Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed Part 5

A STEWED FOWL.

Take a large fowl, and put it into a stew-pan with two ounces or more of b.u.t.ter, some thin slices of cold ham, a little parsley and onion chopped fine, and some nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Then pour in half a tumbler of white wine. You may add, if you choose, six table-spoonfuls of boiled rice, which you must afterwards serve up under the fowl and ham. Let it stew slowly for two hours, with just sufficient water to keep it from burning.

Before you send it to table, go all over the fowl with a feather or brush dipped in yolk of egg. You may add to the stew a dozen small onions, to be laid round the fowl with the slices of ham.

CHICKENS IN JELLY.

Cold chickens, pigeons, and game, look very handsome in jelly. To make this jelly, take four calves-feet (with the skin on) and boil them to a strong jelly with an ounce of isingla.s.s and three quarts of water, carefully skimming off the fat. The calves-feet must be boiled the day before the jelly is wanted, and when it is cold sc.r.a.pe off all the sediment that adheres to it. Then boil the jelly with the addition of the whites and sh.e.l.ls of six eggs, the juice of three lemons, three or four sticks of cinnamon, half a pound of loaf-sugar, and a pint of Malaga or other sweet wine. Let it boil hard for five or six minutes, but do not stir it. Strain it several times through a flannel bag into a deep white pan, but do not on any consideration squeeze or press the bag, as that will entirely spoil the transparency of the jelly. After it has done dripping through the bag, take out all the ingredients (as they are now of no farther use) and wash the bag clean. Then pour the jelly into it again, and let it strain. Repeat this till it is perfectly clear and bright; washing the bag every time. Sometimes (but not often) it will be clear at the first straining.

Put a little of the jelly into the bottom of a deep dish or bowl, and set it in a cold place. When it has congealed and is firm, lay your chickens on it with the b.r.e.a.s.t.s downwards. Having kept the remainder of the jelly warm, to prevent its congealing too soon, pour it over the fowls. Let it stand all night or till it is perfectly firm. Then set your dish or bowl in warm water for a moment, to loosen the jelly. Lay over it the dish in which you intend to serve it up, and turn it out carefully. If you fear that you will not be able to turn it out without breaking the jelly, you may prepare it at the beginning in a deep china dish fit to send to table.

If you put too much water to the calves-feet, the jelly will never be firm, till it is boiled over again with more isingla.s.s. The generality of cooks are in the habit of putting too much water to every thing, and should be cautioned accordingly.

PULLED CHICKENS.

Boil a pair of fowls till they are about half done. Then skin them, and pull the flesh from the bones in pieces about a finger in breadth and half a finger in length. Take a few table-spoonfuls of the liquor they were boiled in, and mix it with half a pint of boiling cream. Put it into a stew-pan with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; pepper, salt, and nutmeg; a little chopped parsley; and a table-spoonful of white wine. Put in the pieces of chicken, and stew them slowly till quite done.

STEWED TURKEY, OR TURKEY EN DAUBE.

Take a large turkey; lard it and stuff it as for roasting. Then cover it all over with a seasoning made of salt, pepper, nutmeg, and sweet-herbs, parsley and onions, minced fine. Put it into a stew-pan, with some slices of bacon, one or two calves-feet, some onions and carrots, one or two laurel leaves, a few cloves, a beaten nutmeg, salt, pepper, and, if you choose, a clove of garlic. Pour in a pint of water, and a pint of white wine or brandy.

Put on the cover of the stew-pan, and lay round its edge on the outside a wet cloth, which must be kept wet. Stew it slowly for five or six hours or more, and turn the turkey when about half done. When it is finished, withdraw the fire, and skim and strain the gravy. Serve up the turkey with the gravy under it.

A goose done this way is very fine.

A round of beef may be stewed in the same manner. It will be the better for lying all night in the seasoning, and it should be put in to stew early in the morning.

ROASTED TURKEY.

Rub the turkey all over with salt. Then lard it. You may stuff it with sausage-meat; or with chestnuts previously boiled, peeled, and mashed.

Or, you may make a force-meat stuffing of the liver, heart, and gizzard, chopped fine, and mixed with chopped parsley, onions, sweet-herbs, grated bread, b.u.t.ter, lemon-juice, grated lemon-peel, and the yolk of one or two eggs.

A turkey of moderate size will require at least two hours to roast.

Thicken the gravy with yolk of egg stirred in just before you send it to table.

A cold roast turkey should be larded and served up with large spoonfuls of stiff currant jelly dropped all over it.

You may roast a goose in the same manner.

POTTED GOOSE.

Take several fine geese; rub them with salt, and put into each a handful of sage leaves. Roast them about an hour. Do not baste them, but save all the fat in the dripping-pan, emptying it as it is filled. When you have taken the geese from the spit, cut off the legs and wings, and cut the flesh from the breast in slices. Set them away to get cold.

Put the fat that has dripped from the geese into a kettle, with about half as much lard as there is of the dripping. Boil it ten minutes. Have ready a tall stone jar, or more than one if necessary. Lay two legs of the geese side by side in the bottom, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper; placing, if you choose, a laurel leaf on each. Then put in two wings, and season them also. Next a layer of the slices cut from the breast, seasoned in the same manner. When the pots are almost full of the goose, fill them up to the top with the boiling fat, and set them away till the next day to get cold. The upper layer must be covered at least an inch thick with the fat.

Tie up the pots with covers of parchment wet with brandy, and keep them in a cold but not in a damp place.

In France great numbers of geese are fattened for this purpose.

DUCKS WITH TURNIPS.

Stew some turnips with b.u.t.ter, salt, and a little sugar. When soft, take them out and drain them. Cut up your ducks, season them, and put them into the same pan that has held the turnips. Stew the ducks with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, a little water, and a bunch of sweet-herbs tied up. When the ducks are nearly done, put the turnips in again, and let all stew slowly together for ten minutes, skimming it well. Withdraw the sweet-herbs before you send the dish to table.

A DUCK WITH OLIVES.

Having larded your duck, stew it whole, with b.u.t.ter, pepper, salt, and a little water. Take half a pint of olives, cut them in half and take out the seeds or stones. When the duck is nearly done, throw in the olives, and let all stew together about five minutes or more. Serve up the duck with the olives round it.

A DUCK WITH PEAS.

Stew the duck whole, with some lard and a little salt, till about half done. Then take it out and drain it. Put into the stew-pan a large piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. When it has melted, pour in a quart of sh.e.l.led green peas, and add a bunch of mint, or other sweet herbs, and some pepper and salt. Then put in the duck, adding a little warm water.

Let it stew slowly till quite done, skimming it well.

TURKEY PUDDINGS.

Mince thirty small onions and mix them with an equal quant.i.ty of bread crumbs that have been soaked in milk. Chop an equal quant.i.ty of the flesh of cold turkey. Mix all together, and pound it very well in a mortar. Pa.s.s it through a cullender, and then return it to the mortar and beat it again, adding gradually the yolks of six hard eggs, and a pint of cream or half a pound of b.u.t.ter. Season it to your taste with salt, mace and nutmeg.

Have ready some skins, nicely cleaned as for sausages. Fill the skins with the mixture, and tie up the ends. Then simmer your puddings, but do not let them boil. Take them out, drain them, and put them away to get cold.

When you wish to cook them for immediate use p.r.i.c.k them with a fork, wrap them in b.u.t.tered paper, and broil them on a gridiron.

Similar puddings may be made of cold fowls.

BAKED PIGEONS, OR PIGEONS a LA c.r.a.pAUDINE.

Split the pigeons down the back. Take out the livers, which you must mince with bacon and sweet-herbs, adding to them the livers of fowls or other birds, if you have them, and bacon in proportion. Or you may subst.i.tute sausage-meat. Add bread-crumbs soaked in milk, and the yolks of two eggs or more, with salt, pepper, mace and nutmeg to your taste.

Mix all together, and stuff your pigeons with it, and then glaze them all over with beaten white of egg. Place them in a b.u.t.tered pan, and set them in the oven. Bake them half an hour. Before you serve them up, squeeze some lemon-juice into the gravy.

BROILED PIGEONS.

Split your pigeons and flatten them. Make a seasoning of sweet oil, salt, pepper, chopped shalots, and chopped parsley. Rub this seasoning all over the pigeons. Then cover them with grated bread crumbs. Wrap each in a sheet of white paper, and broil them on a slow fire. Serve them up with a sauce made of minced onions, b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, lemon-juice or vinegar, and salt and pepper.

PIGEONS PEAR-FASHION. (PIGEONS AU POIRE.)

First, bone your pigeons. To do this, take a sharp knife, and slipping it under the flesh carefully loosen it from the bone, and do not tear the skin. Begin at the upper part of the bird, just above the wings, sc.r.a.pe gradually down, and finish at the legs. Then take hold of the neck, and draw out the whole skeleton at once. Make a good force-meat or stuffing (as directed for baked pigeons), and fill them with it, making them each into the shape of a large pear. Fasten them with skewers.

Glaze them all over with yolk of egg, and then roll them in grated bread-crumbs. Stick in the top of each, the lower end of the leg, to look like the stem of a pear. Lay them in a b.u.t.tered dish (but not so close as to touch each other) and bake them. Make a good gravy, thickened with the yolk of an egg, and some b.u.t.ter rolled in flour.