Clean pigeons, or any other birds, and thoroughly season them with mace, allspice, pepper, and salt; then lay the breasts in a pan as close as possible, and put some butter over them; cover the pan with a coarse flour paste. Bake the birds well in the oven, and when cold cut them into small pieces; pound these to a paste in a mortar; pack them closely in a potting-pot, and cover with butter.
Potted Fish.
Cut out the pieces of fish; season with pepper, salt, and cloves, if you like; then put them into a dish; cover closely as for potted birds. Bake one hour. When cold, press them into the pot, and cover well with butter, etc.
Potted Chicken and Tongue or Ham.
Roast the chicken; take off all the meat, separating it from the sinews and skin; chop and pound thoroughly, with a pound of tongue or of ham. Let the bones of the chicken be boiled down to a glaze; moisten the pounded meat with this glaze; season with salt, Cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and a little butter. When well pounded and run through a sieve, put it into pots, and press it in hard. Now put the pots into a covered stew-pan, with some boiling water in the bottom; let them be steamed half an hour, then let them cool. Press the meat down again, wipe dry, and cover with some hot butter. It will keep for months.
MACARONI.
Macaroni, with Cheese (London Cooking-school).
Do not wash the macaroni. Throw it, broken into convenient pieces, into boiling water which is well salted; stir or shake it frequently, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the stew-pan. The moment it is quite tender (no longer), pour it into a colander, and shake off all the water. In the mean time, melt a lump of butter the size of a large egg (two ounces) to half a pound of macaroni, in a cup on the fire, and grate a handful (four ounces) of cheese. Now, when the macaroni is well drained, place a little of it in the bottom of the dish in which it is to be served; pour over it some of the melted butter, and sprinkle over that a little grated cheese. Continue alternate layers of the three ingredients until all the macaroni is used, leaving butter and cheese on the top. Put the dish into the oven, and let it remain three or four minutes, or long enough for the macaroni to soak the butter and cheese; then take it out; brown the top with a salamander or hot kitchen-shovel, when it will be ready to be served. Aim to have it done just the moment of serving, otherwise the cheese will cool and harden.[D] It requires about twenty minutes to boil macaroni.