled eggs. Peel off the shells, and
cut the eggs into equal halves; cutting off also a little piece from
each of the ends to enable them to stand alone, in the form of cups.
Chop the yolks, and with them mix cold ham or smoked tongue, minced as
finely as possible. Moisten the mixture with cream, (or a little fresh
butter,) and season it with powdered mace or nutmeg. Fill with it the
cups or empty whites of the eggs, (being careful not to break them;)
pressing the mixture down, and smoothing it nicely. Arrange them on a
dish; putting two halves close together, and standing them upright, so
as to look like whole eggs.
WHITE FRICASSEE.--Cut a pair of chickens into pieces, as for carving;
and wash them through two or three waters. Then lay them in a large pan,
sprinkle them slightly with salt, and fill up the pan with boiling
water. Cover it, and let the chickens stand for half an hour. Then put
them immediately into a stew-pan; adding a few blades of mace, and a few
whole pepper-corns, and a handful of celery, split thin and chopped
finely; also, a small white onion sliced. Pour on cold milk and water
(mixed in equal portions) sufficient to cover the chickens well. Cover
the stew-pan, set it over the fire, and let it stew till the chickens
are thoroughly done, and quite tender. While the chickens are stewing,
prepare, in a smaller sauce-pan, a gravy or sauce made as follows:--Mix
two tea-spoonfuls of flour with as much cold water as will make it like
a batter, and stir it till quite smooth and free from lumps. Then add to
it, gradually, half a pint of boiling milk. Next put in a quarter of a
pound of fresh butter, cut into small pieces. Set it over hot coals, and
stir it till it comes to a boil, and the butter is well melted and mixed
throughout. Then take it off the fire, and, while it is hot, stir in a
glass of madeira or sherry, and four table-spoonfuls of rich cream, and
some grated nutmeg. Lastly, take the chickens out of the stew-pan, and
pour off all the liquor, &c. Return the chicken to the stew-pan, and
pour over it, hot, the above-mentioned gravy. Cover the pan closely, and
let it stand in a hot place, or in a kettle of boiling water for ten
minutes. Then send it to table in a covered dish.
To the taste of many persons, this fricassee will be improved by adding
to the chicken, while stewing, some small, thin slices of cold boiled
ham.
Rabbits or veal may be fricasseed in the above manner.
BROWN FRICASSEE.--Half roast a pair of ducks. Then cut them apart, as
for carving. If they are wild-ducks, parboil them with a large carrot
(cut to pieces) inside of each, to draw out the fishy or sedgy taste.
Having thrown away the carrot, cut the ducks into pieces, as for
carving. Put them into a clean stew-pan, and season them with pepper and
salt. Mix in a deep dish a very small onion minced fine, a
table-spoonful of minced or powdered tarragon-leaves, (for which you may
substitute sage and sweet-marjoram, if you cannot procure tarragon,) and
two or three large tomatoes, scalded, peeled, and quartered, or two
large table-spoonfuls of thick tomato catchup. Put in, also, two
table-spoonfuls of fresh butter rolled in grated bread-crumbs, and a
glass of port wine, claret, or brandy, with a small tea-spoonful of
powdered mace. Cover the pieces of duck with this mixture, and then add
barely as much water as will keep the whole from burning. Cover the pan
closely, and let the fricassee stew slowly for an hour, or till the
duck, &c., are thoroughly done.
Venison or lamb cutlets may be fricasseed in this manner. Likewise, tame
fat pigeons, which must previously be split in two. This, also, is a
very nice way of dressing hares or rabbits.
STEWED WILD DUCKS.--Having rubbed them slightly with salt, and parboiled
them for about twenty minutes with a large carrot (cut to pieces) in
each, to take off the sedgy or fishy taste, remove the carrots, cut up
the ducks, and put them into a stew-pan with just sufficient water to
cover them, and some bits of butter rolled slightly in flour. Cover the
pan closely; and let the ducks stew for a quarter of an hour or more.
Have ready a mixture in the proportion of a wine-glass of sherry or
madeira; the grated yellow rind and the juice of a large lemon or
orange, and one large table-spoonful of powdered loaf-sugar. Pour this
over the ducks, and let them stew in it about five minutes longer. Then
serve them up in a deep dish with the gravy about them. Eat the stewed
duck on hot plates with heaters under them.
Cold roast duck that has been under-done is very fine stewed as above.
Venison also, and wild geese.
TO ROAST CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.--Having trussed the ducks, put into each a
thick piece of soft bread that has been soaked in port wine. Place them
before a quick fire and roast them from three quarters to an hour.
Before they go to table, squeeze over each the juice of a lemon or
orange; and serve them up very hot with their own gravy about them. Eat
them with currant jelly. Have ready also a gravy made by stewing slowly
in a sauce-pan the giblets of the ducks in butter rolled in flour and as
little water as possible. Serve up this additional gravy in a boat.
CANVAS-BACK DUCKS DRESSED PLAIN.--Truss the ducks without washing; but
wipe them inside and out with a clean dry cloth. Roast them before a
rather quick fire for half an hour. Then send them to table hot, upon a
large dish placed on a heater. There must also be heaters under each
plate, and currant jelly on both sides of the table, to mix with the
gravy, on your plate; claret or port wine also, for those who prefer it
as an improvement to the gravy.
TO STEW CANVAS-BACK DUCKS.--Put the giblets into a sauce-pan with the
yellow rind of a lemon pared thin, a very little water, and a piece of
butter rolled in flour, and a very little salt and cayenne. Let them
stew gently to make a gravy; keeping the sauce-pan covered. In the mean
time, half roast the ducks, saving the gravy that falls from them. Then
cut them up; put them into a large stew-pan, with the gravy (having
first skimmed off the fat) and merely water enough to keep them from
burning. Set the pan over a moderate fire, and let them stew gently till
done. Towards the last (having removed the giblets) pour over the ducks
the gravy from the small sauce-pan, and stir in a large glass of port
wine, and a glass of currant jelly. Send them to table as hot as
possible.
Any ducks may be stewed as above. The common wild-ducks, teal, &c.,
should always be parboiled with a large carrot in the body to extract
the fishy or sedgy taste. On tasting this carrot before it is thrown
away, it will be found to have imbibed strongly that disagreeable
flavour.
PARTRIDGES IN PEARS.--Cut off the necks of the partridges close to the
breast. Truss them very tight and round, and rub over them a little salt
and cayenne pepper mixed. Cut off one of the legs, and leave the other
on. Make a rich paste of flour, butter, and beaten yolk of egg, with as
little water as possible. Roll it out thin and evenly, and put a portion
of it nicely round each partridge, pressing it on closely with your
hand, and forming it into the shape of a large pear. Leave one leg
sticking out at the top to resemble the stem. Set them in a pan; and
bake them in a dutch oven. In the mean time, make in a small sauce-pan,
a rich brown gravy of the livers, and other trimmings of the partridges,
and some drippings of roast veal or roasted poultry. It will be better
still if you reserve one or two small partridges to cut up, and stew for
the gravy. Season it with a little salt and cayenne. When it has boiled
long enough to be very thick and rich, take it off, strain it, and put
the liquid into a clean sauce-pan. Add the juice of a large orange or
lemon, made very sweet with powdered white sugar. Set it over the fire;
and when it comes to a boil, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs. Let
it boil two or three minutes longer; then take it off, and keep it hot
till the partridges and their paste are thoroughly well-baked. When
done, stand up the partridges in a deep dish, and serve up the gravy in
a sauce-boat. Ornament the partridge-pears by sticking some orange or
lemon leaves into the end that represents the stalk. This is a nice and
handsome side dish, of French origin.
Pigeons and quails may be dressed in this manner.
SALMI OF PARTRIDGES, (_French dish_.)--Having covered two large or four
small partridges with very thin slices of fat cold ham, secured with
twine, roast them; but see that they are not too much done. Remove the
ham, skin the partridges, cut them into pieces, and let them get quite
cold. Partridges that have been roasted the preceding day are good for
this purpose. Cut off all the meat from the bones, season it with a
little cayenne, and put it into a stew-pan. Mix together three
table-spoonfuls of sweet oil; a glass of excellent wine (either red or
white) and the grated peel and juice of a lemon. Pour this gravy over
the partridges, and let them stew in it during ten minutes; the add the
beaten yolk of an egg, and stew it about three or four minutes longer.
All the time it is stewing, continue to shake or move the pan over the
fire. Serve it up hot.
A NICE WAY OF COOKING GAME.--Pheasants, partridges, quails, grouse,
plovers, &c., are excellent stuffed with chesnuts: boiled, peeled, and
mashed or pounded. Cover the birds with very thin slices of cold ham;
then enclose them in vine-leaves tied on securely so as to keep in the
gravy. Lay them in a deep dish, and bake them in a close oven that has
nothing else in it, (for instance an iron dutch oven,) that the game may
imbibe no other flavour. When done, remove the ham and the vine leaves,
and dish the birds with the gravy that is about them.
Pheasants are unfit to eat after the first snow, as they then, for want
of other food, are apt to feed on wild laurel berries, which give their
flesh a disagreeably bitter taste, and are said to have sometimes
produced deleterious effects on persons who have eaten it.
BIRDS WITH MUSHROOMS.--Take two dozen reed-birds, (or other nice small
birds,) and truss them as if for roasting. Put into each a
button-mushroom; of which you should have a heaping pint after the
stalks are all removed. Put the birds, and the remaining mushrooms into
a stew-pan. Season them with a very little salt and pepper, and add
either a quarter of a pound of fresh butter (divided into four, and
slightly rolled in flour) or a pint of rich cream. If cream is not
plenty, you may use half butter and half cream, well mixed together.
Cover the stew-pan closely, and set it over a moderate fire, to stew
gently till the birds and mushrooms are thoroughly done and tender all
through. Do not open the lid to stir the stew; but give the pan,
occasionally, a hard shake. Have ready on a dish a thin slice of
buttered toast with the crust all cut off. When done, lay the birds on
the toast with the mushrooms all round.
If you cannot get button-mushrooms, divide large ones into quarters.
Plovers are very nice stewed with mushrooms.
BIRDS IN A GROVE, (_French dish._)--Having roasted some reed-birds,
larks, plovers, or any other small birds, such as are usually eaten,
mash some potatoes with butter or cream. Spread the mashed potatoe
thickly over the bottom, sides, and edges of a deep dish. Nick or crimp
the border of potatoe that goes round the edge; or scollop it with a tin
cutter. You may, if you choose, brown it by holding over it a
salamander, or a red-hot shovel. Then lay the roasted birds in the
middle of the dish, and stick round them and among them, very thickly a
sufficient number of sprigs of curled or double parsley.
THATCHED HOUSE PIE, (_French dish._)--Rub the inside of a deep dish with
two ounces of fresh butter, and spread over it two ounces of vermicelli.
Then line the dish with puff-paste. Have ready some birds seasoned with
powdered nutmeg and a very little salt and pepper. Place them with their
breasts downward. They will be much improved by putting into each a
mushroom or an oyster chopped fine. Lay them on the paste. Add some
gravy of roast veal, (cold gravy saved from veal roasted the preceding
day will do very well,) and cover the pie with a lid of puff-paste. Bake
it in a moderate oven, and when done, turn it out _carefully_ upon a
flat dish, and send it to table. The vermicelli which was originally at
the bottom, will now be at the top, covering the paste like thatch upon
a roof. Trim off the edges so as to look nicely. You may, if you choose,
use a larger quantity of vermicelli. The yellow sort will be best for
this purpose.
RICE PIE.--Pick clean a quart of rice, and wash it well through two or
three waters. Tie it in a cloth, put it into a pot of boiling water, and
boil it till perfectly soft. Then drain and press it till as dry as
possible, and mix with it two ounces of fresh butter, and two
table-spoonfuls of mild grated cheese. Take a small tin butter-kettle;
wet the inside, put in the rice, and stand it in a cool place till quite
cold. Then turn it carefully out of the kettle, (of which it will retain
the form,) rub it over with the beaten yolk of an egg, and set it in an
oven till lightly browned. Cut out from the top of the mass of rice an
oval lid, about two inches from the edge, so as to leave a flat rim or
border all round. Then excavate the mould of rice; leaving a standing
crust all round and at the bottom, about two inches thick. Have ready
some hot stewed oysters or birds, or brown or white fricassee. Fill up
the pie with it--adding the gravy. Lay on the lid, and decorate it with
sprigs of green curled parsley, stuck in all round the crack where the
lid is put on.
This pie may be filled with curried chickens.
A RAISED FRENCH PIE.--These pies have standing crust or walls, and may
be filled with game or poultry, previously boned, seasoned, and stewed.
They are generally made very large, and in winter will keep a week or
two if closely covered. They are frequently sent a considerable
distance, as Christmas presents; well packed in a close tin box.
To make the paste for a large pie:--Sift three pounds of flour into a
pan, and make a hole in the centre. Cut up a pound of fresh butter, and
two pounds of beef-suet, finely chopped. Put them into a clean pot, with
as much boiling water as will cover them. Set them over the fire; and
when the butter and suet are entirely dissolved, stir the whole with a
spoon, and pour it into the hole in the middle of the flour; mix it with
a spoon into a stiff paste, till it becomes cold enough for you to knead
with your hands into a lump of dough. Sprinkle some flour on your
paste-board, and on your hands; make the dough into the form of a cone
or sugar-loaf, and with your hands smooth and flatten the sides of it.
Then squeeze or press down the point of the cone; straighten the sides;
and flatten the top, so as to give it the shape of a hat crown. Next,
cut off from the top a thick, round slice, and lay it aside for the lid,
and another slice for the ornaments. With one hand make a hollow in the
large mass of dough, and with the other shape out and smooth the sides,
leaving enough for a crust at the bottom. In this manner, hollow it into
the shape of a straight-sided pan, leaving the wall or crust so thick
that it will stand alone. Then fill it with the bones of the poultry or
game, and some crusts of bread to keep it in shape. The portion of dough
reserved for the lid must then be moulded on the inverted bottom of a
deep plate, previously buttered. The lid may be a little larger than the
top of the pie. The paste reserved for the ornaments should be rolled
out, and cut with tin cutters into the form of leaves and flowers, or
vine-leaves and grapes. These should be carefully placed in a wreath
round the middle of the standing crust of the pie. A smaller wreath may
be laid like a border round the lid, at the top of which place a large
flower of paste, to look like a handle by which to lift it. Before you
put on the ornaments, have ready the beaten yolks of two eggs; and
dipping in a clean brush, glaze with it the whole outside of the pie,
including the lid. Then stick on the decorations. Put the pie into a
moderate oven, and bake it brown. The lid must be baked separately.
When both are done, remove the bones, &c., from the inside of the pie,
and fill it with the ingredients prepared, which must be previously
stewed in their own gravy, with the addition of some bits of butter
rolled in flour. Put on the lid, and cement the edges by glazing them
with a little beaten egg. These pies are usually made with slices of ham
or smoked tongue at the bottom; then partridges, pheasants, moor-fowl,
and other large game, all boned; and the spaces between filled up with
force-meat, or with mushrooms stewed and chopped. They may be made with
venison, wild turkeys, or wild ducks. Whatever is put into these pies
must have no bone about it, and should be well seasoned.
The ingredients may be put into the pie, and the lid laid on at
once,--pinching the edges together. In this case, it must bake three or
four hours, in proportion to its size.
PIGEONS WITH HAM.--Take fine fat tame pigeons. For stuffing, boil some
chesnuts till quite soft; and having peeled them, mash or pound them
smooth. Mix with them a little fat of cold ham, finely minced and
pounded. For chesnuts, may be substituted boiled sweet potatoe, mashed
with butter. Fill the pigeons with the stuffing, having first slightly
peppered their insides. Cover them with very thin slices of cold ham,
(fat and lean together,) and wrap them in fresh vine-leaves, tied round
with twine. Put them on a spit, and roast them three quarters of an
hour. When done, carefully remove the strings, and serve up the pigeons,
still wrapped in the ham and vine-leaves. They will be found very nice.
Partridges and quails may be drest in this manner.
Wild pigeons are so seldom fat, and have so little meat upon their
bones, that except for soups and gravies, they are scarcely worth
buying. In places where they abound, they may be turned to good account
by catching them in nets; clipping their wings; and keeping them in an
enclosure till they are fattened by feeding them well with corn, or
Indian meal moistened with water. When managed thus, they will be found
quite equal, if not superior, to tame pigeons.
A GIBLET PIE.--Clean, very nicely, the giblets of two geese or four
ducks. Put them into a stew-pan, with a sliced onion; a bunch of
tarragon, or sweet-marjoram and sage; half a dozen pepper-corns; and
four or five blades of mace. Add a very little water; cover the pan
closely, and let them stew till the giblets are tender. Then take them
out, and save all the gravy; having strained it from the seasoning
articles. Make a rich paste, and roll it out into two sheets. With one
sheet cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Put in the
giblets,--mixing among them a few cold boiled potatoes sliced, the
chopped yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, and some bits of butter rolled
in flour. Pour the gravy over the giblets, &c. Cover the pie with the
other sheet of paste, and notch the edges. Bake it brown, and send it to
table hot.
A pigeon pie may be made in a similar manner: also, a rabbit pie.
MOOR-FOWL OR GROUSE PUDDING.--Having skinned the moor-fowls, cut them up
as for carving, and season them slightly with salt and pepper. Have
ready a sufficient quantity of paste, made in the proportion of a pound
of fresh butter to two pounds of sifted flour. Roll it out thick, and
line with it a pudding mould, which must first be buttered; reserving
sufficient paste for the lid. Then put in the pieces of moor-fowl, and
place between each layer a layer of small mushrooms, or of fresh
oysters cut small. Next pour in a little water, (about half a pint,) and
add a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour. Then cover it with the
remaining paste, pressing it down very closely round the edge. Dip a
strong clean cloth into boiling water, dredge it with flour, and tie it
tightly over the mould or pudding-basin. Put it into a pot of boiling
water, and boil it three hours or more, according to its size.
A similar pudding may be made of pheasants, partridges, or quails; and
is a delicious way of cooking game of any sort: rabbits, also, are very
nice, cut up and put into a crust for boiling.
A BONED TURKEY.--For this purpose you must have a fine, large, tender
turkey; and after it is drawn, and washed, and wiped dry, lay it on a
clean table, and take a very sharp knife, with a narrow blade and point.
Begin at the neck; then go round to the shoulders and wings, and
carefully separate the flesh from the bone, scraping it down as you
proceed. Next loosen the flesh from the breast, and back, and body; and
then from the thighs. It requires care and patience to do it nicely, and
to avoid tearing or breaking the skin. The knife should always penetrate
quite to the bone; scraping loose the flesh rather than cutting it. When
all the flesh has been completely loosened, take the turkey by the neck,
give it a pull, and the whole skeleton will come out entire from the
flesh, as easily as you draw your hand out of a glove. The flesh will
then fall down, a flat and shapeless mass. With a small needle and
thread, carefully sew up any holes that have accidentally been torn in
the skin.
Have ready a large quantity of stuffing, made as follows:--Take three
sixpenny loaves of stale bread; grate the crumb; and put the crusts in
water to soak. When quite soft, break them up small into the pan of
grated bread-crumbs, and mix in a pound of fresh butter, cut into
little pieces. Take two large bunches of sweet-marjoram; the same of
sweet-basil; and one bunch of parsley. Mince the parsley very fine, and
rub to a powder the leaves of the marjoram and basil. You should have
two large, heaping table-spoonfuls of each. Chop, also, two very small
onions or shalots, and mix them with the herbs. Pound to powder a
quarter of an ounce of mace; a quarter of an ounce of cloves; and two
large nutmegs. Mix the spices together, and add a tea-spoonful of salt
and a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper. Then mix the herbs, spice,
&c., thoroughly into the bread-crumbs; and add, by degrees, four beaten
eggs to bind the whole together.
Take up a handful of this filling; squeeze it hard, and proceed to stuff
the turkey with it,--beginning at the wings; next do the body; and then
the thighs. Stuff it very hard, and as you proceed, form the turkey into
its natural shape, by filling out, properly, the wings, breast, body,
&c. When all the stuffing is in, sew up the body, and skewer the turkey
into the usual shape in which they are trussed; so that, if skilfully
done, it will look almost as if it had not been boned. Tie it round with
tape, and bake it three hours or more; basting it occasionally with
fresh butter. Make a gravy of the giblets, chopped, and stewed slowly in
a little water. When done, add to it the gravy that is in the dish about
the turkey, (having first skimmed off the fat,) and enrich it with a
glass of white wine, and two beaten yolks of eggs, stirred in just
before you take it from the fire.
If the turkey is to be eaten cold at the supper-table, drop
table-spoonfuls of currant or cranberry jelly all over it at small
distances, and in the dish round it.
A very handsome way of serving it up cold is, after making a sufficiency
of nice clear calves’-foot jelly, (seasoned, as usual, with wine, lemon,
cinnamon, &c.,) to lay the turkey in the dish in which it is to go to
table, and setting it under the jelly-bag, let the jelly drip upon it,
so as to form a transparent coating all over it; smoothing the jelly
evenly with the back of a spoon, as it congeals on the turkey. Apple
jelly may be substituted.
Large fowls may be boned and stuffed in the above manner: also a young
roasting pig.