A proper bald spare-rib of eight pounds weight (so called because almost all the meat is pared off), with a steady fire, will be done in an hour and a quarter. There is so little meat on a bald spare-rib, that if you have a large, fierce fire, it will be burned before it is warm through.
Joint it nicely, and crack the ribs across as you do ribs of lamb.
When you put it down to roast, dust on some flour, and baste it with a little b.u.t.ter; dry a dozen sage leaves, and rub them through a hair-sieve, and put them into the top of a pepper-box; and about a quarter of an hour before the meat is done, baste it with b.u.t.ter; dust the pulverized sage, or the savoury powder in No. 51; or sprinkle with duck stuffing (No. 61).
_Obs._--Make it a general rule never to pour gravy over any thing that is roasted; by so doing, the dredging, &c. is washed off, and it eats insipid.
Some people carve a spare-rib by cutting out in slices the thick part at the bottom of the bones. When this meat is cut away, the bones may be easily separated, and are esteemed very sweet picking.
Apple sauce (No. 304), mashed potatoes (No. 106), and good mustard (No.
370,) are indispensable.
_Loin_,--(No. 54.)
Of five pounds, must be kept at a good distance from the fire on account of the crackling, and will take about two hours; if very fat, half an hour longer.
Stuff it with duck stuffing (No. 378). Score the skin in stripes, about a quarter of an inch apart, and rub it with salad oil, as directed in No. 50. You may sprinkle over it some of the savoury powder recommended for the mock goose (No. 51).
_A Chine._--(No. 55.)
If parted down the back-bone so as to have but one side, a good fire will roast it in two hours; if not parted, three hours.
N.B. Chines are generally salted and boiled.
_A Sucking-Pig_,[133-*]--(No. 56.)
Is in prime order for the spit when about three weeks old.
It loses part of its goodness every hour after it is killed; if not quite fresh, no art can make the crackling crisp.
To be in perfection, it should be killed in the morning to be eaten at dinner: it requires very careful roasting. A sucking-pig, like a young child, must not be left for an instant.
The ends must have much more fire than the middle: for this purpose is contrived an iron to hang before the middle part, called a pig-iron. If you have not this, use a common flat iron, or keep the fire fiercest at the two ends.
For the stuffing, take of the crumb of a stale loaf about five ounces; rub it through a colander; mince fine a handful of sage (_i. e._ about two ounces), and a large onion (about an ounce and a half[133-+]). Mix these together with an egg, some pepper and salt, and a bit of b.u.t.ter as big as an egg. Fill the belly of the pig with this, and sew it up: lay it to the fire, and baste it with salad oil till it is quite done. Do not leave it a moment: it requires the most vigilant attendance.
Roast it at a clear, brisk fire at some distance. To gain the praise of epicurean pig-eaters, the crackling must be nicely crisped and delicately lightly browned, without being either blistered or burnt.
A small, three weeks old pig will be done enough[133-++] in about an hour and a half.
Before you take it from the fire, cut off the head, and part that and the body down the middle: chop the brains very fine, with some boiled sage leaves, and mix them with good veal gravy, made as directed in No.
192, or beef gravy (No. 329), or what runs from the pig when you cut its head off. Send up a tureenful of gravy (No. 329) besides. Currant sauce is still a favourite with some of the old school.
Lay your pig back to back in the dish, with one half of the head on each side, and the ears one at each end, which you must take care to make nice and crisp; or you will get scolded, and deservedly, as the silly fellow was who bought his wife a pig with only one ear.
When you cut off the pett.i.toes, leave the skin long round the ends of the legs. When you first lay the pig before the fire, rub it all over with fresh b.u.t.ter or salad oil: ten minutes after, and the skin looks dry; dredge it well with flour all over, let it remain on an hour, then rub it off with a soft cloth.
N. B. A pig is a very troublesome subject to roast; most persons have them baked. Send a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, and beg the baker to baste it well.
_Turkey, Turkey Poults, and other Poultry._--(No. 57.)
A fowl and a turkey require the same management at the fire, only the latter will take longer time.
Many a Christmas dinner has been spoiled by the turkey having been hung up in a cold larder, and becoming thoroughly frozen; _Jack Frost_ has ruined the reputation of many a turkey-roaster: therefore, in very cold weather, remember the note in the 5th page of the 3d chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery.
Let them be carefully picked, &c. and break the breast-bone (to make them look plump), twist up a sheet of clean writing-paper, light it, and thoroughly singe the turkey all over, turning it about over the flame.
Turkeys, fowls, and capons have a much better appearance, if, instead of trussing them with the legs close together, and the feet cut off, the legs are extended on each side of the bird, and the toes only cut off with a skewer through each foot, to keep them at a proper distance.
Be careful, when you draw it, to preserve the liver, and not to break the gall-bag, as no washing will take off the bitter taste it gives, where it once touches.
Prepare a nice, clear, brisk fire for it.
Make stuffing according to No. 374, or 376; stuff it under the breast, where the craw was taken out, and make some into b.a.l.l.s, and boil or fry them, and lay them round the dish; they are handy to help, and you can then reserve some of the inside stuffing to eat with the cold turkey, or to enrich a hash (No. 533).
Score the gizzard, dip it into the yelk of an egg or melted b.u.t.ter, and sprinkle it with salt and a few grains of Cayenne; put it under one pinion and the liver under the other; cover the liver with b.u.t.tered paper, to prevent it from getting hardened or burnt.
When you first put a turkey down to roast, dredge it with flour; then put about an ounce of b.u.t.ter into a basting-ladle, and as it melts, baste the bird therewith.
Keep it at a distance from the fire for the first half hour, that it may warm gradually; then put it nearer, and when it is plumped up, and the steam draws in towards the fire, it is nearly enough; then dredge it lightly with flour, and put a bit of b.u.t.ter into your basting-ladle, and as it melts, baste the turkey with it; this will raise a finer froth than can be produced by using the fat out of the pan.
A very large turkey will require about three hours to roast it thoroughly; a middling-sized one, of eight or ten pounds (which is far nicer eating than the very large one), about two hours; a small one may be done in an hour and a half.
Turkey poults are of various sizes, and will take about an hour and a half; they should be trussed, with their legs twisted under like a duck, and the head under the wing like a pheasant.
Fried pork sausages (No. 87) are a very savoury and favourite accompaniment to either roasted or boiled poultry. A turkey thus garnished is called "an alderman in chains."
Sausage-meat is sometimes used as stuffing, instead of the ordinary forcemeat. (No. 376, &c.)
MEM. If you wish a turkey, especially a very large one, to be tender, never dress it till at least four or five days (in cold weather, eight or ten) after it has been killed. "No man who understands good living will say, on such a day I will eat that turkey; but will hang it up by four of the large tail-feathers, and when, on paying his morning visit to the larder, he finds it lying upon a cloth prepared to receive it when it falls, that day let it be cooked."
Hen turkeys are preferable to c.o.c.ks for whiteness and tenderness, and the small fleshy ones with black legs are most esteemed.
Send up with them oyster (No. 278), egg (No. 267), bread (No. 221), and plenty of gravy sauce (No. 329). To hash turkey, No. 533.
MEM. Some epicures are very fond of the gizzard and rump, peppered and salted, and broiled. (See No. 538, "how to dress a devil with _veritable sauce d"enfer_!!")
_Capons or Fowls_,--(No. 58.)
Must be killed a couple of days in moderate, and more in cold weather, before they are dressed, or they will eat tough: a good criterion of the ripeness of poultry for the spit, is the ease with which you can then pull out the feathers; when a fowl is plucked, leave a few to help you to ascertain this.
They are managed exactly in the same manner, and sent up with the same sauces as a turkey, only they require proportionably less time at the fire.
A full-grown five-toed fowl, about an hour and a quarter.