Roast four ducklings as in the previous article, dress a croustade in the centre of the dish, upon which place a fine Seville orange with a silver attelet through it, dress the ducklings round, and serve with a jus d’orange sauce (No. 17).
No. 538. Ducklings aux légumes printaniers.
Roast them as above, and serve as directed for the poulardes (No. 521).
No. 539. Ducklings à la Chartre.
Roast your ducklings as before, have ready fifty young turnips turned in the shape of pears, put half an ounce of sifted sugar into a convenient-sized stewpan, set over the fire, and when it melts and assumes a brownish tinge add half a pound of butter and the turnips, toss them over every now and then, and when about three parts done and a light-brown colour turn them out on a cloth to drain the butter from them, likewise drain all the butter from the stewpan, put your turnips again into it, with a quart of brown sauce (No. 1), half a pint of white stock, and a bunch of parsley, boil altogether ten minutes, or till the sauce adheres to the spoon, dress a croustade in the form of a vase in the centre of the dish, dress the ducklings round, take the parsley from the sauce, dress some of the turnips with taste upon the croustade and the remainder between each duckling; pour the sauce round and serve.
No. 540. Haunch of Venison.
May be decidedly called the second great pedestal; turtle soup and haunch of venison certainly being the two great pedestals, or Gog and Magog of English cookery. It is appreciated from the independent citizen to the throne; for where is there a citizen of taste, a man of wealth, or a gourmet, who does not pay due homage to this delicious and recherché joint, which ever has and ever will be in vogue; but even after all that nature has done in point of flavour, should it fall into the hands of some inexperienced person to dress, and be too much done, its appearance and flavour would be entirely spoilt, its delicious and delicate fat melted, and the gravy lost; of the two it would be preferred underdone, but that is very bad and hardly excusable, when it requires nothing but attention to serve this glorious dish in perfection.
A good haunch of venison weighing from about twenty to twenty-five pounds will take from three to four hours roasting before a good solid fire; trim the haunch by cutting off part of the knuckle and sawing off the chine bone, fold the flap over, then envelope it in a flour and water paste rather stiff, and an inch thick, tie it up in strong paper, four sheets in thickness, place it in your cradle spit so that it will turn quite even, place it at first very close to the fire until the paste is well crusted, pouring a few ladlefuls of hot dripping over occasionally to prevent the paper catching fire, then put it rather further from the fire, which must be quite clear, solid, and have sufficient frontage to throw the same heat on every part of the venison; when it has roasted the above time take it up, remove it from the paste and paper, run a thin skewer into the thickest part to ascertain if done, if it resists the skewer it is not done, and must be tied up and put down again, but if the fire is good that time will sufficiently cook it, glaze the top well, salamander until a little brown, put a frill upon the knuckle, and serve very hot with plenty of plain boiled French beans separate. For the mode of carving a haunch of venison, see preface.
No. 541. Haunch of Doe Venison à la Corinthienne.
Trim your haunch and lard the fillet of the loin and the leg as you would a fricandeau, put it for a week in a marinade (No. 426), turning it over every other day; place it on a spit, tied up in oiled paper, and roast it two hours, but just before taking up, take off all the paper, to give a nice colour; dress it on your dish with a frill at the knuckle, and have ready the following sauce: well wash and pick half a pound of fine currants, soak them in water two hours, dry them well on a sieve, put half a pint of the marinade through a sieve into a stewpan, with two glasses of port wine, and two chopped eschalots, reduce to half, add a quart of brown sauce (No. 1), reduce till it adheres to the back of the spoon, add a tablespoonful of currant jelly, pass it through a tammie into another stewpan, add your currants, season with a little cayenne pepper, and salt if required, pour the sauce round the haunch, and serve.