Fried, 3 to 4 minutes.
GRILLADE OF COLD FOWLS.
Carve and soak the remains of roast fowls as for the fritot which precedes, wipe them dry, dip them into clarified butter, and then into fine bread-crumbs, and broil them gently over a very clear fire. A little finely-minced lean of ham or grated lemon-peel, with a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and mace, mixed with the crumbs will vary this dish agreeably. When fried instead of broiled, the fowls may be dipped into yolk of egg instead of butter; but this renders them too dry for broiling.
FOWLS À LA MAYONNAISE.
Carve with great nicety a couple of cold roast fowls; place the inferior joints, if they are served at all, close together in the middle of a dish, and arrange the others round and over them, piling them high in the centre. Garnish them with the hearts of young lettuces cut in two, and hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise. At the moment of serving, pour over the fowls a well-made mayonnaise sauce (see Chapter [VI].), or, if preferred, an English salad-dressing, compounded with thick cream, instead of oil.
TO ROAST DUCKS.
[Ducks are in season all the year, but are thought to be in their perfection about June or early in July. Ducklings (or half-grown ducks) are in the greatest request in spring, when there is no game in the market, and other poultry is somewhat scarce.]
Ducks trussed.
In preparing these for the spit, be careful to clear the skin entirely from the stumps of the feathers; take off the heads and necks, but leave the feet on, and hold them for a few minutes in boiling water to loosen the skin, which must be peeled off. Wash the inside of the birds by pouring water through them, but merely wipe the outsides with a dry cloth. Put into the bodies a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed with minced sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of butter when this mode of dressing them is liked; but as the taste of a whole party is seldom in its favour, one, when a couple are roasted, is often served without the stuffing. Cut off the pinions at the first joint from the bodies, truss the feet behind the backs, spit the birds firmly, and roast them at a brisk fire, but do not place them sufficiently near to be scorched; baste them constantly, and when the breasts are well plumped, and the steam from them draws towards the fire, dish, and serve them quickly with a little good brown gravy poured round them, and some also in a tureen; or instead of this, with some which has been made with the necks, gizzards, and livers well stewed down, with a slight seasoning of browned onion, some herbs, and spice.