The goose should be absolutely young. Green geese are best, i. e., when they are about four months old. In trussing, cut the neck close to the back, leaving the skin long enough to turn over the back; beat the breast-bone flat with the rolling-pin; tie or skewer the legs and wings securely. Stuff the goose with the following mixture: Four large onions (chopped), ten sage leaves, quarter of a pound of bread-crumbs, one and a half ounces of butter, salt and pepper, one egg, a slice of pork (chopped). Now sprinkle the top of the goose well with salt, pepper, and flour. Reserve the giblets to boil and chop for the gravy, as you would for a turkey. Baste the goose repeatedly. If it is a green one, roast it at least an hour and a half; if an older one, it would be preferable to bake it in an oven, with plenty of hot water in the baking-pan. It should be basted very often with this water, and when it is nearly done baste it with butter and a little flour. Bake it three or four hours. Decorate the goose with water-cresses, and serve it with the brown giblet gravy in the sauce-boat. Always serve an apple-sauce with this dish.

Goose Stuffing (Soyer’s Receipt).

Take four apples peeled and cored, four onions, four leaves of sage, and four of thyme. Boil them with sufficient water to cover them; when done, pulp them through a sieve, removing the sage and thyme; then add enough pulp of mealy potatoes to cause the stuffing to be sufficiently dry, without sticking to the hand. Add pepper and salt, and stuff the bird.

Ducks.

Truss and stuff them with sage and onions as you would a goose. If they are ducklings, roast them from twenty-five to thirty minutes. Epicures say they like them quite under-done, yet, at the same time, very hot. Full-grown ducks should be roasted an hour, and frequently basted. Serve with them the brown giblet gravy or apple-sauce, or both. Green pease should accompany the dish. Many parboil ducks before roasting or baking them. If there is a suspicion of advanced age, parboil them.

Wild Ducks.

Wild ducks should be cooked rare, with or without stuffing. Baste them a few minutes at first with hot water to which have been added an onion and salt. Then take away the pan, and baste with butter, and a little flour to froth and brown them. The fire should be quite hot, and twenty to twenty-five minutes are considered the outside limit for cooking them. A brown gravy made with the giblets should be served in the bottom of the dish. Serve also a currant-jelly. Garnish the dish with slices of lemons.

Duck and Pease Stewed (Warne).

Remains of cold roast duck, with peel of half a lemon, one quart of green pease, a piece of butter rolled in flour, three-quarters of a pint of gravy, pepper, salt, and cayenne to taste. Cut the duck into joints; season it with a very little Cayenne pepper and salt, and the yellow peel of half a lemon minced fine. Put it into a stew-pan, pour the gravy over, and place the pan over a clear fire to become very hot; but do not let the stew boil.[C] Boil a quart of green young pease; when they are done, drain off the water, add some butter, pepper, and salt. Warm this again over the fire. Pile the pease in the centre of a hot dish; arrange the pieces of duck around them, and serve.

Stewed Duck.

Cut the duck into joints. Put the giblets into a stew-pan, adding water enough to cover them for the purpose of making a gravy. Add two onions, chopped fine, two sprigs of parsley, three cloves, a sage leaf, pepper, and salt. Let the gravy simmer until it is strong enough, then add the pieces of duck. Cover, and let them stew slowly for two hours, adding a little boiling water when necessary. Just before they are done, add a small glassful of port-wine and a few drops of lemon-juice. Put the duck on a warm platter, pour the gravy around, and serve it with little diamonds of fried bread (croÛtons) placed around the dish.

Fillets of Duck.

Roast the ducks, remove the breasts or fillets, and dish them in a circle. Pour over a poivrade sauce, and fill the circle with olives.

Poivrade Sauce.

Mince an onion; fry it a yellow color, with butter, in a stew-pan; pour on a gill of vinegar; let it remain on the fire until a third of it is boiled away; then add a pint of gravy or stock, a bunch of parsley, two or three cloves, pepper, and salt; let it boil a minute; thicken it with a little butter and flour (roux); strain it, and remove any particles of fat.

Pigeons Stewed in Broth.

Unless pigeons are quite young, they are better braised or stewed in broth than cooked in any other manner. In fact, I consider it always the best way of cooking them. Tie them in shape; place slices of bacon at the bottom of a stew-pan; lay in the pigeons, side by side, all their breasts uppermost; add a sliced carrot, an onion, with a clove stuck in, a tea-spoonful of sugar, and some parsley, and pour over enough stock to cover them. If you have no stock, use boiling water. Now put some thin slices of bacon over the tops of the pigeons; cover them as closely as possible, adding boiling water or stock when necessary. Let them simmer until they are very tender. Serve each pigeon on a thin piece of buttered toast, with a border of spinach, or make little nests of spinach on pieces of toast, putting a pigeon into each nest.

Roast Pigeons.

Never roast pigeons unless they are young and tender. After they are well tied in shape, drawing the skin over the back, tie thin slices of bacon over the breasts, and put a little piece of butter inside each pigeon. File them on a skewer, and roast them before a brisk fire until thoroughly done, basting them with butter.

Pigeons Broiled.

Split the pigeons at the back, and flatten them with the cutlet bat; season, roll them in melted butter and bread-crumbs, and broil them, basting them with butter. Or, cut out the breasts (fillets), and broil them alone. Serve them on thin pieces of toast. Make a gravy of the remaining portions of the pigeons, and pour it over them.

Prairie-chicken or Grouse.

They are generally split open at the back and broiled, rubbing them with butter; yet as all but the breast is generally tough, it is better to fillet the chicken, or cut out the breast. The remainder of the chicken is cut into joints and parboiled. These pieces are then broiled with the breasts (which, please remember, are not parboiled) after rubbing butter over them all. As soon as they are all broiled, sprinkle pepper and salt, and put a little lump of butter, on top of each piece, which then place for a few moments in the oven to soak the butter. Serve with currant-jelly. For fine entertainments the breasts alone are served. Each breast is cut into two pieces, so that one chicken is sufficient for four persons. If the dish is intended for breakfast, serve each piece of breast on a small square piece of fried mush (see receipt, page 73). If for dinner, serve each piece on a square of hot buttered toast, with a little currant-jelly on top of each piece of chicken. Garnish the plate with any kind of leaves, or with water-cresses. At a breakfast party I once saw this dish surrounded with Saratoga potatoes. The white potatoes, dark meat, and red jelly formed a pretty contrast.

To Choose a Young Prairie-chicken.

Bend the under bill. If it is tender, the chicken is young.

Prairie-chicken or Grouse Roasted.

Epicures think that grouse (in fact, all game) should not be too fresh. Do not wash them. Do not wash any kind of game or meat. If proper care be taken in dressing them they will be quite clean, and one could easily wash out all their blood and flavor. Put plenty of butter inside each chicken: this is necessary to keep it moist. Roast the grouse half an hour and longer, if liked thoroughly done; baste them constantly with butter. When nearly done, sprinkle over a little flour and plenty of butter to froth them. After having boiled the liver of the grouse, mince and pound it, with a little butter, pepper, and salt, until it is like a paste; then spread it over hot buttered toast. Serve the grouse on the toast, surrounded with water-cresses.

Quails Parboiled and Baked.

Tie a thin slice of bacon over the breast of each bird; put the quails into a baking-dish, with a little boiling water; cover it closely and set it on top of the range, letting the birds steam ten or fifteen minutes. This plumps them. Then take off the cover and the pork, and put the birds into the oven, basting them often with butter. Brown them, and serve with currant-jelly.

Quails Roasted.

Cover the breasts with very thin slices of bacon, or rub them well with butter; roast them before a good fire, basting them often with butter. Fifteen minutes will cook them sufficiently, if they are served very hot, although twenty minutes would be my rule, not being an epicure. Salt and pepper them. Serve on a hot dish the moment they are cooked. They are very good with a bread-sauce made as follows:

Bread-sauce, for Game (Mrs. Crane).

First roll a pint of dry bread-crumbs, and pass half of them through a sieve. Put a small onion into a pint of milk, and when it boils remove the onion, and thicken the milk with the half-pint of sifted crumbs; take it from the fire, and stir in a heaping tea-spoonful of butter, a grating of nutmeg, pepper and salt. Put a little butter into a sautÉ pan, and when hot throw in the half-pint of coarser crumbs which remained in the sieve; stir them over the fire until they assume a light-brown color, taking care that they do not burn, and stir into them a small pinch of Cayenne pepper. They should be rather dry. For serving, put a plump roast quail on a plate, pour over a table-spoonful of the white sauce, and on this place a table-spoonful of the crumbs. The sauce-boat and plate of crumbs may be passed separately, or the host may arrange them at table before the birds are passed. This makes a dish often seen in England.

Cutlets of Quails or of Pigeons.

With a sharp-pointed knife carefully cut the breasts from quails or pigeons; or, as professional cooks say, fillet them. At the small end of each breast stick in a bone taken from the leg, and trimmed. The breasts should now resemble cutlets. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt over each one, dip it in melted butter, and roll it in flour or sifted cracker-crumbs. Put the cutlets one side until ready to cook, as they should be cooked only just before sending them to the table. They should then be fried in a sautÉ pan in hot butter. They may be served without further trouble in a circle with a centre of green pease, which makes a most delicate dish for a company dinner course. However, there is a more elaborate way of finishing them, as follows: Put the carcasses into some cold water with very small pieces of pork and onion, sufficient only to produce the slightest flavoring. Simmer this about an hour; strain, thicken with a little browned roux, and season it with a little pepper and salt. As soon as the livers are done, take them out, mash, and moisten them with a little of the sauce. Prepare little thin pieces of toast, one for each breast; butter, and spread them with the mashed livers. Turn the cutlets over in this sauce, and use the little of it that remains for dipping in the pieces of toast. Serve the cutlets on the toast in a circle, with a centre of pease, French string-beans (haricots verts), potatoes À la Parisienne, or mushrooms; or cut the pieces of toast into the form of a long triangle, so that the points may meet in the centre, and place the bones of the cutlets to meet in the centre also. Put then a row of vegetables on the outside.

Scollops of Quails, with Truffles (GouffÉ).

Remove the fillets or breasts of six quails. Cut each fillet in two, and trim the parts to a round shape. Cook half a pound of truffles in Madeira, and cut them into slices. Put the scollops of quails into a sautÉ pan with some butter; fry them until they are done, then mix them with the truffles. Put a nice border on a dish; pile the centre with the scollops and truffles; pour in some Espagnole or brown sauce, flavored with a little Madeira, and serve. Truffles can be procured canned.

Espagnole Sauce.

Melt butter the size of an egg; when hot, add to it two or three table-spoonfuls of flour. Stir this carefully over a slow fire until it has taken a clear, light-brown color. Mix in this one half-pint of stock, broth, or gravy; then put it to the side of the fire to simmer until wanted, skimming it carefully, and not allowing it to stick to the bottom of the pan. Strain it. Just before serving it with the quails, add one or two tea-spoonfuls of Madeira.

Quails Broiled.

Split them at the back. Broil, basting them often with butter, over a hot fire. As soon as the quails are done, add a little more butter, with pepper and salt, and place them for a moment into the oven to soak the butter. Serve them on thin slices of buttered toast, with a little currant-jelly on top of each quail.

Quails Braised.

Quails are sometimes braised in the same manner as pigeons. (See receipt.)

Snipe and Woodcock Fried.

Dress and wipe them clean. Tie the legs close to the body; skin the heads and necks, and tie the beaks under the wing; tie, also, a very thin piece of bacon around the breast of each bird, and fry in boiling lard. It only requires a few moments—say two minutes—to cook them. Season and serve them on toast. Some pierce the legs with the beak of the bird, as in the cut.

Snipe and Woodcock Roasted.

The following is the epicure’s manner of cooking them, not mine. Carefully pluck them, and take the skin off the heads and necks. Truss them with the head under the wing. Twist the legs at the first joint, pressing the feet against the thigh. Do not draw them. Now tie a thin slice of bacon around each; run a small iron skewer through the birds, and tie it to a spit at both ends. Roast them at a good fire, placing a dripping-pan, with buttered slices of toast under them, to catch the trail as it falls. Baste the snipe often with a paste-brush dipped in melted butter. Let them roast twenty minutes; then salt the birds, and serve them immediately on the pieces of toast.

Reed-birds (Henry Ward Beecher’s Receipt).

Cut sweet-potatoes lengthwise; scoop out in the centre of each a place that will fit half the bird. Now put in the birds, after seasoning them with butter, pepper, and salt, tying the two pieces of potato around each of them. Bake them. Serve them in the potatoes. Or, they can be roasted or fried in boiling lard like other birds.

Plovers

are cooked in the same way as quails or partridges.

Pheasants

are cooked in the same way as prairie-chickens or grouse.

VENISON.

The Saddle of Venison.

This is, perhaps, the most distinguished venison dish. Make rather deep incisions, following the grain of the meat from the top, and insert pieces of pork about one-third of an inch square, and one inch and a half or two inches long; sprinkle over pepper, salt, and a little flour. Roast or bake the venison before a hot fire or in a hot oven, about two hours for an eight-pound roast. Baste often. Serve a currant-jelly sauce in the sauce-boat.

A good accompaniment at table for a roast of venison is a dish of potatoes À la neige (see page 192), the dark meat and white potatoes forming a pretty contrast.

Roast or Baked Haunch of Venison.

Cut off part of the knuckle-bone, round it at the other extremity, sprinkle over pepper and salt, and cover the whole with a paste of flour and water or coarse corn-meal; tie firmly a thick paper around. Place it near the fire at first to harden the paste, basting well the paper to keep it from burning; then remove it a little farther from the fire. Have a strong, clear fire. It will take about three hours to roast this joint, at the end of which time remove the paste. CarÊme would glaze it. This is, after all, a simple operation. It is a stock boiled down to a firm jelly, the jelly melted, and spread upon the meat with a brush. Put some frills of paper around the bone, and serve currant-jelly with it. If it be baked, the paste should cover it in the same way. It would also take the same length of time to cook.

The neck of venison makes a good roast also.

To Broil Venison Steaks.

Have the gridiron hot; broil, and put them on a hot dish; rub over them butter, pepper, salt, and a little melted currant-jelly. Some cooks add a table-spoonful of Madeira, sherry, or port to the melted currant-jelly.

If one does not wish to serve the jelly, simply garnish the dish with lemon-slices.

Stewed Venison.

Cut it into steaks; spread over them a thin layer of stuffing made with bread-crumbs, minced onion, parsley, pepper, salt, and a little pork chopped fine; now roll them separately, and tie them each with a cord; stew them in boiling water or stock. Thicken the gravy with flour and butter mixed (see roux, page 51), and add one or two spoonfuls of sherry or port wine.

Rabbits Roasted.

Skin and dress the rabbits as soon as possible, and hang them overnight. Roast them before a moderate fire, basting them with butter and a little flour when nearly done.

Rabbits Baked.

After they are skinned, dressed, and hung overnight, put them into a baking-pan; sprinkle over pepper and salt, and put also a thin slice of bacon on the top of each rabbit. Now pour some boiling water into the bottom of the pan, and cover it with another pan of equal size, letting the rabbits steam about fifteen or twenty minutes; then take off the cover, baste them with a little butter, and let them brown.

Rabbits are much improved by larding.

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