Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/47

Rh trussed and skewered with small skewers, mind and dust a little flour over it, press the breast into shape, and it is ready for the basting dish. A few slices of fat bacon laid over the breast improves the flavor,and prevents it getting too brown. The liver and heart are usually fixed in with one wing, the gizzard with the other; but as few people care for the latter it can well be stewed with the head, legs and bit of neck-bone to make gravy. Put them into a small saucepan with a little water, pepper and salt. Let them simmer gently, and when your fowl is cooked, pour off the fat from the baking dish, dredge in a little flour, stand the dish over the fire, pour in the gravy, let it bubble up, stirring all the while; add a spoonful of sauce, and strain into a gravy tureen, or over your fowl if preferred. Bread sauce is only supposed to be eaten with turkey, but it is a very pleasing accompaniment to roast fowl. Besides it is so easily made there is no reason why it should not be used with both. Crumb your bread very fine; put on a cupful of milk to boil, with a small onion in it; remove the onion when it has boiled, and stir in the bread crumbs gradually; also, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, pepper and salt. Do not let it be too thick. Serve in a tureen.

The same directions apply to all kinds of poultry, the only difference being the time, and that, of course, depends on the size of the birds. Poultry needs a quick fire. It should never be kept cooking very long, or it will become sodden.

Boiled Turkey.—A large one stuffed with force meat will take quite two hours, without stuffing about an hour and a-half; a small hen turkey not more than three quarters of an hour. The following is an excellent stuffing for boiled turkey: bread crumbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, lemon peel, a few oysters, or anchovy paste, a piece of butter, a little suet, all made moist with an egg. Mix all well together, and fill the skin of the breast. Serve with the turkey a ham, piece of boiled bacon, or a boiled tongue.

Boiled Goose.—This is seldom seen, many people thinking that a goose boiled is spoiled. This is a great mistake, for some much prefer them boiled, and certainly when not quite young boiling is the best way to cook them. Having singed and thoroughly cleaned the goose, plunge it into a large basin or bucket of boiling milk or water. It is only on a dairy farm that one could get sufficient milk, but when procurable it greatly improves the flavor of the goose—however, water will do. Let it be all night in this, then take out, dry well, and stuff with sage and onion. If the weather is cold enough hang it up for a few hours before cooking. Boil for one hour, and serve with onion sauce.

How and Where to Stuff Poultry.—The great art of stuffing consists in getting it in without disfiguring the bird, and in so securing it that it does not burst out during the cooking. In all poultry the opening should be sewn up with needle and thread.

Turkeys and fowls are stuffed in the crop, the latter being removed without breaking, and then the stuffing put in its place, so that when cooked the breast plumps out and looks natural. Ducks, geese, hares, rabbits, bandicoots, &amp;c., are stuffed in the body where the entrails were taken out.

Stewed Pigeons.—When the pigeons are picked and cleaned, make a seasoning of pepper, salt, sweet herbs and a little butter; bread crumbs, if liked. Stuff them with this and sew up the openings. Half bake them in a quick oven and then remove them into a stew pan, with some good stock or gravy, a glass of white wine, an onion, some lemon peel, pepper and salt. Let them stew till quite tender, they will not take long; and when done remove to the dish, thicken the gravy and pour over the birds, or else serve in a tureen separately.

Stewed Fowl.—Pick and clean your fowl, and carve it into pieces as you would for serving at table. Pepper, salt, and flour each piece as you lay it