The first receipt of this chapter will be found very good for hare without any variation; but the liver boiled for three minutes and finely minced, may be added to it when it is thought an improvement: another half ounce of butter, and a small portion more of egg will then be required. A couple of ounces of rasped bacon, and a glass of port-wine, are sometimes recommended for this forcemeat, but we think it is better without them, especially when slices of bacon are used to line the hare. A flavouring of minced onion or eschalot can be added when the taste is in its favour; or the forcemeat No. 3 may be substituted for this altogether.
NO. 9. ONION AND SAGE STUFFING, FOR PORK, GEESE, OR DUCKS.
Boil three large onions from ten to fifteen minutes, press the water from them, chop them small, and mix with them an equal quantity of bread-crumbs, a heaped tablespoonful of minced sage, an ounce of butter, a half saltspoonful of pepper, and twice as much of salt, and put them into the body of the goose; part of the liver boiled for two or three minutes and shred fine, is sometimes added to these, and the whole is bound together with the yolk of one egg or two; but they are quite as frequently served without. The onions can be used raw, when their very strong flavour is not objected to, but the odour of the whole dish will then be somewhat overpowering.
Large onions, 3; boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Sage, 2 to 3 dessertspoonsful (or 1/2 to 3/4 oz.); butter, 1 oz.; pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful; salt, 1 teaspoonful.
The body of a goose is sometimes entirely filled with mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper only; or mixed with a small quantity of eschalot, onion, or herb-seasonings.
NO. 10. MR. COOKE’S FORCEMEAT FOR DUCKS OR GEESE.
Two parts of chopped onion, two parts of bread-crumbs, three of butter, one of pounded sage, and a seasoning of pepper and salt. This receipt we have not proved.
NO. 11. FORCEMEAT BALLS FOR MOCK TURTLE SOUPS.
The French forcemeat, No. 17 of the present Chapter, is the most refined and appropriate forcemeat to serve in mock turtle, but a more solid and highly seasoned one is usually added to it in this country. In very common cookery the ingredients are merely chopped small and mixed together with a moistening of eggs; but when the trouble of pounding and blending them properly is objected to, we would recommend the common veal forcemeat No. 1, in preference; as the undressed veal and suet, when merely minced, do not produce a good effect. Four ounces each of these, with an ounce or so of the lean of a boiled ham, and three ounces of bread-crumbs, a large dessertspoonful of minced parsley, a small portion of thyme or marjoram, a saltspoonful of white pepper, twice as much or more of salt, a little cayenne, half a small nutmeg, and a couple of eggs, well mixed with a fork first to separate the meat, and after the moistening is added, with the fingers, then rolled into balls, and boiled in a little soup for twelve minutes, is the manner in which it is prepared; but the reader will find the following receipt very superior to it:—Rasp, that is to say, scrape with a knife clear from the fibre, four ounces of veal, which should be cut into thick slices, and taken quite free from skin and fat; chop it fine, and then pound it as smoothly as possible in a large mortar, with three ounces of the rasped fat of an unboiled ham of good flavour or of the finest bacon, and one of butter, two ounces of bread-crumbs, a tablespoonful of the lean of a boiled ham, should it be at hand, a good seasoning of cayenne, nutmeg, and mace, mixed together, a heaped dessertspoonful of minced herbs, and the yolks of two eggs; poach a small bit when it is mixed, and add any further seasoning it may require; and when it is of good flavour, roll it into balls of moderate size, and boil them twelve minutes; then drain and drop them into the soup. No forcemeat should be boiled in the soup itself, on account of the fat which would escape from it in the process; a little stock should be reserved for the purpose.
Very common:—Lean of neck of veal, 4 oz.; beef-kidney suet, 4 oz., both finely chopped; bread-crumbs, 3 oz.; minced parsley, large dessertspoonful; thyme or marjoram, small teaspoonful; lean of boiled ham, 1 to 2 oz.; white pepper, 1 saltspoonful; salt, twice as much; 1/2 small nutmeg; eggs, 2: in balls, 12 minutes.