[Sidenote: General Directions.]
Fifteen minutes to the pound is the time allowed for roasting or boiling a young turkey; for an old one more time will be required. They should have slow cooking and frequent basting. After a turkey is trussed, wet the skin; dredge it well with salt and pepper, and then with a thick coating of flour. This will give a crisp brown crust.
=TURKEY GALANTINE OR BONED TURKEY=
Select a young fat hen turkey. Bone it as directed, page 181; spread the boned meat on the table, the skin side down. Equalize the meat as well as possible by paring it off at the thick parts, and laying it on the thin parts. Leave the legs and wings drawn inside; lay a few lardoons of salt pork on the meat lengthwise. Make a forcemeat of another fowl or of veal, or of both chicken and veal. Chop it to a very fine mince, and pound it in a mortar to make it almost a paste. Season it with salt and pepper, savory, marjoram, thyme, and sage--about a half teaspoonful each of the herbs--one teaspoonful of onion juice, a half cupful of cold boiled tongue cut into dice, some truffles cut into large pieces.
Moisten it with stock and mix thoroughly. It will take three or four pounds of meat, according to the size of the turkey, to make sufficient stuffing. Spread the forcemeat on the boned turkey, having the tongue, truffles, and a few pieces of both the white and dark meat of the turkey well interspersed through it. Roll up the turkey, making it as even as possible, and sew it together; then roll it in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it securely at both ends and around the roll in several places.
Place the galantine and the bones of the fowl in a kettle, with an onion, carrot, celery, bouquet of herbs, and a tablespoonful of salt.
Cover it with boiling water, and let simmer three or four hours; then remove it from the fire; let the galantine remain in the water for an hour; then take it out, cut the strings which bind it in the middle, draw the cloth so it will be tight and smooth, and place it under a weight until perfectly cold. A baking-pan holding two flatirons will answer the purpose. Remove the cloth carefully, set the galantine in the oven a moment to melt the fat, and wipe it off with a cloth; trim it smooth; then brush it over with glaze (see page 277), or rub it over with beaten egg and sprinkle with crumbs and brown in the oven; or, cover it with a chaudfroid sauce, and ornament it as shown in ill.u.s.tration. The ornament of cut truffles is applied by taking each piece on a long pin and placing it on the chaudfroid before it is quite set. When perfectly set it is brushed over lightly with a little liquid jelly. Galantine of chicken or game is made in the same way, except that in small pieces they are not flattened by being put under a weight.[194-*]
A galantine is always used cold. Garnish with aspic. The water in which it was boiled--strained and cleared--may be used for the aspic. Use a box of gelatine to one and a half quarts of liquor.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GALANTINE OF TURKEY COVERED WITH CHAUDFROID SAUCE AND DECORATED WITH TRUFFLES. (SEE PAGES 193, 281 AND 326.)]
FOOTNOTES:
[194-*] A rectangular-shaped galantine may be obtained by pressing it into a bread-tin to cool. It should then be trimmed and incased in aspic, using the same or a slightly larger bread-tin of the same shape.
See Molding, page 323.--M. R.
=ROAST GOOSE=
Green geese about four months old are the best, as they get very tough when much older. If there is any doubt about the age of the goose, it is better to braise than to roast it. It can be browned after it is braised, and have the same appearance as if roasted. Dress and truss a goose the same as a turkey; singe and wash the skin well; flatten the breast bone by striking it with a rolling-pin. Stuff it only partly full with mashed potato highly seasoned with onion, sage, salt, and pepper, or with a mixture of bread, apples, onions, sage, salt and pepper, and a little b.u.t.ter. Dredge the goose with salt, pepper, and a thick coating of flour; put a little water in the pan and baste frequently. Allow eighteen minutes to the pound for a young goose, twenty-five minutes for an older one. Serve with goose apple sauce and a brown giblet gravy.
=TAME DUCKS=
Prepare the same as geese. Stuff with the same mixture or with celery.
Roast ducklings in a hot oven twenty minutes, if liked rare; thirty minutes if they are to be cooked through. Old ducks require an hour to cook, and should be basted frequently. Pekin ducks, a breed of white ducks raised in quant.i.ties on Long Island, are especially esteemed.
GAME
=CANVASBACKS AND REDHEAD DUCKS=
Carefully pick, singe, and wipe the outside. Draw them, leaving on the head, so as to distinguish them from ordinary game. Cut an opening at the neck, and through it draw the head and neck, letting the head emerge at the back between the drumsticks, and tie it securely in place. Do not wash the inside. If carefully drawn they will not need it. Cut off the wings at the second joint. Truss the ducks neatly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper inside, and a teaspoonful of currant jelly may also be put inside. Place them in a baking-pan with a little water, and bake in a very hot oven from fifteen to eighteen minutes; baste frequently.
Wild ducks should be very rare and served very hot, on hot plates. Each duck makes but two portions, as the breast only is served. Serve with duck small pieces of fried hominy and currant jelly.
The Canvasback is superior in flavor to any other species of wild duck, and is much esteemed. They have a purple head and silver breast, and are in season from September to May. The "Redhead" closely resembles in flavor the "Canvasback," and often is mistaken for it.
=SALMI OF DUCK OR GAME=
Cut the game into neat pieces; put them in the oven for five minutes to start the juices. Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, one half pound of bacon or salt pork cut into dice, one tablespoonful each of chopped onion and carrot, twelve peppercorns, one saltspoonful each of salt, thyme, and sage, and any coa.r.s.e pieces of the game. Cover with a greased paper and let cook to a glaze; then add a tablespoonful of flour, and let it brown; then two cupfuls of stock; simmer for thirty minutes; strain; add one quarter cupful of Madeira and the pieces of game; cover and let simmer another thirty minutes.
This dish needs long, slow cooking and careful watching. Garnish with croutons and truffles.
The truffles should be added to the salmi a few minutes before it is removed from the fire. If cooked game is used for the salmi, simmer for ten minutes only after the pieces are added to the sauce.
=POTTED PIGEONS (Dark Meat)=
Unless pigeons are young they should be braised or stewed in broth.
Truss them carefully; place slices of bacon on the bottom of a stew-pan; lay in the pigeons side by side, their b.r.e.a.s.t.s up; add a carrot and onion cut into dice, a teaspoonful of sugar, and some parsley, and pour over enough stock or boiling water to cover them. Cover the pot closely.
Let them simmer until they are tender, adding boiling water or stock when necessary. Serve each pigeon on a thin piece of moistened b.u.t.tered toast.
=ROAST PIGEONS OR SQUABS=
Do not roast pigeons unless they are young and tender. After they are well trussed, or tied into shape, tie thin slices of bacon over the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and put a little piece of b.u.t.ter inside each pigeon. Boast them about fifteen minutes; baste them with b.u.t.ter.
Or split the pigeons in two through the back and breast, cover with thin slices of salt pork, and roast them in the oven. Thicken the gravy in the pan with a little cornstarch. Season and moisten with it slices of toast on which the half pigeons will be served.
=PRAIRIE-CHICKEN OR GROUSE ROASTED (Dark Meat)=
Grouse, like all game, should not be too fresh. Wash them on the outside only, the same as directed for chicken (page 181). Put a little b.u.t.ter inside each bird and truss them into good shape. Roast them in a hot oven twenty-five to thirty minutes, basting them frequently with melted b.u.t.ter. Five minutes before removing them dredge them with flour. Boil the liver of the grouse, pound it with a little b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt to a paste; spread it over hot b.u.t.tered toast moistened with juice from the pan. Serve the grouse on the toast. Prairie-chickens have dark meat, and many epicures declare that they should be cooked quite as rare as canvasback ducks and that their flavor when so served is unsurpa.s.sed.
Young prairie-chickens have a much lighter meat and need not be so rare.
=QUAILS ROASTED (White Meat)=
Draw the birds carefully. Wipe them inside and out with a damp cloth; do not wash them more than this. Truss them carefully, letting the legs stand up instead of down, as with a chicken. Tie around each one a thin slice of pork or bacon. Bake in a hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes.
Baste frequently, having in the pan a little b.u.t.ter, hot water, salt, and pepper. Serve on slices of toast moistened with juice from the pan.
=QUAILS BROILED=
Split them down the back. Broil over hot coals four minutes on each side. Baste them while broiling with a little b.u.t.ter. When they are done spread them with b.u.t.ter, salt, and pepper; place them on slices of slightly moistened toast, and stand them in the oven a few minutes to soak the b.u.t.ter.
=SNIPE AND WOODc.o.c.k (Dark Meat)=
Draw the birds carefully. Wipe inside and out with a wet cloth, but do not wash more than this, as it takes away their flavor. Cut off the feet, and skin the lower legs, which can be done after holding them a minute in scalding water. Skin the head, and take out the eyes. Press the bird well together; draw around the head, and run the bill like a skewer through the legs and body. Wrap each one in a thin slice of pork or bacon, and bake in a hot oven for ten minutes; baste with b.u.t.ter.
Chop or pound the hearts and livers to a paste. Season with salt, pepper, onion juice, and b.u.t.ter. Spread the paste on slices of toast just large enough to hold one bird. Place the croustades in the oven to become very hot. Pour over them the juice from the dripping-pan holding the birds. Place the birds on the toast, and serve at once. Garnish the dish with water-cress. The croustades are better fried than toasted.
=ROASTED AND BROILED PARTRIDGE (White Meat)=
Dress and truss the partridge the same as a chicken. Lard the breast, or cover it with a slice of salt pork. Put into the baking-pan with the bird one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and two of boiling water. Roast in a hot oven about forty minutes, basting frequently.
The partridge has white meat, and so needs to be thoroughly cooked, but not dried. Place the bird on a hot dish, and around it on the same dish a border of coa.r.s.e bread-crumbs, which have been thoroughly mixed in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter. Serve in a sauce-boat a white sauce or a bread sauce. If the partridge is to be broiled split it down the back, rub it well with b.u.t.ter, place the inside next the coals; cover and broil for twenty-five minutes. Keep it well moistened with b.u.t.ter, and turn it to brown on the skin side a few minutes before done.