Cold.—What is left is warmed and served, if from a civet, giblotte, stewed, etc., and served with a vinaigrette, if from a roasted or baked piece. It may also be served with a piquante, poivrade, or ravigote sauce.
Snipe—to truss.—Prepare as directed for poultry. Cut the wings off just above the second joint, as seen in the cut below. The head and legs must be cleaned very carefully. By heating the lower part of the legs and the claws, the skin can be easily removed, but this is not necessary, they may be singed and washed only. Fold the legs and run the bill of the bird through the two legs and the body. Put a slice of fat salt pork on the breast of the snipe, which you fasten there with twine, as seen in the cut below. The cut represents the bird on the spit, ready for roasting.
Stewed.—Take four snipes and pound the livers, hearts, and lungs well with about the same amount of fat salt pork; then add to them about a teaspoonful of parsley chopped fine, and the yolk of an egg; divide the mixture in four parts and put each part in a bird, which you sew and truss as directed. Line the bottom of a stewpan with slices of salt pork and lay the snipe on them; set on a slow fire for ten minutes, add about half a pint of white wine, same of broth; simmer till done, dish the birds, strain the gravy on them, sprinkle a few drops of lemon-juice over the whole, and serve warm. Snipes are served in several ways, as described for bobolinks and other small birds.
Salmis.—A salmis is made with tame ducks and any kind of game birds.
Birds may be roasted or baked to make a salmis, but most generally it is made with cold birds, that is, what is left from the previous day's dinner. It is certainly the best way to make use of cold birds. The proportions of the different seasonings are according to the proportion of meat. We give below the proportions for a whole bird; it will be easy to augment or reduce. Put two ounces of butter in a saucepan and set it on the fire; as soon as melted stir into it a tablespoonful of flour; when turning rather yellow add one pint of broth, same of claret wine, a bunch of seasonings composed of four or five sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a bay-leaf and a clove, also salt, pepper, and a clove of garlic; boil gently about thirty-five minutes. Strain the sauce into a saucepan. Cut the bird or part of bird in pieces, the same as they are generally carved; put them in the pan with the sauce; place the saucepan in a bain-marie till the meat is warm, add some lemon-juice, and serve. While the meat is warming, cut some stale bread in croutons, fry them with a little butter.
To serve.—A salmis is served in two ways: first, the croutons are placed on the dish, a piece of meat is put on each, and then the sauce is poured all over; second, dish the meat and sauce, place the croutons all around the dish, with a piece of lemon or bitter orange between each crouton. When the croutons are served under the pieces of meat, you must have as many as there are pieces; when served around the dish, have enough of them, and of slices of lemon, to surround the dish. The croutons and slices of lemon are always placed around the meat and on the border of the dish. The lemon or orange is first split in two lengthwise, then cut in eight, twelve, or sixteen slices, always commencing to cut on the inside and finishing by the rind. Chop fine the bones, heart, and liver of the bird, and put them in the saucepan at the same time with the broth. Truffles or mushrooms sliced may be added to the sauce, if liked, but only when strained.
Another.—Carve the bird or part of it, and serve cold with the following sauce; pound the liver of the bird and put it in a saucer; add to it a little vinegar, salt, pepper, and stir and mix the whole; then add about three times as much oil as vinegar, mix again, then lemon-juice, stir, and serve. It may be made without vinegar at all, using lemon-juice instead of vinegar to mix at first.
OPOSSUM, OTTER, RACCOON, SKUNK, FOX, WOODCHUCK, AND OTHER LIKE ANIMALS.
We cannot say that we have had much experience in cooking the above animals, but they are all eaten by many persons, in different parts of this and other countries. We have tasted of all or them except the raccoon, and we must say that we found them palatable. It is well known that when our soldiers retook possession of Ship Island, they found plenty of raccoons on it, and ate all they could catch. One day we happened to meet a sub-officer, who was there at the time, and inquired of him about it. He said he had never eaten any raccoons before, and did not know that they were eatable; but now he could eat them as readily as rabbit, as they were quite as good.