LANDRAIL, Roast, or Corn-Crake.
LANDRAILS.
Ingredients.—3 or 4 birds, butter, fried bread-crumbs. Mode.—Pluck and draw the birds, wipe them inside and out with damp cloths, and truss them in the following manner: Bring the head round under the wing, and the thighs close to the sides; pass a skewer through them and the body, and keep the legs straight. Roast them before a clear fire, keep them well basted, and serve on fried bread-crumbs, with a tureen of brown gravy. When liked, bread-sauce may also be sent to table with them. Time.—12 to 20 minutes. Average cost.—Seldom bought. Sufficient.—Allow 4 for a dish. Seasonable from August 12th to the middle of September.
LANDRAIL, to Carve.
Landrail, being trussed like Snipe, with the exception of its being drawn, may be carved in the same manner.
LARD, to Melt.
Melt the inner fat of the pig, by putting it in a stone jar, and placing this in a saucepan of boiling water, previously stripping off the skin. Let it simmer gently over a bright fire, and, as it melts, pour it carefully from the sediment. Put it into small jars or bladders for use, and keep it in a cool place. The flead or inside fat of the pig, before it is melted, makes exceedingly light crust, and is particularly wholesome. It may be preserved a length of time by salting it well, and occasionally changing the brine. When wanted for use, wash and wipe it, and it will answer for making into paste as well as fresh lard. Average cost, 10d. per lb.
LARDING.
Ingredients.—Bacon and larding-needle. Mode.—Bacon for larding should be firm and fat, and ought to be cured without any saltpetre, as this reddens white meats. Lay it on a table, the rinds downwards; trim off any rusty part, and cut it into slices of an equal thickness. Place the slices one on the top of another, and cut them evenly into narrow strips, so arranging it that every piece of bacon is of the same size. Bacon for fricandeaux, poultry, and game, should be about 2 inches in length, and rather more than one-eighth of an inch in width. If for larding fillets of beef or loin of veal, the pieces of bacon must be thicker. The following recipe of Soyer is, we think, very explicit; and any cook, by following the directions here given, may be able to lard, if not well, sufficiently for general use:—