Take a breast of veal, half roast it, then put it into a stew-pan, with three pints of brown gravy; season your veal with nutmeg, pepper and salt; when your veal is stew'd enough, you may put in a pint of green peas boil'd. Take six middling cucumbers, pare and cut them in quarters long way, also two cabbage-lettices, and stew them in brown gravy; so lay them round your veal when you dish it up, with a few forc'd-meat-balls and some slices of bacon. Garnish your dish with pickles, mushrooms, oysters and lemons.
Take a little lean bacon and veal, onion, and the yellow part of a carrot, put it into a stew-pan; set it over a slow fire, and let it simmer till the gravy is quite brown, then put in small gravy, or boiling water; boil it a quarter of an hour, and then it is ready for use. Take two necks of mutton, bone them, lard one with bacon, the other with parsley; when larded, put a little couley over a slow stove, with a slice of lemon whilst the mutton is set, then skewer it up like a couple of rabbits, put it on the spit and roast it as you would any other mutton; then serve it up with ragoo'd cucumbers. This will do for first course; bottom dish.
Pick, draw, clean thoroughly, and wipe dry. Cut the neck close to the back, beat the breast-bone flat with a rolling pin, tie the wings and legs securely, and stuff with the following:-- Three pints bread crumbs, six ounces butter, or part butter and salt pork, two chopped onions and one teaspoonful each of sage, black pepper and salt. Do not stuff very full, and sew up the openings firmly to keep the flavor in and the fat out. If not fat enough, it should be larded with salt pork, or tie a slice upon the breast. Place in a baking pan, with a little water, and baste frequently with salt and water--some add onion, and some vinegar; turn often, so that the sides and back may all be nicely browned. When nearly done, baste with butter and a little flour. These directions will apply to tame geese as well as ducks. Young ducks should roast from twenty-five to thirty minutes, and full-grown ones for an hour or more, with frequent basting. Some prefer them underdone and served very hot; but, as a rule, thorough cooking will prove more palatable. Make a gravy out of the necks and gizzards by putting them in a quart of cold water, that must be reduced to a pint by boiling. The giblets, when done, may be chopped fine and added to the juice. The preferred seasonings are one tablespoonful of Madeira or sherry, a blade of mace, one small onion, and a little cayenne pepper; strain through a hair sieve; pour a little over the ducks and serve the remainder in a boat. Served with jellies or any tart sauce.
Take a pig about a month old and dress it, lay it down to the fire, when the skin begins to harden you must take it off by pieces, and when you have taken all the skin off, draw it and when it is cold cut it in quarters and lard it with parsley; then roast it for use.
Carefully cut out all the shot, wash thoroughly but quickly, using soda in the water; rinse again, and dry with a clean cloth. Stuff them and sew them up. Skewer the legs and wings to the body, larder the breast with very thin slices of fat salt pork, place them in the oven, and baste with butter and water before taking up, having seasoned them with salt and pepper; or you can leave out the pork and use only butter, or cook them without stuffing. Make a gravy of the drippings thickened with browned flour. Boil up and serve in a boat. These are all very fine broiled, first splitting down the back, placing on the gridiron the inside down, cover with a baking tin, and broil slowly at first. Serve with cream gravy.
Lard your meat with bacon through, but slant-way; half roast it; take it off the spit, and put it in a small pot as will boil it; two quarts of strong broth, a pint of white-wine, some vinegar, whole spice, bay-leaves, green onions, savoury, sweet-marjoram; when 'tis stew'd enough, make sauce of some of the liquor, mushrooms, lemon cut like dice, two or three anchovies: thicken it with browned butter. Garnish with lemon.
Take a calf's head, wash it well, lay it in an earthen dish, and cut out the tongue lay it loose under the head in the dish with the brains, and a little sage and parsley; rub the head over with the yolk of an egg, then strew over them a few bread-crumbs and shred parsley, lay all over it lumps of butter and a little salt, then set it in the oven; it will take about an hour and a half baking; when it is enough take the brains, sage and parsley; and chop them together, put to them the gravy that is in the dish, a little butter and a spoonful of vinegar, so boil it up and put it in cups, and set them round the head upon the dish, take the tongue and blanch it, cut it in two, and lay it on each side the head, and some slices of crisp bacon over the head, so serve it up.
Get a turkey that has not been frozen (freezing makes it tear easily). See that every part is whole; one with a little break in the skin will not do. Cut off the legs, in the joints, and the tips of the wings. Do not draw the bird. Place it on its breast, and with a small, sharp boning knife, cut in a straight line through to the bone, from the neck down to that part of the bird where there is but little flesh, where it is all skin and fat. Begin at the neck, and run the knife between the flesh and the bones until you come to the wing. Then cut the ligaments that hold the bones together and the tendons that hold the flesh to the bones. With the thumb and fore-finger, press the flesh from the smooth bone. When you come to the joint, carefully separate the ligaments and remove the bone. Do not try to take the bone from the next joint, as that is not in the way when carving, and it gives a more natural shape to the bird. Now begin at the wish-bone, and when that is free from the flesh, run the knife between the sides and the flesh, always using the fingers to press the meat from the smooth bones, as, for instance, the breast-bone and lower part of the sides. Work around the legs the same as you did around the wings, always using great care at the joints not to cut the skin. Drawing out the leg bones turns that part of the bird inside out. Turn the bird over, and proceed in the same manner with the other side. When all is detached, carefully draw the skin from the breast-bone; then run the knife between the fat and bone at the rump, leaving the small bone in the extreme end, as it holds the skewers. Carefully remove the flesh from the skeleton, and turn it right side out again. Rub into it two table-spoonfuls of salt and a little pepper, and fill with dressing. Sew up the back and neck and then the vent. Truss the same as if not boned. Take a strong piece of cotton cloth and pin the bird firmly in it, drawing very tight at the legs, as this is the broadest place, and the shape will not be good unless this precaution be taken. Steam three hours, and then place on a buttered tin sheet, which put in a baking pan. Baste well with butter, pepper, salt and flour. Roast one hour, basting every ten minutes, and twice with stock. When cold, remove the skewers and strings, and garnish with aspic jelly, cooked beets and parsley. To carve: First cut off the wings, then about two thick slices from the neck, where it will be quite fat, and then cut in thin slices. Serve jelly with each plate. Filling for a turkey weighing eight pounds: The flesh of one chicken weighing four pounds, one pound of clear veal, half a pound of clear salt pork, one small capful of cracker crumbs, two eggs, one cupful of broth, two and a half table-spoonfuls of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of summer savory, one of sweet majoram, one of thyme, half a spoonful of sage, and, if you like, one table-spoonful of capers, one quart of oysters and two table-spoonfuls of onion juice. Have the meat uncooked and free from any tough pieces. Chop very fine. Add seasoning, crackers, etc., mix thoroughly, and use. If oysters are used, half a pound of the veal must be omitted. Where one cannot eat veal, use chicken instead. Veal is recommended for its cheapness. Why people choose boned turkey instead of a plain roast turkey or chicken, is not plain, for the flavor is not so good; but at the times and places where boned birds are used, it is a very appropriate dish. That is, at suppers, lunches and parties, where the guests are served standing, it is impracticable to provide anything that cannot be broken with a fork or spoon; therefore, the advantage of a boned turkey, chicken, or bird, is apparent. One turkey weighing eight pounds before being boned, will serve thirty persons at a party, if there are, also, say oysters, rolls, coffee, ices, cake and cream. If the supper is very elaborate the turkey will answer for one of the dishes for a hundred or more persons. If nothing more were gained in the boning of a bird, the knowledge of the anatomy and the help this will give in carving, pay to bone two or three chickens. It is advisable to bone at least two fowls before trying a turkey, for if you spoil them there is nothing lost, as they make a stew or soup. Aspic jelly: One and a half pints of clear stock--beef if for amber jelly, and chicken or veal if for white; half a box of gelatine, the white of one egg, half a cupful of cold water, two cloves, one large slice of onion, twelve pepper-corns, one stalk of celery, salt. Soak gelatine two hours in the cold water. Then put on with other ingredients, the white of the egg being beaten with one spoonful of the cold stock. Let come to a boil, and set back where it will just simmer for twenty minutes. Strain through a napkin, turn into a mould or shallow dish, and put away to harden. The jelly can be made with the bones of the turkey and chicken, by washing them, covering with cold water and boiling down to about three pints; by then straining and setting away to cool, and in the morning skimming off all the fat and turning off the clear stock. The bones may, instead, be used for a soup.
Take a pig and roast it the same way as you did for lamb, when you draw it you must not cut it up, when it is cold you must lard it with bacon, cut not your layers too small, if you do they will melt away, cut them about an inch and a quarter long; you must put one row down the back, and one on either side, then strinkle it over with a few breadcrumbs and a little salt, and set it in the oven, an hour will bake it, but mind your oven be not too hot; you must take another pig of a less size, roast it, cut it up, and lie it on each side: The sauce you make for a roast pig will serve for both. This is proper for a bottom dish at a grand entertainment.
No. 1. Leg, used for smoked hams, roasts and corned pork. No. 2. Hind-loin, used for roasts, chops and baked dishes. No. 3. Fore-loin or ribs, used for roasts, baked dishes or chops. No. 4. Spare-rib, used for roasts, chops, stews. No. 5. Shoulder, used for smoked shoulder, roasts and corned pork. No. 6. Brisket and flank, used for pickling in salt and smoked bacon. The cheek is used for pickling in salt, also the shank or shin. The feet are usually used for souse and jelly. For family use the leg is the most economical, that is when fresh, and the loin the richest. The best pork is from carcasses weighing from fifty to about one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Pork is a white and close meat, and it is almost impossible to over-roast or cook it too much; when underdone it is exceedingly unwholesome.
