POULTRY.
If care is taken in picking and dressing fowls or birds, there is no need of washing them. In France it is never done, unless there is absolutely something to wash off; then it is done as delicately as possible. In expostulating once with an old negro auntie for soaking all the blood and flavor out of a fowl, she quickly replied, “Bless my soul, child! haven’t I cooked chickens for fifty years?”
When you buy a goose or a duck, be sure that it is young. Never buy an old duck. The first I ever bought were from a penful at market. I thought myself very clever in choosing the largest, all being one price; not so clever at dinner, when my husband tried to carve those tough and aged drakes.
Roast Turkey.
The secret in having a good roast turkey is to baste it often, and to cook it long enough. A small turkey of seven or eight pounds (the best selection if fat) should be roasted or baked three hours at least. A very large turkey should not be cooked a minute less than four hours; an extra hour is preferable to a minute less. If properly basted, they will not become dry.
With much experience in hotel life, where turkeys are ruined by the wholesale, I have never seen a piece of turkey that was fit to eat. Besides being tasteless, they are almost invariably undercooked. First, then, after the turkey is dressed, season it well, sprinkling pepper and salt on the inside; stuff it, and tie it well in shape; either lard the top or lay slices of bacon over it; wet the skin, and sprinkle it well with pepper, salt, and flour. It is well to allow a turkey to remain some time stuffed before cooking. Pour a little boiling water into the bottom of the dripping-pan. If it is to be roasted, do not put it too near the coals at first, until it gets well heated through; then gradually draw it nearer. The excellence of the turkey depends much upon the frequency of basting it; occasionally baste it with a little butter, oftener with its own drippings. Just before taking it from the fire or out of the oven, put on more melted butter, and sprinkle over more flour; this will make the skin more crisp and brown. While the turkey is cooking, boil the giblets well; chop them fine, and mash the liver. When the turkey is done, put it on a hot platter. Put the baking-pan on the fire, dredge in a little flour, and when cooked stir in a little boiling water or stock; strain it, skim off every particle of fat; add the giblets; season with salt and pepper. If chestnut stuffing is used, add some boiled chestnuts to the gravy; this is decidedly the best sauce for a turkey. Besides the gravy, always serve cranberry (see receipt, page 204), currant, or plum jelly with turkey. These are more attractive molded the day before they are served. The currant or plum jelly is melted and remolded in a pretty form. Roast turkeys are often garnished with little sausage-balls.
Stuffing for Baked Turkey, Chicken, Veal, and Lamb (New York Cooking-school).
Soak half a pound of bread (with the crust cut off) in tepid water, then squeeze it dry. Put three ounces of butter into a stew-pan, and when hot stir in a small onion minced (one and a half ounces), which color slightly; then add the bread, with three table-spoonfuls of parsley (half an ounce) chopped fine, half a tea-spoonful of powdered thyme, a little grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, and a gill of stock. Stir it over the fire until it leaves the bottom and sides; then mix in two eggs.