Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/427

 4^5 KITCHEN AND OPOKKRY POULTRY PIGEONS A LA DUCHESSE Required : Two pigeons. Two ounces of butter. One pound of pork sausages. One egg. Breadcrun.bs. Salt and pepper. Mashed potatoes. Cookpd peas or mixed vegetables. Prepare the birds for roasting, then cut each in halves. Carefully remove all the t Canard a la Savoy bones, except the last half of the leg bone. Shape each half as neatly as possible to look like half a bird, tucking the leg bones slightly back. Melt the butter in a frying-pan, put in the halves of pigeon with the cut side down- wards, and fry them gently for eight minutes. Then turn them. It is a good plan to place a dish on them With a weight on it while they are cooking, to prevent them from curling up. Skin the sausages, then rub the meat through a sieve. Season it with salt and pepper, and spread a thick layer of it on the inside of each piece of pigeon. Mould to a good shape. Next cover the pieces with crumbs, then brush them over with beaten ^gg, and again coat them with crumbs. Have ready a pan of deep frying fat. Wlien a bluish smoke rises from it fry the pigeons a golden brown. Arrange a neat bed of mashed potatoes down the centre of a hot dish ; place the ^'alves of pigeon on it. Pour some good rown sauce round, and garnish the dish With a heap of cooked peas or a macedoine of cooked vegetables — that is, a mixture of neatly cut carrot, turnip, kidney beans, etc. — carefully cooked in boiling salted Water. CANARD A LA SAVOY (In season August to February) equired: One duck. Four ounces of ham. One onion or shallot. One ounce of flour. Three quarters of a pint of brown stock. Two teaspoonfuls of red-currant jelly. Half a lemon. One glass of sherry. A bunch of parsley and herbs. Three cloves. Six peppercorns. Salt and pepper. Three-quarters of a pound of raised pie-crust. Green peas, fresh or preserved. Half roast the duck, then cut it into neat, small joints. Cut the ham into dice ; put it into a saucepan with the sliced onion, the herbs, and spice. Fry these until the ham and onion are a pale brown, then shake in the flour and brown that carefully. Add the stock, and stir the sauce until it boils. Then put in the pieces of duck, the jelly, a tea- spoonful of lemon juice, and a little salt. Let all simmer gently for about half an hour or until the duck is quite tender, then A. uuyett add the wine and seasoning. Have ready the raised pie-crust (see below for directions). Just before serving pile the pieces of duck neatly in the case, strain the sauce over, and garnish round the edge with some green peas, fresh or preserved. To make the Case : Required : Three quarters of a pound of flour. Quarter of a pound of lard. Quarter of a pint of water. Put the flour in a basin. Put the Water and lard in a pan on the fire ; when they boil, pour them into the flour and mix it to a stiff paste, kneading it thoroughly, and adding more Water if the paste seems too dry. After kneading it, shape it into an oval to fit the dish in which it is to be served, and Work it up by hand until it forms an oval case. Keep pressing down the centre and Working up the sides. If the paste seems very soft, leave it until it gets quite cold ; or, if you are in a hurry, mix in more flour, otherwise it will not keep its shape. When shaped, scallop the top of the case With a pair of scissors, and, if you vish to ornament it more, stamp out a few holes round the edge with a small pzistry-cutter.