[No. 22. Roast Veal, Stuffed.]
A piece of the shoulder, breast, or chump-end of the loin of veal, is the cheapest part for you, and whichever of these pieces you may happen to buy, should be seasoned with the following stuffing:—To eight ounces of bruised crumb of bread add four ounces of chopped suet, shalot, thyme, marjoram, and winter savory, all chopped fine; two eggs, pepper and salt to season; mix all these ingredients into a firm compact kind of paste, and use this stuffing to fill a hole or pocket which you will have cut with a knife in some part of the piece of veal, taking care to fasten it in with a skewer. If you intend roasting the veal, and should not possess what is called a bottle-jack, nor even a Dutch oven, in that case the veal should be suspended by, and fastened to, the end of a twisted skein of worsted, made fast at the upper end by tying it to a large nail driven into the centre of the mantelpiece for that purpose. This contrivance will enable you to roast the veal by dangling it before your fire; the exact time for cooking it must depend upon its weight. A piece of veal weighing four pounds would require rather more than an hour to cook it thoroughly before your small fire.
[No. 23. Veal Cutlets and Bacon.]
You may sometimes have a chance to purchase a few trimmings or cuttings of veal, or a small piece from the chump end of the loin, which you can cut up in thin slices, and after seasoning them with pepper and salt, and rolling them in flour, they are to be fried in the fat that remains from some slices of bacon which you shall have previously fried; and, after placing the fried veal and bacon in its dish, shake a table-spoonful of flour in the frying-pan; add a few drops of ketchup or vinegar and a gill of water; stir all together on the fire to boil for five minutes, and pour this sauce over the cutlets. A dish of cutlets of any kind of meat may be prepared as above.
[No. 24. A Pudding made of Small Birds.]
Industrious and intelligent boys who live in the country, are mostly well up in the cunning art of catching small birds at odd times during the winter months. So, my young friends, when you have been so fortunate as to succeed in making a good catch of a couple of dozen of birds, you must first pluck them free from feathers, cut off their heads and claws, and pick out their gizzards from their sides with the point of a small knife, and then hand the birds over to your mother, who, by following these instructions, will prepare a famous pudding for your dinner or supper. First, fry the birds whole with a little butter, shalot, parsley, thyme, and winter savory, all chopped small, pepper and salt to season; and when the birds are half done, shake in a small handful of flour, add rather better than a gill of water, stir the whole on the fire while boiling for ten minutes, and when the stew of birds is nearly cold, pour it all into a good-sized pudding basin, which has been ready-lined with either a suet and flour crust, or else a dripping-crust, cover the pudding in with a piece of the paste, and either bake or boil it for about an hour and-a-half.
[No. 25. Baked Pig's Head.]
Split the pig's head into halves, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and lay them with the rind part uppermost upon a bed of sliced onions in a baking dish. Next bruise eight ounces of stale bread-crumb, and mix it with four ounces of chopped suet, twelve sage leaves chopped fine, pepper and salt to season, and sprinkle this seasoning all over the surface of the pig's head; add one ounce of butter and a gill of vinegar to the onions, and bake the whole for about an hour and-a-half, basting the pig's head occasionally with the liquor.
[No. 26. Baked Goose.]
Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, as shown in [No. 62], will serve to make a pie for another day's dinner. Next stuff the goose in manner following, viz.:—First put six potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and, while they are being baked, chop six onions with four apples and twelve sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, pepper and salt; when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp of the six baked potatoes, and use this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose. The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half.