BOILED TURKEY.--For boiling, choose a fine fat hen turkey. In drawing it, be careful not to break the gall, or a bitter taste will be communicated to the whole bird. In picking, remove every plug and hair, and then singe it with _writing-paper_. Wash it very clean, and then wipe it dry, inside and out. In trussing, draw the legs into the body, having cut them off at the first joint. Let the turkey look as round and plump as possible. Fill the breast with a very nice forcemeat, or stuffing, made of a quarter of a pound of grated bread-crumbs, mixed with two large table-spoonfuls or two ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, or finely minced suet, seasoned with a little pepper and salt, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace mixed together, a table-spoonful of sweet herbs[C] (sweet basil and sweet marjoram) chopped small if green, and powdered if dry; and the crumbled yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Add the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a fresh lemon, and mix the whole very well. Skewer the liver and gizzard under the pinions, having first cut open the gizzard and cleared it of sand or gravel.

[C] The herbs summer savory and thyme (like the spices cloves and allspice) are now seldom used in good cookery.

It is no longer customary to mix stuffing or forcemeat with beaten raw egg for the purpose of binding the ingredients together. Leave them loose, without this binding, and the forcemeat will be much lighter, better flavored, and more abundant. It will not fall out if a packthread, or very _small_ twine is wound carefully round the body, (to be removed before serving up,) and it may be secured by sewing it with a needle and thread.

Put the turkey into a large pot with plenty of cold water, and boil it gently, for two hours or more, in proportion to its size; carefully removing all the sc.u.m as it rises. It will be whiter if boiled in a large clean cloth, or in a coa.r.s.e paste, (the paste to be thrown away afterwards,) and take care that it is thoroughly done. Serve up boiled turkey with oyster sauce, celery sauce, or cauliflower sauce. Sweet sauce is rarely eaten with boiled things--unless with puddings.

Boiled turkey should be accompanied by a ham or tongue.

To ascertain if boiled poultry is done, try the thickest parts with a large needle. If the needle goes through, and in and out easily, it is sufficient.

A turkey (boiled or roast) for a family dish, may be stuffed with nice sausage meat, in which case it requires no other stuffing. Surround it on a dish with fried sausage cakes, about the size of a dollar, but near an inch thick.

It is very convenient to keep always in the house, during the winter months, one or two large jars of nice home-made sausage-meat, well covered. The best time for making sausage-meat is in November. After March, sausages are seldom eaten.

OYSTER TURKEY.--(_French dish._)--Prepare a fine young hen turkey, for boiling; skewering the liver and gizzard under the pinions. Fill the body well with fine large fresh oysters, having removed their hard part or gristle. Add to the oysters a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace, and a tea-spoonful of celery seed or minced celery, and a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged with flour. With this, stuff the turkey very full; securing the stuffing with packthread. Put the turkey into a large block-tin kettle, and let it stew in the oyster liquor only, without any water. Strain the oyster liquor before you put it in. Set the kettle into an outer kettle full of boiling water. This will cook the turkey very nicely. For such purposes, nothing is so convenient as the utensil called in French a _bain marie_, (p.r.o.nounced _bine maree_.) This is a permanent double kettle with two covers, and a large tube or spout outside, for pouring in fresh hot water, without opening the lid and letting out the steam. They are to be had of all sizes at the furnishing stores in New York and Philadelphia, and are so excellent for stewing without water, that no family should be without them.

When the turkey is well boiled and quite done, keep it warm by wrapping it closely in a cloth, putting a dish cover over it, and placing it near the fire. A fine oyster gravy will be found in the kettle. Add to it some fresh b.u.t.ter, dredged with flour, and some mace and nutmeg, and some celery seed. Give it one boil up, and send it to table as sauce for the turkey. This is a very nice way of cooking a small turkey.

A pair of oyster chickens may be thus prepared, and stewed in the above manner in a _bain marie_, or double kettle.

ROAST TURKEY.--Take a fine large turkey, full-grown and fat, draw and singe him carefully, saving the giblets (neck, heart, gizzard, and liver,) for the gravy. After he is drawn, wash the inside well, wipe it dry, and sprinkle it with black pepper. Make a large quant.i.ty of stuffing or forcemeat. It increases his apparent size, and besides is generally liked. Mince small some cold boiled ham, in equal portions of fat and lean: grated lemon rind, minced sweet herbs, fresh b.u.t.ter, or finely minced suet. Add plenty of grated bread-crumbs or crumbled rusk; also, hard-boiled yolk of egg crumbled. Moisten the mixture with lemon juice and some good white wine. Stuff the turkey well with this forcemeat, sewing it up, or winding a small cord round the body to secure the filling. Roast it before a clear and substantial fire, basting it well with fresh b.u.t.ter. When done, take it up and keep it hot.

Cut up the giblets and put them into a small sauce-pan, with a very little water, and stew them while the turkey is roasting; adding a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged with flour. When done, remove the pieces of neck, &c., retaining those of the heart, liver, and gizzard. Stir into the gravy, after it comes from the fire, the yolk of a beaten egg.

Having skimmed the gravy in the dripping-pan, add it to the gravy that has been made of the giblets, and send it to table in a sauce-boat.

Accompany the turkey with an oval dish, or tureen of cranberry sauce, made very sweet.

A roast turkey may be stuffed with oysters, or with chestnuts boiled, peeled, and mashed with b.u.t.ter. If with chestnuts, thicken the gravy with whole boiled chestnuts. If with oysters, send oyster-sauce to table with the turkey. If chestnuts cannot be obtained, any roasted poultry is good stuffed with well-boiled sweet potatos, mashed with plenty of b.u.t.ter or meat drippings.

The legs of turkeys are never helped to any one at table. They are always sent away on the dish.

A BONED TURKEY.--For this purpose you must have a fine, large, tender turkey; and after it is drawn, and washed, and wiped dry, lay it on a clean table, and take a very sharp knife, with a narrow blade and point.

Begin at the neck; then go round to the shoulders and wings, and carefully separate the flesh from the bone, sc.r.a.ping it down as you proceed. Next loosen the flesh from the breast, and back, and body; and then from the thighs. It requires care and patience to do it nicely, and to avoid tearing or breaking the skin. The knife should always penetrate quite to the bone; sc.r.a.ping loose the flesh rather than cutting it. When all the flesh has been completely loosened, take the turkey by the neck, give it a pull, and the whole skeleton will come out entirely from the flesh, as easily as you draw your hand out of a glove. The flesh will then fall down, a flat and shapeless ma.s.s. With a small needle and thread, carefully sew up any holes that have accidentally been torn in the skin.

Have ready a large quant.i.ty of stuffing, made as follows:--Take three sixpenny loaves of stale bread; grate the crumb; and put the crust in water to soak. When quite soft, break them up small into the pan of grated bread-crumbs, and mix in a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, cut into little pieces. Take two large bunches of sweet marjoram; the same of sweet basil; and one bunch of parsley. Mince the parsley very fine, and rub to a powder the leaves of the marjoram and basil. You should have two large heaping table-spoonfuls of each. Chop, also, two very small onions or shalots, and mix them with the herbs. Pound to powder a quarter of an ounce of mace; and two large nutmegs. Mix the spices together, and add a tea-spoonful of salt, and a tea-spoonful of ground black pepper. Then mix the herbs, spices, &c., thoroughly into the bread-crumbs, and add, by degrees, four hard-boiled eggs crumbled fine.

Take up a handful of this filling; squeeze it hard, and proceed to stuff the turkey with it--beginning at the wings; next do the body; and then the thighs. Stuff it very hard; and, as you proceed, form the turkey into its natural shape, by filling out, properly, the wings, breast, body, &c. When all the stuffing is in, sew up the body and skewer the turkey into the usual shape in which they are trussed; so that, if skillfully done, it will look almost as if it had not been boned. Tie it round with tape, and bake it three hours or more; basting it occasionally with fresh b.u.t.ter. Make a gravy of the giblets, chopped, and stewed slowly in a little water. When done, add to it the gravy that is in the dish about the turkey, (having first skimmed off the fat,) and enrich it with a gla.s.s of white wine, and two beaten yolks of eggs, stirred in just before you take it from the fire.

If the turkey is to be eaten cold at the supper-table, drop table-spoonfuls of currant or cranberry jelly all over it at small distances, and in the dish round it.

A very handsome way of serving it up cold is, after making a sufficiency of nice clear calves'-foot jelly, (seasoned, as usual, with wine, lemon, cinnamon, &c.,) to lay the turkey in the dish in which it is to go to table, and setting it under the jelly-bag, let the jelly drip upon it, so as to form a transparent coating all over it; smoothing the jelly evenly with the back of a spoon, as it congeals on the turkey. Apple jelly may be subst.i.tuted.

Large fowls may be boned and stuffed in the above manner: also, a young roasting pig.

ROAST GOOSE.--A goose for roasting should be young, tender, and fat; so tender, that the skin can easily be torn by a pin; the bill and legs smooth and of a light yellow color, and the toes breaking when bent under. If the skin is thick and tough, and the bill and legs a dark reddish yellow, rough and hairy, do not buy the goose. It is old, and no cooking can make it eatable. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about; but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey; and, except the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families it is usual to have a pair of roast geese, one not being sufficient. Geese are not good except for roasting, or in a pie.

In preparing a goose for cooking, save the giblets for the gravy. After the goose has been drawn, singed well, washed and wiped, inside and out; trussed so as to look round and short; make a quant.i.ty of stuffing, (as its hollow body will require a great deal.) For this purpose, parboil two good sized onions, and a large bunch of green sage. Mince both the sage and onions, seasoning them with a small salt-spoon of salt, half as much black pepper, and still less cayenne. Add a hard-boiled egg finely minced (yolk and white;) the chopped egg giving a nice smoothness to the sage and onion. If your goose is large, take two chopped eggs.

To make the stuffing very mild, (if preferred so,) add a handful of finely grated bread-crumbs; or two or three fine juicy chopped apples.

Fill the body and craw with this stuffing, and secure it with a needle and thread from falling out. Set the goose before a clear, steady fire--having a little warm water in the dripping-pan to baste it till the gravy begins to fall. Keep it well basted all the time it is roasting. It must be thoroughly done all through. Roast it according to its size, from an hour and a half to two hours or more.

Boil the giblets in a sauce-pan by themselves, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and having among them a bit of b.u.t.ter dredged with flour. When done, remove the neck, and retain the heart, liver, and gizzard, cut into pieces, and served in the gravy, which should be well skimmed. Also, skim carefully the fat off the gravy in the bottom of the dripping-pan. Put the two gravies together, and serve them up in a gravy tureen. To eat with the goose, have plenty of apple-sauce, made of fine juicy apples, stewed very dry, well sweetened, and flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon; or with some rose-water and nutmeg stirred in after the sauce is taken from the fire. Rose-water evaporates in cooking, and should never boil or be kept on the fire. A _bain marie_, or double kettle, is excellent for stewing fruit; putting the fruit inside, and the water outside.

For a family dinner a goose is very good stuffed with well-boiled potatos, mashed smooth, with plenty of fresh b.u.t.ter or gravy. Sweet potatos make an excellent stuffing. So do boiled chestnuts, mashed with b.u.t.ter or gravy.

GOOSE PIE.--The old fashioned goose pie made with a standing crust, (the flour being mixed with boiling water, and therefore unfit for eating,) is now obsolete. They were generally sent as Christmas presents. Besides the goose, they contained chickens, pigeons, (all boned,) and various other things. They had standing sides like an oval wall, covered with a lid of the same paste, having, on the top, a k.n.o.b, by which to lift off.

These pies were expected to remain good a week; but generally the gravy became sour in a few days, even in winter, and however carefully kept from the air. The following is a receipt to make a fine goose pie for immediate use, and with a nice eatable paste.

Take a fine plump young goose, and parboil it, (in as little water as will cover it,) saving the gravy. Having removed the skin, cut all the flesh from the bones. Make a nice light short paste, allowing a large half pound of fresh b.u.t.ter to each quart of flour. For a goose pie you will require two quarts of flour and one pound of b.u.t.ter. Line a deep pie-dish with one sheet of paste, reserving the other sheet for the lid, which should be rolled out thick. Put in the pieces of goose, seasoned with pepper only, interspersing among it the best part of a smoked tongue, cut in thick round slices. Make a nice forcemeat into b.a.l.l.s, about the size of a hickory nut, and add them to the filling of the pie; and some chestnuts boiled and peeled; or some round slices of boiled sweet potato. Having made a gravy of the giblets stewed, pour that over the other ingredients, filling the pie well, and heaping it high in the middle. Add a few bits of fresh b.u.t.ter dredged in flour. Pour in the gravy, and lay on the top the lid of the pie rolled out thick, ornamenting the edges handsomely. Cut a cross slit in the top, and fit into it a flower, or tulip cut out of paste. This pie is for dinner company, and to be eaten warm.

You may make a similar pie of a pair of fine ducks, either tame or wild.

Canvas-backs and red necks are excellent for this purpose. To eat with it, have mashed potato, browned all over with a salamander.

On the sh.o.r.es of our southern rivers, where canvas-backs and other fine wild ducks are abundant, a pie affords an agreeable variety to the usual modes of cooking them.

A GIBLET PIE.--Clean, very nicely, the giblets of two geese or four ducks. Put them into a stew-pan, with a sliced onion; a bunch of tarragon, or sweet marjoram and sage; half a dozen pepper-corns; and four or five blades of mace. Add a very little water; cover the pan closely, and let them stew till the giblets are tender. Then take them out, and save all the gravy; having strained it from the seasoning articles. Make a rich paste, and roll it out into two sheets. With one sheet cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish. Put in the giblets--mixing among them a few raw potatos sliced very thin, the chopped yolks of some hard-boiled eggs, and some bits of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Pour the gravy over the giblets, &c. Cover the pie with the other sheet of paste, and notch the edges. Bake it brown, and send it to table hot.

A pigeon pie may be made in a similar manner: also, a rabbit pie.

ROAST DUCKS.--Take a pair of fine fat ducks, and having prepared them nicely for the spit, put them, for a few minutes, into boiling water to loosen the skin, which must be peeled entirely off, to have them very nice and tender. Wash their insides by pouring water through them, and wipe the outside all over with a dry cloth. Fill the body and craw of one duck with a seasoning of sage and onion, as for a goose. In case some of the company should have a dislike to onion, fill the other duck with a forcemeat of bread-crumbs, sweet herbs, &c., as for turkey. Place them before a quick fire, but not so near as to scorch. Roast them well, basting them all the time. Skim the fat off, and pour over the ducks their own gravy, mixed with what has been made of the necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards, stewed in a small sauce-pan with some b.u.t.ter dredged with flour. Send to table with the ducks either cranberry or apple sauce, made thick and sweet.

Let them be thoroughly roasted, which will require from an hour to an hour and a quarter.

WILD DUCKS.--To remove the fishy or sedgy taste so often found in wild ducks, parboil them with a large carrot, cut in pieces, and placed in the body of each. When the ducks are half boiled, take out the carrot and throw it away. It will have imbibed all the unpleasant taste, and taken it away from the ducks. Then cook them as you please.

BOILED DUCK.--Prepare for cooking a fine plump tame duck, and lay it five or six minutes in warm water. Then put it into a clean large bowl or deep dish, and pour over it a pint of rich boiling milk, in which has been melted two table-spoonfuls of nice fresh b.u.t.ter. Let the duck soak in the milk three hours, or till it has absorbed nearly all the liquid.

Next, dredge the duck well with flour. Boil it in cold water for half an hour, till tender all through. Have ready a quant.i.ty of onion sauce made with milk and b.u.t.ter, and flavored with powdered mace or nutmeg. Cover the duck all over with the onion sauce, so as to smother it entirely.

Then send it to table hot. This is a French dish, (_canard bouilli_.)

DUCKS AND PEAS.--Stuff a fine plump pair of ducks with potato stuffing, made of boiled potatos mashed very smooth with fresh b.u.t.ter; or, if for company, make a fine forcemeat stuffing, as for a turkey. Bake the ducks in an iron oven or bake-pan; and when nearly done, put in with them a quart of very young green peas, and a few bits of fresh b.u.t.ter, seasoning slightly with black pepper. When the peas and ducks are all quite done, serve them all up on one large dish.

FRICa.s.sEED DUCKS.--Half roast a pair of ducks. Then cut them apart, as for carving. If they are _wild_ ducks, parboil them with a large carrot (cut to pieces) inside of each, to draw out the fishy or sedgy taste.

Having thrown away the carrot, cut the ducks into pieces, as for carving. Put them into a clean stew-pan, and season them with pepper and salt. Mix in a deep dish a very small onion minced fine, a table-spoonful of minced or powdered tarragon leaves, (for which you may subst.i.tute sage and sweet marjoram, if you cannot procure tarragon,) and two or three large tomatos, scalded, peeled, and quartered, or two large table-spoonfuls of thick tomato catchup. Put in, also, two table-spoonfuls of fresh b.u.t.ter rolled in grated bread-crumbs, and a gla.s.s of port wine, claret, or brandy, with a small tea-spoonful of powdered mace. Cover the pieces of duck with this mixture, and then add barely as much water as will keep the whole from burning. Cover the pan closely, and let the frica.s.see stew slowly for an hour, or till the duck, &c., are thoroughly done.

Venison or lamb cutlets may be frica.s.seed in this manner. Likewise, tame fat pigeons, which must previously be split in two. This, also, is a very nice way of dressing hares or rabbits.