Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/814

724 meat or veal forcemeat (see Forcemeats), 3 or 4 slices of bacon, ½ a pint of stock, 1 pint of good gravy, or brown sauce (see Gravies and Sauces), 2 ozs. of butter, 1 egg, a little cream or milk, salt and pepper.

Method.—Slit the skins of the chestnuts, throw them into boiling water, cook for 15 minutes, then remove both skins. Replace in the stewpan, add the stock, cover closely and simmer gently for nearly 1 hour, or until the chestnuts are tender. Rub them through a fine sieve, add the butter, egg, a good seasoning of salt and pepper, and if the purée appears at all dry, a little cream or milk. Prepare, and truss the turkey, stuff the crop with sausage meat or veal farce, and fill the body with the chestnut purée. Skewer the bacon over the breast, baste well with hot fat, and roast before a clear fire or in a moderate oven from 1¾ to 2¼ hours, according to size. Baste well, and shortly before serving remove the bacon in order that the breast may brown. Remove the trussing strings, serve on a hot dish, and send the sauce or gravy to table in a sauce-boat.

Time.—From 1¾ to 2¼ hours. Average Cost, 10s. to 16s. Seasonable from September to February; in best condition in December and January.

Ingredients.—1 turkey, 1½ to 2½ lb. of sausage meat, 1 to 2 lb. of veal forcemeat (see Forcemeats), larding bacon, 1 bottle of preserved mushrooms, ½ a pint each of carrot and turnip scooped out into rounds, 1½ ozs. of butter, ½ a pint of stock, 1 pint of Espagnole sauce, No. 244, fat for basting.

Method.—Prepare and truss the turkey, lard the breast, put ½ a lb. of the sausage meat aside, the remainder into the crop of the bird, and stuff the body with veal forcemeat. Baste well with hot fat, and roast before a clear fire, or in a moderate oven from 1¾ to 2¼ hours, according to size. Baste frequently, and as soon as the breast has acquired sufficient colour, cover it with 3 or 4 folds of greased paper. Divide the butter and put it into 2 small stewpans, add the carrots to one and the turnips to the other, and fry for 10 or 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls of stock, cover closely, and cook the carrot gently for about 45 minutes, and the turnip for ½ that length of time. The stewpans should be occasionally shaken, and it may be necessary to add more stock, all of which, however, must be well drained from the vegetables before dishing. 15 minutes before serving, put the mushrooms and their liquor into a stewpan,