Roasted the same as turkeys, and stuffed, if the size will admit. A large, full-grown fowl will take about one hour and a quarter; a chicken from thirty to forty minutes. The sauces for fowls are, gravy, parsley, and butter, either with or without the liver (roasted) chopped up in it, or mushroom, bread or egg sauce. Three or four slices of fat bacon, not too thick, may be attached by skewers to the breast of a fowl, and is an improvement to a large one.
Goose.
Well wash and dry it in a cloth; then stuff it with four onions, parboiled, a fourth of their bulk in sage, and half, or, if you like it, the whole of the liver; parboil these together slightly, and mix them with the crumb of a penny loaf and an egg. Or, prepare a stuffing of six good onions, two or three apples, and some sage; chop these together quite fine, season with pepper and salt, and warm it in a saucepan sufficient to half cook it. Put the stuffing in the goose, tie that tightly at both ends, when on the spit: keep it papered the first hour, and baste with a little dripping. Froth it the same as turkey. The fire must be kept brisk. A large goose will require two hours. Take it up before the breast falls. Its own gravy is not good. Serve a good gravy flavoured with port wine, or cider, and walnut catsup, also a table-spoonful of made mustard.—It is a good plan for the cook to cut up the goose, remove the joints separately on another hot dish, then pour the gravy boiling hot over. This may not be fashionable, but it preserves the goose from eating greasy, saves the lady of the house trouble, and insures its being hot when helped. Serve apple sauce.—Some persons like goose stuffed with potatoes, previously boiled, then mashed without butter, and well peppered and salted.
Green Geese
Will roast in half an hour; are not stuffed. Put a good sized piece of butter inside, pepper and salt. Froth and brown nicely. Gooseberry sauce.
Ducks
Will keep three days, but are better dressed the day they are killed. Ducks may be stuffed or not (the same as geese), according to taste. But if two are roasted, one may be stuffed, and the other merely seasoned inside, with pepper, salt, an eschalot, and cayenne, if liked. Serve green peas with ducks. From three quarters to an hour will roast them. Baste well, and give a good froth. (See Sauces and Forcemeats.) Some persons squeeze a lemon over the breasts when dished.
Wild Ducks
Take from twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Have a clear brisk fire. They are, generally, preferred underdone, but brown outside. Cut slices in the breast, and squeeze in lemon juice with cayenne; or put an oz. of butter into a stew-pan with a little cayenne, the rind of an orange cut thin and previously blanched in boiling water, and the juice of a lemon; warm this over the fire, and when melted, but not oiled, pour it over the duck and serve. (See Sauces.)
Pheasants, Partridges, Guinea and Pea-fowl,