Chicken Livers.
Chop a little onion, and fry it in butter without allowing it to color; put in the livers and some parsley, and fry or sauté them until they are done; take out the livers, add a little hot water or stock to the onions and parsley, thicken it with some flour (roux, page 51); strain, season, and pour it over the livers.
If stale bread is cut into the shape of a small vase or cup, then fried to a good color in boiling lard, it is called a croustade. One of these is often used with chicken livers. Part of the livers are put in the top of the croustade in the centre of the dish, and the remainder are placed around it at the base. The dish is called “croustade of livers.”
Turkish Pilau.
Truss one chicken (two and a half pounds) for boiling, and cut five pounds of shoulder of mutton (boned) into two pieces, which roll into shape; put some trimmings of pork (enough to keep the meat from sticking) into a large saucepan, and when hot place in the chicken and the rolls of mutton, and brown them completely by turning them over the fire. Now make what is called a bouquet, viz.: Put a bay leaf on the table; on this place three or four sprigs of parsley, one sprig of thyme, half of a shallot, four cloves, and one table-spoonful of saffron (five cents’ worth), and tie all together, leaving one end of the string long, to hang over the top of the saucepan for convenience in taking out the bouquet. Put the chicken, the mutton, the bouquet, and a pinch of salt and pepper into three quarts of boiling water; twenty minutes before they are done (it will require a short hour to cook them), put in five ounces of rice (soaked an hour in cold water); when done, take out the bouquet; put the chicken in the centre of a warm platter; cut the mutton into slices or scollops about half an inch thick, and form them in a circle by lapping one over the other around the chicken. Pour the hot soup (freed from grease) over the chicken; or the chicken may be cut into joints (seven pieces), and the circle around the platter may be formed of the chicken pieces and mutton scollops alternating, with the soup poured in the centre.
GEESE, DUCKS, AND GAME.
Roast Goose.
The goose should be absolutely young. Green geese are best, i. e., when they are about four months old. In trussing, cut the neck close to the back, leaving the skin long enough to turn over the back; beat the breast-bone flat with the rolling-pin; tie or skewer the legs and wings securely. Stuff the goose with the following mixture: Four large onions (chopped), ten sage leaves, quarter of a pound of bread-crumbs, one and a half ounces of butter, salt and pepper, one egg, a slice of pork (chopped). Now sprinkle the top of the goose well with salt, pepper, and flour. Reserve the giblets to boil and chop for the gravy, as you would for a turkey. Baste the goose repeatedly. If it is a green one, roast it at least an hour and a half; if an older one, it would be preferable to bake it in an oven, with plenty of hot water in the baking-pan. It should be basted very often with this water, and when it is nearly done baste it with butter and a little flour. Bake it three or four hours. Decorate the goose with water-cresses, and serve it with the brown giblet gravy in the sauce-boat. Always serve an apple-sauce with this dish.