ROASTED DUCK, No. 1.
117. Clean your ducks nicely, wash them and wipe them dry. Rub them inside with pepper and salt, and fill them with a dressing made of crumbs of bread, two or three onions finely minced, some pepper, salt, and butter enough to make the crumbs adhere. Some use beaten egg in the dressing, but it makes it tough and heavy. After having filled the ducks truss them and put them on the spit; baste them with butter whilst they are roasting.
Wash the livers, first cut out the gall; with a sharp knife open the gizzards by cutting an incision round them, but not so deep as to cut the inner skin; then with your fingers tear them open. Pour boiling water on the feet and skin them; cut off the toes, and crack the leg in half, wash all these, and stew them in very little water, with pepper and salt. When the ducks are done, add the liquor the giblets were boiled in to the gravy, which has dropped from them, and thicken it with a little butter rolled in flour. Serve the liver on the dish with the ducks.