COLUMBUS EGGS.--Take twelve hard-boiled eggs. Peel off the sh.e.l.ls, 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 b.u.t.ter,) 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 FRICa.s.sEE.--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 b.u.t.ter, cut into small pieces. Set it over hot coals, and stir it till it comes to a boil, and the b.u.t.ter is well melted and mixed throughout. Then take it off the fire, and, while it is hot, stir in a gla.s.s 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 frica.s.see will be improved by adding to the chicken, while stewing, some small, thin slices of cold boiled ham.
Rabbits or veal may be frica.s.seed in the above manner.
BROWN FRICa.s.sEE.--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 subst.i.tute 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 b.u.t.ter rolled in grated bread-crumbs, and a gla.s.s 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 frica.s.see stew slowly for an hour, or till the duck, &c., are thoroughly done.
Venison or lamb cutlets may be frica.s.seed 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 b.u.t.ter 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-gla.s.s 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter 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 gla.s.s of port wine, and a gla.s.s 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, b.u.t.ter, 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 tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs 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 gla.s.s 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 b.u.t.ton-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 b.u.t.ter (divided into four, and slightly rolled in flour) or a pint of rich cream. If cream is not plenty, you may use half b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.tered toast with the crust all cut off. When done, lay the birds on the toast with the mushrooms all round.
If you cannot get b.u.t.ton-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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 quant.i.ty 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 b.u.t.ter, and two table-spoonfuls of mild grated cheese. Take a small tin b.u.t.ter-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 ma.s.s 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 frica.s.see. 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter 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 ma.s.s 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 b.u.t.tered. 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 b.u.t.ter 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 s.p.a.ces 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 subst.i.tuted boiled sweet potatoe, mashed with b.u.t.ter. 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 b.u.t.ter 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 quant.i.ty of paste, made in the proportion of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter to two pounds of sifted flour. Roll it out thick, and line with it a pudding mould, which must first be b.u.t.tered; 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 b.u.t.ter 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.