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PREPARATORY REMARKS ON GAME.
In
choosing Venison, the fat of that which is good is thick, clear, and
bright; the clift part smooth and close. When the venison is perfectly
fresh, it is hung in a cool place, and carefully wiped dry every day. When
extreme tenderness is required from long keeping, but without its having a
high flavour, it is well rubbed over with powdered charcoal.
The
Haunch is the prime joint, and when it is required to be roasted, it is
first well washed in lukewarm milk and water, and then made quite dry
before it is spitted. It is then covered with a sheet of well-butter white
paper, over which is laid a coarse paste of flour and water, about a
quarter of an inch thick; this is again covered with buttered white paper,
and tied on with packthread. A substantial fire being made, the Haunch is
put down, and constantly basted with fresh beef dripping, till nearly
done, when the paste is taken off, the meat well basted with butter, and
lightly dredged with flour, till it froths and becomes of a fine light
brown colour. It is served with its own gravy in the dish, if there be
enough of it; also a sauce tureen of good brown gravy, and one of currant
jelly sauce beat up, and melted with a little port wine and sugar.
A large
haunch takes abut four hours to roast.
A Neck
and Shoulder, when roasted, is managed in the same way as the Haunch,
omitting the paste; but it is more frequently used for soups, pasties, and
collops.
Hare. –
When fresh, the body is stiff; and if young, the claws are smooth and
sharp, the ears tender and easily torn. Hares are kept from a week to a
fortnight for roasting; but for soup, they cannot have been to recently
killed.
Rabbits
are chosen by the same rules as Hares.
Wild
Fowl, in general, is chosen by the same rules as tame Poultry. The birds
should be plump and fat, and hard in the vent. If the skin comes off when
rubbed hard with a finger, they are stale. Old birds improve by keeping
for some time; young birds are best if dressed soon; and small birds, of
all descriptions, should be immediately dressed. In warm weather, a
stopper of charcoal should be put into the vent of all Game, and a string
tied tightly round the neck.
To roast
Pheasant and Partridges, they are picked, cleaned, and nicely singed; a
slit is made in the back part of the neck, and the craw taken out, leaving
on the head, the feet twisted closely to the body, the claws cut off, and
the head turned under the wing. Both sorts are roasted by the directions
for roasting a turkey or a fowl. A Pheasant is served with gravy in the
dish; Partridges, with a gravy, fried bread crumbs, or laid upon buttered
toast, and melted butter poured round them. Bread sauce is served with
both. A Pheasant will require nearly an hour to roast; Partridges half an
hour. Guinea and Pea-fowl are roasted in the same way as Pheasants.
To roast
Black-Cock, follow the directions for roasting Pheasants and Partridges;
it will require an hour, and is served with gravy in the dish, and bread
sauce in a sauce tureen, or laid upon buttered toast, and melted butter
poured round it.
Moorfowl
are roasted in the same manner, and require three quarters of an hour.
They may be served upon buttered toast, or with gravy in the dish, and
bread sauce in a sauce tureen. It improves Moorfowl and Partridges to put
a bit of butter into them, when trussing them for roasting; and sometimes
a bit of fresh undressed beef is substituted for the butter, which is
taken out before serving.
To
restore tainted Game or Poultry, pick it carefully, clean and wash it,
then put into each bird a little newly-made charcoal, tied in a bit of
muslin. Before serving, take out the bag, which will have a most offensive
smell, while the bird will be left perfectly sweet.
To roast
a Wild-Duck. – It should be roasted by a quick fire, well basted with
butter, and browned. It will require nearly three quarters of an hour, and
when to be served, some beef gravy is poured through the Duck into the
dish, and in a sauce tureen some hot port wine is served. The carver makes
four cuts along the breast; it is then sprinkled with salt and a little
cayenne, the juice of half a lemon is squeezed over it, and the port wine
is then poured over it.
To roast
Wild-Goose, the same directions are followed as for a Wild-Duck, allowing
more time to roast it according to the size of the bird.
Widgeons
and Teal are dressed in the same manner as the Wild-Duck, and are roasted
in ten minutes, and may be served upon fried bread crumbs.
Woodcocks
and Snipes are roasted without being drawn; a piece of toasted bread
buttered is put under each bird, to catch the trail; they are well basted
with butter, and served upon the hot toast over which they were roasted; a
rich brown gravy, or melted butter, is poured round them. Woodcocks will
require half an hour, Snipes and Quails fifteen or twenty minutes, to
roast.
Ortolans
and Green Plovers are not drawn, and are roasted and served in the same
manner as Woodcocks.
To roast
Larks, Wheatears, and other small birds, they are nicely picked, gutted,
cleaned, and trussed; brushed over with melted butter, and rolled in
grated bread, then spitted on a bird spit, which is fastened upon a larger
one. They are basted with butter, and sprinkled with some bread crumbs.
The will require nearly fifteen minutes to roast, and are served upon
fried bread crumbs, and brown gravy in a sauce tureen.
Wild
Pigeons may be roasted, or made into a pie.
Plovers’
Eggs are boiled hard, and served in a napkin, or with green moss put round
each in a dish.
TO
STEW MOORFOWL.
Truss
them, keeping on their heads, but draw the legs within the body; mix well
some salt and pepper with flour and a piece of butter, and put a small bit
into each bird; fry them all over of a nice brown in butter. Brown some
butter and flour, and add to it some good gravy, seasoned with pepper,
salt, mace, and two cloves pounded; boil up the sauce, put in the
moorfowl, and let them stew very slowly till tender. A little before
taking them off the fire, add a table-spoonful of mushroom catsup. If the
birds are old, stew them for two hours; if young ones, half that time.
Cold
roasted moorfowl are dressed exactly in the same way, only cut into
joints, and stewed very gently nearly as long. Half an hour before
serving, a small tea-cupful of port wine should be added.
TO
STEW A HARE.
Cut a
hare into pieces; put it into a sauce-pan, with half a pint of port wine,
the same of good gravy, and a pint of cider, two or three small onions, a
quarter of a pound of butter, some salt and pepper. Let it all stew till
the hare be quite tender, and the liquor a good deal reduced.
ANOTHER WAY TO STEW A HARE.
Bone a
hare; make a sauce with the bones and a little beef stock, adding sweet
herbs, spices, and some port wine; thicken it with browned butter and
flour. Stuff the hare with forcemeat, or with equal quantities of minced
mutton and suet, all seasoned; put it into the boiling sauce, and let it
stew two hours. Place the hare on a dish, and strain the sauce over it.
TO
ROAST AND STUFF A HARE.
When the
hare is skinned and cleaned, lay it into cold water for three or four
hours, changing the water several times; then rub it well with a little
salt, and wash it thoroughly; dry it well. Make a stuffing of the raw
liver minced, by no means parboiled, grated bread crumbs, twice the
quantity of chopped fat bacon, and a bit of butter; season with grated
nutmeg, lemon thyme, lemon-peel, pepper, and salt; an anchovy may be
added; bind with a beaten egg, put it into the hare, sew it up, and truss
is properly. Put into the dripping-pan warm salt and water; baste the hare
well till all the blood be out of it, pour away the water, and put in a
quart of milk, with which it must be constantly basted till it be nearly
done; then baste and froth it with butter. Serve with gravy, and, in a
sauce-tureen, currant jelly sauce.
HASHED
HARE.
Cut it
into small pieces; heat it thoroughly in highly seasoned gravy, adding,
with the stuffing, a tea-spoonful of vinegar, and a glass of port wine.
The legs may be scored, seasoned with pepper and salt, rubbed with cold
butter, and broiled. They may be served with the hash, or on a separate
dish.
STEWED
HARE.
Cut off
all the meat, in small pieces; make a strong gravy with the bones of the
hare, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two onions; strain it, and put in the
hare, with two table-spoonfuls of port wine, two or three thin bits of
bacon, a little salt, mace, and a clove pounded. Cover it closely, and let
it stew two hours, and if the gravy is much reduced, add a little more.
FLORENDINE HARE.
After a
hare has hung a week, prepare it as for roasting, and take out all the
bones of the body, leaving the head whole. Make a stuffing as before
directed; lay it over the inside of the hare, roll it up, sew it, and
fasten it with packthread; roll it into a cloth, and boil it in two quarts
of water an hour and a half. When the liquor is reduced to a quart, add a
pint of port wine, and of lemon pickle and mushroom catsup, a
table-spoonful each, also a tea-spoonful of browning; thicken it with
flour and butter, and stir it till reduced a little. Serve with forcemeat
balls, morels, and mushrooms; make the ears lie back upon the roll, and
garnish with barberries and curled parsley.
HARE
AND VENISON COLLOPS.
These are
dressed in the same manner as mince collops of beef, only that, in place
of the seasoning of the collops of beef, they have a little Jamaica
pepper, salt, and some port wine.
TO
HASH VENISON.
For a
gravy, boil a part of the bone and trimmings of the cold haunch in a
little water; season with a few peppercorns and some salt; strain and
thicken it with a bit of butter rolled in flour; add a glass of port wine,
and a table-spoonful of mushroom catsup, and one of currant jelly. When
hot, add the venison cut into thin slices, heat it thoroughly, and serve
with sippets of toasted bread.
TO
STEW A BREAST OF VENISON.
Wash it
well, dry, and cut it into pieces; dredge them with flour, fry them in
butter, and stew them in rich beef or mutton stock; when cold, take off
all the fat, and simmer till thoroughly heated.
VENISON CHOPS OR CUTLETS.
Cut the
neck into chops or cutlets; season with pepper and salt, and broil them;
serve them with currant jelly sauce, and with or without a rich gravy.
TO
STEW PARTRIDGES.
Truss the
partridges as fowls are done for boiling; pound the livers with double the
quantity of fat bacon and bread crumbs boiled in milk; add some chopped
parsley, thyme, shallots, and mushrooms; season with pepper, salt, grated
lemon-peel, and mace. Stuff the inside of the birds, tie them at both
ends, and put them into a stew-pan lined with slices of bacon; add a quart
of good stock, half a pint of white wine, two onions, a bunch of sweet
herbs, and a few blades of mace; let them stew gently till tender; take
them out, strain and thicken the sauce with flour and butter, make it hot,
and pour it over the partridges.
TO
STEW YOUNG PARTRIDGES.
Truss
them as for roasting; stuff the craws with forcemeat; lard down each side
of the breast; roll a lump of butter in pepper and salt, and beaten mace;
put it into the inside of each bird, and sew it up; dredge them with
flour, and fry them of a light brown in butter; put them into a stew-pan,
with a quart of good gravy, half a tea-cupful of white wine or a
table-beer, the same of mushroom catsup, a dessert-spoonful of lemon
pickle, half a tea-spoonful of mushroom powder. Cover the pan closely, and
let them stew half an hour; take them out, and thicken the gravy with a
little flour mixed in water; boil it up, and pour it upon the partridges.
Garnish the dish with forcemeat balls and hard-boiled yolks of eggs.
PERDRIX AUX CHOUX.
Truss the
birds as for roasting; rub them slightly with garlic; put over each breast
a piece of bacon, and into the inside a bit of butter the size of a
walnut, dusted with flour, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and thyme; half
roast, and then stew them with some good gravy, a bit of lean ham or
bacon, one spoonful of white wine, the same of mushroom catsup and of
lemon pickle, a little cayenne, one anchovy, and one shallot. Have ready
boiled the hearts of some cabbages, put them into the stew-pan, and stew
them altogether till the partridges be sufficiently tender. Before
serving, take out the ham.
TO
ROAST RABBITS.
Truss
them for roasting, and stuff them with the liver minced raw, grated bread,
and ham, butter or suet, and chopped parsley, seasoned with a little lemon
thyme, grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, and bound with an egg beaten. Sew
them up, and roast them before a quick fire, and baste them with butter.
Serve them with gravy, or melted butter with lemon pickle in it. Two will
take an hour to roast. They may be larded with bacon.
They may
also be fricasseed or fried, cut into joints, with plenty of fried
parsley, and served with a sauce made of the liver and some parsley
chopped, and mixed in melted butter, with a little pepper and salt; or
made into a pie the same as chickens.
TO
STEW RABBITS.
After
being thoroughly cleaned and dried, cut the rabbits into joints; stew them
with a quarter of a pound of butter, a large onion minced, some whole
pepper, mace and salt, a slice or two of lean ham or pickled pork, a bunch
of sweet herbs, and add water sufficient to cover them; when nearly done,
take out the herbs, pepper, and ham; and thicken the gravy with the beaten
yolks of four eggs. A little cream and some mushrooms may be added.
RABBITS STEWED WITH A BROWN SAUCE, OR WITH A WHITE SAUCE.
Wash and
clean the rabbits well; let them lie for two or three hours in cold water,
cut them into joints, wash and dry them in a cloth, dust them with flour,
and fry them of a light brown with butter, and stew them in the following
sauce: - Brown three ounces of butter in a stew-pan, with a table-spoonful
of flour, a minced onion, some pepper and salt; add a pint of gravy and
the rabbits, stew them till they are tender, and a little before serving,
stir in a table-spoonful of catsup.
When it
is wished to dress them with a white sauce, the rabbits are not fried, but
stewed in white stock, which is seasoned with white pepper and salt, and
thickened with a piece of butter mixed with flour. A few minutes before
serving, a little cream is added, and a table-spoonful of lemon pickle.
RABBITS SMOTHERED IN ONIONS.
Prepare
them as before directed, and truss them; thicken a sufficient quantity of
white stock, in which boil them with a piece of butter mixed with flour;
season it with salt and pepper, and when it boils, put in the rabbits with
plenty of onions cut in quarters. Let them stew till they are tender.
Serve them with the onions put all over the rabbits.
RAGOUT
OF SNIPES.
Pick six
or eight snipes very nicely, but do not wash them; take out the inside.
Roast the birds, and cut off all the meat from the breasts, in thin
slices; pound the bones, legs, and backs in a mortar, and pour them into a
stew-pan, with the juice of a lemon, a little flour, and some
well-seasoned gravy; boil it till it be thick, and well flavoured with the
gravy, then strain it. Cut half a pound of ham into thin long slices, and
heat it in a little butter, with two minced shallots; put it, with the
breasts of the snipes, into the strained sauce, and let it boil. Pound the
inside or trail, with a little salt, spread it over thin bits of toasted
bread, and hold it over a hot salamander. Put the ragout upon this, and
place the ham round it. |
