66 SMOKY FIRES RENDER GOOD BROILING IMPOSSIBLE. 436. Collared Pig's Face.-For this is required one pig's face, one gallon of spring water, one pound of common salt, half a handful of chopped juniper berries, six bruised cloves, two bay-leaves, a few sprigs of thyme, basil, sage, quarter of an ounce of saltpetre, ham forcemeat. Singe the head carefully, bone it without breaking the skin, and rub it well with salt. Make brine by boiling together the above ingredients for fifteen minutes. When cold pour it over the head, and let it steep for ten days, turning and rubbing it often. Then drain, wipe and dry the head. Spread the forcemeat equally over the head, roll it tightly in a cloth, and bind it securely with broad tape. Put it into a saucepan with a few meat trimmings, and cover it with stock or gravy. Let it simmer continually for four hours or more. When quite tender take it up, put it between two dishes with a heavy weight on the top, and, when cold, remove the cloth and tape. It should be sent to table on a napkin, or garnished with a piece of deep white paper with a ruché at the top. 437. To Make Lard.-After stripping off the skin from it, melt the inner fat of a pig by putting it in a stone jar, and placing it in a saucepan of boiling water. Simmer over a bright fire, and, as the fat melts, pour it carefully from the sediment. Put into small jars or bladders for keeping. 438. Brawn. To a pig's head weighing six pounds allow a pound and a half of lean beef, two tablespoonfuls of salt, two teaspoonfuls of pepper, a little cayenne, six pounded cloves. Cut off the cheeks and salt them. After carefully cleaning the head, put it and the beef in sufficient cold water to cover it, and bring it to a boil, skimming as the scum rises. Boil from two to three hours, until the meat will easily come off the bones. Transfer to a hot pan, remove the bones, chop the meat with a sharp knife, keeping the whole as hot as convenient. Sprinkle in the seasoning, stir it well, put it into a brawn-tin, if you have one, if not a cake tin or mould will answer the purpose if the meat is well pressed with weights, which must not be removed for several hours. When quite cold, dip into boiling water for a minute or two, and the brawn will turn out easily. 439. Sucking Pig. Required, a pig, not more than three weeks old, six ounces of breadcrumbs, sixteen sage leaves, pepper and salt to taste, a piece of butter the size of an egg, salad oil or butter to baste with, about half a pint of gravy, juice of a lemon. The pig must be cooked the same day it is killed, or next day at latest; stuff it with finely-grated breadcrumbs, minced sage, pepper, salt, and the butter, well mixed together. Sew up neatly, truss the legs back. Put to a smart but not over-hot fire until the pig is thoroughly dry; then have ready some butter tied up in a piece of thin cloth, and rub the pig with this in every part, and keep it frequently rubbed while the roasting proceeds, taking care that the crackling does not blister or burn. If roasted in front of the fire, a pig-iron or flat-iron must be hung between the fire and the middle of the pig, which would otherwise burn When before the ends are done. roasted, take it on to a large dish, cut off the head, and part that and the body down the middle, extract the brains and the stuffing, place the halves back to back, and half a head at either end, and put the dish before a hot fire. Chop the brains and mix them with the stuffing; add the gravy quite hot, the lemon juice, and the gravy from the roasting; put a little of this on the dish, and the remainder in a tureen. If salad oil is used instead of butter, it must be very fresh, or it will spoil THE BEST MEAT IS MODERATELY FAT. PORK SHOULD BE ROASTED WITH MODERATE HEAT. everything. Apple sauce and currant | trimmed accordingly. sauce are suitable accompaniments. 440. Apple Sauce.-Pare, quarter, and core six good-sized apples, and throw them into cold water to preserve their whiteness. Put them in a saucepan with sufficient water to moisten them, and boil till soft enough to pulp. Beat them up, adding sugar to taste, and a small piece of butter. A rich brown sauce is obtained by adding half a pint of brown gravy with or without a dash of cayenne. 441. Bread Sauce.-The bread is all the better for being very white, and the best of all for the purpose is aërated bread. It should be rather stale. The crumb only is used, three quarters of a pound to one pint of milk, one onion, one ounce of butter, pounded mace, cayenne, and salt to taste. Peel and quarter the onion, and simmer it in the milk till perfectly tender. Break the bread into small pieces, put it in an enamelled snucepan, strain the milk over it, cover it up, and let it remain for an hour to soak. Then beat it up with a fork, add the other ingredients, boil up and serve. Cream is a great improvement. The liquor obtained from stewed giblets of poultry is mixed with the milk sometimes; it is much esteemed by some, not by all. Line an 67 ena melled saucepan with the ham; cut up 444. White Stock. -Required, four pounds of knuckle of veal, poultry giblets and trimmings, four slices of lean ham, two onions, one head of celery, twelve white peppercorns, two ounces of salt, one blade of mace, one bunch of herbs, one ounce of butter. Butter an enamelled saucepan, and proceed as for brown stock throughout. The broth, after boiling veal or poultry, is a good foundation in lieu of water. 445. Anchovy Sauce. Ingredients, one ounce of butter, half a pint of melted butter, cayenne to taste. Bone four anchovies and pound them to a paste with one ounce of butter. Stir into half a pint of melted butter. 442. Currant Sauce. Boil a 446. Caper Sauce for Boiled suitable quantity of grocer's currants, Mutton.-Required, three tablespoonadd them to bread sauce, and an excel- fuls of capers or nasturtiums, one table lent currant sauce results. 443. Brown Stock.-This may include four pounds of shin of beef, four pounds of knuckle of veal, half a pound of good lean ham; poultry trimmings if at hand; two ounces of butter, three onions, three carrots, three turnips in winter, but not in summer, as they are apt to ferment, one head of celery, a few chopped mushrooms when obtainable, one tomato, a bunch of savoury herbs and parsley, one and a half ounce of salt, three lumps of sugar, twelve white peppercorns, six cloves, three small blades of mace, four quarts of water. Every ingredient must be scrupulously fresh and sweet, and THE CAPER. spoonful of their liquor. Chop the capers twice or thrice, and add them, with their liquor, to half a pint of FAT FOR FRYING MUST BE PERFECTLY FRESH. 68 COFFEE IS BEST BOUGHT WHOLE AND FRESH ROASTED. melted butter; keep stirring well; let | in drawing, be careful not to break the the sauce simmer, and serve in a tureen. Pickled nasturtium pods are preferred to capers. 447. Egg Sauce for Salt Fish. -Ingredients, four eggs, half a pint of melted butter (No. 401), when liked a very little lemon juice. Boil four eggs about twenty minutes, and put them in cold water for half an hour. Strip off the shells, chop the eggs into small pieces, not, however, too fine. Stir into half a pint of melted butter. 448. Fennel Sauce for Salmon or Mackerel.-Chop a bunch of fen 449. Lobster Sauce (to serve with Turbot, Salmon, Brill, etc.). - Required, one middling-sized hen lobster, one tablespoonful of anchovy sauce, half an ounce of butter, salt and cayenne, a little pounded mace when liked, two or three tablespoonfuls of cream. Pick the meat from the shell and cut it into small square pieces; put the spawn, which will be found under the tail, into a mortar with half an ounce of butter, and pound it quite smooth; rub it through a hair-sieve, and cover up till wanted. Stir into half a pint of melted butter, simmering but not boiling. 450. Boiled Fowls or Chickens. -Pick, draw, singe, wash, and truss the fowls in the following manner, and, gall-bladder :-Cut off the neck, leav ing sufficient skin to skewer back. Cut the feet off to the first joint, tuck the stumps into a slit made on each side of the belly, twist the wings over the back of the fowl, and secure the top of the leg and the bottom of the wing together by running a skewer through them and BOILED FOWL. the body. The other side must be done in the same manner. Should the fowl be very large and old, draw the sinews of the legs before tucking them in. Make a slit in the apron of the fowl, large enough to admit the parson's nose, and tie a string on the tops of the legs to keep them in their proper place. When trussed, put in boiling water, which afterwards reduce to a simmer, for twenty to sixty minutes, according to size. 451. Boiled Fowl, with Oysters. -Truss as for boiling; fill the inside with a dozen oysters bearded and washed in their own liquor; secure the ends of the fowl, put it in a jar, and plunge the jar into a saucepan of boiling water. Boil for one and a half hour, or rather longer; then take the gravy that has flowed from the oysters and fowl, stir in half pint of cream and the yolks of two eggs, add a few oysters scalded in their liquor; let the sauce get quite hot, but do not allow it to boil; pour some of it over the fowl, and the remainder send to table in a tureen. A blade of pounded mace added to the sauce will be found an improvement. all over, paper the breasts with a sheet 452. Roast Fowls.-Truss, singe of buttered paper, and keep well basted. Roast for three-quarters of an hour, minutes before serving, remove the more or less, according to size, and, ten paper, dredge with a little fine flour, put a piece of butter into the basting FOR THOSE WHO LIKE COFFEE A MILL IS A GOOD INVESTMENT. HOT PLATES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR ALL HOT VIANDS. five minutes, or rather longer, and put in the sage-leaves for a minute or two to take off their rawness. Chop both very fine, add the bread, seasoning, and butter, and work the whole together with the yoke of an egg, when the stuffing will be ready for use. It should be rather highly seasoned, and the sageleaves finely chopped. Many cooks do not parboil the onions, but use them raw, which is a slovenly and unwholesome custom. When made for goose, a portion of the liver of the bird, simmered for a few minutes, and very finely minced, is frequently added. 454. Giblet Pie.-Required, a set of duck or goose giblets, one pound of rump-steak, one onion, half teaspoonful whole black pepper, a bunch of savoury herbs, plain crust. Clean and 69 put the giblets into a stewpan, with an onion, whole pepper, and a bunch of savoury herbs; add rather more than a pint of water, and simmer for about one and a half hour. Take them out, let them cool, and cut them into pieces; line the bottom of a pie-dish with a few pieces of rump steak, add a layer of giblets and a few more pieces of steak, in the gravy (strained) that the giblets season with pepper and salt, and pour were stewed in, cover with a plain crust, and bake for rather more than one and a half hour in a brisk oven. Cover a the crust taking too much colour. piece of paper over the pie, to prevent 455. Roast Goose.-Pluck, singe, draw, and carefully wash and wipe the goose; cut off the neck close to the back, leaving the skin long enough to turn over; cut off the feet at the first joint, and separate the pinions at the first joint. Beat the breast-bone flat with a rolling-pin, put a skewer through the under part of each wing, and having drawn up the legs closely, put a skewer into the middle of each, and pass the same quite through the body. Insert another skewer into the small of the leg, bring it close down to the sidebone, run it through, and do the same to the other side. Cut off the end of the vent, and make a hole in the skin sufficiently large for the passage of the rump, in order to keep in the seasoning. Make a sage and onion stuffing, put it ROAST GOOSE. into the body of the goose, and secure it firmly at both ends by passing the rump through the hole made in the skin, and the other end by tying the skin of the neck to the back. Roast from one and a half to two hours. Remove the skewers, and serve with a tureen of good gravy, and one of apple sauce. 456. Roast Ducks.-Truss the ducks with the feet on, which should be scalded, and the skin peeled off, and BLACK PEPPER IS A GOOD DEFENCE AGAINST FLIES ON MEAT. 70 GREEN VEGETABLES SHOULD BE KEPT DRY TILL REQUIRED. then turned up close to the legs. After | Put a string round the body from skewer the duck is stuffed, secure both ends with string, to keep in the seasoning. ROAST DUCK. Before serving, dredge them lightly with flour, to make them froth and look plump. BLACK COCK. 457. Roast Hare.-Choose a young hare, which may be known by its smooth and sharp claws, and by the cleft in the lip not being much spread. To be eaten in perfection, it must hang for some time; and if properly taken care of, it may be kept for several days. It is better to hang without being paunched; but should it be previously emptied, wipe the inside every day, and ROAST HARE. sprinkle over it a little pepper and ginger, to prevent a musty taste. After it is skinned, wash it well, and soak for an hour in warm water to draw out the blood; if old, let it lie in vinegar for a short time, but wash it well afterwards in several waters. Wipe the hare dry, fill the belly with forcemeat, and sew it up. Bring the hind and fore legs close to the body towards the head, run a skewer through each, fix the head between the shoulders by another skewer. to skewer, and tie it above the back. Leave the ears on. The hare should be kept at a distance from the fire when it is first laid down. Baste it well with milk for a short time, and afterwards with butter; particular attention must be paid to the basting. When it is almost roasted enough, flour and baste dish it, remove the skewers, and send it well with butter. When nicely frothed, to table with a little gravy in the dish, and a tureen. of the same. A rabbit may be roasted in like manner. 458. Jugged Hare.-Skin, paunch, and wash the hare, cut it into pieces, dredge them with flour, and fry in boiling butter. Have ready one and a quarter pint of gravy, thickened with a little flour. Put this into a jar, add the fried pieces of hare, an onion stuck with six cloves, a lemon peeled and cut in half, and a good seasoning of pepper, cayenne, and salt; cover the jar down tightly, put it up to the neck into a stewpan of boiling water, and let it stew until the hare is quite tender. When nearly done, pour in wine, and add a few forcemeat balls, fried or baked in the oven for a few minutes before they are put to the gravy. Serve with red currant jelly. A rabbit may be jugged in like manner. 459. Boiled Rabbit.-For boiling, choose rabbits with smooth and sharp claws; should these be blunt and rugged, and the ears dry and tough, the animal is old. After emptying and skinning it, wash it well in cold water, and let it soak for about a quarter of an hour in warm water, to draw out the blood. Bring the head round to the side, and fasten it there by a skewer run through sufficient hot water to cover it, let it that and the body. Put the rabbit into boil gently until tender (from half to three-quarters of an hour, according to size and age). Dish it, and smother it with onion, mushroom, or liver-sauce, or parsley and butter; the former is generally preferred. 460. Roast Pheasant.-Old pheasants may be known by the length and PUDDING CLOTHS SHOULD BE MADE OF TOLERABLY FINE STRONG LINEN. |